What's the best thing about retirement?

I do so agree with you EEJit that hobbies are important in retirement. Like Ginny I love knitting, sewing, crochet, cardmaking etc. I have a new GD, whose mother, my DD, loves traditional homemade clothes and has no interest in designer labels, so I'm enjoying myself making clothes for her and have bought dressmaking patterns for the first time in years! I spent most of DD's pregnancy making hand-knits, cardigans and so on, and a beautiful knitted patchwork blanket as well as a fabric patchwork quilt. I'm currently making a couple of pairs of dungarees in gorgeously soft patchwork quality cotton.
Another hobby is photography, although this has taken a bit of a backseat since my GD was born - apart from taking photographs of her, of course .
So EEJit, have you cultivated any hobbies yet? It doesn't seem from your post that you have, and if not I can't help wondering why, since you do recognise how important they are and indeed advise others to take them up. It's never too late!

Your time will be your own, no clock watching, no rush hour, no panicking at the weekend if you can't get enough chores done round the house. You have more time to see GCs and help out if you want/can. I missed my work collegues to start with, but meet them for coffee etc to catch up with gossip, but I don't miss the work. It did take a few months to get used to the idea that I could do what I wanted when I wanted, but that's such a great thing to have to get used to ! So enjoy yourself.

Gagamarnie, money does matter so why not go to your local Citizens Advice and ask to book a pensions and financial interview.(or phone them) You will be given some very useful paper work to take home and fill out and then bring to your interview with someone who has had some training in clarifying the issues and adding up figures. It helps a lot to see your outgoings and income on paper and to discuss with an impartial person the costs of your desired lifestyle in retirement.

When you see how much you will have for weekly expenditure, holidays, presents to family, repairs to house etc. you will be able to decide if now is the time or if you should pay for some things to be replaced or repaired before you retire. Also if you should delay the taking of your state pension so that it increases when taken.

Good Luck

Love all the above posts. I've been putting off retirement too, nanninet. Could it be partly because it seems to be an admission that I'm old enough to retire, and who would want to admit that?

However, 19 years down the line in the same job, with huge changes over the last year in management and admin staff, cuts in funding, and in the general motivation, morale and ethos in my workplace, not to mention no appreciation from the new regime of my hard work and targets being met, mean that I am now teetering on the edge.....All my former colleagues have retired, not to mention most of my friends and family. They all say "Go for it!" but, to be honest, it's fear of the unknown that is really stopping me. My pension will be small, but I realise that savings could be made on ready meals, fuel for my car and work clothes.

Enjoy,enjoy,enjoy!
I put it off a couple of times,not cos I didn't want to work but I think I was a bit scared I might get bored but I was packing up work to look after Grandchildren more. I carried my notice letter around with me for 3 weeks. Although I had worked at the same place for 25years I wasn't going to miss the people except one person and would you believe it that person had also given in their notice a week before me without telling me! Although I had worked there for 25 years none of the people there have contacted me, so not missed then!! If you still want contact
It's great not having to do what people tell you to do,to be able to be yourself instead of putting on"a face" for the "customer". Not to have to "clock watch", to be able to go to the loo and have a cuppa when you want to. To be able to wear jeans every day if I want to. BUT best of all to be able to see all four of my Grandchildren just when I want to or when they need me too.
And,when they are grown up and don't need looking after maybe they will look after me!!!

I am in my sixth year of retirement having retired at age 68 from public service with a pension. I had 8 years off looking after my children so I felt I had made them up. I am still on agency rosters but am now going to retire properly. One of my agencies offered me a job at a local hospital in reablement. Discharging elderly people beck to their homes and making sure they could cope. It was 25 miles away in a town I had worked in but I realised that I did not want to get up at 7 am to appear by 9 am in a hospitla department having found or fought for a place to park etc.

Retirement is fun. I have looked after my mother who died in 2012 and now am picking up my own life. U3A classes in all sorts of things, woring for the Citizens Advice Bureau, Belly Dancing and going to Morocco on holidays with the teacher, Chines Brush Painting and hoping to go to China with the teacher next year. So much to look forward to. And of course entertaining grandchildren and their friends in the holidays.

Dear Husband is a keen gardener and artist. I make sure that I do not become his full time 'house keeper' by having my own programme of activity as well as making sure that cooking is minimal. Muesli for breakfast which I mix. Cold items for lunch; a selection purchased from Lidle - cooked chicken, ham, smoked salmon, salad potatoes, cooked beetroot etc. Then a slow cooker meal in the evening, put on at midday when he is washing up after lunch as he does not think 2 people need to use the dishwasher. I disagree and so stack it whenever he does not wash up.

I am now off to Australia in 2 weeks time for 73 days to see our son and his family. DH foes not come because he cannot entertain himself in a domestic environment. I let daughter in law take the children to school, so I can have my shower, set up the slow cooker for the evening meal, and then in the afternoon I walk them back. I have booked my Christmas activities at the local adult ed. college for Christmas along with the U3A activates I shall have a full diary into next year.

At my suggestion DH has enjoyed a ramblers holiday in Spain this year and is today on his first outing with a local rambling group. Lets hope he likes the people he meets.

I am hoping to write my memoires so am doing family history with the U3A and reading books on my kindle.

I do not miss work. The only thing is I am aware of now is my mortality. I realise that I have a finite number of years left so need to get on with the things I feel I must complete before I go!!!

Not having to work with 'control freaks' Or negative people.

My time now is spent with my lovely friends. Playing lots of Bridge. Visiting National Trust places. Using the trains for leisure with my railcard getting a third off is a great deal. Being a model for the students who want to practice their Beauty therapy skills at the local college. Facials, massage, and waxing. Then there is the apprentice hairdressers looking to practice too. Phew! What more could you want! Oh yes I got engaged last Christmas. Age really is just a number, if you have got good health at this age, your a millionaire.

All of the above! DH and I are collecting cathedrals which means car or train journeys and we play croquet on the cricket field, visit the theatre, spend time with our GC and have short holiday breaks when we feel like it. We also have a few hobbies, follow Northampton Saints rugby and enjoy every minute!

EEJit You are right about hobbies and as you say something you can do indoors is important too. I have no problem as I love knitting, crochet, sewing, patchwork, scrapbooking and cardmaking. Also love reading.Never enough indoor time to do as much as I would like. I have to say I am concerned about when DH retires as he really doesn't have any hobbies other than golf which is fine but not suitable in all weathers or every day. I would drive me mad to have the TV on all day .

I agree with most of the above, but, a word of advice, sort out a hobby or two. Getting up, eating, travelling, sleeping when you want is great, but there will be times when these are not enough.
I retired three years ago and filled my summers quite easily, but I still struggle through the winter months. You can't sleep all day, travelling is no fun when its hissing down and you can only watch so much day time TV, none in my case and you will have down days. So start now and a hobby or two, unless of course you already have some.

Good luck, and enjoy.

I agree- retirement is when you find your identity and don't have to have it defined by your job.

Some say you loose your identity in retirement. Surely in many ways you find it. Maybe it is a different one but it could be the one that has always been there but hidden by what you HAVE to do each day. In retirement you have much more choice as to what you WANT to do and when.

I took early retirement at 60, and retired a year ago tomorrow. I have been able to pursue my hobbies of hiking and photography, and visiting historic houses, exhibitions, cinema and theatre without facing the evening or weekend crowds.

I worked in a highly pressurised job in local government where I would regularly not get home until 10pm or later, only to start again the next morning and be in the office at 8am.

The two best things about retirement for me? Not having that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach on a Sunday evening when Monday morning looms, and knowing that when I get up in the morning, whatever I decide to do that day, it is my decision: no deadlines, no pressure

Instead of an ending, I saw it as a new beginning: a different
life, and an exciting one!

Unlike most of you, I was a kept woman - so it was a case of "plus ca change". I did have a little teaching job, but since i was self-employed i could stop when I wanted; in this case when I had to nurse DH through his prostatectomy and subsequent radiation therapy.

My problem was getting used to DH under my feet! He drove me mad at first, but now we potter along happily, sometimes doing things together, sometimes not.

i do enjoy my nap most afternoons as I don't sleep well, like having meals whenever we want, holidays, etc. It is a lovely period of our lives, while we are still mobile and compus mentis!

Time to read, sort out my house, see friends, travel and study interesting things

Pretty well all of the above. I was told I would be bored and want to come back - not so. I was offered occasional work and decided after taking on a couple of pieces of work I didn't want to continue. I was told the honeymoom period I was enjoying would soon wear off - it hasn't, after more than five years. I thought I would need to find more hobbies and interests but as more grandchildren arrived I stopped bothering about what I ought to do and enjoy just going with the flow.

The one big thing I did as soon as I retired was to get another dog, as I'd been too busy away from home in the last few years. Now I revel in my retired lifestyle. I meet friends and family for lunch, laze around when I feel like it, am not governed by the clock and can look after myself when I feel tired or poorly, instead of dragging my bones off to work in the rush hour. I still get that happy feeling when I open the curtains in the morning and see the line of traffic in the distance, knowing I can sit down with another cup of tea and choose what I fancy doing today. I can take holidays at the drop of a hat - don't have to plan leave. I now understand why many people look younger after retirement - the reduction in stress is significant.

How similar our working lives have been. It's wonderful not having to take orders from prats Petra and going to the loo when I want to Misslayed Like many of you on here, I too appreciate being able to spend time with grandchildren. I have also landed a part time freelance job where I can work from home, often in my dressing gown

I take full advantage of not having to get dressed as soon as I get up. My kindly, also retired neighbour recently spotted me in my dressing gown and dark glasses (reactolite lenses - sunny morning) and intercepted a parcel from the postman as I 'had a migraine' and she didn't want him to disturb me. She brought the parcel to our door when my OH was home later. Bless her. I was actually hanging on for a shower and getting dressed in preparation for lunch with my (also retired) friend. We are heavily involved in Neighbourhood Watch in our road and this was a prime example of it's benefits.

Equally, I love being able to get out and about before the hoards descend. I'm also quite partial to the little payments of pension dropping into my account every four weeks - that seems to come around much more quickly than my monthly salary ever did.

OH retires next year - not sure how that'll work out but weekends are good so I expect it'll be fine. He's already involved in community activities and he keeps looking at my U3A activities list so I guess he's considering something new. Happy? Very! Bored? Never! But I'm well aware that this must all depend on keeping good health, managing other people's expectations of your availability and other Gransnetter's experiences may not be as good.

LyndaW hopefully we've put your mind at rest.

I retired last September from my job as a Primary School Teacher. The job I loved had all but disappeared and I was being forced to teach '3 and 13 months' children in a way which I knew was not right for them. Now I can get up when I wake up, go to the loo when I need to (not at an allotted time!) eat lunch with a knife and fork - sitting down, cook from scratch on a daily basis, help friends out when they need it, put off any household jobs cos the sun is shining, enjoy GDs school concerts, and of course . . . Go on holiday out of school holidays. Not a day goes by without my husband and I looking at each other and saying "Aren't we lucky!". Never been happier.

I will never forget the first day of my retirement, a Monday. I had, of course, had leave from work before, time when we weren't going away, just pottering about the house and going out, but it was nothing like the feeling of getting up on that Monday morning and knowing that I would never, ever be getting up for work again, that this lovely, not-having-to-rush-about feeling was forever.
I remember walking up to the shops that morning - it was a lovely sunny August day - and when I got home I realised I'd forgotten something. So I just turned around and went back to the shops - it doesn't matter, I thought, I've got all the time in the world! I think anyone walking past me must have been wondering why I was walking along with a silly grin on my face . It really isn't an exaggeration to say I was feeling absolutely euphoric.

This time next week Treebee! You can sit back and have another cup of coffee. Just take it easy as you relax into the next phase of your life. Don't look on it as retirement -its a mutation into a different version of you!

You can still get the same as being in work, if that is what you want, you just have to throw yourself into a volunteering role- there are plenty to do with education.
I agree with good health. I am busier than ever but it does rely on being fit.

Am I the only one to say - not a lot? I loved being at work and miss it so much - the banter, the gossip, the moans and groans, the students, the lesson prep and marking - all of it, really. You lose your identity in retirement. I reckon it took me at least five or six years to get used to not working. I have realised, though, that good health is the most important thing.

It's my last day to work on Friday, then I will join the ranks of the retired. I'm 61 so going early. It's all feeling very unreal and I'm a little low tonight, but I shan't miss the stresses and strains of work, especially as we are heading into another restructure, ie more swingeing cuts.
Will miss my colleagues though.

I'm sooo envious got to wait till I'm 66 because of changes to retirement age but going to pass the good news to DH he retires next year. He's already like the cat got the cream

Sleeping late!

Afternoon naps when I feel tired.

Not having to cope with rush hours.

Not worrying all the time that I won't get through all the work expected of me.

Time to spend with grandchildren.

Lots more.....