Decision making in retirement!!

Just bought a 2 bed 'park home' after 4 years of furniture and boxes in storage. Moving in soon, as the new kitchen has been finished. Yesterday was pictures up on the wall and new guttering. The car is loaded for the tip, why did I keep all this junk?

This is so us, although my husband would be all right with doing nothing in the house. eg Whats wrong with the ones we have. The wàlls look fine etc...

I think we need a project manager. It took us 2+ yrs to put a new fireplace in.
New lights sat in the kitchen 3 months waiting for an electrician. We've had numerous people out to discuss extensions, paving, landscaping. We're probably blacklisted now among tradesmen for wasting time.

We just can't decide and its not helped by the fact that no job has ever been done without something going wrong.

We've talked about a cruise, or returning to Florence for four years. Unlikely to happen. As Jillybird says Do it now!

Small decisions are the same- where to go for a walk, what to make for dinner. It's up to you is a wellworn phrase.

I don't know why we're like this. Maybe its partly an age thing.
I've started trying to make quick decisions myself. As Dragonfly47 said Someone has to grasp the mettle.

paddyann can I borrow you?!!

Don’t leave it too long to make those decisions

I just think you are very lucky to have retirement time together and chance to discuss what you wish to do-even if not easy to agree.My DH and I were both working part time when he died very suddenly ,aged 66. We had no retirement time together at all. I have had to make a new life for myself ,which is quite busy with several good friends -but not the same as still having someone to share life with.

I'm very decisive and only have my own views to consider so no one holding me back.

I don’t think it’s a symptom of getting older my DH and me have been like that for years ! That’s why we do not have a wall across the front of our property, why we do not have a greenhouse, and why we haven’t been to Morocco or Norway yet !! We can’t decide what where how or when! The good news is we are reaching the age where one of us gets fed up faffing, makes a decision , sorts it and the other does not complain ! In the old days it was one of us squealing ‘you can’t just go ahead and make decisions without me’ and now it’s ‘ thank God that’s decided !’ and a lot of ‘up to you darling ‘ ! ??

Consider yourself lucky that you have time and a sounding board for each other. On my own I have to make all decisions and would love to have someone to discuss them with.
The annual home insurance renewal looms. Many comparison websites later I shall make a decision!

We still find the decision making easy enough, but following through is a different matter. DH has turned into a procrastinator out of the blue, so unless I push nothing would ever get done!

We talked about knocking a wall down over Sunday lunch ,OH said we'll organise it for next weekend .By 11'30 the same night we had demolished it ourselves .Quite often we'll mention rewallpapering and its done before the next day .Last week my daughter said she's need to get her living room decorated,her Dad and I stripped it for her the next day and we had it done and dusted in 48 hours.We've always been like this ,its probably the reason we change furniture and decorate so often.If we sat and ruminated over it ,it wouldn't get done.Its a legacy of a very busy life when painting the bathroom or shampooing the carpets at midnight was the only choice .

Took us two years to decide on a kitchen. For a lounge would go for the most expensive item first, decide on that then chose other items around that.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Goodness that sounds just like us. We either drift on and never get there as with the kitchen or do things we immediately and then sometimes regret being so spontaneous.
Good idea to make lists. I will take up that idea.

When little else to think about, the importance of the issue at hand takes on more importance than the issue would previously had.

I have lived in my house for 54 years, and have never liked the panel of pebble-dash between my front windows. It was always way down the list of 'things that needed doing,' though. Now that I am a bit better off I have been pondering for ages the pros and cons of doing something about it.

My neighbours have been having the front of their house re-faced in white, so I finally made the decision and asked the workmen's boss for a quote, just to do my oblong, measuring roughly 3 metres by 2. "Well," he said, "We would have to put up scaffolding, strip off the pebble-dash and whatever's underneath, re-board it, then apply the new surface and paint it. It would cost around £1,000 altogether."
"I'll think about it," I said, feeling slightly faint!
I didn't need long to decide that I, having lived with the pebble-dash for all these years, I could put up with it for the few more, until I 'pop my clogs!' I'd rather spend £1,000 on a nice holiday!

Living on my own means I don't need agreement on anything. I do and spend exactly what I want when I want.
Men often (but not always) don't notice changes anyway.

Oh my goodness! I’m so glad to read this thread today!
I thought it was just us two who were indecisive now that we have all the time in the world!
Beige cardigans, you describe the ‘waiting for the right moment’ very well.

Decision making in our family is like this, Husband thinks about something for ages without saying anything, then pounces on me with his thoughts, then we discuss, dont always agree at first,but we get there.

Retiment is the time to decidde if you will or will not be down sizing. We are not down sizing until I am a widow. then I will move.

So we try to do the basic house stuff, roof, windows, insulated walletc. Then each room at a time making sure that it will more or less be OK for 20 years before requiring a makeover again.

I firmly believe this type of ‘scatter’ thinking is often panic! All the things you want to get in before you are too old to do them! Get a large writing pad.....put a heading, for instance ‘holidays’...and allow yourselves 5 choices each of what you most want to do....then put in order of importance to you both. It’s a basic management technique for sorting things into order of importance. Use this method for everything....it works...I’ve used it for years.

I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure. I mull over things for ages and then move when I'm pushed.

I seem to spend a lot of time waiting for the right moment, in a state of suspended animation.

Am I worse now? Probably, because time is not an issue so nothing has to be rushed.

I like BradfordLass' idea. We sometimes give ourselves an artificial deadline, if a decision is critical. Otherwise we just wait until something emerges!

We retired 8 years ago. It took us that long to finally get round to refurbishing the living room and my word, did we go to town! What was a 70s time warp is now almost unrecognisable. Really enjoyed (most) of it as in the past we never had the cash or opportunity to do it.
Sold as much of the old stuff as we could and gave away the rest. Nothing got thrown away. Then we started with a completely blank canvas.

I am bossy so have no difficulty making decisions. My husband though will procrastinate for ever.

We tend to have very little trouble making decision with regard to house and home. It’s the minutiae of life that causes the most stress. Whether to go on holiday; where to go on holiday; where to go for a day’s walking; whether to go to the cinema; where to have lunch out; what to put in the garden..... inertia tends to set in. I can’t remember us ever spending so much time procrastinating before we retired.