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In preparation for retirement in '08, I stopped wearing a watch in '06. There was something about wearing a watch that meant that I needed to know what time it was at any given time during the day, and over the years that just got to irritate me more and more. But we'd get up to the alarm clock, and there were plenty of clocks in the office (on the PC, etc.), so I wasn't going to miss anything important. I just thought of it as my first (albeit very small) step to retirement.
For the longest time after we retired, I'd wake up at 6:00 (plus or minus a few minutes). Now, I wake up anywhere from 5:45 to 6:15. But I always wake up early, regardless of the day of the week. I never set the alarm for early morning appointments, knowing I'll be awake in plenty of time.
However, if I'm going on a trip that involves leaving at oh-dark-thirty, I set my alarm ... on my watch. And those are the only days I wear my watch.
Re: calendars ... every year Santa brings my wife a Sierra Club Wilderness wall calendar. The pictures are great, but more importantly, each day has a block of space big enough to write down appointments, visits, day trips, and reminders of all types. Without that calendar we'd be in deep trouble!
I retired a little over 4 years ago and I only set the alarm if I have an early morning appt, just to be sure. Otherwise, no way! Worked 8 to 5 for 39 years and do not want to hear that thing going off unless absolutely necessary.
A calendar of some type is an absolute necessity for me, especially now without the structure of a job. It's not that hard to forget what day it is when you're not wandering around slurping coffee, half dead on Monday morning or constantly watching the clock on Friday afternoon knowing it's almost over. Now every day seems like any other day--which is a GOOD thing.
I wear my watch--I want to make sure I get to the store before it closes. The cute little thrift (more like an antique) shop in town that closes at odd hours. Also the library. In a small town it's only open for a few hours on a few days.
I am not retired but I haven't used an alarm clock in a long time, except for the odd early appointment or flight . Alarm clock is not good for your sleep IMO. I feel lucky to not have to use an alarm.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joe moving
... . Alarm clock is not good for your sleep IMO. I feel lucky to not have to use an alarm.
No alarm clock (or watch) since I was age 16 and left the Dairy Farm.
I worked FLEX hours for 40 yrs (ruined me for future employment) (my boss and co-workers exclaimed I NEVER came to work the same time 2 days in a row )
I use the 'Sun' to tell time (it is absent 285 days / yr in PNW)
Granted... the 4am departures to the airport can be a challenge, but I am usually still awake doing projects and thinking about packing. I sleep very well on airplanes, in cars, meetings, offices, barns, libraries, hotel lobbies ...
I do use my phone alarm if I need to for travel or something, but even that is rarely necessary.
I am one of those people with a built in 'alarm clock' in my brain. If I tell myself to wake up at 5:07 I will. An alarm is only for emergency backup, retired or not.
You have correctly broadened the discussion, adding watches and calendars to alarm clocks as part of the "lifestyle in retirement" conversation. Even in retirement, I would be totally lost without my appointment calendar. Don't we all still do stuff such as occasional social appointments, dental appointments, tickets for live entertainment events (some of which I purchase a month or more ahead of time), and so forth? I hate to rely on my memory for stuff like that - even if my memory works most of the time, I would certainly screw up sooner or later without that calendar.
Perhaps you mean that keeping your appointments and activities on a smart phone or similar device allows you to ditch the old paper calendar. Now that I can understand, even though I personally still do it the old way. I'm saying that I need some form of written reminders and records.
I still consider my alarm clock (as previously posted), my watch, and my calendar to be absolute necessities in my life.
I'd feel naked without a watch on my wrist and my wife would be lost without her paper calendar. It has all the family birthdays on it, her planting times and any appointments all at one glance. We have an alarm clock in the bedroom and another in the guest bedroom but ours has only been set once in the five years since I retired. I awoke in anticipation of it and turned it off before it had a chanced to ruin my morning.
Like you, we sometimes wake up early, get up, have breakfast, putter for a few hours then go back to bed for a nice, refreshing nap. We make necessary appointments for after 10:00 a.m. or after lunch. We also go to bed later than when we worked. No more going to bed by 9:30 p.m. and getting up at 5:30 a.m. Being totally spoiled now we might even nap in the afternoon. In fact I'd have to say that all-in-all we're shamelessly, totally spoiled. Weekends are for staying at home because we can and don't want to deal with traffic or throngs, especially in stores.
I usually don't set an alarm (except for early a.m. flights), because I almost always wake up around six a.m.-ish. I still wear a watch, but rarely have any reason to look at it. My automobile clock has had the wrong time for several years. I do put things on a calendar....however, if it is a month where I only have one or two actual appointments, it is not unusual for me to screw-up and lose or gain a day somewhere along the way. (The computer is my saviour in this case.)
I live in a country where the beginning of the business day is more likely to be ten than nine, so dawdling has become a habit. Also I live behind a good, small private hospital, and I can just stroll over on the days that my doctor is assigned to the walk-in trade at whatever time I want. There is a small, inexpensive testing lab at the end of my street. I can just take in old test results on my own and say, "I want this, this, this and not that," and they just do the tests. These two conveniences mean that routine doctoring doesn't require appointments.
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(ruined me for future employment) (my boss and co-workers exclaimed I NEVER came to work the same time 2 days in a row 
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