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I have a retired friend I stay in touch with every day who tells me every day she is going to the same store she went to yesterday. It's her routine, I guess. She and her hubby get up very early (to me) and get started with chores and errands.
Yikes. As others have said, I like being home, too. i live alone with two cats and it's enough for me. I have many things I need to do here (one bedroom apartment). But I'm not in a hurry to get it all done.
Older people used to tell me, that many times, as you age, the things a person used to think had to be done that day -- or that they used to care about -- like having the best lawn, or at least being invested in how your lawn looked -- they just didn't care that much about anymore.
And of course, there are some things I never did care about....like cleaning the house.
I'm not the best housekeeper. Never was. Never going to be. Just don't care about it.
Others would think the house is a pig sty. Doesn't bother me a bit.
I have a friend who says she can't sleep if there are dishes in the sink. I said it's a shame she gives that much power to an inanimate object. BUT, you can drop by her house unannounced and eat off the floor. Me, I needs at least a few days notice to make the place presentable.
As for errands, there are some errands I'll leave the house for one one day, even if I know I'm already planning to go out the next day. Just depends on what it is, and how bad I really want to get it done. Some times I'll wait, some times I won't. Lately, I've been waiting to run all trips on fewer days -- to save gas, more than anything else.
I always try to push life's seemingly random outcomes into my favor. It doesn't always happen, but I try to stack the deck in my favor when and where I can.
I've been doing this since 2009, when I started working from home more.
When I had a typical job I often ran errands or drove somewhere at lunch just to get out of the place. Gym was in the morning. Then more errands, exercise or work at night, sometimes on the way home from work.
Now, I am at a client in a particular town once a week, so I plan appointments for that area on that day. Even for errands close to home I will tend to gather them up on a day. It's easier for my work flow to take a 2 hour chunk one day than 45 minuted chunks for a few days.
As people say, so many of the things I want to do or think I should do go onto a list. Twice in the last couple of years I've had to clean off my desk in a hurry and just put the lists in a paper bag to sort through later. And I learned something from that. The bags are still in the closet, unsorted, and nothing in my world has fallen apart.
Apparently most of my want to dos and should dos are of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.
I still like to plan wants and shoulds and am glad to feel I have some constructive influence but I don't have that driven feeling any more like I used to that everything on my list must be completed within a certain timeline. It's a relief.
I think it's a perk of aging because when I was in my thirties and had two young children and a job outside my home I
was sure if I got behind on all the things needing to be done life genuinely could have been chaos very quickly. Sometimes I wonder how I got it all done.
Now that I live alone my condo is always neat and clean with no one making messes for me to clean. I do make a weekly list of things I am doing and things I want to get done. If something doesn’t get done it goes on the next weeks list. Actually that is rare but if I am planning on cleaning and get an offer to have fun then cleaning can wait).
"For me, yes, but I know other retired folk who just love to go anywhere at the drop of a hat and they take little trips to stores and whatnot all the time, even just to look at things. I need a real reason to bestir myself to go into town, like I have an appointment or my library books are due or I need to pick up a grocery order, and when I do, I bundle as many errands as I can into the trip. I'd just rather be at home."
^^^^This is me to a "t".
And here I thought it was just me and the old man. Glad to hear it's not. I sure don't mind running those errands, or going into town or somewhere just because or for social reasons. But at this point in my life, I'm happy to stay home in what we consider our little piece of paradise, and I find myself putting off things that can wait, bundling errands, and always happy to get home.
Might depend on how far away you live from your destination, the urgency in which you need the items you are shopping for or the errands done, whether or not you just feel like going somewhere. We live a little ways out in the.boonies ( love it there), with most destinations being between 12 and 20 miles from our home. We tend to wait
until we have plans or a need to go there, and combine our errands to do them when we need to make those trips. I tend to do a lot more procrastinating in retirement, mainly because I have more time to do things and much of what I do is flexible in its timing.
Agreed.
On that Amazon list, it occurred to me I need to have lantern batteries, 6V, in stock in the house. Looked at Amazon, starting at $10. My God, inflation there, too? No, that is just one of those items on Amazon where apparently it is not cheaper but quite the opposite. Price at the local home improvement place? About half that.
But there we go, am I going that direction of would I rather bite that 76 mm bullet and pay the cost for the convenience of not having to budge? It's not immediately needed.............
...........but on the other hand, I am going out, ANYHOW, for other end of the year supplies.
One comment on combining errands, this will be my 2nd trip off the ranch today into town but there is no other way to cut it. The first trip was taking pets to vet appointments and those trips are one trick ponies, no bundling there.
On that Amazon list, it occurred to me I need to have lantern batteries, 6V, in stock in the house. Looked at Amazon, starting at $10. My God, inflation there, too? No, that is just one of those items on Amazon where apparently it is not cheaper but quite the opposite. Price at the local home improvement place? About half that.
While I know you (TamaraSavannah) know the difference, for others reading this thread, voltage (6V) is important - but so also is battery capacity, frequently measured as the mAh rating of the battery. In this context, it would probably show up as a difference in useful life of the battery. Sometimes you'll find otherwise identical-looking batteries at varying price points, and some of the difference in price might be explained by the mAh rating.
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Glad to hear it's not. I sure don't mind running those errands, or going into town or somewhere just because or for social reasons. But at this point in my life, I'm happy to stay home in what we consider our little piece of paradise, and I find myself putting off things that can wait, bundling errands, and always happy to get home.
