Life is good. You finally did it! You pulled the plug on your day job after reaching financial independence. You never have to work for money ever again. But, you’re bored. You need something to do… You need a project! You grab a piece of paper and a pen and start thinking. Now that you’re financially free, what projects do you want to complete? However ambitious, however small, you now have the time to pursue anything that you like, what will you accomplish?
I started writing this post some time ago and then I happened to be watching Mr Money Mustache’s new YouTube channel and in episode four he said the following:
When you are retired you are the same person, it’s just that the work part goes away. The question is what are you filling your days with now, outside of work i.e. what are you doing on the weekend? If you can get a good weekend package then that is just going to expand to be your full-time life when you retire. He went on to say, you should plan your post-retirement life around these five factors:
- Outdoors
- Social
- Physical
- Generous
- Challenge
As I cannot dispute that MMM knows what he is talking about when it comes to early retirement I thought that thinking about each of these points would be a good way to answer this challenge.
So here we go…
Outdoors
At home I would have more time for the garden. As I write we are only just developing our garden. By the time we retire it will hopefully have matured. Not working would give me more time to grow vegetables all year round. I would love to be able to open it for the National Gardens Scheme. Several houses in the village do this and I would like to be able to join them at some point.
I have recently considered selling some produce from the garden. A couple of years ago we had loads of courgettes, just too many to eat, and I put them in a box outside the house with a notice telling passers by to help themselves. I expect I could have made some money selling them. Mr Simple makes jam, as we have fruit bushes in the garden, so maybe he could do a bit more of that. Eventually we could have a permanent stall outside the house. It wouldn’t make a fortune, but it would be fun.
Social
I belong to a couple of social groups in the village where I live. Quite a few of the members are retired and go out together on weekdays. Obviously I can rarely go along as I am in work. I would therefore be able to be a much more active member of these groups.
My main social interaction is though, sadly to say, on line. Probably because I find that I have a lot more in common with people whose blogs I read than I do with some of my friends. Sad, I know, but the truth. At the moment I struggle to find enough time in the day to post on Twitter, so I would have more time for this and other social media.
Physical
You’ll hopefully remember from my staycation posts that Mr Simple and I enjoy walking. In fact, we met through a young ramblers group. We used to go walking every Sunday. Since we have moved house weekends have been taken up with chores and DIY. If we didn’t have to work we would have time again for walking. We also have bicycles, which spend most of the time in the garage. We live in a rural area with lots of lanes to explore and so cycling would definitely be on the agenda.
Generous
Before I had a full-time job, which wasn’t until my early thirties, I used to spend a lot of my spare time volunteering for an international charity. My current job involves helping people, but it’s more about decision-making than hands-on helping. I think that once I don’t have to work for money I would want to do more direct helping work. I know that there are lots of charities and I am sure that I could find something to do, maybe just once a week or once a fortnight.
Challenge
I would probably need some mental stimulation, as currently the main way that I get that is via work, but also through reading all those great FIRE blogs and self-help books. Over the past few years I have learnt some French and Italian. Many classes are held in the day time and so weren’t available to me. My French evening class involved not getting home one night a week until 10pm, which for someone who is a morning person I found really difficult. It was also hard to maintain concentration after a day’s work. A daytime class would still enable me to get home at a reasonable hour. I would also have plenty of time for homework and to meet up with classmates to practise what we had learnt.
So, I am not sure whether I have answered Saving Ninja’s question, as technically none of these are projects. They are though things with which I like to fill my time, or with which I would like to fill more of my time if I didn’t have to work for money. They are I suppose ‘a simple life’, which is what I want my life to be.
How do you fill your weekends?
What did you used to do before you started that well-paid, but stressful job, before you bought that big house which needs lots of cleaning and decorating, or before you had kids?
What would you fill your time with if your whole life was just one long weekend?
Other thoughts:
a simple life 
Love it!
I too crave a simple life and to get out of the smog that is London. I’d love to buy a ranch and live off the land. It seems like you’re almost there and it wouldn’t be hard to transition once you do retire, which is awesome.
I can’t wait to read up on all of your farming and selling escapades 🙂
Thanks for taking part!
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I hadn’t read that post by MMM, so thanks for sharing! Looks like you’ve got some good plans to fill your time when you reach FI and retire.
I suspect that quite a number of people interact more with friends online, rather than in person. What with work, chores and sleep, there isn’t much time left! I like that you mentioned that having more time for yourself will allow more time for increased social activity. I hadn’t really mentioned it in my own post, but it’s certainly something that I’d take advantage of!
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Surprisingly I haven’t read many blog posts by MMM, but I am currently watching the videos on his new YouTube channel whilst I jog. It doesn’t feel so indulgent as just sitting and reading. Exercise and education at the same time.
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I hadn’t read that post by MMM, so thanks for sharing! Looks like you’ve got some good plans to fill your time when you reach FI and retire.
I suspect that quite a number of people interact more with friends online, rather than in person. What with work, chores and sleep, there isn’t much time left! I like that you mentioned that having more time for yourself will allow more time for increased social activity. I hadn’t really mentioned it in my own post, but it’s certainly something that I’d take advantage of!
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Surprisingly I haven’t read many blog posts by MMM, but I am currently watching the videos on his new YouTube channel. I manage to fit this in whilst jogging on my treadmill some mornings. It doesn’t feel so indulgent as just sitting reading does – at least that’s how I justify it. Exercise and education at the same time.
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