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Preparing for an Active Retirement

September 1, 2020 by Angie

preparing for an active retirement

Maybe you anticipated retirement every morning when the alarm went off at 6:30 am. Or, maybe you’re reaching the age where retirement enters the planning horizon brought on by letters from AARP and Social Security with updates on your retirement account. Whatever the reason, the time is now to begin preparing for an active retirement. Looking at the image above, you see Pearl’s vision of retirement isn’t all that active.

So, let’s think about how to prepare for an active retirement. First, let’s think about how life changes with retirement:

  • You lose your income and, if retiring before 65, you lose your insurance
  • You no longer have something taking up 40-60 hours/ week
  • Family shrunk to just you and maybe a spouse
  • The family home might be too large now
  • Regardless of your current situation, health declines are inevitable

Preparing for an active retirement

Financial needs

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), much is written about preparing for an active retirement, but focuses almost exclusively on financial planning.

The focus on financial needs post-retirement probably comes from the wealth management industry of brokers and advisors who rely on you for their living. The more you save for retirement, the more commissions they make, and, while it might seem enticing to retire with $1 million or more in your 401K, you don’t really need that much. Especially when you consider that life expectancy beyond age 65 averages only about 15 years, although life expectancy may be as little as 18 months for some professions. And, don’t forget that many seniors have substantial equity in their homes, adding to their retirement nest egg.

Certainly, financial planning is important when you retire, but it’s not the MOST important thing.

Boredom, loneliness

A bigger issue in preparing for an active retirement is figuring out what to do with all the extra hours in a day. Think about it — you got up early for decades, went to work often surrounded by colleagues, and raised families. Only to retire with little to do with all the hours stretching in front of you. Without careful planning, you likely face a future of boredom and loneliness.

My aunt complains of boredom and laments giving up her job, even though she worked well after 65 until bad knees made it impossible to be on her feet so much. She lives in the same community and has family in the area, but everyone has their own life, so she spends most of her days surrounded by her cats, and the television kept on for noise.

To avoid boredom and loneliness now is the time to plan for activities to fill your days.

  • Learn a hobby, especially one that involves other people, such as golf or bridge.
  • President Jimmy Carter

    Image courtesy of Habitat for Humanity

  • Begin volunteering somewhere you can make a difference. Look at former President Carter who still builds homes for Habitat for Humanity well into his 90’s. Schools always need folks to help with reading or other activities.
  • Check out the local senior center for activities. Many allow you to join before you’re retired
  • Think about transitioning to retirement by working part-time or less for your existing employer or in a similar field

Family

Your family likely is on their own now. And, as time goes by, you’ll lose your spouse. For many years the needs of your family filled your days, taking kids to soccer practice, going to school plays, meeting other moms at kid’s functions …

Now, all that’s gone.

So, how to fill that void. Folks like my neighbor fill their time babysitting their grandkids, something that works out well for their kids and them. However, as you age, keeping up with kids’ demands may challenge your strength and calm. So, think about ways you can stay active in the lives of your family. For instance, a friend reads bedtime stories to her grandkids every day via Facetime (an app on her iPhone).

Downsizing

Nows the time to think about downsizing your home. Maybe before you sell your home, think about getting rid of big, bulky furniture and things you never use. After all, you won’t be cooking and serving meals for a crowd anymore. Give unneeded objects away to charity or to help furnish your children’s homes. I’m sure they’ll appreciate whatever you don’t need.

You likely have many sentimental objects taking up space. Think of creative ways to save the memories without the bulk. For instance,

  • Turn a beloved children’s blanket into a square on a new blanket filled with other cloth memories, like a piece of a stuffed animal your child slept with every night.
  • Organize photos, and eliminate some less important ones. Do you really need 30 photos of your child’s graduation? Then, transfer them to digital format.
  • Donate books to a second-hand shop or a library. You’ll never re-read most of them anyway. Besides, reading from an e-reader allows you to enlarge the print for easy reading, thus containing 1000s of books in a compact form.
  • Knick knacks accumulate dust and clutter up your home. Get rid of them.

Stay healthy

The time is now to ensure you have a healthy retirement. Get enough sleep, drink a lot of water, and do something active every day, even if it’s only taking a walk. That’s where Pearl is a big part of my retirement planning. Every day we walk, getting in our 10,000 steps around the neighborhood or exploring trails in the area. Increasingly, communities plan for these low-impact spaces great for walking without all the hills that make hiking difficult. The more active you are now, the more active your future retirement.

OK, enough for today. Enjoy your day.

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Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: active retirement, downsizing, family, volunteering

My Sunday at Home: Changing a Faucet

July 13, 2020 by Angie

I bought a new home recently. It’s a lovely home but its not MY home because it looks like someone else’s home. I don’t have much money or time right now, so I decided to start small with making changes. So, on Sunday, I decided that changing a faucet in the kitchen was a fast and easy update.

There are some great videos on YouTube if you want a step by step tutorial. It’s really not that hard and anyone can do it, so don’t be intimidated. Be sure to use safety glasses, gloves, and other equipment necessary to protect your eyes and hands before starting any project.  I find gloves with a rubber palm help maintain your grip on things and are especially valuable when working with things like hoses that might get wet. They also protect my manicure.

Changing a faucet

Choosing the faucet

new faucetBefore you get started, pick out the style of faucet you want. Since I like modern (and the previous owners wanted colonial), I chose one that was all once piece with the sprayer attached to the faucet and a wide arch over the sink. The picture shows the finished product after installation, so you know I really did it.

A few tips here, ones I learned the hard way. Don’t go cheap on materials for your home. After all, you’re saving a bunch by doing the work yourself, so invest in quality products that’ll last and add value to your home, while making your life easier. I chose one from Delta, but any name-brand product works.

Not only does a name-brand product last longer, but they’re also often easier to install.

I bought mine online from Amazon, but recognize any DIY project requires a minimum of 3 trips to the hardware store, no matter how well you plan

Assemble your tools

prep your projectAny project goes better if you gather everything you think you’ll need before you get started on the project. I always unpack everything that came with the product, including the instructions, and gather all the tools recommended. I always find I need more things as I go through a project, so you often run to and from the garage a few times, in addition to stopping to hit the hardware store, since every project seems to run into problems somewhere along the way.

I usually plan my second trip to the hardware store after reading the instruction manual (notice that nobody can read the manual as the font is too small. I take a pic with my phone then enlarge it so I can read) and unpacking everything, as I seem to always find something else I need.

Once you have everything at your fingertips, you’re ready to start your project. Always assume it takes about 3X longer than you think it will to allow yourself enough time to finish. After all, the last thing you want is to go through the week without a kitchen faucet because you didn’t finish.

Remove the old faucet

I always find removing the old is much more challenging than installing the new. Inevitably, you find the previous homeowner attacked problems without any idea of how to do them and ended up Frankensteining the project. When replacing the vinyl flooring in my previous house we discovered the owners had used a cement-like material rather than the recommended glue. There’s no way that mess was coming up so we had to install a new floor as a base for the new tile. Double the work, but it looked great.

the cabinet bottom

Be sure to turn off the water before you start or you’ll have a mess on your hands. You can’t see it well in this picture, but kitchen faucets usually have turn-off knobs on each water pipe (they’re hidden behind the white PVC drainpipe in this picture).

In this case, changing a faucet involved banging away years of corrosion on the existing faucet parts. I realized my decision to change the faucet saved a huge expense down the road when the whole assembly failed. In fact, the cabinet bottom showed a significant water spill at some point so adding a new bottom is my next project (LOL).

Crawling under a cabinet and working on your back isn’t pleasant. I used an old pillow to cushion my back and raise my arms so I could reach the attachment points for the faucet. Also, have some towels handy as you always have a few drips.

Install the new faucet

Well, here’s when I ran into my major snag — the hole in the sink wasn’t big enough for my new faucet. You see, modern faucets come with all the plumbing pre-installed, which makes installation much easier. The downside is that all those hoses, as well as the stem used to fasten the faucet to the underside of your sink so it doesn’t wobble when in use, must fit through the hole drilled into your counter. You don’t want to force things through or you might damage a hose and water will leak every time you use your new faucet.

second trip to LowesThat means I had to make the hole bigger, which involved the 3rd trip to Lowes. I’m doing the double mask thing at Lowes because we recently got back from NC and I didn’t want to transmit the virus if I’d picked it up in an area with higher infection rates than where I am in VA.

I bought a new tool that attaches to my drill. Expensive at $42 but that’s the other reality about changing a faucet or any other DIY project is that it always costs more than originally thought. You have to build that into your project along with the extra time it always takes to finish.

The bigger problem is that me and power tools have a checkered history. I once cut off the tip of my finger while trimming hedges and broke my thumb when the wood I was cutting with my miter saw kicked back. Every time I use anything more than a power screwdriver I expect a trip to the emergency room in my future, so cutting anything scares me to death.

Once I had the hole big enough, it was a simple matter to fasten the faucet (which is a 2-person job with one above holding the faucet in place and the other below tightening everything up). The water connections are super easy and didn’t even need the Teflon tape to ensure a tight connection. Keep the towels handy in case something leaks a little when you turn the water back on.

Final steps

Turn on the water and ensure you don’t have any drips. If so, tighten everything down until you’re good. Then, flush our the new hoses and faucet with several gallons of water to ensure the water’s safe.

 

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Filed Under: DIY

I'm a woman of a certain age who never learned to sit down, shut up, or act my age. I created this community of women like me to share our stories. Reach out (contact form) to share your ideas or offer to write a story. Read More…

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