It's a myth that you don't work when you are retired.
True, I don't get paid for my work anymore, but I do work. I may not be sitting behind a desk working on tax returns, and I may not be getting a paycheck, but that doesn't mean I'm not working. Some days I'm a housekeeper, some days a gardener, and others, a housepainter. Most days Doug is a chef.
As a professional, I earned the luxury of paying someone to keep my house and garden looking spiffy. While I toiled at the office, someone else took care of the hard labor back at home. If we were too busy or tired to cook, we went out, brought in, or dialed delivery. We outsourced.
Now we handle these jobs in-house.
Do I enjoy housework? Not really. Gardening? Painting? Sometimes, although it certainly was nice to come home and just see the finished product of someone else's labor.
So why did I turn in the white collar for the blue one?
As I've written about before, to ditch the work world in your 40's, you need about 33 times your annual expenses in savings to safely get you through your golden years. We used to pay about $5,000 a year outsourcing the hard labor when I was still working for money. If I wanted to continue outsourcing these tasks, I would have needed another $165,000 in savings to keep those people on my payroll.
I certainly could have worked a few years longer to keep my own hands from scrubbing the toilet. But here's the thing. On a fixed income, each dollar spent on one thing is a dollar not spent on another thing. I know how much I can safely spend each year without running the risk of outliving my money. But within that overall budget, I still get to decide what to spend each dollar on.
And the truth is, if I had a bigger nest egg, I still wouldn't spend it on paying someone else to dust and vaccuum. I'd rather go out for a few more meals each month. I'd rather use it for a few more weeks traveling each year. Or a few more evenings drinking a martini in a jazz club overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
A dollar not spent paying the housecleaner is a dollar more for me to spend on something I enjoy. Yes, that means I have to do a little more work, but in this job, I get to make my own hours, I don't have to commute, there are no office politics, and I don't have to answer to anyone but myself.
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But...all that hard work that you do allows you to eat extra pizza under the stars.... YEAH!
Posted by: Sara | March 11, 2010 at 07:20 PM
Yes, another silver lining!
Posted by: Retired Syd | March 11, 2010 at 08:05 PM
To me 'doing it all yourself' seems a small price to pay for being out of the rat race. Very much worth it
!
Jazz club? Is that Dizzys at Columbus Circle? Fantastic view, fantastic music. The perfect evening :-)
Posted by: Laura@move to portugal | March 11, 2010 at 11:30 PM
@Laura: Wow, you're good! Dizzy's is exactly the one I was picturing--my favorite!
Posted by: Retired Syd | March 12, 2010 at 08:41 AM
@Syd my Mum is a mad Jazz fan and has taken me to nearly all the clubs in NY; Dizzy's is my favorite too :-)
Posted by: laura | March 12, 2010 at 12:10 PM
your right i was going to get replacement window last year but i got some paint and window glaze and did it myself. with heat gun and scraper and a few weeks of work it came out good. my cost about 200.00 dollars vs. 4000.00 dollars. it all adds up and what the hell i had the time.
Posted by: fred doe | March 20, 2010 at 05:14 PM
Love your posts! I tell folks I'd go down to one meal a day before I'd go back to work!! Having my life back is well-worth any choices I have to make.
Posted by: Mary | March 28, 2010 at 08:02 AM
@Mary: I love that! And it would certainly help with those extra pounds I've been trying to get rid of!
Posted by: Retired Syd | March 28, 2010 at 08:07 AM