Tag Archives: Retirement Hobbies

Making Your Garden the Perfect Place to Relax in Retirement

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The act of spending time in a garden has the power to decrease an individual’s risk of developing dementia, reduce stress and anxiety, increase vitamin D levels, and provide a source of aerobic exercise (when actively gardening). If you’ve decided to retire, and are still on the lookout for meaningful new hobbies, gardening could be exactly what you are in search of. In addition to planting flowers and produce, and providing daily care to your plants, your garden can serve as a wonderful spot to nap, read a book, and to entertain guests. Learn more about some of the best ways to make your the perfect place, a garden to relax in retirement.

Making Your Garden the Perfect Place to Relax in Retirement

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How To Have A Garden to Relax in Retirement

Create a comfortable and purposeful patio area

Of nearly any area in or outside of the home, patios often have the most unrealized potential and the easy choice when trying to create a garden to relax in retirement. Even if you have a relatively small patio space, you can quickly and easily turn a boring outdoor space into a stunning retreat. To do this, first decide how you would like to use your patio. Do you only want it to be reserved for time alone, or time with your family? Will your pets join you on the patio regularly? Do you want to host frequent dinner parties outside?

When you’ve established the various uses of this space, you can make the best choices for adding furniture, decorative elements, and functional features. For example, if you know that your patio gets a lot of sun, but you want to spend time entertaining or relaxing, the use of retractable awnings can provide much-needed shade and protection from experiencing an interrupting rain event.

Other low cost alternatives like shade sails or patio umbrellas paired with patio lights can add both atmosphere and shade. Considering the needs of yourself, your family, and your guests in advance (such as keeping out of the sun) can guide you toward making the best choices for your patio design. 

Use your garden for learning

In addition to creating a relaxing and functional patio area, it is also beneficial to maximize the use of your actual garden as well. As mentioned earlier, engaging with your garden carries with it tremendous health advantages. On top of these benefits, you can transform your garden into a daily learning opportunity. Whether you’re an advanced gardener or a complete novice, there is always something new to learn about nature. 

Set goals for yourself, such as learning how to care for specific crops, or learning about the care of plants and flowers that you are not yet familiar with. Stretch yourself beyond the patio to learn about garden water features like ponds and fountains. If you have an interest, learn how garden lighting and water pumps can utilize solar powered options. 

Let your curiosity take you places you may not have considered before. Who knows, you might end up joining the needed and growing number of honey bee advocates in your garden plan’s pest control decisions and plant selection. 

Establish your educational goals on a monthly basis (or on a schedule that works well for you), and track what you’ve learned throughout the year. Then, by the time the next year rolls around, you can review every new skill and fact that you’ve learned thanks to your home garden.

Add plants and flowers that appeal to you

It’s important to recognize that creating a beautiful garden environment is highly subjective. The plants featured in a popular home and garden magazine may not match with your home’s style and/or your own personal preferences. When choosing the plants and flowers that will adorn your gorgeous outdoor oasis, select only those that you most enjoy. 

Since you will be the one who spends the most time in your patio/garden space, fill it with the plants that appeal to your sense of beauty. But don’t lose track of what is native or survivable in your climate. The key motivation is creating a perfect place to relax in retirement. Avoid over-tasking yourself in labor and/or resources trying to force beautiful but unsuitable plants to thrive.

 

Whether you desire a retirement full of activity or rest, your patio/garden area can provide both. By establishing your goals and desires for the space, and making it suit your needs, you can make the most out of this often underutilized outdoor area.

The Retirement Mortality Creep Made Me Do It, What A Nag

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Having enjoyed nearly 12 years of early retirement freedom, I understand what got me here and what’s necessary. I’m now in my early 60s and consider myself fully experienced in retirement or at least my version of retirement. I would think by now that I could peacefully go through retirement without being constantly nagged that I’m blowing it, but nooooooo!  I’m instead constantly battling with the retirement mortality creep. A two faced and unrelenting little monster that has creeped into my thought process and is always hanging around. 

I know why it’s there. Choosing to retire early funded from a less than obese portfolio comes with the paradox. Wanting to live a full and free life taking full advantage of time left here. But also not doing anything stupid that would cause blowing through the nest egg before leaving the planet. Is it possible to both love and hate this nagging creep?  

The Retirement Mortality Creep Made Me Do It, What A Nag

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Trying To Find Balance With The Retirement Mortality Creep

I’ve always told myself that life’s too short to waste on doing things you don’t want to do or live a life you don’t want to live. It was a keystone motivation to ditch the corporate rat race and strive for early retirement.

That awareness of having finite time was a primary motivation to get out while young is most likely when the morality creep was introduced. It was a love fest then because it was helping me meet my financial goals. The focus was all on working to save enough to fund life’s adventures before it’s too late to enjoy them. But time and mortality is a difficult concept to mentally quantify and reconcile. 

The thought of our own mortality is one thing when you’re young, healthy, and looking at it as 30 or 40 years plus out. It’s another after you start to feel the aches and pains that a lifetime of sports, bumps, bruises, and abuse your body is coming to collect on. It starts with hints of pain specifically designed to be our daily reminder that things are a changin. There’s a Liberty Mutual TV ad of kids skipping rope into old age with the final quip “everything hurts”. It’s only funny because of how true it is. That reality is exactly what the retirement mortality creep feeds on, just when our health and mortality all comes into better focus. 

Our brain either openly or subconsciously pays attention and figures it out. 

That’s the retirement mortality creep that can throw us off plan. When we start to think and act with the view of everything within an ever compressing timeframe of health and life, or for some maybe thinking it’s a lot longer than it really is. It can cause us to impulsively change our plan or how we want to live. Part of the problem is that this little creep which was a key motivator to have a happy fully funded retirement now talks out of both sides of its mouth. 

My most recent temptation and failure to handle the mortality creep –

Our coming together was unplanned and sudden. Without any doubt, she gave all the signals that I could have her if I wanted her. She was curvaceous and sexy, making me feel younger the minute I was in her presence. I felt something I hadn’t felt since my youth. I knew I entered into a minefield, but the nag of the retirement mortality creep screamed at me, life is short, when will you ever have this chance again? 

It convinced me to allow things to go too far. I was smitten and willing to kick a decades-long love to the curb to make room for her in my life. Throwing it all away to start a new chapter. One that I knew wouldn’t last long. 

She was a beautiful early 70s Corvette Stingray. The car of my teenage year’s dreams and what could be a new addition to my retirement’s automotive passions. The price was right and her condition was spot on. I test drove her and after an hour of checking her every inch, pacing a circle around her, and enduring the mental anguish listening to the voice of my mortality temptor in my ear, I came as close as one could to make her mine. I agreed to buy her but then painfully backed away from the deal. Why? Because the creep abruptly changed its tune and started loudly wondering if the hit to cash reserves might be bigger than expected. 

I checked back later as I questioned my decision. Within 3 hours she had gone home to be with another, ensuring there would be no decision backslide. A month later and I’m still not sure if it was a missed opportunity or successful rescue.

I was shaken and then realized what had happened to me. 

There wasn’t time to fully prepare for this deal. I started to rationalize a one time retirement budget-busting purchase on something that made no financial sense, but one that would add some welcomed passion into my retirement hobby. All because it dropped out of nowhere without time to completely think it through. The mortality creep convinced me that I deserved to have it while I’m still able to enjoy it. Or at least my idea of it, because it’s too easy to only see the upside when in this mortality mind-mode. 

That is until the creep changed course, forgetting all about pushing to take advantage because it’s a short life and living it up. Now this nag was focusing on the considerable ancillary costs associated with this, as is with most things in life. It was warning me that even though I have the cash to get it, maybe I’m spending money I’ll need much later in life to aid an older, broken down me.

I was mentally rushed during this decision because I knew the opportunity for her and my healthy active life were both fleeting. A bad combination when not prepared to do battle with the retirement mortality creep. It made me see how this slow unconscious reaction to the realization of leveraging my limited time to the fullest vs the chance of living a lot longer needing me to throttle myself now. One thing I certainly now understand, this creep sure cramps my mojo.

Mortality awareness can unnecessarily drive us to both take and avoid risk.

I wrote recently how I have been dealing with a spending problem. The problem of good savers being lousy retirement spenders. I even pledged to do better with YOLO opportunities before it’s too late. Even with that spending issue already mentally recognized, it still subconsciously played a part in how my latest fail went down. It shows me that it isn’t easy and takes more effort. 

It’s a mindwarp of mixed messages. 

  • Don’t spend too much because you or your spouse might live to age 100 and outlive your money. 
  • Don’t be a miser and miss out on living. Time is spent and can’t be bought back. 

I have no problems living a frugal life for all the day to day and little things. I’ve never struggled or regret any of that. The problem is when I really want to take rare opportunities to live large and make a big one-time purchase that bounces off of an overall portfolio strategy. Giving voice to the other side, you might need it as an old human. 

What This Latest Go Around With The Creep Has Taught Me

I think this latest battle between living life to the fullest vs being responsible with spending at all costs is that I tend to lean toward the safest route. Sure, I want to be the adventurous fun seeking freak, but it is hard for me to jump in without first thoroughly testing the waters. 

I need to remind myself of this Tony Robbins quote: “People will do more to avoid pain than they will do to gain pleasure.”  Just a little something to throw back at the creep and counter my safer route tendencies.

It’s easy to say embrace life. But even when knowing that life and health are fleeting, responsibility and respect for unknown possibilities can cause us to flinch. I wish I knew the answer or formula to balancing the retirement mortality creep’s mixed messaging. Especially for those like myself that tend to lean towards always taking the safe and risk averse approach. I think we all have to work that out for ourselves. But I am going to start by asking myself a couple of things.

Is it following a true interest or passion?

There is value in spending our limited time pursuing our interests and passions. Doing things that make us tick, even when it might cost us a little financially. The criteria it must meet is that It’s something that will bring pleasure into life.

Will it provide a great experience and worthwhile memories without causing long-term financial damage?

In the end it’s our pleasurable memories we appreciate. They keep us going and remind us we are alive. The dream car could have certainly done that for me. The trick is doing all that we can to make sure it isn’t a nightmare scenario we’re entering into. One that spends too much money or time in areas we can’t or wish to no longer tolerate. 

Can it be considered an investment? 

Not purely financially, but personally through the experience. Taking the family on a vacation could be viewed as an investment in the relationships. One time purchases like my recent car fail, I would have invested in myself and scratched an itch that occupies space on the bucket list. It could have added some fun to my retirement hobby. The car may or may not be a financial investment. But it would never be a total loss if later sold and well worth the experience.  

Is there a practical exit strategy if it goes wrong?

I made a living as an engineer countering all possible failure scenarios. This kind of thing shouldn’t be any different. If I were to enter into a situation where it later didn’t meet retirement financial, lifestyle, and passion needs, then I need to have set those exit indicators and have a plan to fix or walk away from it. 

 

Will I ever lose out to the retirement mortality creep in the future? Probably. I am as mistake prone as anyone else and can take the wrong creep argument for or against doing something new or different. I just need to learn something from it with every encounter. 

Deciding to stretch and explore new areas to live life to fullest during our ever shortening time frame means there will always be unknowns. But you won’t know for sure until you research and try. Turning dreams into reality is always an exciting and sometimes risky move. Like deciding to retire early. Which sure has been a successful investment in life’s precious and limited time. 

Hobbies That Can Make Some Extra Cash After Retirement

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This informative post was contributed to Leisure Freak by freelance writer Sierra Powell. 

Some hobbies are more challenging than others. If you are looking to use your hobbies to bring in some extra cash once you’ve retired, you need to be sure that the field that you are interested in can offer you an excellent opportunity. Some fields will be better than others. You should always consider what your interests are before pursuing that hobby. Hobbies can be a great way to pursue your interests and can potentially be turned into a steady income.

Hobbies That Can Make Some Extra Cash After Retirement

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Writing

If you are interested in turning your hobbies into a cold, hard cash, you should think about trying to become a freelance writer. Freelance writers work in different fields, such as advertising, public relations, sales, and design. This is a great job that is full of creativity and offers you an array of options to choose from.

If you have a personal blog, you love to write short stories, or you are constantly journaling your ideas, you should look into developing your hobby into something more. Freelance writing can be a great source of income and it can also be a very diverse way to utilize your love of writing. 

You can also turn your personal blog into some type of revenue source. Especially if you can find good sponsors and things to advertise.  

Videography

Videography is one of the fastest-growing and most rewarding hobbies on the internet. There are a number of ways to pursue it: as a hobby or career, starting from scratch and becoming an experienced videographer, or joining up with an existing company that is looking for videographers for a service or product to be marketed to the public.

Videography is a booming business and if you already enjoy it, it would be a great move to enhance your skill and start searching for clients. 

Once you have decided exactly what marketable services you have to offer in the world of videography, you can now create a marketing plan or marketing strategy. The kind of marketing plan that you use will depend on the amount of money that you are willing to invest in it. 

There are tons of free online resources that can help you towards your goal of becoming a well sought after videographer. When it comes to editing and filming your clients, you can utilize the internet to your advantage. You can search for terms like “best editing software” or “the best video cutter” and see what comes up! 

Photography

When you start out on your career in photography, you can start making your own portfolio. You can do this in many ways. You can create a photo book for yourself and then you can display it to your friends and family as a memento of your hard work. You can also publish it on the Internet and give people a chance to browse through the photos you have taken. This will allow you to get more exposure to the market, and you will also increase the number of clients who come to hire you.

If you want to make your photography into a profitable business, you can use the internet to help you create a website for your photography services. You can use this website to sell your photography services and get a better ranking among the search engines. By making your own website, you will be able to get more exposure for your photos and get more clients who may pay you better. 

Art

If you are already artistically inclined and enjoy creating art, you can easily turn that hobby into a side-gig. You can create an Etsy shop, sell to friends, or look into selling at trade shows! 

One thing that is recommended is to invest in the right tools. Some of them can be expensive, but if you really want to make it happen, then invest. You could use them in the long run for making sales at your booth at a trade show. It would be fun, interesting, and could get you some recognition. Why not give it a try!

 

No matter what your hobby is, there is a niche out there for you. When you combine your love for something, creativity, and talent, you can create a profitable business for yourself and provide others with the chance to recognize your skills. 

Thank you Sierra for contributing this article to Leisure Freak. One of the best aspects of retirement is having time to pursue interests and passions. Being able to bring in extra cash doing it with a hobby is icing on the cake.

freelance writer Sierra PowellAuthor Bio: Sierra Powell graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a major in Mass Communications and a minor in Writing. When she’s not writing, she loves to cook, sew, and go hiking with her dogs.

Managing The Shifting Sands Of Retirement Passions

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There Will Be More Changes Than You Think –

Coming up on retirement or recently retired? Think you’ve planned out and locked-down your retirement lifestyle for the years ahead? Not so fast pal. All those things you think you will spend your retirement doing will most likely change if not end. They are part of the shifting sands of retirement passions. Don’t sweat it. What we do in retirement evolves as our passions zigzag and change. It happens to most of us. But the key to enjoying this ride instead of lamenting a hole in our lifestyle lies in picking up some good retirement habits and ditching some bad ones.

Managing The Shifting Sands Of Retirement Passions

Photo by Fabien Bazanegue on Unsplash

Managing Retirement Passions For Inevitable Change

Planning Our New Retirement Lifestyle Based on Today’s Passions

We all know the importance of retiring to something and that includes our passionate pursuits. They include all the hobbies, sports, travel, and having a robust social life. In my case it also included some working pursuits.

They are the things we love doing, so why wouldn’t we believe it’s exactly what we will do during our retirement life? We certainly should budget for them in both our time and money. It’s a prudent retirement plan assumption. But realistically, those planned interests may only stay with us for part of our retired life.

The reason our passions will shift is we can either settle into a less than hot romance with them or completely fall out of love. That’s right, romance and love. Seems that things we love doing when we were under rat race schedules and obligations can lose steam once we retire and have all the time we want with them. Oh, it’s still hot and heavy initially in retirement. But I can tell you as time goes by, interest can wane on some of our retirement passions as our retirement lifestyle matures. I have seen this happen to me and with others. It is a normal progression for most people, one that we don’t initially think about or plan for in our retirement.

How We Should See Our Retirement Passions

Strike when it’s hot, set it aside when it’s not. Don’t worry about shifting retirement passions because if we are diligent then other things will either replace or push for its evolution. Sometimes what we enjoy and are passionate about today will open the door later on for something we consider better. In my case I followed many passions early in my retirement years that I no longer care to pursue. Others have cooled but are still enjoyed. I now even find myself pursuing interests that weren’t on my retirement radar years ago. In any case, when retirement passions fun hot, lean into them. Don’t be afraid to display your passions and interests either.

The Retirement Habits to Ditch
Rigid to a fault –

It’s common to plan on doing something you love to do throughout your retirement and sometimes with heavy frequency. But it’s like the old joke: Patient- Hey Dr., it hurts when I do this. Dr.- Then stop doing that.

The same goes for our retirement passions. When it hurts or stops being enjoyable, stop doing it or at least less frequently until the passion killing issue is worked out, one way or another.

Comfort zone ruts –

When we no longer are told what to do anymore or have to compete we can go overboard avoiding anything challenging. Retirement can have us wanting everything to be under our full control and easy. This can lead to boredom with anything we enjoyed doing.

Overdoing it –

The other end of human behavior is jumping into a passion like it’s a sprint when it should be a marathon. Nothing kills a retirement passion like becoming tired of it and burned out because of going overboard. It can turn into a unrewarding obligation and burden. Not to mention the possibility of physical injury overdoing active pursuits.

The Retirement Habits to Cultivate
Use moderation to save waning passionate retirement pursuits –

Learn to recognize that a change is necessary before it dies. If it’s something important in your retirement and lifestyle then figure out what needs to be done by pulling back on an overboard pursuit.

Spice things up –

Learn to recognize signs that you are in a rut. Spicing up a too comfortable and easy pursuit will keep it interesting and enjoyable.

Staying curious –

There are always different ways that things are done. Allow yourself to wonder what you could do differently to improve a pursuit. Also stay open to new pursuits and challenges that may appeal to you. Be curious to identify, fully investigate, and research new interests. Exploring different ideas and activities can be an enjoyable pursuit in itself.

Be open to new things, but also be able to say no –  

Balance sticking to things to explore it to the fullest. We all know we can do poorly at first with something new and it requires time to find out if it will become a valued pursuit. But stop once you’ve lost your romance with the challenges of a new pursuit or the passionate interest itself. It’s OK to say it’s not your thing and just move onto something else that will be.

Migrate toward family, friends, and community –

When in doubt, follow what’s natural. There are folks who have nothing they are passionate about doing. Others burn through what the thought they would enjoy doing throughout their retirement and found later that they no longer do. They have no idea how to fill the void that’s left. Passions can be found in simple interaction with those we care about. Volunteering, family activities, and cultivating a good social circle are naturally needed, enjoyable, fulfilling, and rewarding pursuits.

 

With over 9 years of retirement behind me, I have seen some of my passions run their course, change, or be replaced with new ones. There are necessary considerations for any retiree to mentally and financially manage as time passes and our retirement passions evolve.  

Writing In Retirement: How To Prepare For Success

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Writing In Retirement: How To Prepare For Success

Image credit: Pexels

Retiring early and living a passion-driven lifestyle is everyone’s dream, isn’t it?

And the wonderful thing is, it’s not an unachievable goal either. It’s possible to gear yourself up for early retirement by thinking creatively, living frugally, and coming up with a solid pension plan.

 

There are also some solid options available for making money post-retirement too — such as writing. If you’re relatively creative and enjoy writing — whatever the subject — then you may have just found a fun way to keep yourself occupied at home while generating a bit of income.

 

In this post, we’ll be covering writing in retirement, and how you can prepare to ensure some level of success. Read on to find out more.

Start with a blog

Starting your own blog is one of the easiest ways you can experiment with your writing style and your topics. If you really enjoy writing, you might want to go onto something else after.

 

Creating a blog might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be at all. These days, there are all sorts of “drag and drop” website builders that will let you create a blog easily without the need for any in-depth knowledge of website-building or coding. Plus, there’s plenty of help available online in the form of guides and public forums.

 

So what are you going to base your blog on? The topic is up to you, but it’s normally a good idea to stick to something that you know plenty about. This could be food, traveling, the industry you spent your career working in, or maybe a hobby that you’ve dedicated lots of time to.

 

Once you’ve decided on your blog’s topic, you need to think about your written content. It’s not enough to write well; your blog posts need to be interesting and valuable to your audience. You need to reel in readers with catchy post titles and then keep them engaged with relevant, entertaining content.

 

You’ll also need to write frequently; this will draw more readers to your blog and create a larger audience. Luckily you’re retired, so at least you’ve got a bit of time to spend on this!

Write articles for local newspapers

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys collaborating with a team, working to deadlines and meeting new people, why don’t you start writing articles for local newspapers?

 

You may have to pitch some of your own ideas and writing skills to the editor to prove that you’ve got something to offer, but it’s a good way to get involved in something you’re passionate about.

 

You may find that you have to write for free (at least initially) but conversely, you may get paid per article you write, depending on the publication.

 

Writing for a local newspaper (either digital or printed) also gives you exposure to a wider audience and might even generate some new job opportunities for you. Plus, it’s a nice way to get out of the house and meet new people for the pieces you’re writing.

Self-publish a book on Amazon

You’re retired — now is the time to pen that novel that you’ve always wanted to write!

 

You might find writing a book intimidating initially, but it’s not the biggest leap to make if you’ve been keeping a blog or writing for a local newspaper.

 

Writing your own book and self-publishing is a good way to generate some retirement funds that keep on appearing long after you’ve written the book as people continue to buy it. But how do you publish your book once you’ve written it?

 

Enter Amazon self-publishing.

 

With the creation of Amazon Kindle publishing (KDP), publishing your novel no longer means having to send off hundreds of letters to publishing houses and receiving the same amount of rejection letters back. Self-publishing on Amazon is now easier than ever (though still a bit scary of course!) and far-reaching too — by using Amazon KDP, your work could reach a global audience.  

 

Whether it’s a fictional novel, short story, educational resource or how-to guide, writing a book is similar to writing a blog. Find a topic that you’re interested in and can write confidently on.

 

The audience you’ve gathered and the reputation you’ve built upon your blog will also stand you in good stead when you’re promoting and publishing your book. Your readership will help to support and promote your new venture, as well as purchase your novel based on your previous writing. It’s always good to have a team behind you.

Create a course

You’ve probably gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience in your specialist subject over the years. It seems like a shame to just shove all of that information into a mental compartment and lock it shut once you’ve retired.

 

If you fancy passing on your wisdom and learning to the next generation, then you should consider writing your own online course.

 

The course you create depends, of course, on where your knowledge lies. You could write a course on how to be successful in the industry you worked your way up. Or you could create a series of tutorials for more practical application, like DIY fixes. Maybe you’re a history buff — do a fun mini history course based on different periods. Get creative, and get personal — base the course on your unique skills and knowledge.

 

Once you have picked your topic, you can use an online course platform to build and launch your course. From there, you can promote the course, start charging students and making a nice little post-retirement bonus.

 

These are just some of the things you could do to write successfully in your retirement.

 

Writing in retirement can be a great way to give yourself purpose and add value to your post-work life. It also gives you the chance to share your knowledge and passion with others, express yourself, and make some money.

 

Follow these tips to start your journey to writing in retirement today.

This informative post was contributed to Leisure Freak by author Kayleigh Alexandra.

Kayleigh Alexandra is a content writer for Micro Startups — a site dedicated to giving through growth hacking. Visit the blog for your latest dose of startup, entrepreneur, and charity insights from top experts around the globe. Follow us on Twitter- getmicrostarted.

 

Do Your Retirement Plans Include A Passion For Gardening? Retirement Gardening Tips

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While I was a working stiff one of our hobbies was working in the yard and gardening. It was a welcome escape from a Tech job of sitting in front of a computer and talking on endless conference calls. It was something my wife and I would do together on weekends chatting and pulling weeds or picking the literal fruits of our labor. We both looked forward to spending our increased available time in retirement to feed our passion for gardening and living a healthy lifestyle. But over the years of our retirement we have learned a few things. Here’s some retirement gardening tips and our observations for anyone planning to retire and spending more time in their yard and garden.

Do Your Retirement Plans Include A Passion For Gardening? Retirement Gardening Tips

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Retirement Gardening Tips to Save Money

Having a lush green lawn and a large garden can be costly in both time and money. Many working people have weekly lawn care to trim and mow, raking leaves, trimming bushes. Then there are services for fertilizing the lawn, aerating, spraying and/or pruning fruit trees, and spraying around the house for invasive pests like spiders and beetles. Some of these may have an ongoing contract where they just show up, do it, then send you the bill. When all added up this can run into a lot of money spent to save you time. Time that may be available once you have retired.

Chances are you already have the mower, line trimmer and other tools already sitting in your garage. Buying a couple of tank sprayers, one for weeds and one for insects, and a fertilizer spreader is not very expensive. There are multiple sources online to provide advice on what types of things to use in your area. Not only do you save a considerable amount of money but you also have knowledge and control over what is sprayed in your environment.

If plants get sugar aphids, professional companies would spray chemical insecticide. The problem is it would also kill any ladybugs that may be feeding on them. The aphids can be easily killed if you want to take the time by spraying them off the leaves with high pressure water from the hose. Try to use natural ways to remove pests and lessen the introduction of harmful chemicals to yourself and beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs when you can.

Retirement Gardening Tips to Save Time

Once I retired our lifestyle gradually evolved and we chose to spend much of the summer in our 5th wheel on our lake property. That has pretty much doubled the yard work but cut our time in half to do it.

As for saving time there are things you can consider. As most people, we have automated home sprinklers. That alone still required hand watering certain areas of the yard and garden based on watering needs. So a few years before I retired  I expanded my old system. I had extra zones on the controller box so I separated zones for flower beds, garden and lawns because of their vastly different water requirements. That way I can water my flower beds and garden twice a day for just a few minutes. My lawn is set for longer but only every 3 or 4 days.

This not only conserves water and saves money but also saves time. No more dragging a hose to water-starved plants. Through experimentation I know in the hottest part of the summer just how much water to give my lawn so that it stays green and yet only grows enough that it needs mowing only every 10 to 14 days. I have gladly given up a weekly lawn mowing routine.

Retirement Gardening Tips For Travelers

If your retirement plans include summer travel you might want to consider planting bushes and perennials that bloom at different times and let them become established. They can keep color in your yard year round with minimal care and to the casual observer it will appear you are home. Adding bark mulch around can keep the soil moist. It then requires less water and slows the weeds, or at least make it easier to pull them. Our city has organic mulch and wood chips available at the landfill at very reasonable prices. We have found that between metered watering of our lawn for slower growth, use of mulch to reduce if not eliminate weeds, and strategic planting of flowering bushes, automatic porch light sensors, and light timers within the home, that our home looks occupied for our extended travels spent at the lake.

Planning Your Garden For Your Evolving Retirement Lifestyle

In the past we grew a large garden with many varieties of vegetables. Coming back from the lake to find 20 giant zucchini too big to eat was irritating. Instead of being happy with a bountiful harvest filling the kitchen it just looked like a huge amount of work. We now only plant as much as we plan on eating with the exception of tomatoes. We harvest and either blanch, peel and freeze for use throughout the year, or we can (jar) salsa, chili and pasta sauce.

When planning your garden, check for vegetables that are cheap at the local farmer’s markets or grocery stores. Let them grow it for you instead of wasting your time, money, and garden space. We love homemade pickles. We used to plant pickling cukes and have them mature 5 or 6 at a time and sit in the fridge until we get enough to can. Now when we see them on sale we buy enough to make a dozen quarts of pickles.

We have a small patch of our garden area dedicated to herbs, garlic, green onions, chives and leeks that will grow almost anywhere. We have parsley, sage, rosemary, and yes thyme, as well as oregano and arugula. In the summer we can get a big pot of basil that we harvest 3 or 4 times and use it fresh or freeze it.

Spending Less On Fruit

Another patch in a less visible spot that used to be garden we planted some raspberry and blackberry bushes. They aren’t especially pretty but they provide a steady supply of berries. We have a small peach tree and a dwarf plum. Neither of which require spraying in our area and only have to be pruned once a year. We enjoy the fresh fruit and also make jam with it.

We enjoy many other types of fresh fruit without having to grow them ourselves. That’s because we have neighbors that have apples and pears and we exchange fruit with them. Look around your neighborhood. Ask your friends and family about setting up a fruit exchange and optimize your fruit variety without increasing your spent time and money.

 

We have found that we can still enjoy our yard and get a bountiful harvest while spending a minimal amount of money on it and only as much time as we would like. These are but a few money and time-saving ideas to consider in your retirement gardening plans. Once retired and your retirement lifestyle becomes more clear, find ways to evolve your gardening passion to align with it.

This article of retirement gardening ideas and tips was written by friend and Leisure Freak reader Ralph Arnold who retired early 8 years ago while in his 40s.

Regardless of your age, there’s nothing better than getting outside, digging in the dirt, and working in the garden. For more gardening info see Gardening Resources for Seniors.

Create A Bright And Colorful Garden On A Budget

Budgeting, Do It Yourself, Early Retirement Lifestyle, Frugal Living, Passion, , ,

Do you dream of spending lazy afternoons in a beautiful, fresh and inviting garden now that you’ve retired early? Americans are spending more time than ever in their gardens, with 1 in 3 households now growing their own vegetables in their outside space. Spending time in the garden is a relaxing, peaceful and enjoyable pastime for many retirees and it’s a pure luxury to be able to put your feet up and enjoy your surroundings on a warm summer day. Entertaining family and friends in the confines of your garden is a perfect frugal activity for retirees, therefore creating a bright and atmospheric space while sticking to a budget is essential.

Create A Bright And Colorful Garden On A Budget

Photo by Marie-Sophie Tékian on Unsplash

Open up the garden

A simple tidy up and trim of the bushes can be all it takes to turn the garden from a cluttered, overgrown, unappealing mess to a spacious and attractive part of the home that you want to spend bundles of time in, and it doesn’t cost anything to have a bit of a spring clean. During the autumn, crisp leaves which have fallen to the ground will soon become a damp, soggy annoyance. Cleaning these up with a leaf blower will instantly make the garden appear bigger and, while it may be a bit of an investment, there are numerous alternative uses for a leaf blower which make them a good multi-functional tool worthy of the initial outlay.

Inject color

Colorful gardens are fun and bring a smile to your face when you step outside. Fences, planters and wooden pieces of furniture can be painted in an array of colors to instantly brighten the area. Opting for plants and shrubs in different colors, purchased from discount retailers, creates a lively atmosphere which anyone will enjoy relaxing in. While scattering pretty cushions on benches and chairs will make them comfortable and stylish. You can recycle old tin cans by painting and decorating them and filling them with beautiful low-cost plants, too. Or, get the grand-kids to transform the rocks at the bottom of the garden into animals and dot these around the lawn.

Bring the garden to life

Invite friends and family round for a get together and ask they all pitch in to spruce up the garden at the same time. This is a great cost saving method and way to get jobs completed swiftly, while enjoying time together. Someone can mow the lawn, while others trim the bushes and pot some new plants and all you’ll need to do is dish out some ice-cold drinks and pop a few burgers on the barbecue to keep everyone happy. It’s also worth asking your loved ones if they’ve got any old pieces of garden furniture in their sheds that they no longer want, or packets of seeds stashed away that they’re not going to use which you could recycle and put to good use in your own garden.

There is no need to spend a fortune on doing up the garden when there are so many ways to brighten and liven the space up for very little expense.

 

This timely spring-season related article is a contribution to Leisure Freak from freelance writer Jackie Edwards. Thanks Jackie!

Now working as a full-time freelance writer, Jackie Edwards is also a busy mum of two small children. In any free time she has (which isn’t much) she likes to volunteer and do charity work and take the family greyhound Bertie for long walks.

Planning Your Best Future Imaginable

Non-financial Aspects of retirement, Retirement Plan, ,

One of the most exciting things about getting older has to be planning for retirement. It’s no use saving up without any idea on how you want to spend those precious years of your life. You don’t want to shoot too low either. Why would you say you wanted to go on one vacation a year, if you’d like your whole retirement to be a vacation?

 

Here are some tips that will help you to begin planning your best future imaginable:

Picture Yourself Without Limitations

To get an idea of where you really want to be in the future, you need to picture it, without any of the limitations you may have now. For example, you might want to sail in your own private boat or cruise the country in a sports car. But you fail to even entertain that idea because you feel money will be an issue, or you just won’t be able to for whatever reason. The old saying, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’ really stands here. If you want something enough, you can have it. You can find numerous ways to achieve what you want, but you first have to believe that it is achievable. No ifs, no buts, no coconuts! Start dreaming wildly and putting together a picture of what your future will look like in an ideal world. No limitations. Go!

 

Come Up With Ideas

Now that you know what you really want your future to look like, come up with ideas. Sure, you might be used to a fancy lifestyle with a nice expensive car or house now, but if you could downgrade your car or downsize your house and cut back on spending to achieve your dream future, wouldn’t you rather do that? Know the numbers you’ll need to achieve what you really want. Do the calculations. Now, start working out how you can put more money away.

It’s a smart idea to figure out how you can continue making money once your retirement has taken place too. That way you don’t have to just rely on what you’ve earned and saved from your career. Do your research and be smart – the internet has a plethora of free information out there, as well as affordable courses you can take to help you earn money online, from anywhere in the world. For example, you could sell things on Amazon without having to lift a finger once you’re set up, and make a decent living out of it. Retirement is the perfect time to reinvent yourself and pursue any opportunities you are passionate about. All you have to do is be prepared to teach yourself something new. Anything is possible!

Do The Sensible Stuff

While you should dream big and come up with smart ideas to help you to earn more money, you need to make sure you do the sensible stuff too. Besides using a reasonable savings withdrawal rate and planning for possible long-term care in your old age, also look into life insurance for seniors over 70 if you have people who would struggle without you, should something happen. Would you want your spouse/children to be lumbered with things like funeral expenses as well as the sadness of losing you? Probably not! Planning for the future in the best way possible means taking care of those you love too. Don’t forget it.

Your future can be brighter than you think!

Leisure Freak’s Three Year Anniversary

Non-financial Aspects of retirement

This month marks Leisure Freak’s Three Year Anniversary. It has been a wonderful ride, full of fun and discovery. I look back and have to laugh at how naive I was about creating and running an Early Retirement website/blog. I didn’t even know what blogs were when I started. Today Leisure Freak has 89 static pages and 161 posts (counting this one). Not bad for a leisure freak who set out to learn about how all of this interweb stuff works through doing it. 

Leisure Freak Goals-

Primarily I want to help others in their financial independence early retirement journey be successful. There are some real mind-effs that come with retirement and I try to cover them on Leisure Freak. From retirement fear and making the work to retirement transition. To looking beyond finances when it comes to paying yourself first and retiring well. I think that if anything else that is where this website shines.

Leisure Freak isn’t just information based on financial theory or long-held traditional retirement beliefs. It has basis in real life early retirement experiences.

My goal is to continue along those lines by including the often missed non-financial aspects of retirement.

Leisure Freak’s Three Year Anniversary Marks Some Recognition & Mentions

I have been honored lately with a couple of recognitions and noteworthy mentions. I don’t go out to promote my Leisure Freak Tommy persona or the Leisure Freak site because I am just too busy in my early retirement for that. I’m sure if I did, LeisureFreak.com would have a larger following. But this was never meant to be an all-encompassing endeavor. It is something I started so I could learn from it and have some fun at the same time. This year (2017) has brought the following:

Leisure Freak’s Three Year AnniversaryFeedspot selected/awarded Leisure Freak to be in their top 20 early retirement blogs.

Self Directed Retirement Plans – I was invited to answer some retirement based financial questions and be part of their 78 Retirement and Financial Planning Tips from 26 Financial Experts.

Rockstar Finance- Leisure Freak is part of their “Best Blogs” list. Rockstar blog directory: Category- Early Retirement

Freedom is Groovy, Make Wealth Not Debt- I was included in their Early Retirement Highs and Lows: Eight Top Bloggers Weigh In post. It was an interesting reflection and I enjoyed sending in my thoughts.

Thank you all. I appreciate it.

Plans for Leisure Freak’s 4th Year

My plans for this next year are fairly simple and more of a continuation of what I have been doing:

  • Try to at least write a couple of new posts each month.
  • Grow my followers.
  • Expand the Leisure Freak brand within the limits of my interests and fun equation.  

For me personally,

I WILL stay curious and continue researching everything finance so I can share anything new with my readers.

I WILL also continue visiting my favorite financial independence and early retirement (FIRE) sites/blogs. There is so much to learn and things are always changing.

Most importantly I WILL stay true to what I value most.
  • Financial Independence and freedom to live life on my terms.
  • Living a Passion-Drive Life. Always being open to paid opportunities of interests and passions.
  • Simple Living / Frugal Living by valuing what is truly important in life. I assure you it isn’t about stuff.

I guess that just about does it.

Thank You

Thanks to all of Leisure Freak’s readers and followers. I appreciate all of your page views and comments.

My early retirement and the Leisure Freak site has been an awesome adventure. I am happily looking forward to see what year 4 brings.

Dealing With The Dreaded Question, “What Will You Do When You Retire?”

Early Retirement Lifestyle, Non-financial Aspects of retirement, , ,

It’s always great when you finally get to the point where you can stop work and just do what you want. But after a lifetime of work, it can sometimes be a bit tricky to know what to do. What’s more, you’re constantly barraged with questions about what you are going to do by friends and family. If you don’t have a plan, it can feel a little uncomfortable.

Here, we’re going to look at how to deal with the question “what will you do when you retire?” Let’s take a look at what you can get up to.

What Will You Do When You Retire?Flickr

What Will You Do When You Retire?

Volunteer

When retirement arrives, you’re suddenly able to give more of your time to your community and good causes. There’s plenty of things that you can do. You can help out at the local library, you can mentor children, or you can join a charity. Think carefully about the type of organization that motivates you. What have you been passionate about during your life? How can you direct your efforts towards fulfilling these passions in your volunteering efforts? Perhaps you’ve always wanted to do something to combat childhood diseases. You could join a fundraising campaign for a charity that researches cures for these illnesses.

Take Up A Hobby

Retirement HobbiesFlickr

The best hobbies for retirees are those that you can do in conjunction with other people. Horse racing, for instance, is a great place to start. There’s nothing more exciting than knowing you’re going horse racing tomorrow with friends. Race day always brings a sense of energy and excitement. And you get to meet lots of interesting and talented people who share your interest. Other team activities like golf are a great option too. Why not just do both?

Start A Business

You might think that all entrepreneurs are in their 20s and 30s. But the truth is that more companies are set up by people in the 60 plus age bracket than any other. That comes as a surprise to many people, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. People in that age group have worked all their lives. They’ve usually got a pot of money saved up. And often, they’ve been in business for a long time. With both experience and savings, starting a business is tempting. Many people go their entire careers wishing that they could be their own boss. In fact, one of the reasons why people are so desperate to retire is so that they can escape their job, not their work.

Make Some New And Interesting Friends

Make new friends in retirementWikimedia Commons

For the last forty years, you’ve spent most of your time working. It meant that you didn’t always have much time to spend with your friends. But now that you’re retired, you’ve suddenly got a lot of time on your hands. It means that you’ve got more time to invest in the people that you know.

Retirees, however, don’t have to stick with their regular circle of friends. They can branch out and invest in relationships with people they otherwise wouldn’t have time for. Making lots of relationships like this will help you stay younger for longer.