What do you do everyday in retirement?

Ronnie over at As Time Goes By created a post where she talked about what do people who are retired do on a daily basis. It was an interesting read and got me thinking about what I do on a daily basis.

First here is the list that Ronnie took from an article called 12 ways Retirees spend their time, which was published in 2016 by USN and written by Emily Brandon. Emily put the list in order of average duration per day (I have added the hours per week):

Sleep (10 to11 hours per day) (70 hours in a week)
Watching TV (4 hours a day) (28 hours in a week)
Home maintenance (2.5 hours a day) (17.5 hours a week)
Part-time work (1.5 hours a day) (10.5 hours a week)
Preparing/eating meals (1.5 hours a day) (10.5 hours a week)
Shopping (1 hour a day) (7 hours a week)
Volunteering (30 minutes a day) (3.5 hours a week)
Reading (1 hour a day) (7 hours a week)
Surfing the web (30 minutes a day) (3.5 hours a week)

Socializing (30 minutes a day) (3.5 hours a week)

Relaxing (45 minutes a day) 5.25 hours a week)
Exercising (15 minutes a day) (1.75 hours a week)

The reality is that the above is an estimate of activities and times based on what a person would do averaged over a week, which I included in the list above.

So, I took a look at my activities for the week and I do sleep but only between 8 and 9 hours asleep or (72 hours in a week). I watched TV for about 30 hours for the week, I did about 2 hours of home maintenance unless you count housework, which would add about 7 more hours to the list. Preparing, eating and cleaning up after meals were about 11 hours. My volunteer time took about 9 hours. This included preparing for the workshops, driving to the workshop, giving the workshop, and reporting on the workshop. I read for about 9 hours this week, although some weeks I don’t read at all. I spent about 11 hours Surfing the web. I spent 6 hours socializing. My wife told me that I spend about 8 hours relaxing and I went shopping for 3 hours. This left me with 0 hours to exercise this week.  Time flies when you are having fun, but it was an interesting experiment to track (although) not in great detail, how time is spent.

I know activity levels differ depending on health and although there is nothing wrong with the above list, I don't see hobbies, passions, curiosity, sports, travel, learning etc. on it. I think I said at one point when I retire, I will be able to do all this stuff because I don’t have time now. Being retired now means that I have to make time for all the stuff I didn't have time for when we were working, but I am finding it harder and harder to find the time because I am so busy. What about you, are you so busy in retirement that you are finding it difficult to do the things you always wanted to complete or try?

Go for it!

Go for it, not once, but again and again and again. Whatever it takes. Because in the end, with arms held high in the winner's circle, beaming with joy, as light as a feather, crying your eyes out, you'll see how fantastically disproportionate the rewards are for the effort expended, the risks taken, and the price paid - no matter how many false starts you endured. And you'll be astounded by how quickly you made it, even though, when the going got tough and your spirits ebbed, you thought you'd never, ever, ever, "see the day."

Happy days are here again

What if funky, confusing, gray, lonely days were just part of a "system" that, in turn, created bright, rich, happy, friendly days?

What if they were just meant to give deeper elements of your creativity a rest?

What if they were deliberately crafted holidays, of a sort, devised by your inner psyche to relieve you from the pressure of artificial expectations?

Would you still bemoan them, wonder what's wrong with you, or fear that they'll never end? Or,  would they kind of tickle you pink?

Gift ideas for Weddings and Anniversaries

I just celebrated my 49th Wedding Anniversary and over the years I have had trouble deciding what would be an appropriate gift. 

It is easy if you follow tradition, you are supposed to buy certain gifts for each anniversary, but honestly, I really did not want a gift made of paper for on my first anniversary, something made of wood for my fifth or how about a tin box for my tenth? So what to do? Well, the idea of personalized gifts is one way to go and it is easier today than ever to do this. 

A wedding anniversary gift should be something that can be treasured, something romantic, something totally unique that your loved one will adore. 

For many of us, we have problems when it comes to coming up with a unique wedding anniversary gift ideas. Here are a couple of things you need to know: 

For many of us, it is the "thought that counts", so although your love may want a new designer jacket or an expensive piece of jewelry, you are not getting the bang for your buck! 

There are two key ingredients when it comes to creating a gift that will be treasured forever. The first is your wedding picture; the second is a heart-shaped gift to put it on. 

It sounds really simple, doesn't it? Well, it is; there is nothing more romantic than giving your woman a heart-shaped gift with a picture of your wedding day on it. Better still, it won't break the bank either! 

The development of the personalized photo gifts industry has made it very easy for absolutely anyone to create their own unique gifts. There are hundreds of products to choose from and with an endless amount of pictures, designs and text available to put on them, you have an infinite number of options. Your only limitation is your own imagination! 

Let's get back to some gifts ideas 

As I already mentioned, what you need to be looking for is a heart-shaped gift you can personalize with pictures of your own wedding. Two of the most popular items are: 

HeartShaped Watches 

There are obviously many heart shaped watches to choose from, but what you are looking for is a heart-shaped watch you can personalize. This cuts down your options a little but still leaves you with a good choice. 

You may want to consider a heart-shaped Italian Charm Watch. The reason I suggest this is you can also personalize the charms that make up the wristband, a really cool idea. 

Most Italian Charm Watches have a wristband made up of sixteen 9mm ItalianCharms. To create a really unique gift you may want to consider putting a different wedding picture on each of the sixteen charms that make up the wristband. If you do this you can pretty much guarantee she will absolutely love it! 

HeartShaped Key Chains 

Heart shaped key chains make a very popular gift, but make sure if you are going to give your loved one a personalized key chain that it is good quality; avoid plastic at all costs. ChromeKey Chains are certainly worth considering as they look really sharp, especially when they are customized with your own pictures. 

Other items you may want to consider include heart-shaped jigsaws, heart-shaped magnets, heart-shaped dog tags, heart-shaped ornaments and heart-shaped mouse pads. 

A heart-shaped jigsaw with your wedding picture on it can be very romantic when you are leaning over the puzzle together, giggling and revisiting some very special memories. 

Most people would be happy to put a heart shaped wedding picture magnet on their fridge for everyone to see, while heart-shaped ornaments and mouse pads also make most unusual gifts they are sure to appreciate. 

Then there's the heart shaped dog tags; a novel idea is to create dog tags for him and for her, they make cute romantic gifts for any loving couple. 

Conclusion 

Wedding anniversary gifts are a symbol of a love that grows stronger with each year that passes. Personalized anniversary gifts can help put the fire back in any romance and best of all, you don't need to re-mortgage the house to pay for them! 

Why don't you spoil your special someone with a very special and unique personalized gift today?