Retired In Omaha

Like most people I took a pay cut when I retired. How do I deal with making a lot less money? What am I not able to do? Am I going to be able to live within my means?

There are a lot fewer things I have to do. — Because I’m not at work all my time is mine. By that I mean I don’t feel pressured to find something to occupy me when I’m not actively doing something. Although I liked working, the time wasn’t mine, it belonged to someone else and thus was filled with things I felt obligated to do but which weren’t necessarily enjoyable. With so much time spent working or spent thinking about working I thought it was necessary to fill my down time with interesting, useful things to do, to stay busy.

The first few retirement months were spent weaning myself from being busy. I felt the need to be in motion, doing things, going places. After a couple of months I began to repeat places and activities and I soon came to understand that, with the passing of the initial novelty, I wasn’t really all that interested in most of them.

Gotta Go — I and my wife were going out for meals 5 and 6 times a week. Not only was that expensive, I really didn’t enjoy the food experience as much as one should (although I enjoyed the time with my wife). I found I got a lot more pleasure out of fixing those same meals at home myself. There were no time pressures and I preferred getting the flavors and textures exactly the way I wanted them.

We discovered there were very few other places we wanted to visit and most of those were one time events, never to be repeated, or not soon repeated.

Gotta Buy — I soon wondered why I was cruising the aisles at BestBuy and Nebraska Furniture Mart. I really didn’t need anything and I wasn’t finding anything that sparked my interest. So, unless I really need something (that I usually qualify by surfing the WEB first) I just don’t go window shopping very often.

Further, when I took the time to look around the house I discovered we usually already had something pretty close to whatever it was we were wishing for. I now know I have two battery operated hammer drills and five almost brand new caulking guns. In addition we have enough peanut butter to last us 15 or 16 months.

Gotta Spend — I have the ability to spend every dollar I start the day with and yet end up with absolutely nothing to show for it by the time I arrive home (not even receipts)! I highly recommend putting yourself and your spouse on a weekly allowance you can both live with. While this may sound restrictive I get a perverse satisfaction when I’m able to play all the golf I want and can still afford Lottery tickets at the end of the week! Mind that this allowance is not for essentials, food, gas, and the like, but for the optional things we all want to do or have. This also causes us to save up for the more expensive things we want to buy periodically.

We have taken to trading in some of the things we have to get other things we want. A quick trip through our extensive home library ultimately netted us several hundred dollars at our local used book store. Surveying the games we never use permitted the purchase of a new release that’s actually being played.

Gotta Nothing!!! — There is nothing I’ve gotta do.

I read my magazines in the library and on the WEB. In doing so I don’t have piles of them sitting around or heading for the trash every month.

Cooking twice a week, when supplemented by the occasional large frozen pizza and some deli chicken with potato salad provides all the non-breakfast meals we need. And there’s nothing like a nuked potato, butter, sour cream, bacon bits and shredded cheese to hit the spot for a quick meal. Oh, don’t forget to sprinkle some freshly diced onion on that.

Our primary entertainment consists of a satellite TV feed with the mandatory DVR — time shifting and commercial jumping are obligatory for the spouse – and a broadband Internet connection. Sports, the Science Channel, Discovery, Golf, etc., are required and my wife has to have her reality shows. The Internet feed supports NetFlix and Hulu as well as casual surfing and general bumming around. With a WiFi hot spot permeating the whole house not being able to sleep is an iPad adventure while remaining comfortably in bed.

Believe it or not, with a little prior planning for the big stuff and devoting a couple of months for winding down from “having” to do things, one gradually finds there are not a lot of things that require Outgo. We now spend money on things we “want” to do. We both do things that don’t cost a lot simply because that’s what we enjoy doing. In the meantime we keep putting money in the bank against the next big purchase we either need or want to make.

Lastly, I had always complained about not having enough time to read all the things lying about nor having time for my absorbing but irritating book of 500 Sunday crossword puzzles. Guess what, neither of those activities cost a whole heck of a lot and both are very satisfying.

We have managed to settle into a satisfying batch of activities that keep us both interested and entertained. Of course we are not driven to see the world nor do we have particularly expensive tastes. So, for us (and me in particular) retirement is not expensive yet it still meets and completes our basic needs. At least that’s true today, we will just have to see what tomorrow brings.

I believe the United States needs a constant influx of new thoughts, new ideas, new blood. Any organism or group that cuts itself off from its surrounding environment will ultimately whither and die. However, I also believe the United States has the right to select those things it will take unto itself, it has the right to filter out that which would make it weaker or that which would bring about unwanted change and to only accept that which makes it stronger or more capable.

By rule of law and through popular adherence to that rule of law we have created an economic and behavioral environment that is the envy of much of the rest of world and which is the penultimate destination or goal of a majority of its residents. The model the United States has adopted requires adherence to the underlying rule of law. Without that adherence the model no longer exists, the environment disappears, it becomes something else.

I am not prepared to argue how many others we allow into our environment, our little club, our life style. I don’t know who is more deserving and I can’t tell you when to close the door, when we have admitted a sufficient number. But I am prepared to argue that each and every one of them must have a deep, abiding respect for our “rule of law”.

Applicants who often spend years waiting for the “system” to let them legally enter the United States as a resident or citizen understand and respect that “rule of law” and I welcome them to our way of life and the opportunities it offers. They bring with them a strength of character that is both valued and needed in our society.

I submit that those who buck the system and illegally enter the United States neither respect nor understand our “rule of law” and I support every effort expended to remove them from among us. By their very action they demonstrate they do not want to be a part of our environment, our grand experiment, but rather that they don’t believe in it and only want to take from it.

Before you chastise me for being callus and uncaring, I defy anyone to prove that those who break the law to take from and diminish our way of life are any more deserving or needy than those who patiently work the system to lawfully adopt our way of life and strengthen it.

The reward for illegal entry to the United States must be expedited deportation to the place of origin and the opportunity to join the end of the application line for lawful entry.

The reward for application for legal entry to the United States must be expedited approval of that application and immediate placement in those vacancies created by the deportation of those who were here illegally.

Now there is incentive! There is demonstrated desire to participate in the rule of law.

When you are out and about and happen upon them take pause and thank a soldier, a policeman, a fireman, or a prison guard today. Walk over, proffer your hand, and say “Thank you for what you do. I appreciate it.” Parents, walk your children over and tell them, “This is one of the good guys. He (she) makes you safe because of what he does.”

Don’t worry if they’re shy or awkward or don’t know what to say. They are used to getting their recognition from their own ranks, from those who share their trials, their mutual bond. They don’t know how to act when a “civilian” takes notice, so they will be shy and fumble their words. But you need to know, even though they might not say it, your appreciation, your simple “thank you” is important and they will carry it away with them.

Don’t be afraid to meet those who have made the choice to quietly serve and protect, those who do those things the rest of us shy away from, those who safeguard what we believe and enjoy. They are not “them”, they are “us”, and while they will be embarrassed by the attention, the recognition, go out of your way and let them know that you are aware of what they do and that you’re glad they are doing it.

  Having retired, what happens if I run out of things to do? And not necessarily just Mama’s to do list, but things I want to do. Thus far I don’t have any worries on that account.
  First off, I have learned that I don’t have to worry about sleep, I’m not on a fixed schedule anymore. If I’m not tired I stay up and do “things”. If I am tired I go to bed. It’s surprisingly hard to come to the realization that tomorrow isn’t going to be a bad day just because I can’t get to sleep tonight. Less hard to accommodate is the notion of a nap, 15-20 minutes in the recliner sometimes sets up the rest of the day.
  Secondly, some things just naturally repeat day after day. Getting up, making that first cup of coffee, watching the news, reading the paper, doing both crosswords (local & NYT) just seem to fit into the morning. I’m really surprised to discover that I like doing crossword puzzles, so much so that I have a book with 500 NYT Sunday puzzles in it and an iPad app that serves up 18 new and different puzzles each day (Many thanks to my dear wife).
  After coffee and the paper each day unwinds as it will… A trip to the store can be as long or short as I want it to be. I might spend the day working on the computer. Maybe I clean my clubs after a (walking) round of golf. A movie on Netflicks? Read a book – Kindle or real. Mow the grass. Shovel snow. Hang curtains. Make burritos for a late lunch. Basically, I let the day come to me, I don’t force it. Some days I don’t do anything. For the last 18 months that has seemed to be more than enough.
  I don’t have to “accomplish” anything and I don’t have anything to “prove”. I do owe it to myself and my spouse to make “me” happy and that is what I am doing. I will note this though, on occasion there is nothing that makes you feel quite as stupid as a New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle, and there is nothing quite as satisfying as finally solving one (even if you have to look up the answers).
  The bottom line — I simply live life. I don’t tussle with it or try to make it something it isn’t, I just accept it as it is. I have nothing to prove but a whole lot to enjoy. I don’t think I will soon run out of things to do… life won’t let me.