Retirement Time

It is laughable when articles about retirement offer up the idea that there may be a challenge to find ways to pass the days.  Anyone writing that obviously hasn't tried very hard to keep a house in order.  This retiree is never at a loss for task or activities to do.  One case in point, recognizing something that would normally go ignored -- like cleaning the can opener.

This kitchen tool is about 30 years old. If not more.  They accumulate a lot of muck through daily use, but it's easy to miss/ignore, because they are used quickly and then put away.  Pull out yours and take a look at it.  A really close look.  How much gook has built up?  If your home is like most, the answer is quite a bit!

It took forty five minutes of scrubbing to do a decent job on this one -- and it's not perfect.  Juggling full time work and regular home maintenance doesn't really allow for one to, A) look closely at something like this to see just how grody it is, and B) take sufficient time to clean it.  That's something that takes up part of the time that articles writing about the lack of activity to fill a retirees day fails to take into account.

And as a bonus... then there is the time it takes to stretch every last penny out of food.  This is something that can be done during regular working years -- but not as reliably.

This pot of stew was made using a marked down piece of sirloin steak.  Retirees have a lot more time to shop for meal bargains.  One day was taken to cook two steaks in the sous vide.  One meal made use of a single steak and sides of roasted potato and carrot.  The other steak and remaining carrots made it into stew the next day.

Two meals cost under six bucks to make.  The stew served four  more portions after it was first served.

One challenge when it comes to getting it all done, is to stop and breath on the weekend.  It makes no sense to push seven days per week -- but that is a habit/mindset left over from career days.  Is retirement easier than working?  Yes.  Are there hours of boredom, disappointment and idleness?  No way!