We put a terrific screened porch on our house last summer. It has a great wooded view, gets a nice breeze, and is a terrific spot to sit and read or listen to the ballgame. Unfortunately, it seems like every time I get comfortable out there, someone else is starting up their lawn mower or the weed whacker. It’s happened so much lately that my son laughs about it every time I go out on the porch to read or listen to music.
Don’t get me wrong, my lawn gets mowed and trimmed too. It’s just that the few work nights and weekend days that it’s nice out (and I’m home from work), are also the very limited times that anyone else can get their yard work done. It seems that everyone in the neighborhood is so busy that there isn’t enough time to segregate one person’s leisure from another’s yard work.
This must be one of the pleasures of early retirement. There will be exponentially more opportunities to relax on the porch and not be competing with the rest of the neighborhood for peace & quiet.
This isn’t just true for relax time at home. Retirees also get the advantage of shopping when stores are less busy, driving when roads are less congested, and catching the value priced times at the movie theater. They can much more easily “time shift” all of their activities to take advantage of downtimes when everyone else is at work. The fact that there is less competition for these things during the work week saves them bother, stress & money.
What activity are you looking forward to time-shifting in retirement?
Image Credit: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
I left work early on Friday and went to Home Depot for diatomaceous earth. (The ants are fierce in Austin with the lack of rain the past two months.) At 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, the parking lot was rather empty. A foreshadowing of retired life. Like you, I am looking forward to doing errands (which I’ve cut back to almost only grocery shopping) during off-peak. I fantasize about walking to the grocery store or farmers market (at least when it’s not 100+ degrees) because I’ll have time to get there at a leisurely pace. And then there’s the time-shifting of sleep. Following the sunrise rather than the clock.
Your screened-in porch sounds lovely. Some day, I hope to have a screened porch for the three black cats.
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I was at Home Depot (again) today and it was, predictably, packed!
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We think about this a lot! The town where we live gets lots of tourists, so forget about going to the grocery store Thursday through Sunday. We can’t wait until it’s easier to go early in the week. And that’s not even our biggest goal — that’s SKIING. Right now we are stuck skiing on the weekends with the hoards, and oh how those midweek days call to us!
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A couple years ago I had a couple weeks off between jobs in January – I went skiing (slopes empty), skating (rink quiet), casino (open tables), and afternoon movie (discounted). It was heaven to be able to use all of the areas amenities without the crowds!
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