I guess we are not retired anymore. Just when my wife and I were adjusting to our new life of leisure, our bliss has suddenly been interrupted by the clarion call of the workplace!
No, I’m not working. I have quite a few friends and former colleagues that continue to be suspicious about my FIRE escape – and maintain their POV that I will be back in an office soon – but that is not the case (despite a few interesting conversations with different companies).
Instead, MRS. FireStation has taken employment as a stylist at a local boutique.
My formerly stay-at-home bride has now decided to go back to work! She’s been home for almost 18 years serving as the Chief Operations Officer of our home and doing a bang-up job of raising our son (who is off to college in a couple weeks).
She insists that she isn’t working to “get away from” me! MrsFireStation wrote earlier this year on her perspective of my early retirement and it was a (mostly) positive review of having me around the house all day. That said, she has a friend that works at a fast-growing local boutique and heard they were hiring. She enjoys shopping there already and after a couple of visits with the store manager and owner … she’s back to being a working girl.
Her job is what she is calling “part-part-time”, meaning she just wants to work a couple days a week, no more than 10-15 hours. How this will impact our overall flexibility is unknown, but she thinks it will be a fun place to work and good people to work with. She has a couple of friends that work at other stores on the same part-part-time basis, and they really enjoy it.
As for me, I’m all for it. I keep saying “someone around here should be working … it certainly won’t be me!” 🙂 She promises it won’t impact our ability to travel or do other things we’ve wanted to in early retirement. I’m sure she can manage the work/home balance and they understand that work isn’t her life’s focus.
That said, she is already adjusting to having a “boss” and having to keep track of her schedule. They sent an email that they had extra hours they wanted someone to pick up. In addition, she has some extra meetings, orientations, and paperwork to fill out right away to get started. Her first day on the job was last Tuesday.
Hopefully, she will be up to speed and productively contributing to our retirement bank balance soon. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if much of her paycheck got spent right back at the boutique she is working at!
Image Credit: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
Good for her! I know how important this can be for one’s identity sometimes especially after going from ‘me’ to ‘mom’ to ‘what is me again”?
The best part, she can always stop when it is no longer fun. Best of luck to your wife.
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She is working tonight – her first full shift on the floor. It’s great that she is working with a friend- and she said the others their seem fun.
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I think that’s great that’s she’s working. It should actually give you guys things to talk about when she gets home. Otherwise, things might start to get a little stale.
My wife is planning on continuing to work part-time even after I quit the 9-5. I’m with you though – it’s certainly not going to be me working! We actually are planning to contribute most or all of her salary to her 401(k) at that time in order to keep our tax bracket down.
— Jim
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Yes – it’s good to get out of the house, so a PT job might be great for her. I have board work to keep me busy, so I guess we both have something now.
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good on her for getting out of her comfort zone and trying something different! I think when you’re in FIRE mode that taking up a job is kind of comparable to volunteering – You’ve got to get something out of it a part from money.
FIRE is all about doing what you want, when you want – so taking a part-part-time job definitely still fits FIRE rules in my opinions.. and the best thing is she can quit anytime she likes if it isn’t fun anymore.
Jasmin
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The volunteering analogy is spot on. The money isn’t enough to make a difference in our overall finances, but she enjoys getting out of the house and having something new to focus on.
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Sounds like a great gig. Gives her some flexibility, and a good environment to get back into the work force. Good Luck to the Mrs.
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I hope she gets a good employee discount! I be she’ll enjoy the change of pace and social interactions you have in a place like that.
Cheers!
-PoF
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The employee discount is important because a lot of her pay is likely to go right back to the boutique! 🙂
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The first thing I thought was “employee discount”! Good for her; it sounds like a great gig.
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Yep – the employee discount will be good for both her and the boutique! 🙂
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Good for her!!
Now you can go to said boutique and get extra special attention and rates on your beautification needs. Win win, I say!!
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I haven’t been in the store yet, but I know she has been a regular customer since it opened. Great that she likes it so much.
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Very cool, that’s great that Mrs. Firestation is pursuing in something that she enjoys.
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She enjoys fashion and is looking forward to becoming more of an expert in putting outfits and accessories together.
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That sounds great for the Mrs! Sounds like she likes the boutique. The problem with her hanging around it more is finding more things to buy though 🙂
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