<p>I will never mow the grass and I will never wield a vacuum. </p>
<p>Never.</p>
<p>However, I do garden and I do laundry, cook, and dust. </p>
<p>VH, we should trade services. I hate dusting, but I will gladly run behind a mower or vacuum cleaner. :)</p>
deleted for privacy reasons
<p>I would like cleaning and doing yard work a whole lot more if my house was half the size, and my yard was teeny. I do not like cleaning 3600 sq ft of house, and dealing with 2 acres of yard.</p>
<p>I hire help for house cleaning but not yard work. When I am forced to hire help for the yard work, I will know itās time to move.</p>
<p>My parents retired when they were 55. I was 33 at the time, and my younger sister was 31. When I was 55, I had a 13 year-old seventh-grader. There was no way I was ready to retire either financially or emotionally at that age. I expect to be working at least another 10 years. In fact, I WANT to be working for at least another 10 years. Retirement is not something that Iām looking forward to. </p>
<p>wow Thumper, you have a big house and yard! </p>
<p>I have an irrational fear of lawn mowers (childhood friend lost tip of finger) and have never used one. Iām fine with planting and trimming, but that is it. I had a cleaning person when pregnant; my mom said I would be spoiled for the rest of my life. He was THAT good. I started again when son was in HS, so we wouldnāt battle over his room. Then no one until my car accident, when I cold not move a vacuum cleaner. Now she comes 1x a month. She has her own key. I love that she does the deep cleaning, and makes up the beds. Iām busy doing The Bag A Week club. 4 bags this weekend.</p>
<p>Part of the house is a finished walk out basementā¦but it still needs to be cleaned! The house is 2700 sq ft. All of the yards in our area are two acre zoning. But yesā¦lots of maintenance. </p>
<p>For those afraid of retiringā¦why? I miss some aspects of my job, but I LOVE the things Iām doing nowā¦itās a great new phase of my life. And reallyā¦itās nothing to fear!</p>
<p>I think a lot of it for me is that as a consultant I pretty much pick and choose my jobs. Iāve scaled back for health reasons in the past year and canāt wait to get back to full speed. </p>
<p>We have been very fortunate to have built a home 14 years ago that really was for retirement. Dās were somewhat dismayed there was not a play/video etc room ( the outside is a playground of mountains) but now that they have been gone for 4 years it really is perfect. One thing we did was have separate heating controls in their rooms, so we can keep it low. We are Zeroscaped and planted only native plants with minimal sometimes watering if I feel like it. So, no grass which H loves. Our neighbor has a small patch of grass in the back that he VACUUMS because the rabbits love his yard and he has to get the droppings up before mowing. </p>
<p>I really could have used a maid service when we both worked full time and on call with 2 small kids. I lined one up from a recommendation at work and that week the referral told me not to use them because several things were missing. I never tried again and Dās had their own chores as well as we did and it really did not seem so bad. I feel that was probably not a bad idea in that both Dās donāt mind cooking or doing their chores in their own place and are quite self sufficient. </p>
<p>āOur neighbor has a small patch of grass in the back that he VACUUMS because the rabbits love his yard and he has to get the droppings up before mowing.ā</p>
<p>Yikes. That alone would make me grab some roundup and - boom! - grassless. </p>
<p>Iāve been working since I was 16, and worked Saturdays in the family business for years before that. Iām just tired of working!</p>
<p>I could work for another 10 years, but Iām pretty sure that the Fortune 50 Iāve been at for 29 years will find a way to get rid of me and the rest of my cohort before then. </p>
<p>Ideally I will be out in 5 years when Iām 58. H doesnāt want to work that long, but probably will. </p>
<p>He loves yard work and we both dislike (donāt have time for) housecleaning. Someone comes in to clean every other week and I plan on continuing it until we downsize. </p>
<p>DH does all the yard work, thank goodness because I donāt intend to start.
For the past 13 years, I have been using the same cleaning lady who comes in once every other week. She was never great but over the years she got older like me so her cleaning is getting even worse. I have decided long ago not to bother to look for a new cleaning lady as mine is reliable, inexpensive, and almost like a family. I trust her with my house key and have never miss a single item. So I will just keep my not-so-cleaning-lady. </p>
<p>
Huh? Itās okay to get rabbit poop in the vacuum but not on the mower blades? No comprendo.</p>
<p>^^^
I was thinking the same thing! </p>
<p>rabbit poop is tinyā¦let it sink in and become fertilizer. </p>
<p>Heās probably worried about flinging it around with the mower.</p>
<p>Today is the first day of our first week of retirement. We packed up all our worldly possessions on Saturday and moved to our retirement home (built 4 years ago), our new permanent residence! Been planning this for so many years, itās hard to believe itās finally happening. Our new home is 280 miles from our former home. So itās not just a new house, itās a whole new life.<br>
Weāre hoping to have a āno mowā yard too or at least very little mowing. If anybody has any ideas about a low maintenance yards (we live in the south so must be heat hardy), Iād love some ideas.</p>
<p>DH retired last Thursday after 33 years with the same company. I quit my job of 11 years. So here we go! DH turned 55 on his last day of work. Iām 51. Our kids are 27 and 24,finished with college and out on their own.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>congrats and best wishes! Enjoy!</p>
<p>Packmom. I am so impressed! My kids are the same age and also on their own, but I am always thinking there are things to pay for (upcoming engagement party, rehearsal dinner/flowers/etc, ). Howād you pull it off at such a young age???</p>
<p>Packmom, congrats. We also have āno mowā yard in California. I have zeriscape with lots of succulents/cactus, lavender, palms, bougainvillea and I plan them so dense that there is very little escape in moisture. Our water bill is less than $40 while my sister pays $200 for a grass in the front and back yard. She also pays for the guy to cut and maintain it.</p>