Retirement is hard work!

When Rania compares her life before and after retirement, she is adamant that she has never worked so hard in her life since she left paid work to enjoy what she thought was going to be an idyllic retirement.

“Let’s start with food,” says Rania. “When I worked, I ate out for breakfast, lunch and dinner and only cooked at home on weekends.”

“It just didn’t occur to me how much time and effort and mess and money it would take to prepare my own food full-time, day in, day out, at home.”

“I estimate that 60% of my time is now consumed in the buying, preparation and cooking of food, and cleaning up afterwards,” laughs Rania. “Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go through my day.”

“After cooking and cleaning up after breakfast, I have to think about my lunch and dinner menu and if I don’t have the supplies at home I have to go out and buy them, and when I get back it’s time to cook lunch and clean up after it.”

“My afternoons are spent peeling vegetables and pot stirring for the evening meal, which covers supper as well.”

“When I consider the cost of the electricity (and water) I use for home cooking, it is far cheaper and easier and ‘greener’ to eat out,” says Rania, “but I’d have to stay out all day in order to make that possible and I just don’t want to do that -- I like being at home, far away from the maddening crowds, it’s the whole purpose of retirement isn’t it?”

“Also, I get to see what goes into my food when I prepare it myself and I actually enjoy cooking,” says Rania. “I just despair, though, that what I once did at weekends for fun has become such an endless chore.”

“Food shopping, itself, has become a heavy burden when you do it for a week, rather than a weekend,” sighs Rania. “I don’t have a private vehicle so everything I buy has to be carried home in bags and you’ve no idea how heavy vegetables and fruit become after a block’s walk.”

“Home delivery is an option, I suppose, but I’d have to be pretty infirm to justify the expense,” laughs Rania. “And when that day comes I might as well check myself into an old folks’ home and call it a day.”

“And then there’s the increase in rubbish,” sighs Rania. “When I worked, and ate out, I created very little rubbish -- now I have to deal with endless food scraps from breakfast onwards, most of which is inappropriate for compost.”

“The remaining 40% of my time is consumed by tasks directly related to my being retired and home all day,” laughs Rania. “When you dash out of the house early in the morning to go to work you’re not bothered by unmade beds and messy bathrooms because you don’t have to look at them all day, and because you’re working and money is coming in all the time you just don’t think about what things cost.”

“Now, because I’m home all day and living on a retirement income that’s subject to market crashes, I am acutely conscious for the first time in my life of messes and money.”

“Living in a mess makes me feel guilty, I find myself vacuuming and dusting and doing laundry every day rather than in one fell swoop at weekends,” laughs Rania. “And, believe it or not, but despite all of this extra work my place still looks messy because I am living here 24/7.”

“And, my electricity consumption is now double what it once was, and so is my water use, and I am working harder than I ever did when I was in paid employment sitting at a desk all day and I am worried that my retirement income isn’t going to cover these unforeseen costs of retirement.”

“Idyllic retirement?” laughs Rania. “I don’t think so. My body is not used to physical labor. Constant housework is really taking a toll on my poor old joints, and worrying about money is something new to me, too.”

“It’s all hard work!”