How Do You Make Time for Fun?

[Retired To Win]

I am "retired to win" -- and in large part to me that means being retired to have fun and enjoy myself. I definitely have the discretionary cash flow to spend on that. And I should have the time to go spend the money. But until recently I have had a problem allowing myself the time to have fun. If I just go with the flow, I default to "productive" use of my time. Having fun gets pushed aside. But I have finally found a way to overcome that. And here it is.

It seems as if I have always lived by the daily planner and the to-do list. And I can see that being retired is not changing that. So, instead of fighting it, I am using that ingrained habit to make sure I do have fun -- instead of always reaching for the next chore that needs doing. I am scheduling time for fun.

I still plan my week day by day. But now I plan fun time into each day. Productive time is limited to the morning (8am to noon) and late afternoon (5:30pm to 7pm). In between, I now have given myself a daily scheduled five-hour-plus time block for fun. And on my weekly planner, I plan ahead what I will do for fun during each of those five-hour blocks.

I have also extended the scheduled-fun-time idea so that I now have a designated fully free day each week, a 3-day get away time block each month, and a week-long trip block every 3 months. Scheduling the free time this way "forces" me to make a plan for what to do, where to go, and how much of my discretionary funds to spend.

Is this working? Yes, as long as I follow the planning process. If I fail to plan my fun out, the time fritters away and I fall back to the chore doing and paper shuffling. So this is a work in progress for me.

How do YOU make sure that you get time for fun?

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[disneysteve]

I think that's great. You've learned what works for you and put it into action successfully.

Personally, finding time for fun has never been a problem. I always use my available vacation time and have never really understood all the folks who don't. In fact, as I write this post, I am on vacation in Disney World with my family. We are having tons of fun.

In addition to my 4 weeks vacation, we do a lot of day trips and weekend get-aways. We also go to shows, fairs, festivals, and other such events. We also do a lot of fun things with our synagogue.

So for me/us, this isn't really an issue.

[bigdaddybus]

Thats pretty sweet to have 5-5.5 hours per day for "fun". I sure dont have that, but like DS said, I have never had a trouble finding fun.

Be it poker nights with the guys, date nights with the wife, movie night with my 4 kids, doing homework with the kids, training our puppy, mountain biking with my son, ATV riding with the kids, sporting events, doing a few hot laps on a road course, going canoeing with the family, camping, having friends or family over swimming and a cookout. I could just go on and on.

Last night I paid a babysitter, jumped in the convertible with my wife and took her to a very out of the way place for dinner since its her favorite place to get pie. Just because the "Suits" season finale was on last night and the theme song says "Get another piece of pie for your wife". She thinks I'm nuts, umpredictable, and thats just the way I want it

[97guns]

retirement to me means no planning and no scheduling, the only time i follow a schedule
is when i go on vacation, everything for me is spontaneous/impulsive even chores

[Sain1988]

Honestly, this thread has been a good inspiration for me. For me ‘fun’ has been defined as going to the gym and working out to unleash some energy. There needs to be a better way for me to actually define fun and get after it – I love some of the suggestions here.

[Retired To Win]

retirement to me means no planning and no scheduling, the only time i follow a schedule is when i go on vacation, everything for me is spontaneous/impulsive even chores

Well, you and I are wired entirely differently. That would no way work for me. In fact, I have tried it up to a point and, without scheduling my time, I'll keep going from one chore to the next without giving myself free time until I burn out and then just plop on a couch watching a movie. I get a lot more satisfaction out of my life with the scheduling.

[johnshare]

Hi,

My Personal opening is Watching Discovery Channel, Swimming, Browsing and Traveling is for Fun...

[john2014]

Thanks!

That's Great!

[Retired To Win]

Honestly, this thread has been a good inspiration for me. For me ‘fun’ has been defined as going to the gym and working out to unleash some energy. There needs to be a better way for me to actually define fun and get after it – I love some of the suggestions here.

Well, discovering WHAT one considers fun, and making time to have that fun are 2 different issues. HOWEVER, it is true that if one has blocked out time for fun, and has determined not to let something else fill that time in (no couch potatoing either), then one ought to be propelled into finding activities to pursue during those time blocks that ARE fun.

(Hopefully, my point got through all that verbiage! )

[theoracle]

discovering WHAT one considers fun

If fun is doing the things that you enjoy then making time for it should be should be simple enough once you're retired and have time and money to spend! I'm a DIY nut so what you might consider chores i might consider to be fun. At the same time, scheduling time in for having fun first grabbed me as being a little counter intuitive but it may also be something that you enjoy doing... i dunno?

Just remember though, that everyone's definition of fun is extremely different, so as long as you're happy and doing what you enjoy and have the means to do so then you're doing it right in my book! Hope i can say the same once i'm retired!