I am close to retiring from Corporate America - can never not do something whether that is volunteering at say Habitat for Humanity or a part time job. I keep telling friends that they might see me at the local Lowes/HD/Ace Hardware! My brain is wired to solve puzzles and that will keep me occupied answering questions of customers. Even the other day a Lowes employee asked me if I knew anything about screws and if I could help another customer LOL.
Tell me about it. Years ago when my second child was born my company at the time offered a generous paternity leave package so of course I took advantage. I spent more money in Lowes during those weeks than I made - was in the store daily. Had a huge pile of receipts from projects.
My wife did not marry very well from a home improvement perspective. I can do a fair amount of things but I'm not the crafty "I'm going to build you a bookcase and sofa" guy.
And that is OK. You make bread, cook, etc which I don't so happy to trade you some work for treats!
I have many friends who aren't very handy and I often get calls from them asking me to help do things around their houses. I have a friend on the coast of NC and every time my wife and I visit for a beach weekend, I have a list of things to help him with LOL.
Like I said I am wired to solve puzzles and fixing things makes me happy whether they are my own or friends. The thought of creating a handyman business has crossed my mind too but
I hate charging friends money
Hate ladders, though heights don't bother me, and very picky on what I will work on above
The crazy insurance/liability culture of the US scares me
I have thought about doing this as a business when I retire; primarily because I have done it for free for a couple decades.
But if I do it, I would want everything to be on the up and up. With a GC license, and insured and bonded. Liability issues scare the crap out of me as well.
Right now, there's plausible deniability ....
P.S. An ideal situation would be to perform such services for a modest fee but for a community I know really well - like members of my parish. Or other close friends.
Now what was the name of that parish again? Or maybe just tell me the general area you live in and I'll join every parish and hunt you down for free labor.
Just be careful to manage the level of work, sometimes a fun hobby can become drudgery as a job.
The same here, just not ever having a fun time once I'm up more than say six or more steps on a ladder. More so as I've gotten older, didn't used to bother me as much when I was younger.
... Didn't think of that, and jam too! Though I do a lot of donating of those items, there is a high level of self-interest in being able to slice my own bread and slather on my jam and know it's all completely unprocessed natural ingredients.
I enjoy woodworking. I have built MANY projects for friends and family. All for free. I expect to expand that after retirement. Plus, I am a pretty good home improvement/maintenance guy (thanks dad). AND, I maintain a handsome home automation environment. Um, those expenses add up.....I guess I'm never retiring.....
My long-term plan years ago was to do semi-professional photography after retirement. I have logged 25 years of underwater photography, mainly, and lots of graduations, weddings, family events, portfolios, etc. Then, one day, I completely lost interest, and donated all of my equipment to a young photographer.
I have logged 25 years of underwater photography, lots of graduations, weddings, family events, portfolios, etc. So this is yours?
I have a buddy who is a woodworker, you should have heard him laugh when I said I had done a "wood working project" that consisted of creating a shelf by mounting a piece of wood on the wall using angle brackets. Still makes fun of me about that...
Just to warn you, I'm the guy who asked you to carry the bathtub out to my car. Your refusal upset me, so I have reported you to your boss. As soon as they figure out exactly who you are, you're gonna be in big trouble.
Desk was ther i built finished and installed the shelves (red oak). Just cannot find anyone these days that does finishing work it just takes too long to stain and out 3-4 coats of poly on.
Very cool, especially like the grooves on the vertical boards. But, apparently you want me to hate you? I'm going to send your pic to my friend and tell them I did the third shelf on the right. He's gonna love that.
The Nyce would completely fail WAF here...amazing, my wife would walk up to it, remove it, and drop it on my desk.
I retired the first time at age 50, 25 years ago. I didn't have good answers then for this question. But, 9 years ago, I goofed and got involved in a start-up company named "Intelligent Stuff". Little did I imagine I'd be here today fighting with Stays triggers and looking to retire 'again'.
My answer today includes learning to play bass guitar, which I practice every day, and writing code in Groovy -- go figure. I feel like saying WTF???
This might be sacrilege, but I really can't think of anything else around here that I'd like to automate. Even if money was no object (and I'm certainly not in that position) I would be hard pressed to come up with anything. Always open to new ideas though (and I have read that thread about interesting things people have automated).
And even if it results in public humiliation, I freely admit that I have not automated my mailbox, nor do I intend to.
I’d love to automate mine but not in the way most do….I get tired of all of the unaddressed junk, circulars, takeaway menus and endless polythene charity bags put through the door. An ‘opt out’ is in place with Royal Mail and a suitable message on the flap but a number of a…holes find it clever to keep on feeding my lobby with non recyclable crap that goes immediately into the bin and onto landfill. I need a setup to identify the mail man/Amazon and keep the flap locked shut the rest of the time. Alternatively a non lethal shock to train these idiots.
