Streamline Your Retirement: A Guide To Simplifying Your Life

I'm turning 60 next year and I'm so looking forward to it like it's going to be a magical moment for me the daily stress of my career is well behind me and now we're both beginning to think of a way to embrace this phase of Life by simplifying really important for us because yesterday I just turned 67 you did that's an old fell I am further down the road mentally than jod is and it's really even more important for me now make sure I find ways to make my life simpler so that I can reduce the Stress and Anxiety that comes with everyday living yeah you know we both feel that you know we need to figure out how to slow down you know because we can easily Crash and Burn and Let each day slip by if we're not careful so we've seen others do that we don't want to do it and we don't want you to do it so today we want you to take some notes pick a tip or two or three that resonates with you and take the first step towards simplifying your life today and we really want you to to work hard on this to slow down and say what are some of the things I can do to make my life easier simpler and better and do us a favor and tell us the tip that you're going to use and put it in the notes below so others can see that's a great idea you know tell us which one you you choose and that might Inspire someone else and motivate others in our community we want this to work for you and we want it to work for us so we're in it together enjoy this new phase allowing yourself more time to do what you want and simplify now here's what we hear from some people my life is already simple why do I need to simplify anymore and you know my answer is this if you're life is simple and you have it together that's great right watch the video because you still might find something out but there are a lot of people that get to this phase of life and it really they're just caught up in who they used to be and how life used to be it doesn't have to be like that and we've found a lot we've exper we experiment for you guys and we hear from other people on what works for them so bringing forth today we're giving you all of these tips slow down make some notes cuz life can definitely be overwhelming right absolutely and listen if you're new here I'm Jody and this is my husband Mark and we don't focus on the financial aspects of retirement we focus on lifestyle Health relationships and so much more so please hit the Subscribe button and the notification button and share this with someone you care about who's on their retirement Journey as well so we hear from quite a few retirees that their lives up to this point have been busy complicated and stressful just like ours was were was before we retired right at the end of our care absolutely you know but now in retirement you have to kind of shed those badges and Mark and I had a conversation about this the other day because you know it's easy to say I'm busy that gets you out of a lot of things it's easy to say I don't have enough time that also gets you out of a lot of things it's easy to think things are complicated and stressful because that always got you out of things right but now if you move towards a simpler lifestyle you can be in the moment and really enjoy the next years you got to shed those old B those old sound bites I think and one of the ways to do that we um in the notes below is one of our free downloads a journaling guide I don't know how many of you journal or meditate for that matter but journaling as well every morning getting up and writing down some thoughts that are in your head this guide will help you start that process but before we share with you the 20 tips to simplify your life we want to explain why it's so important especially now and do us a favor and stay to the end because we're going to share our top 10 tips on how we are simplifying our life five years into retirement almost six I know it's been a long time it's really really critical to do that so the first reason why you want to simplify life is to reduce your stress as we get older we can all say we can handle stress but our capacity to handle stress can diminish you know even our life YouTube channel travel grandkids our health our routines in the morning all all of that helps us uh well helps us causes us to get stressful because we have so much to do so we have to make sure we find ways to reduce the stress so we're healthier and so and this is one of the reasons why we move to simplifying right right so this is these aren't our tips these are the reasons why simplified life will make things better right the second thing is simplifying your life can lead to healthier choices and improved Health such as more regular and physical activity a better diet anything that is crucial for your aging body stretching you know yoga meditation simplifying your life can lead to those healthier choices okay when you simplify your life in retirement you have more time for what matters to you you can declutter your schedule and your obligations learn to say no that's going to free up activities that you can that you want to do that bring joy and fulfillment like seeing your kids Hobbies family friends whatever it might be simplifying your life will give you more time to do what matters also simplifying your life will enhance your focus and Clarity a less cluttered environment and lifestyle definitely leads to improved Focus mental Clarity and making it easier to enjoy and be present I think we've noticed that switch for us creating a simpler lifestyle is going to allow you to be more adaptable to whatever comes your way because the the issues like aging shifts in health Mobility changes in income if your life is simple and organized these things are going to happen to to us but we'll know how to handle them better and and be able to adapt to it as it comes and you know and just to go back to that you know adaptability as you age and flexibility as you age I don't mean muscle flexibility but like mindset flexibility kind of keeps you out of the grumpy old man grumpy old lady category Yeah the more adaptable you are and I don't think any of us want to end in the grumpy old man am I there yet no definitely not um simplifying can also increase your happiness and satisfaction letting go of material possessions and unnecessary obligation can definitely lead you to happiness and greater satisfaction allows for a deeper appreciation of simple life pleasures and we were talking this morning about simple life pleasures and calling them out and being grateful for them remember that I do your brother Chuck did that in the most amazing life uh in in the most amazing way in his life yeah our brother Chuck um who passed away a couple years ago from ALS had everything that he experienced in a way was like a miracle and he was just I mean everything the hamburger he had for lunch yesterday the movie he watched last night Sunrise the music and he just had this simple way of just being grateful and in the moment when something was happening and we're trying to do a lot a l more we're trying to do better for sure okay let's jump into the 20 tips or ways to simpli if y your life as you age the first one we've got full-blown videos on this one the first one is declutter your home create a decluttering plan room by room in your home donate those items you no longer use digitize your photos and documents and then get them out of here downsize your wardrobe which we both have gotten very good at doing downsizing almost to the point where the other day I think you said you had two shirts left well so downsize but be aware of what you have left well there's you know there's a couple things we couple things that we do first of all when we left our career we got rid of all those old clothes I actually bought a new suit yesterday for my birthday because I had a couple of old suits left over that just didn't fit anymore my bodies changed from the exercise I've lost weight I've moved in around so from a decluttering point of view with my clothes I've given away those old suits but you did find yourself at a pretty low place in terms of the number Shir to well I did I was going to say that I if if there's a shirt that I haven't worn in a year or a pair of slacks or something like that I get rid of it yeah and we also have this you know nothing new comes in without something old going out we don't need that many clothes anymore right so right decluttering your home your house your rooms everything really again like Jody said we have whole videos on that simplifying your life you've got to find a way to streamline your finances it can't be this huge complicated problem because it is complicated you've got if you're getting Social Security and a pension or you're having to pull money out of retirement got to find a way to consolidate retirement accounts simplify your investment strategy if you don't have a financial planner we strongly believe you should get one and then have a budget and just keep tight with that it really does help bring Clarity to your finances when you spend some time focused on it you know one of the things that we did when we retired was we moved all of the bill paying to just one of us because during our careers you know if Mark signed up for xinity or comcast or whatever the cable plan was and I signed up for our Verizon phones or our AT&T phones whatever it was you know we just each paid those bills or you know the heating bill the water bill you know all those things we've simplified that and all the bills now come to me it's my email you know I'm the one that pays the bills I'm the one that kind of manages so that way it's not like I mean I remember we'd have full-blown discussions is that on autopay I don't know I can't remember so having one person in charge of it I think makes a big difference and the other thing we did is most of our bills are on autopay and we have a list of who's on autopay what the email not what the website is the login name and the password in case you have to go in and change anything if you lose a credit card or something like that so we you know what's what was that well you you're the kind of the king of losing credit once once in my whole life plus you know we're in a blended family so when jod and I got married 15 years ago I had my check-in account my savings account my bills you had yours and we blended it all together it was only one check-in account now one savings and that really has helped us absolutely all right the third tip is to optimize your health routine schedule regular Health checkups and stick to it put them on your calendar when you're leaving that doctor make the next appointment for the next year or six months or whatever the time frame is is find a physical activity that you love not only enjoy but you love and prioritize your sleep and relaxation this optimization of your health routine will simplify your life yeah you can't go about it just hoping or praying that maybe you'll go work out tomorrow or the next day when it becomes part of a a habit a routine really a ritual MH how about that optimize your health rituals I got that from um chip Conley did a post on Modern Elder Academy when a routine becomes a ritual that's when you know you've nailed it and our morning routine is now a ritual absolutely 100% thank you chip for that tip um another tip enhance your social life so going into retirement you're going to lose a lot of people from work I don't know what stage you are in in your in your journey but we're five years into it many most if not all of the relationships that we had back in our careers have petered out there's some that we kept alive but you've got to find new people you've got to join clubs or groups that interest you volunteer for causes you might be passionate about and limit commitments that don't bring you Joy I mean you don't want to be around people and in places where you where you don't find joy and use social media not just to buy things and scroll but to stay connected yeah absolutely and and social media is good for a lot of things bad for a lot of other things but that connectivity to people that you aren't physically near I think I think is helpful for a lot of people you know we're on Facebook Instagram LinkedIn because we are for business but I also it's one way to get you know to stay together but on Facebook it always shows you whose birthday is coming up yeah and you and I both have a habit of not putting it on the page but calling them right or texting them or doing recording a video and send someone a birthday video which they love they do love like we do that I do that with the kids all the time sometimes like do a r random video but that's enhancing your social life and it's actually helping other people do the same thing imagine if every morning when you uh on your birthday if you got 10 videos from your 10 best friends be fun versus a text yep okay all right the fifth tip is to cultivate new hobbies you know exploring hobbies that fit now into your lifestyle learning something new like an an musical instrument or a language and then share your skills that you already have like like um what's a good skill or hobby that you have that you've shared well I'm thinking of Paul across the street he loves to fish yes he just last night at dinner one of our neighbors said I really want to learn more about fishing would you spend time with me they're both retired so Paul's going to spend time helping Gary is it Gary Gary Eric I thought it was Eric might beer maybe it's Gary learn how to fish and that again you're being fulfilled you're um spending some good quality time with a friend and you asked me a question what I hobby I have that I share I don't I I I think you do when they when the kids are here you're cooking is a hobby of yours and you always get them embroiled in your your cooking or your cutting or you're prepping teach stuff that's in my book I I run boot camp for the for the boys boys boot camp boys boot camp for the three men that are in relationships with our three daughters yeah they when they're here they're in boot camp teach stuff yes manners how to change a tire how to CH how to change a light bulb how to change a light bulb what's his name doesn't even how to change a light bulb oh stop it all right how do you not know how to change a light bulb at 206 2 he knows how to change it now all right um simplifying your life Embrace technology wisely yeah these little computers that we all have are great but you can just get lost and sucked in to social media downloading the latest app or whatever it becomes overwhel helming I get sucked into the reals you know watching silly things I because we have Ruby now somewhere somehow I must have Googled or searched for something about puppies so I get all these puppy reels and I get sucked in by watching all the cuteness and the puppies and the training and the collars and the harnesses and the beds and the car Transport Systems and I get sucked into those type of things so you have to do a couple things you have to set boundaries for screen time right I mean we're all of it I I I don't think there's a person watching this video right now that can't say that yeah I use my phone too much there are some people who are good at it and that's great but whatever you're you're using it for now you want to have boundaries around that you should never do it at hour before you go to bed yeah you shouldn't get sucked in the reels I mean if again if it's a little bit of entertainment that's okay but you know using uh technology wisely we use the aura ring technology to track our health right and reminders and I use I use the Apple watch when I'm working out um which I which I really like still and if you're finding technology is uh creating your complicated for you get some help yeah hire ask your kids or hire someone to really help you do it all right so the next tip is to simplify your eating habits plan your meals weekly if you can I mean think about a world when you wake up on Sunday you do your grocery shopping and you plan meals for three or four four or five days you know um a lot of um our clients are telling us they're starting to grow um herbs and and they have a small garden where they are and they're enjoying that both as a hobby and then part of a simplified eating plan which I think is great one of the things Mark likes to do in this simplify your eating habits bucket bucket is organize our kitchen for efficiency and after he does that often you know I have a hard time putting the carrot peeler in the right place and it'll come out of the the thing and he'll say this doesn't belong here anymore and I'm like I didn't know you moved it I never move it you move it I don't move it you Mo all of our kitchen stuff what is it what is it saying a place for everything and everything in its place I go looking for something and I can't find it Jo do you know where it is it's where it's supposed to be well it never is but it's hard to have your kitchen efficient when your partner is moving the stuff around but I'm grateful that you help with the dishes and then you empty the dishwasher and you put stuff away I just need to put way in the right spot Well for now now for me it's always a chuckle yeah like where do I think where's Waldo where is the carrot peeler so anyway simplifying your eating habits okay adopting a mindful lifestyle practicing daily gratitude start there get up in the morning get a piece of paper not in your phone get a piece of paper and write down three things you're grateful for do that every day for a week just try it I'm telling you your mind will shift my first gratitude every morning is something about jod and I it just has really changed our relationship in that I'm more mindful of everything that jod brings to to my life to our kids' life to oh gosh I'm so in love with you look at that so adopting a mindful lifestyle will simplify your life learn to say no to activities spend some time in nature focus on being present and and not worry we we do not allow the word worry to come out of our our lips right we try I wouldn't say we do not but we try not to spend a lot of our waking time in worry and stress and and well we change our language around it we say you might start a sentence or I might and say you know what I'm worried about what well you know what I'm thinking about or concerned or aware of is a lot better than I'm worried about this or I'm worried it's just a it's just bad so having a mindful uh lifestyle is really helpful all right so the next tip is to revise your living space to make your life simpler it might mean you're downsizing to a more manageable living space or maybe you're upsizing because in retirement now you have the grandkids more or your children more often or you decided to take in your parents right exactly so either downsize are upsize but really do that with intention for a more manageable living space even choosing furniture that offers comfort and utility our neighbors uh when we were at dinner last night she had a um uh sofa delivered I heard you ask her and um she had it delivered she she didn't really talk much to her husband about it she just went and ordered the sofa and had it delivered to their house so I said to her last night how's the sofa going and she said it's not very comfortable it's what I wanted it to look like but it's not very functional or comfortable she's like I'm kind of bummed out so make sure when you choose furniture that it offers comfort and utility um designate areas in your life space for relaxation and activities I think that's important our house in Florida is small and we don't really have that except for out back under you know under the Leni there's a little bit space there for relaxation and a pool for some activities although you never get in the pool really no no not a p so under this category of revising your living space I might have mentioned this before about a place for everything and everything in its place like the carrot peeler we back to that again you know where it goes you know what drawer goes in second to the right or the ice cream scooper second to the right we have a drawer in the kitchen or I have a drawer where my wallet goes my car key goes our sunglasses I know they're going to be there so designating space in your house for those things that you definitely don't want to lose and you always know that really does simplify for me I know my wallet's either in my pocket or in that drawer or in the car or in the car cuz I went to the gym and I brought my wallet so which isn't a good place to leave your wallet so another way to simplify your life is planning for the future so your wills and estate plan should be updated I'm surprised I don't know about you but do you actually have an up-to-date will do you have um what are the other documents you need living will um help me out do not resuscitate or a what's that called healthcare proxy Health Care proxies MH have all of that stuff in place there's nothing worse and one of one of us getting sick and not having that in place that creates so much stress for the other partner so planning for your future is really a way to simplify not only today but into the future into the future and and share this share your wills and estate plans with your kids if you have kids and with each other there shouldn't be any secrets when it comes to what happens when one of you gets really sick or God forbid if one of you dies there should be no questions as to what to do and that was clear with my parents it was very clear what we were meant to do my brother my sister and I so that took all of those decisions out of play because they had planned for their future yeah that was super clear with my mom my mom after she passed your mom's story is funny in 2017 after a battle with pancreatic cancer which was devastating for all of us um I I went to her safety deposit box and I opened it up and in there she had yellow sticky notes on everything you know a eulogy please make sure you include these things you know where she was born you know her friends like every document had a sticky note on it for me so it was like very well wasn't there a last note like when in doubt or if you're not sure you can decide on this stuff wasn't there a document what did I remember I think I'll have to call you a brother there was something in there that kind of made both of you chuckle yeah now don't forget to stay to the end because we're going to share with you our top 10 tips on how we are simplifying our life 5 years into retirement this is a big one and it really should be yours to talk about not mine because you're really good at this simplifying your life after 60 would include establishing routine maintenance routine Home Maintenance you know um automate as much Home Maintenance as possible declutter to prevent buildup simplify your Garden in your outdoor space which I want to do this year in Florida because we plant every year down here and I want there to be some annuals as opposed to perennials do I have that right or wrong not sure I don't have a green thumb I have no idea anyway regularly assessing your home to establish routines that needed I mean yesterday you were up in changing all the a fils air filters and I didn't actually really notice until after you changed them that the air flow in the house got so much better so routine maintenance is important use your calendar use indicators use alarms on your on your phone something that helps you stay on top of that yeah you got HVAC your furnace person whatever it is they should be coming annually or semiannually to check all your stuff so instead of waiting till something breaks stay ahead of it right have routine maintenance scheduled in your calendar like batteries and smoke detectors yeah smoke detectors the automatic uh locks on the front door and all that in the spring I always change all the batteries and do it again um late fall okay that way they're they're never dead it might be a little bit of a waste but there's nothing worse than having the battery go dead and then you then you're running around chasing all of them so that's really important to do you know one of the things that we do now 5 years into retirement to help simplify our life we focus on quality over quantity so when we're buying something like yesterday I bought actually bought an nice suit you did I bought a nice suit because weddings funerals or Mitzvah whatever it might be well even if you go on your book tour you might need a a suit for my book tour am I doing a book tour I don't know okay have you guys read my book The evolving man that's quality over quantity you read one book and there's 18 life virtues in there that men don't talk about how about that for Quality that's good quality actiona um you know apply the less is the less is better approach Ro to purchases Le less but better less items but better items yeah less better yeah so we need one really good carrot peeler instead of three crappy ones that we can never find anyway one good one I'm going to put a apple tag on it an air tag an air tag an apple tag an air tag an air tag so you know quality over quantity if there's things in your house you're not using any more donate it let someone else have it if you've got three kind of uh Prime pans that are all kind of crappy you don't use anymore because they're so old get rid of them and get one good one right we have our oh my my favorite yeah Implement in the kitchen right now is my Smithy cast iron skillet we have a 10 in a 12 in and a 14 in you have three of them use them all the time I don't really use teflon anymore or the old steel ones we actually have only grilled twice this this whole season on the outdoor grill cuz you've been using those pans so much anyway all right the next tip tip number 13 is simplify your wardrobe that sounds easier than it is but adopt a wardrobe that's casual with vers with versatile pieces you know I wish I would have done this when I was working and I didn't just buy things to wear for that one event or that one meeting or whatever it was I wish I would have adopted a more um kind of versatile wardrobe I think our two youngest girls do a great job with versatile when they come you know they they each always have like a cute pair of black pants something tan something white something that has a pop of color but they they don't get it very you know um complicated it just stays really simp simple and I think donating the clothes and we mentioned this in another video donating the clothes that you haven't worn in a year is a really good feeling if you look at something and you say I haven't worn this but I might want to keep it have the next statement in your head be could someone else be wearing this right now well you mentioned yeah and it's definitely easier for men than it is for women I mean I've got four slacks eight shirts some shorts some some golf shirts and I just move them around it doesn't really matter but I did recently I think you said it earlier in this video about I only was had two shirts you were down to two long sleeve shirts I had two long sleeve shirts to wear down here we had a colder winter to go out to dinner and and two things about them is they were old and I didn't feel good when I put them on right so I I that's not simple that's complicated that's right I look in the closet oh my God I got those too so when we bought the suit I bought four new shirts and I wore one last night and I just felt so much happier I felt alive I felt light in my feet so simplifying it better you know less versus more getting stuff that you really like and for you the versatility of mixing and matching you're getting better at that I'm I'm getting better at that I made a commitment uh two years ago every time we travel I'm just using carryon yeah you you've been doing great and I've been doing really great but that causes me to say I can wear these black pants with a pink blazer with a white shirt with a you know with a t-shirt with flipflops like try to kind of really maximize the uses um and also choosing Comfort clothes right and function over like today's Trends there's a lot of trends that come out especially in women's clothing that sometimes they're just not meant for me in particular or they don't look good on me like and I have to just kind of bypass the trends and kind of stick with more simple clothes all right another way to simplify your life is reducing digital clutter and one of the most uh obtrusive is that the right word digital invasive is unnecessary emails you can't go to any website anymore if you're interested in a product or interested in learning something more without giving them your email right or frankly even us uh we've gotten a link below download our free journaling yeah we only email you once a month right I mean when the book came out we did it a little bit more but some of these companies they just kill you with so many emails and then opting out becomes a pain in the neck right and you have to dedicate time every day or every week to kind of clear that out clear it out yeah I also think it's important to clear out your apps yes I know every once in a while I'll I'll go into apple and I'll see that I have a renewal of all these following apps and I'm like gosh you know one of them was a parking app from White Plains New York and we haven't lived there in six years why am I still paying for the parking app yeah and even if it's um even if it's free just get it off your phone it clutters the screen I agree yeah all right the next one tip number 15 is Embrace Leisure and downtime prioritizing relaxation and hobby into your daily schedule will help you simplify your days your weeks your month and your year learning to be comfortable with doing nothing which you're not comfortable with well I'm not I'm not 100% I have a tough time waking up with no plan right and nothing to do and Saturday was like that however we both said when we woke up Saturday because of all the travel we did and everything we're just not going to do anything today or we're going to do nothing together and that's okay I can't do it two days in a row no three days in a row I'm really in trouble yeah I don't think either of us could do it for a long period of time but we had a a pretty emotional roller coaster week with our son going in for surgery and we flew to New York and you know it just we were living out of a hotel and out of bags we were trying to see friends but support you know Markham as well so we just on Saturday when we landed um I was I was okay with doing nothing and thankfully you know we got to watch some golf we watched a movie we made some dinner and we just chilled so Al I think that's okay well for me it's really important that I do Embrace Leisure and downtime because it is important it's a little bit of self-care and I I need to be okay with it and not not have doing nothing creates stress in my life right so I need to limit the amount of time but when I do it I need to do it really well right all right uh we talk a lot about this having a good supportive community and we really can't talk about it enough because it's so important at this phase of life to have a good network of friends and acquaintances particularly some who share similar values and hobbies like pickle ball um your Bible study um I got a group of men we get together once in a while and talk about that and it's um it it really is a group of people you can reach out to perhaps if things aren't going well right you can be comfortable absolutely sharing your struggles you know and I love the idea of seeking this multi-generational connections so you know I'm connected to a lot of my my daughter's friends uh a lot of younger women that are still in the workforce that I Mentor you know so I love the idea of connecting with people younger and older than me in this phase of life for sure to to Really cultivate that supportive Community yeah and it simplifies my life and staying in touch with everybody in the right way again I don't know if it was we're doing so many videos today but I love to send videos to people haven't seen you in a while hope all as well a one minute video it's such a a cool way to you know if you if you see on Facebook someone struggling with something send them a video or FaceTime them I mean that's the best all right the 17th tip is to automate and delegate certain tasks we've gotten a lot better at streamlining this by using Auto automation for repetitive tasks like bill paying or um even email responsing you know if I'm out if I'm we're going to be away from our phones like this summer we're going to Africa for 3 weeks we won't a lot of access but delegating and automating tasks um that are difficult or less enjoyable or just repetitive can streamline your life and I think um reminders is good on your phone as well I mean we've got some we have a thing we do with our kids called Selfie Saturday so every Saturday 8:00 my phone has an alarm that rings off and it's we typically start it we'll take a picture of wherever we are whatever we're doing and send it to the family and the idea is all the other kids will put up a picture as well kind of saying where they are it's one little way to stay in touch but it only happens because it's automated right and you're using that alarm on your phone I do I do it this sounds crazy but you know you got to put water in your pool I do it as soon as we put the hose in the pool I I set an alarm to remind myself that the hose is in the pool well yeah because yeah it's gotten a little full it has and you know so anyway all right um this is really important I think for all of us is finding a good balance of staying informed about what's happening in the world but not becoming overwhelmed there's a lot there's just so many news channels and they're all different and they all believe that what they're saying is the truth right you've got to find some trusted news sources that are just reporting what's happening not what they think it's all about because that just sends people to a rabbit hole you get overwhelmed you get stressed out we watch very little um commercial news what what would the word be mainstream news mainstream news you know there's gosh there's CNN reports it one way Fox is another MSNBC Facebook has this bit of information and then God forid our kids are getting a lot of news from Tik Tok yeah which you know is hyper overdone crazed news sometimes one of the kids will tell us something I said where'd you hear Tik Tok I go no yeah I'm just to say for us that's not a trusted news source for the younger generation I think they're still trying to figure it out so I think that uh one way to stay informed we watch very little news but we'll watch a little bit of it but having discussions with friends and Neighbors on current events in a constructive Manner and really listening to their point of view you know maybe in your mind they're wrong but but maybe you're wrong too so it's just a matter of being able to have that without being overwhelmed and stress oh that's interesting you think about it that way here's how I think about it and really just focusing on the actionable information relevant to your life I think is important yeah you know um and and that might be relevant to your heart it might be relevant to your hobbies or your purpose or your focus or your family or your health and wellness but you know figure out what's actionable information relevant in your life I think that's a good way to discern yeah one one of the the next tip is about um simplifying meal prep I you know we talk about this and you and I go we're not great we go in and out of it but I love to cook a big roast on Sunday night and that's good for Monday lunch and maybe even Monday dinner we mix it up a little bit a roast chicken a roast chicken for instance but um it would be great if we could cook a little bit more on Sunday and then have dinners for Monday Tuesday Wednesday but we we don't we have a friend whose son actually um Sunday Ryan Ryan Sunday sets out all his containers and he and his wife meal prep you saw that on inst didn't you yeah it's really they meal prep for the whole week and I mean they are cooking the majority of Sunday you they make brown rice or quinoa or you know some type of grain they cook the Protein they put that in they put their green leafy vegetables in there and they seal up all these containers well it's and it's pretty amazing well when you think about it if we're going to cook Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday there's a lot that goes into preparing the meal first you have to shop and you have to you know do whatever you need to do to prep it and cook it that's an hour hour and a half each time if you're going to cook 20 pieces of chicken it it only takes 25 minutes right a little bit of prep but if you do that four times during the week it's take it out of the fridge and you actually do simplify and streamline your time I think buy meal prep what we're not great at and I don't if we'll ever get there is cooking sealing and freezing for a later date I don't know we're just not very good at that we should try I mean I we get back to Connecticut we should try I like that kitchen and you know I don't know but anyway it's a tip to simplify your life is to simplify meal prep um the last one here really covers everything we just talked about and we you know after 5 years of being in retirement it's all about practicing intentional living how do we want our day to look how do we want our week to look how do we want our life to look and setting clear act achievable goals aligned with our values and I think that's worked so well in our relationship and our physical wellness and things like sleep we're very intentional about a lot of this well and we make decisions around things that contribute to our overall well-being right like I mean let's be honest if you could have a chocolate chip cookie for lunch and one after dinner every night you would but it that doesn't really contribute to our overall well-being first of all not for you and second of all I never really have the cookie but I have the bite of the cookie and I don't really need that to spur on my sugar craze so making these mindful decisions and practicing intentional living even though it's number 20 it does kind of En encapsulate everything yeah I think the other thing is is being okay with change you know try new experiences we we try new things all the time to see if it makes makes our life better and we don't like everything that we try but we try right we're not stuck in our ways and no we never did it that way so we're not going to change we love changing and then you know what if you change and you like it celebrate that absolutely okay as promised here are the 10 personal tips we use to simplify our lives right now first one go joint family calendar now that's really for just you and I but we because we have six kids we plan out months and and years in advance might sound ridiculous but we have Thanksgiving we have summer vacation we have other holidays and we and our kids are not like right around the corner they have to travel so we and we have to make plans for that plans in advance so you and I have a joint calendar I always know what day Jody's doing whatever she's doing um she knows what I'm doing and then we we anchor kids uh visitors you know right on that calendar so that if Mark looks at his calendar including the family calendar he'll see like oh you know mti's coming for a month this summer you know and these are the dates she's going to be there yeah Maddie and Tao really no I knew that course birthdays all our fames birthdays are in the calendar so there's another app that we use to simplify um a lot of things in our life and it's called Evernote and inside of Evernote we have um a a joint grocery list whenever we need anything for the house we pop jod has it on her phone I have it on mine and one of us goes to the store we open it up and it's current right we have all of our travel um passwords HZ rental things like that so we're not always searching and grabbing we've got Jody's car we have a picture of her registration a picture of her driver's license a picture of uh license plate so if there's something on your car that we need to look up it's there when if it's a lease car when the date would be up so we use Evernote for so many different things that we can share these notes I mean you can use the the app Notes in your phone it's really the same thing it is very similar but with Evernote you can tag it you can share it you can do a little bit more I don't know what else we use that for well I use it when the kids are coming right so I share Evernote with for example Jonathan Mariana and their family because if they're coming I don't know what the kids are eating these days you know if we haven't seen them in a couple months I mean Luca used to love cucumbers and cherry tomatoes and now he doesn't like cucumbers or cherry tomatoes so like we keep a running list so that before they come I know what size diaper cam needs like you know so that I'm prepared when they get here and I don't have to send those emails out like hey what does everybody need okay so family calendar evern note the third thing would be our daily routine that really simplifies our life kind of Full Stop we don't need to go into it much but our daily routine is kind of our Holy Grail I know we did that in the last video but it really anchors us down it creates um a place for us to build around each day and I think it's really important when we go to bed at night we know what each of us are going to do first thing in the morning what time we're going to get up unless there's a bad night's sleep or something and and we have coffee from 6:00 to 6:30 together 8:00 when you get back from the gym we're again together for a half an hour so by 9:00 we I'm up at 4:00 so by 9 I'm up for 5 hours already and we've done a lot of stuff together and a lot of stuff separately but we're so grounded because of that right there's no confusion ab and it's simple we don't have to think about it so the fourth thing uh that we do is uh we do our planning on Sunday nights it might seem like oh you know that's not a good night you know Sunday night Sunday your day of rest but Sunday during dinner we usually plan Monday through Friday the next week you know what do we have going on what things do we have to accomplish for work you know well if one of us is getting a haircut or you know what do we need to do with Ruby I mean there's a lot of things get that get planned on well I think the key to that is not so much work and all of that but making sure that we're planning the fun stuff you know are we going to be able to use the boat this week when can we fit that in when can we fit in golf together when can we fit in pickle ball because those things are really important to us and making sure we met set aside time for that is good who's got birthdays coming up you know so that we we know about that another area that uh we use to simplify our life is making Mak sure we schedule time alone alone from each other in a way jod has her golf on Wednesdays mhm I spend more time than I should on work but I enjoy it I get a lot of satisfaction out of it um the gym we have uh separately which actually is good I don't know if we'd like working out together yeah I'm not sure but we can't both go at well I'm not going at 4:40 in the morning no you're not but scheduling time alone you know a massage a haircut whatever ever it might be me having lunch with a buddy that really has simplified our life because if you don't have that if you're not planning and you're not schedule you don't have a routine you get up in the morning and you say all right so what are we going to do today right right I don't know maybe I'll call Paul for lunch well he's busy so I can't so it really is making our life simple by having these habits of routine planning Sunday nights scheduling a long time meal prep is another thing we just talked about that meal prep is the sixth thing on our list of 10 and we don't need to go into it more we did just talk about it but this for us needs work we're getting better we could get a lot better and I think we have to be more intentional about it to make our life simpler um another thing that we do to keep our life simple is that selfie Saturday with the family we talked about that set an alarm every Saturday at 8:00 the alarm goes off we take a picture of ourselves put it in there encourage the kids like where are you what are you doing just to keep um in touch that's simple and interesting and the next thing thing is and we mentioned it um earlier um but the calendar of family birthdays you hate to miss a birthday you always feel awful if you miss someone's birthday forgot to send a card forgot to reach out forgot to do a video so on our calendar we have all of our family our nieces and nephews you know my pop like everybody's birthday is on our calendar so we never feel behind the eightball and we'll look at that on Sunday do we have any birthdays coming up April is a big birthday month for our family so with six kids six more Partners two grandkids two grandkids 6 12 14 14 plus us that's 14 yeah you get presents I don't get I didn't get any yesterday but you're getting some next week you didn't get a shopping spree in napl FL 16 people to buy presents for so one thing we've done to simplify except for Jody is no more presents just cash or an experience so dinner out a coupon something like that this idea idea of buying presents for 14 people for something that they that we think they want it's just too hard well we also don't want to add to someone else's clutter right so like do my girls really need another sweater probably not so what they really need and they're of the age what they really need is cash so um you know we've gone to more cash presents um than we did that to make our life simpler and frankly probably the kids yeah because they could probably use some money versus like you said the shirt the last thing we do to make our life simpler is a separation of Duties um not that there isn't crossover sometimes but you mean around the house around the house you know chores you know U Mark loves to cook I don't love to grocery shop but I'll do it um I'll clean up he'll cook I'll walk the dog he'll walk her late at night in the dark you know like just we kind of have a good flow of separation of Duties I think we do and on top of that we're we're very comfortable being open about not so much I'm doing more than you but I really need your help today I'm having a tough time do you mind walk in Ruby before you go to bed instead of me and that that's important because it you know it should be it's a partnership and it's not black and white but we do have you know some areas but I think our communication is really good too it's gotten a lot better you know simple and easy needs to be your new mantra there's no need to keep scheduling too much each day break it up with some things that give you fun and enjoyment and increase your retirement journey and you want to get into the mindset that life doesn't have to be complicated it really doesn't have to be complicated I hope you wrote some things down today that can help you make your life simpler and you know if you really want to jump start it I think journaling and meditation is a great way to get your head in a good spot so I hope you enjoyed this video and if you did this next one it's really good it's called don't fear aging and it helps you discover the beauty of growing older so watch this one next

Channel: Retirement Transformed

Views: 162,019

Keywords: Retirement, Retirement Transformation, Retirement Stories, Retirement Journey, Retirement Planning, Retirement Goals, Retirement Transition, Retirement Ideas, Retirement Tips, Retirement Strategies, How to Retire, When to Retire, Successful Retirement, Retiring at age 50, Retiring at age 60, Young Retired, Baby Boomers, Retirement Advice, Retirement Living, What to expect in retirement, retirement couple, Retirement Transformed

Id: X_23TlKKmzQ

Length: 48min 35sec (2915 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024