When your children grow up and leave home...

[putchyrsg]

Don you have any plans? For example are you going to downsize, move to a different location, eat out every night ( without feeling guilty that kids need to be fed) all lighthearted of course. My boys are teenagers and we have a holiday home an hour anyway. I plan to fully spend my summers there and enjoy not having to clean a whole big house ( and pick up after people all day)

Just curious to see if people have any little goals/ plans they are looking forward to once the responsibilities of young children are gone

Now my kids are mostly away I thought I would do all the things aforementioned but instead life continues as normal but just at a slower pace and everything revolves around their pets we are left with, a cat and a lizard. So we have not much more freedom at all. Anyone want a 13 year old gecko or a frisky cat?

Mine moved back in after Uni to save for a house but with rising house prices/energy bills/ cost of living I can see him being here for quite some time yet. Doesn't stop us going away though - he just rolls his eyes, says 'again' in a joking voice and enjoys the peace and quiet!

I am looking forward to the electricity bill going down when he moves out though! He doesn't appreciate my love of the Smart meter 😁

I've just joined a gym that's on a 'leisure park'. We're going to buy one of the lodges and move there the minute mine are gone

And I shall eat spicy Thai food A LOT.

Mine are just needy in a different way now they are older so my grandiose ideas have gone firmly down the 'carsey'
In all fairness this is partly down to circumstance and partly down to me.

Walking into a room and it being the same as when I left it…….this is what I dream of!

Due to SEN, I can’t see that happening but I do hope DH and I will be able to go on some holidays together.

DD is 22 and is living and working in the city where she went to university. Our life hasn't changed significantly since she left to go to university in 2019. DH is semi retired and I'm still working.

I moved to live with d, much faster than otherwise I would have been able. Plan to travel overland by motorcycle, rent the house out

Permanently, as in for ever?
No partners?

Well, who knows. They don’t have boyfriends or partners. They are mid-20s.

I would hope to downsize but I'm a long way off DS is only 8 years old. Not to mention a lot of adult kids will be staying at home to save as rents are so high.

No, not at all, I really love reading other people's plans, despite our circumstances it makes me happy.

I am living this life and its great! Dcs are in 20s, own their own houses and live 300 miles away.
Currently live in a 4 bedroom house but will probably downsize to a 2 bed.
It's the small things...ad hoc lunches, afternoon drinks, long walks in fabulous countryside.
Not interested in cruises or long haul travel. We love our European city breaks and breaks here.

Eldest is 18 and already flown the nest. The house feels very weird without them and I'm still getting used to it just being the 2 of us.

Youngest is 14 and has very firm plans of college and uni. I'm already a bit worried about how I will feel without them!

We will probably do lots of meals out. Term time holidays, days out.

It's going to feel so strange though just the two of us. We have been together 15 years so I already had DC1 when we met so we never had that period of "just us".

Mine are back and forth at university, I love having them here but I also love knowing they're out there living their lives too

Mine have left, I still work film time & will do for 10 more years....

I’ll probably have a lot of responsibility for my mum by then. On the plus side I hope we can move a couple of miles away where I’d really love to live - too expensive for a family home there but we could get a two bed bungalow. Nearer the sea and near my mum too. Maybe get a dog.

But life is what happens when you’re making plans, so who knows.

I get what you mean about meals out (and holidays) being too expensive for the whole family (now the DC eat like adults and seem to expect 3 courses), but can be much more affordable for two.

We’ll be downsizing to a smaller house & plot but DC will each have a bedroom for as long as they need. It won’t be far away from where we are now but nearer the sea, and better lifestyle to suit our older years.

I want to retire to a warmer country, I'm sick to death of cold, miserable winters. Maybe a Greek island.

I am going to turn Dd1 bedroom into an art studio. I sed to love painting and drawing before the kids came along, now I don’t have the time or the space. I would love to take some classes and get better at it.

I'm single and can retire in a few years. DS is nearly 15, so he'll head off somewhere in 3 years.

I can sell my house in the home counties and move anywhere I like. He'll be at university for years so he won't mind where we have a house.

I intend to work part time, buy a scruffy cottage, do it up, grow fruit and (hopefully) learn to sail. 😎

Really looking foward to non term time holidays to adults only places.

Not a plan as such because it’s actually happened. Does that still count?

yes I downsized and yes I love it. Yes I often go out on the spur of the moment and make last minute plans.

I think you have to look on it as an exciting new adventure rather than a depressing end of an era. It’s the start of a new one.

Our three eldest have flown the nest and it's just our nearly 13 year old with us, so were downsizing house. We're excited for our next adventure

We’ve been talking a lot about this lately.

We will hopefully move, we’ve only stayed here due to schools. Our youngest is 15 so we’re thinking in 3 years, after A levels before Uni. If she needs/wants to live at home, that would delay things though.

We have a holiday home, still in England, that we would love to move full time to for a few years. We’re there for lots of weekends and school holidays at the moment.

And eventually we’d like to move to America for family. Big plot of land with lots of animals would be the dream. I’m not sure I could leave the kids but maybe they would come with us.