Planning my days better/structure, overwhelmed Help please!

[DiggiFallow]

I'm semi retired working a few hours a month.

I'm struggling with feeling overwhelmed, lack of sensible routine, house a mess. I just feel as if I'm firefighting every day combined with just going round in circles. I am getting less done each day than I was when I worked full time and had a 90 minute each way commute!

How can I get some structure into my days, I don't know where to start? I need to get some exercise, declutter the house, set up a cleaning routine.
Thanks for any advice.

I would start with the things you WANT to do - what did you hope to start when retired? Learning a language/instrument, travel, joining the WI, starting an art class, whatever it is. Then get the times for that booked into your diary.

Then exercise - find the classes/sessions you want to do, and build those in. I'm not retired, but I'm much more likely to go to a class that's in my calendar, is a weekly fixture, and better yet, has friens going too.

Routine cleaning - I wouldn't want to be beholden to forever cleaning the house, however, I do have days when I do the washing that work within my working schedule - my days off are Sa, Su, M and I WFH on a W, so I try to do some washing on Wednesdays and 1 other day. Saturdays I try to do towels, and Mondays I do sheets.

Project work (eg decluttering), maybe assign a time to it, but I'd be prepared to be flexible.

I'd also beware of being too structured in your routines - when my PIL retired, they stopped whatever they were doing at 11am as that was when they had coffee. Without fail.

Can you not structure your days semi previous work type days. E.g.set your alarm for the same time, get up and get ready then have a rough structure for your day. Maybe focus on one room at a time and begin to declutter it. Have your lunch and then maybe go for a walk or do some other exercise, or meet friends for a coffee or a walk.

Maybe you need a bit of structure to keep you focussed.

Draw out a sketch timetable for your week and chunk up the time.

I use a website called 'Focusmate' which assigns you a sort of task buddy for stretches of between 25 minutes and ?75 minutes where you tell each other at the start of the session what you'll be working on and check in at the end of the session about progress. It's easy to use and I find it incredibly helpful for structuring time (which I really struggle with) and getting priority tasks done.

ChatGPT

Hello OP, I think it is a really big adjustment to go from full on work /commute, to working only a small number of hours per month.

You didn't mention how long it's been since you finished full time work, but I've come across various people saying that the first year of retirement is all about adjustment - and not to expect everything to feel it fits into place straight away. Some people I've chatted to, also say that the first few months after finishing work are when people realise just how exhausted / ill / many demands they had - and therefore they aren't willing to start making new plans just yet.

Could you start small, with deciding one area you want to focus on during May - e.g. if it was sorting out the house in May, then decide each day that you'll do something specific in one room. Being able to see what you've achieved is helpful (even if only small tasks) and they will soon add up.

Once you've got one area set up, then you could consider adding in another area (e.g. more exercise in June - starting with small daily walk ?).

Hoping that helps you, good luck with settling into your new life.

I am quite lazy and sometimes do not much. It's ok to do not much I think!!

I do exercise though, 3 classes a week, that very much gives structure. Can you find a class you want to do?

It does take time to settle down.

I like lists, whenever I think of something I would like to do, I add to the list, then when I am wondering what to do, I look at the list. Even random things like 'make bacon' or 'call xx'.