A Question For Readers-And Earning Money in Retirement Because You Want To (not because you have to)

This is the second post in a row about financial changes in retirement, and to some it may seem like overkill. But since I have upcoming posts on retirement travel, lifestyle changes, money earning and frugal holidays, among others, I figured this one was appropriate as well. Because if nothing else, I don't want any of my readers thinking that posts about making a bit of money here and a bit of money there are meant to take the place of basic rightsizing. The things I write about have more to do with earning money for travel, or for one hundred and fifty dollar shoes, than they do "working in retirement".

Most mornings, I move slowly in retirement. I pray and meditate and do stretches in bed and such before I even get out of the bed. Eventually I take my laptop, phone and notebook to my comfy chair. Where I also have my breakfast, as it is. This time of year it's often a homemade breakfast drink that I make with about an inch of eggnog in a glass of milk. During my time in that comfy chair, after I have checked the morning news and email and written in my journal and such, I spend no more than an hour doing money earning activities.

Once the rest of my day begins, I do passive actions on my phone or laptop as I go through said day. If I'm out and about I may get a  rebate or reward for shopping or have a chance to do a quick audit while I am in a store (a recent chance to photograph a display while in Target comes to mind). In the evening, IF I am at home and IF I am watching TV or just visiting, I usually spend some additional time doing the things I'll be talking about in a future post or two...or three (lol).

Before I begin those promised articles though, I would be remiss if I did not say this first. I do these money/gift card things because I choose to, not because I have to.I also try and make sure they don't interfere with the rest of life. If I have a chance to take a day trip and NOT do any of the above, that's peachy. And if that's not true for you, then you should probably do whatever you have to do to make sure that the same IS true for you.

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about every day economies, and ways to live "richly in retirement".  And I know that people appreciate that. But it occurs to me that perhaps the thing people should be paying attention to the most are not those day to day things but those big changes I made (some of which were mentioned in the previous article). I drastically downsized my life in terms of space, physical energy, and monthly costs, to put it simply. Because I did not want my life to be just about my house, car those other things-from an energy/labor standpoint as much as a financial one.

All the little money saving or money making techniques I share, and readers share with me are valuable. Valuable however, ONLY if you've done whatever you needed to do to lower those overhead costs to as far beneath your income as you are able. If you aren't willing (or in some case aren't able) to do that, the truth is that the passive earning things are a mere drop in the bucket. The same may even be true of part time earnings.

Admittedly , those kinds of changes are painful on occasion. Sometimes they require physical moves and labor. Sometimes they require giving up the kinds of thing we feel we "deserve" or are "used to". Sometimes it means giving up the family home (kids or no). Sometimes it means giving up one of two houses. Or downsizing to something that is half the size. Or moving from a house to an apartment. Or sharing space. It may mean keeping our car an added few years and/or moving down to one car for a couple. It probably means paying cash for cars in the future. While medical care and costs are unpredictable, it also means looking at what those costs will be and doing the best we can.

I would suggest that as painful as these kinds of changes can be, that pain is generally temporary.  My downsizing was not particularly painful, admittedly. Most of the pain involved the physical act of selling, moving, and finding a new place to live-along with letting go of the idea of home ownership, at least temporarily. But I have lived in many places, in many states and countries and under many circumstances. So I understand that for some, the letting go of the living situation they may have imagined is difficult.

Invariably (and probably predictably) his is where someone reminds me that I live with my sister and my brother is my landlord. Or they'll say that as a federal government retiree (or the wife of one) my health insurance is on a different level. The first two are absolutely true-but if they had not been, I would have found another way. Long time readers may recall, my original intent was to move into a small apartment in Denver. And as for the second, well, my husband turned down many offers that were much greater over the years, because of said benefits and the desire to be shipped to Europe.

But the bottom line is that retirement should be about the entire experience. If you feel like you can "never do anything". Or "Why do other people get to have fun in retirement" I promise you that in the long run, you'll be much happier making the really big changes so you can take advantage of the really big fun stuff. And this is where I add that if you are living only on Social Security, if you literally cannot make ends meet, if you are making choices between things like food and bills (as more seniors do than I care to admit), this post is not directed at you. $37000 a year is not poverty, and I would never pretend it is. Even in those most expensive areas of the country. I also have articles coming up on poverty and more extreme retirement living.

Because the truth is this: If you have your monthly overhead (housing and related bills, basic food, transportation) as low as you can possibly go and still be "comfortable", you can, to paraphrase a book I read somewhere, "extreme coupon the shit out of"  or occasionally financially supplement the rest of your life. 

If I didn't do passive income or surveys or the things I do, I would still eat. I would still have a  beautiful roof over my head. I would still have a car, pay for my prescriptions and medical care, have a social life, be able to buy gifts and clothes and even take the occasional road trip. Because I was willing to downsize, rightsize, small up, whatever your phrase of this week might be.

So yea, I earn passive income and do other things that bring me in "extra money". My average goal is around $150 a month, but I've upped that for the holidays and in preparation of my six week train trip to some really fun (albeit expensive) US locations in the spring of the coming year.

And yes, I'm going to tell you all about that-about how to run videos on your phone and computer, get paid for doing things you normally do (including travel on occasion) mystery shop with your phone, and get freebies and rewards at the places you shop and eat-in person or online. You may be interested, you may be bored, or you may already know everything I'm going to share in this series of articles.  

Whatever your response, hopefully you've cared for the "big stuff", so we can now have fun with the "smaller stuff".

And on that note, I'll leave you all with one question for Wednesday. Should I do this by type of device, type of earnings, apps versus computer? At this point my intent is to first talk "terms" and then share those big 3 point earning websites where you can do many things. Does that work for you?  Let me know.