The Retirement Detox Program

Welcome to the Retirement Detox blog

Welcome to the blog which supports the Retirement Detox Programme.

There are several reasons why a retiree feels like they need a Retirement Detox:

•    They may have ambitious plans for their retirement that haven't come to fruition and their lack of progress is getting them down.
•    They have already achieved all the goals they set for their retirement and are left feeling 'what next?'.
•    They have just been over-run by everyday, mundane activities that leave precious little time for what they really want to do.
•    They are struggling to blend their retirement plans and expectations with the plans and expectations of a partner or other significant person (for example, a grown-up child who expects them to be a full-time babysitter).
•    Something came along that just blew their plans right out of the water - a divorce or serious health problem, for example.

When disenchantment with retirement turns into depression

If your disenchantment with retirement is starting to turn into depression, check out this fabulous blog post by the magnificent Barbara Sher about an email exchange that she'd had with someone suffering from depression.  It contains extremely good advice!

Salsa dancing British granny Paddy Jones wins Spain's Got Talent

After the death of her husband, Sarah Jones, known as Paddy, had planned a quiet retirement in Gandia, near Valencia.  But now, at 75, she's become the winner of the Spanish equivalent of Britain's Got Talent after performing a salsa which incorporated 'a dazzling sequence of flips, spins and high kicks'.  Check out Paddy's performance in this video from the Times Online website.

Do you know your friends on Facebook and Twitter better than you know your neighbours?

I was leaving my house the other day when I saw Lynsey, my next door neigbour, hobbling down her path on crutches, with her leg in plaster.  I, naturally, asked her what had happened to her and it turned out that she'd fallen downstairs and broken her leg quite badly - it had been pinned and plated and all kinds of things.  And she'd had the accident 8 weeks ago!  She'd been hobbling around on crutches for 8 weeks and I had absolutely no idea!

So this article by Hazel Davis - I've got 668 'friends' on Facebook... but I don't know any of my neighbours - struck a chord with me when I read it this morning (ironically, after following a link to it from someone I know on Twitter).

How about you?  Do you know your neighbours and what's going on in their lives?  Or do you know more about your friends on Facebook and Twitter?

Video guides to packing for a house move

I don't have many talents but I've moved home 8 times in my adult life and have never even so much as damaged a drinking glass during the course of all those moves. 

If you're moving home in the near future and want to arrive at your new pad with all your possessions intact, check out the video guides to packing up your home prepared by reallymoving.com. 

Some of the tips given are only common sense but, if you haven't moved home for a while, the videos might give you some ideas (even if only about the equipment you'll need to stock up on beforehand).

Great Quotes - About 'stuff'

The less stuff you own, the less you have to clean, store, maintain, manage, protect, worry about, stress about, waste money on, forget, and pick up. Have the minimum amount of stuff for you to be comfortable. (This level is different for everyone and you’ll have to figure it out for yourself.)

Erin Doland

5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Becoming An Entrepreneur

Many people dream of running their own, often hobby-related, business once they retire.  You may be one of them.  But unless you've had previous experience of getting a business off the ground, you probably won't be prepared for the impact that entrepreneurship can have on your finances, your family life, your time and your emotions.

In this article entitled, 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Becoming an Entrepreneur, author and founder of Vocation Vacations, Brian Kurth points out that, 'Entrepreneurialism is not for the faint of heart'.

Free books from Google

If, like me, you've always got your nose in a book, you're going to love the fact that you can now download over a million Public Domain books from Google Books.  Just go to www.books.google.com, find a book you want to read and click on the Download button in the toolbar.

Over one million books...  Even I'd struggle to read that many! 

Walkit.com - The Urban Walking Route Planner

If you live in the UK and plan on exploring your city now you're retired (or someone else's city, for that matter), check out Walkit.com. 

This is a great site that gives you a route map between any two points, and includes your expected journey time at a fast walking pace, a medium pace and a slow one.  It also tells you the number of calories you're likely to burn, a step count and the amount of carbon you're saving by travelling on foot. It’s quick, free, healthy and green.  What more could you ask?

Thought Provokers: Are you too cautious?

 'The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.'
Jawaharial Nehru

Have you been too cautious in your life thus far, or not cautious enough?

Is this something that you feel you would like to/need to change in retirement?

If so, how could you go about it?

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For over 500 questions designed to help you get the happy, healthy, vital, productive, energetic, prosperous and fulfilling retirement you deserve, buy my new, immediately downloadable book: Thought Provokers: Questions You Need To Ask Yourself BEFORE You Retire.

Adventures in housesitting

Check out 'Adventures in Housesitting' by Lynn Woods for the Joyfully Jobless blog if you're investigating low-cost ways of funding your retirement travels. 

Lynn is an American who came across the pond to housesit in Kenilworth in Warwickshire but the gig works equally well in the opposite direction.