On Make Money Your Way, we are celebrating our 6-month anniversary. Did I reach my goal of $3,000 income in that time? Click to find out…

I previously discussed the impact of early retirement on relationships, and how it can initially be challenging to find your new role among friends and family once you’ve stopped working a 9 to 5 job. Another common question is how to fill your days now that you’re not working.

When you have a job that consumes 40 hours a week, it’s hard to imagine how your days will be filled once you’re no longer working. However, looking at my typical day, you can see that boredom is never an issue.

Firstly, you’ll find yourself spending more time on everyday tasks. When I was working, dinner often involved quick-prep meals, sometimes even frozen food or pizza. Cooking from scratch was rare and usually didn’t take more than 20 minutes. Leftovers would go into a Tupperware for the next day’s lunch at work.

Now, I take my time to prepare a proper breakfast with homemade bread, eggs, beans — a typical Guatemalan side — fresh tomato and garlic sauce, and a natural smoothie. I make everything from scratch, including pizza, crepes, quiches, and tortillas.

Once a week, I go grocery shopping and carefully select my products, compare prices, and plan meals to avoid food waste. Before, I’d just reorder the same things online and get bored with repetitive meals. It’s enjoyable to take my time with these tasks since there’s no need to rush through them; the day has plenty of hours.

Next, you’ll tackle all the small tasks you didn’t have time for while working. This could include fixing a leak in the bathroom, oiling a squeaky door, attending your kids’ recitals, or going to HOA meetings. People will start to ask for your time too.

When I’m in Paris visiting my family, I try to be helpful with tasks that are easy for me but challenging for my mom and sister, like painting my mom’s living room, ordering a new battery for her laptop, or fixing her bicycle. I also enjoy babysitting my niece, who I don’t get to see often. However, I draw the line at running errands like grocery shopping unless it aligns with my needs; otherwise, my days would be filled with errands. The whole point of early retirement is having the freedom to do what I want with my time.

Learning to say no is crucial. For instance, if you used to carpool kids to school, maintain the same schedule. Just because you don’t work anymore doesn’t mean you should now take all the kids to school every day. If my sister needs a babysitter, I can do it daily, but I need a couple of days’ notice. I’m also in Paris to meet friends, so I can’t cancel plans last minute because my sister wants to go out with her friends.

Lastly, if you’ve worked hard to achieve financial independence and early retirement, you likely had a plan in mind. Some people want to travel the world, spend more time with their kids, or start a new project. If you’re as passionate about your post-retirement projects as you were about your job, your days will pass quickly.

People will still wonder what you do all day. It’s not their concern, really, but I’ve found that if you’re not following the norm, others struggle to relate to you. When I had a job, people would ask endless questions about it. Now, if I take a six-month trip to 20 different countries and return, they ask how it was and move on to talking about their jobs. A job is something you do to pay the bills; it doesn’t define you. Just because you’ve stopped working doesn’t mean you’re useless or not worthy of attention. People don’t do this purposely; they just don’t know how to relate to your lifestyle. Be patient with them and focus the conversation back on their jobs.

If you get bored in early retirement, you can always go back to work. You could return to your old job or pursue your passion, as you no longer need the money. Currently, my projects include managing three blogs, catering for guests in my house which operates as a guest house, overseeing a 90-acre land development, and occasional Forex investing. My days are definitely filled, but none of it feels like an obligation, which is the best part.

Have you thought about how you would spend your days in retirement or early retirement? What would you do? Are you worried about how your relationships would change if you stopped working?