I love spreadsheets. You know that better than most people because most people don’t know me. My latest spreadsheet project involves me going through google maps, street by street, and recording all the restaurants, bars, salons, and other notable businesses within a one mile radius walking distance of my house.
And then, slowly, going to them.
I’m not even close to done, but it’s a fun project.
I have an astonishing 34 gyms, 40 salons, 150 restaurants with food, 38 bars with no food (or with only food trucks. We have a lot of food trucks in our neighborhood, but that wasn’t part of the project).
The gyms were definitely my favorite part to try. I tried all the free days and free weeks some gyms offered first.
Then I used Class Pass for a couple of months. Have you heard of it? It lets you try out different gyms. Classpass is expensive as sin, but if I had a billion dollars, it would be the way I worked out. I would use a gym that specializes in strength training three days a week, a gym that does HIIT two days a week, one day a pilates reformer class, one day a yoga class. You get the idea. If you want to try classpass, use this link so I get credit. Your first ten credits are free. I don’t really recommend it though. After the first free month, it’s $39/month for 18 credits and as one class can run you eleven credits, it’s not a great deal. There’s a middleman, so it’s more expensive than most gyms.
I didn’t include gyms in my personal finance book, but that’s another expense I avoided when I worked. My law firm subsidized my gym membership while I was in Sydney, and in Chicago they had personal trainers and a gym in the building. All for free.
When I worked out after I retired, I used weights that I paid nothing for and used free youtube videos. You remember.
Gyms in my neighborhood cost $15 a month (the public gyms where I go) up to $399 per month. The average price seems to be about $150/month. Eek!
I’m still considering joining one. I really loved the atmosphere at some of them. The gyms that don’t have free days or free weeks usually have an introductory offer, like $39 for two weeks or 7 classes for $7. That’s what I’m doing now. I have tried 17 of the 34 gyms. So far.
And there are so many different ways to work out within a mile of me, within a bike ride of me.
I have tried (so far) CrossFit, weight lifting, a TRX class, water Zumba, regular Zumba, jiu jitsu, swimming, cycling, Pilates reformer, mat Pilates, high-intensity Pilates, lagree Pilates, hot yoga, aerial yoga, flower yoga, tarot yoga, yin yoga, puppy yoga, regular yoga, boring yoga, pole-dancing, bouldering.
One thing I did not try was naked yoga.
Another fun activity is eating at all the restaurants in the neighborhood. I still have a lot to go through. Every Wednesday, boyfriend and I have date night, dressing up nicely and biking to the chosen location. One of the highlights of the week.
Of course I’m trying out some of the salons, but there are a lot of them and I only cut my hair twice a year.
I also checked out acupuncture, pottery, and sewing*.
This is how I spend my time in retirement land.
Oh, I also got a job! I worked as an election judge for the city of Denver, making $17/hour. I worked for 37 hours and I made $565. It’s the first paycheck I’ve earned since I quit my job in October 2015. It was fun when money magically appeared in my bank account.
*Okay, sewing was farther than a mile from my house, but it’s on my life bucket list, so I drive for it.
Speaking of life bucket lists! What items are you working on? I’m currently trying to become a better swimmer so I can maybe scuba dive, learning Spanish with Duolingo, falling responsibly in love, working in a factory (looking for a job), learning to sew (as I just mentioned), and seeing the world, I went to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Trinidad, Barbados, and a bunch of other islands and didn’t tell you about it. I’ll try to be better.
Love you all.
Wonderful idea, this 1 mile thing. I live in Bangkok 6 months a year and I’ll try the same there. It will take me more than a year to visit all the places within 1 mile. The other 6 months I live in a village in Belgium. I can count on one hand where one mile will take me. Oh, wait, there’s also this, this,…this and that. Still some places I’ve never been to. Great idea!
Yay! I’m glad you’re liking it. It’ll definitely take me more than a year to try all the restaurants because we’re only going once a week. We eat in most of the time.
Love Belgium and Bangkok.
You don’t have to drive if something is over a mile away. You can easily walk or cycle much further than a mile. Think of the travelling as a cheap gym.
You’re absolutely right! The only thing I drive for is my sewing class once a week, but I should look into biking there.
“I worked as an election judge for the city of Denver, making $17/hour. I worked for 37 hours and I made $565. It’s the first paycheck I’ve earned since I quit my job in October 2015.”
You should fund your Roth IRA again now that you have earned income. But I assume you already know that.
“I’m currently trying to become a better swimmer so I can maybe scuba dive”
You don’t need to be a great swimmer to scuba dive. You should do it. Go to a “Try Scuba” class for $50.
“…learning Spanish with Duolingo…”
I’m using Duolingo for Hungarian right now. I’m also using Pimsleur (~$20/month) which I listen to while walking every day, and the Tandem app which allows you to practice with native speakers. You help them learn English, they help you learn Spanish (Hungarian in my case). It feels like what the Internet was created for.
“One thing I did not try was naked yoga.”
This surprised me, since you had previously written “I’ve applied to be a nude model at some of the art schools around here…”
I thought that perhaps you had a bit of an exhibitionist streak in you; you did post a lot of wonderful abdominal pics after all. The explanation I’ve come up with is that you have a secret (or not so secret) desire to be naked and the center of attention, but naked yoga would just have you as one of many bodies, and therefore not fulfill your fantasy. Or maybe I’m just projecting. Who knows?
-Bob
Honestly, I never even considered funding a Roth! That’s not a bad idea.
Another commenter just told me I *do* need to be a good swimmer to scuba dive. Honestly, it’s more about me getting comfortable in the water.
Have you tried MyLanguageExchange? You can get penpals with different language skills. I haven’t, but my friend really likes it and what I was thinking of trying next.
You know, I was wondering why naked yoga didn’t have any appeal while nude modelling did and you may be right! Ha!
Yes, tell us about your trips to Mexico…..et al.
And yes, definitely be a good swimmer before diving.
I’m working on a post now. Thanks!
Wow, you’re fitting a lot in even with a job! I’m excited to hopefully hear more about it all soon. Your tone with this post is great–very happy and uplifting.
Well, the job was only for five days. 37 hours. 🙂
I love reading your updates. You are very inspiring. You must be living in an exciting area with that many places in a mile. I thought I had a lot of places in walking distance, but you REALLY have a variety. Enjoy the rest of your summer!
I’m living in Denver, in Rino, which is an area chocke-full of places! Love it here. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
nice post. You seem very happy and are keep very busy.
I’m working on reading more, exercising more, eating healthy as well as working on not drinking alcohol and not smoking marijuana. so far, so good.
You sound super healthy! Good on you.
What did you think of being an election judge… was it rewarding? I’m early retired and interested in side hustles if they are meaningful.
You’re exactly in my boat. Meaningful, interesting side hustles.
I’m planning on doing the election judge thing again because it’s necessary and they really need them, but when I did it, it was super slow and boring. We were doing a primary election in June with only a handful of contested races, so not much turnout.
Thanks, I’m going to look into this! 🙂
Woohoo! Let me know if you come across any meaningful paid work as well, please.
Wow! You inspired me to make some Saved lists in my Google Maps app / account. Thank you for the wonderful idea 💡
You’re very welcome! Playing with Google Maps is one of my favorite things to do.
I love this idea, although I am agog at the density of gyms and salons in your 1 mile radius. You are so clever, Anita
Awww. You’re super special, too. 🙂
Is there a way to download google maps data into a tab delimited file? I love your blogs, always enjoyable to read. I dont know what an election judge is, but it sounds temporary. Thats great. Every temporary job i’ve held I loved, especially when i didnt have to commit to it.
Here’s a youtube video I found to create a one mile radius on google maps.
An election judge was a temporary job! I basically printed out voter’s ballots for them for the primary election. I may do it again in November. 🙂 What other temporary jobs have you had? I’ve applied to temp agencies, but haven’t heard back.