Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1vr2usm/were_out_my_husband_quitretired_today/

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The original was posted on /r/antiwork by /u/AnastasiaNo70 on 2026-08-17 19:51:36+00:00.

Just wanted to share something happy.

I retired from teaching (32 years) at 54 with a small but somewhat livable pension. That was a couple of years ago.

My husband is 58 and just quit/retired today. I’ve never in 36 years seen him so carefree and joyful. You can tell he feels like a huge weight was lifted off of him.

We’ve avoided debt as much as possible (it’s nearly impossible when you’re poor, so we did have some car notes, etc back in the day).

When we got raises (which wasn’t often), we never increased our expenses to spend it. It went straight into savings.

Unnecessary spending has always been kept to a minimum. Library books, used DVDs, coupons, co-ops, we grow a lot of our own herbs and veggies. And melons and berries. We get eggs in exchange for tomatoes and other fresh veggies from a local rancher. We don’t eat a lot of meat.

We don’t pay for any streaming services, we got rid of Amazon, we never do food delivery or eat out, except for birthdays. (I’m a really good cook.)

Also, the VA increased his disability from 80% to 100%, which doubled his disability payment. And in our state, when you’re 100% disabled per the VA, you pay zero property taxes. That alone is $1000 a month savings. $12K a year.

And his parents left him a little nest egg. $600 a month comes to us in a check for 10 years. It’s groceries. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So we’re not exactly wealthy, but we did it.

And fuck capitalism. Fuck it with a dry old cactus.

I encourage anyone and everyone to get out if they at all can. My father in law was a workaholic and died at 65, just as he was going to retire. He never got a day of retirement. That’s one of the reasons my husband wanted to do it now rather than later: live the life his dad never got to.