What's on your bucket list/hobby list for before FIRE?

[mom22boys]

Some of the recent posts about feeling discouraged while waiting for FI have me reevaluating myself.  I definitely feel this way occasionally.  Can I really wait 10 years to be FI? I've read many posts about what people do after FIRE, but I decided to need to start two bucket lists, one for before FIRE and one for after. The pre-FIRE bucket list will help me focus on other things besides FIRE.  Here's the start of my list:

 - Lose 60 lb
 - Be able to do at least ONE pull up (I've never been able to do them, even when I was younger)
 - Take dance lessons
 - Take tae kwon do lessons
 - Start to learn a new language, I'm still debating between Spanish or German, maybe even French
 - Learn more about gardening (I need to buy Erica's new book I think :-))

What's on your PRE-FIRE bucket list?

[Sid Hoffman]

I like the idea of this topic as I'm recently divorced and it caused me to reevaluate a lot of my plans.  I've still got about a month to pay off the last debt associated with the divorce, after which I suppose I won't have any debt, at least until buying a house.  My list might look something like this:

• Buy and pay off a house
• Visit at least one new distant place every year, either a national park, major city I've never been to, or something like that
• Join a regular social group of some kind
• Make new friends
• Commit to volunteer my time at least 20 hours a year
• Bicycle more consistently. i.e. not just the 6 months of the year it's extra pleasant to

For the most part, aside from the two big ones at the top, I'm trying to make goals and plans for myself that are rewarding, improve my quality of life, and are either cheap or free.  I think these would be things that should also then be easy to transition into FIRE life and potentially ramp way up without a huge ramp in cost.

Compare the cost of increasing volunteering from 20 hours to 100, where the cost is potentially zero, versus the cost of ramping travel plans from 1 week a year to 1 week a month or something like that.  While the current me already know that I love to travel, I also know it's pretty expensive compared to my goals for FIRE.

I want to spend the next decade or so seeking ways to improve my life and the lives of those around me.  I figure if I try 20 different things, a few will probably really stick and I'll be able to ramp up those things after FIRE.  I don't want to be someone who just sits around and watches TV or plays video games 10 hours a day once I don't have to work anymore.

[Cookie78]

I know of this discouragement you speak of! As I bump my FI date closer and closer my impatience gets much stronger. Having a list of non-financal things to do, that still make me feel like I'm getting closer to FIRE, is incredibly helpful for me.

Many of my pre-FIRE bucket list items are for both pre and post-FIRE. They are things that I 'can't wait until I'm FIRE so I can do xyz.... but hold on! I don't have to wait until I'm FIRE I can start now!' So they aren't so much things I want to finish before I FIRE, but things I want to start now and continue after I FIRE and often things that will make that transition easier.

Learning Spanish (This is an ongoing activity)
Getting in shape (Mostly gaining strength and endurance)
Building better relationships and friendships (I find I often neglect friendships more than I should and don't make the time necessary to build relationships)
Volunteering (Signed up with a promising organization last week)
Gardening (So much more to learn!)
Training my dog (Ongoing, and so much fun when I find the time)
Teaching English (I'd like to start doing this online -signed up today- and eventually teach part time in Asia and/or Central/South America.)
House sitting (Still in the learning and researching phase, but super excited about building up some experience and references)
Fishing (Bought a rod and a license last month. Haven't caught anything yet.)
Building a slow, simple, focused life (This is a bit vague, but lately it's my overarching philosophy. It's also a process best started immediately, and not put on hold waiting for the right moment.)

As for strictly pre-FIRE I have a short list of things I need to do before I am free:

Decluttering (I am planning a partly nomadic first few years and will not have a single home base for awhile so all of the things need to go)
Sell house 1
Sell house 2
Quit job
...
Profit

[Camarillo Brillo]

I think about these things constantly. I'm nearly 57 and I've already checked a lot of things off my list.

Things checked off:

1) took karate lessons for 9 years.  Competed in many tourneys and did as well as 2nd in sparring in CA State tourney
2) took jiu jitsu lessons
3) raced my Porsche in autocross and on road courses
4) competed in many triathlons (1/2 Ironman distance)
5) raced in three 200-mile long bike road races (finished in 12 hours, 13 hours, and 14 hours)
6) have traveled extensively to many Euro locations as well as China and Australia
7) competed in an 'old timers' wrestling tourney when I was nearly 50 (lost 3 - 2 to a 19 year old)
8) have been an early employee in several high-tech startups that went public
9) twice went camping/canoeing in the Boundary Waters for a week
10) took a 400 mile bikeride around my state

I did nearly all of those things after having a heart attack and quad-bypass when I was 26 YO, and several of them even now that I've been told my next step is a heart transplant.

I now spend most of my free time spending time with my middle school and high school age sons, but my wife and I take 4 ballroom dance lessons each week.

Which brings me to my post-retirement list:

1) restore a cabin/lake house
2) learn a different language
3) take photography courses
4) compete in ballroom dance contests
5) restore one of my Porsches
6) complete a long list of home projects including building a large patio/firepit, completely remodeling the basement, and completely making over the interior of my garage
7) take many, long bike/camping trips
8) regularly go Salmon fishing on Lake Michigan

And, I'm sure I'll be adding a lot to that list.

[CryingInThePool]

I don't have a bucket/hobby list, more like a to do list. Pre-FIRE checklist for me covers a few things.  1) Things I don’t want to spend time on after FIRE 2) Things I need to prepare for FIRE 3) Things I want to fund with my paycheck while it lasts.
I’ve had the below list for a while and I’m slowly working through it as I approach 2016. 

o   Lasik
o   Health
   Losing Weight
   Physical
   Travel Shots
   Skin care follow-ups
   COBRA vs. ACA for first year of FIRE plan
o   Downsizing Book Collection
o   Raising Rent on rental house
o   Technology Purchases
   Writing Software
   Web cam/laptop for getting parents set up on Skype
o   Passport Renewal
o   Annual bill optimizing (moving everything yearly to come due in April when I know I’ll be around to pay taxes).
o   Update Resume
o   Visit architect/build plan for small backyard ADU
o   Clean up Office Cube[/li]

[Retired To Win]

... I decided I need to start two bucket lists, one for before FIRE and one for after. The pre-FIRE bucket list will help me focus on other things besides FIRE...What's on your PRE-FIRE bucket list?

Wow, I don't think I had a pre-FIRE bucket list.

I know I had a get-ready-to-FIRE to do list, with items like selling the HCOLA house and finding an LCOLA house.  But not an actual bucket list.

Maybe that's because I sort of ambushed myself into earlier retirement.  I wasn't focused on it until I took a fresh look at my finances and realized that, with a few strategic changes, I could FIRE pretty quick.  Getting that get-ready-to-FIRE to do list done kept me busy/focused and I really didn't get the "chance" to experience a drawn-out wait for the day I could retire.  :O

[mom22boys]

Many of my pre-FIRE bucket list items are for both pre and post-FIRE. They are things that I 'can't wait until I'm FIRE so I can do xyz.... but hold on! I don't have to wait until I'm FIRE I can start now!' So they aren't so much things I want to finish before I FIRE, but things I want to start now and continue after I FIRE and often things that will make that transition easier.

Cookie - Yes! You were more eloquent in your description of my list.  It's probably NOT two separate lists, but rather things I want to start now, some of which will likely carry over into FIRE.

Great lists from everyone else too!  Your lists brought ideas to my mind, and I'm sure this list will keep growing as I accomplish them.  Here's some new ones I'm adding:

 - Take a vacation every year with my boys....they are growing up WAY too fast. We already have a list of places we want to go: South Dakota (black hills, Mt. Rushmore), Road trip down the west coast of Wash/Oreg/Calif, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Washington DC, Hawaii
 - Cooking lessons, I'm already a pretty good cook, but want to learn more
 - Pay off the mortgage
 - Run another 1/2 marathon, this time in under 2 hrs

Retired - I have a feeling that my FI will come more quickly than 10 years, so hoping I have a similar story to you.


 -

[ash7962]

My pre-FIRE list is something like:

• Learn about gardening/Start a small garden.
• Learn another language (Japanese).
• Declutter my posessions.
• Improve my knitting skills.
• Learn to weave.
• Read lots of things.
• Be more active outdoors.

Like others have said, I hope to carry this list into post FIRE as well.  The bold items are what I have already started on.  The others may or may not be started pre FIRE, but for now I've got enough on my plate.

[Gone Fishing]

Biggest pre-FIRE goal for us was to get our little farm bought and running.  That has been done, but now I plan on spending a good amount of my FIRE time making it REALLY productive. 

[2Birds1Stone]

Pay off a modest home in LCOL
Acquire all of the toys/gear I will need for post FIRE adventures/hobbies
Get a fun to drive car in like new condition
Get any health issues that need to be addressed taken care of (Dental work, surgeries, etc)

[Thegoblinchief]

Figure out how much travel we want to do with the kids, and at what age they're old enough to really get something out of it.

Learn what works in my urban lot and continuously improve quality/yield.

Get expenses low enough via both food production and debt paydown that my wife has the option of a career downshift and/or a gap year before the kids are out of the house.

If I accomplish all 3 in next 5-10 years I'll be happy.