Bucket Lists / Time Buckets Discussion

Good to take stock and dream forward! Here are things I'm working toward for 2026:

• Resume Italian course in Duolingo
• Publish travel memoir
• Fully fund Roth IRAs
• Sell RV
• Develop proficiency with at least three go-to Japanese dishes

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post and for all the people replying! I've been home with the kids for a long time, homeschooling my youngest. Oldest will graduate highschool in 2027. Youngest not until 2031.

Now I'm trying to relearn how to dream! I just finished reading Die With Zero, and while I'm not all the way on board with the idea, I really need to think through what we want the next 40+ years to look like. I've put my own dreams on hold for my kids for so long that I'm having a hard time figuring out what I want.

But I've got a few things on my list:

Learn guitar

Take my mom and my oldest on a special post-graduation/pre-college/70th birthday girls weekend

Write down my parents love story/oral history

Make some heart friends (something I'm not very natural at)

Get my husband out of the country for a special anniversary

1. Create a list like this from scratch every year. We change and don't need to be beholden to our former selves.
2. Convert some of the list to annual goals.
3. Publish them publicly and check in publicly each month. This helps me be accountable.

Here are some of my 2026 goals that started with a list:

1. Surf at least 5 days this year.
2. Skateboard at least 52 times.
3. Ski at least once per week during the season.
4. Travel at least two weeks with my son.
5. Write 24 letters to family and friends.
6. Connect with my dad or siblings weekly.
7. Meet friends at least 24 times for meaningful conversations.
8. Tell stories on a stage at least 12 times.
9. Create a 10-minute set of original songs and perform it in front of an audience.
10. Donate blood at least 4 times.
11. Learn 6 songs on the piano using sheet music. (I don't know how to read sheet music.)

Nice! I just filled out a "bingo card" for 2026 with things I want to do or consider trying out. They include:

Write a letter to my sister every month

Try glassblowing

Make a prop for LARP

Go on a >1hour walk with my dog in a new place: mountains/beach/large forest

Try pottery

Invite my friends on a picnic

Play boardgames with my friends every other month

Make a new costume for LARP

Hang out with the friend that gives me the greatest energy boost at least 8 times this year

Try a new restaurant

Visit my sister in Finland

Try basketweaving

Meet someone from FI

I may not get to all of them, but through the bingo card I hope to be more motivated to try or do more of these things before the year is over.

play guitar on stage with my son; he's already in a band at 12, just need to pick up my game.

I started a list last year when I think of things to add. Not that long and there’s things I’d rather do than these at the moment. So maybe I either need to readjust my desires or my list lol. They’re more of like maybe things that would be cool in life. Like I’m not 100% sure I want to go to Antarctica (my last continent) or all the countries. They would be cool but not necessarily a goal.

Also, in my head I want to walk the Camino and want to buy a camper van, but I’ve not done anything like either before so maybe I won’t enjoy it once I start. Anyway, here’s what I have so far…

Things to Do

1. Great Wall of China

2. North Korea?

3. Hike Appalachian trail

4. Walk Camino de Santiago

5. All states (golf in all states?)

6. All countries?

7. Antarctica?

8. Camper van trip?

9. Top 100 courses (us, world, public?)

10. Write a book

11. Hmb pumpkin festival?

12. Madison square garden

13. Red rocks concert?

14. Uniqlo tshirt for all trips? Or aura frame?

This is the greatest thing I have found about FI, there's an intentionality about life!

My wife passed away years ago, but when we were young, we made a bucket list together. I am diligently going through it with our now-teenage daughter by my side. It's given me a lot of comfort and a lot of purpose, even though it is sometimes just "checking things off a list." I will share a few things from the list which kind of mirror your type of item:

• Make a perfect rack of ribs
• Eat vegetarian for a month
• Learn to play a musical instrument well
• Play a game of chess without help
• Write something meaningful
• Buy local-only for a month
• Eat in insect (intentionally)
• Spend a day drinking on my porch (i.e., learn how to relax, but without going anywhere)
• Watch a meteor shower
• Watch a sunset, uninterrupted with someone I love

But I also have a lot of big, bold ones, which serve as long-term vision for me:

• Visit the Galapagos
• Take a long, scenic train ride
• Visit an old-world hometown of an ancestor several (7+) generations ago
• Visit a "top 10" of premier art museums
• Eat ramen in Japan
• Read a Top 100 list of classic novels
• Listen to Rolling Stones' Top 100 Albums
• Go to a ballet
• See a whale in the wild
• Bike a 100km trip (not necessarily in one continuous ride)
• Go deep-sea fishing
• Drink birth-year wine
• Walk a Camino de Santiago

I do time-bucket each of these things (and around 100 other items) because some I probably need to do while my daughter is still living in my home, some rely on my physical health, some will take a decade, and some I will probably only be able to do when I'm retired. I am resolved to "suck the marrow out of life" while I have the opportunity. I'm proud to share that I'm about 1/3 of the way through the list, and last year I used the list as inspiration to have a Guinness in a Dublin pub, tour another castle, and finally get to that perfect sunset with my daughter in Greece. I have even bigger plans for this year!

I probably take this all way too far, but it's given me something to look forward to.

Hi! I'm a big fan of lists to. I have already retired and as I was winding down, I made this list and have done them all!

• Learn to care for and ride horses (this has been so rewarding to me!)
• Take fiddle lessons (update: I currently can play about 18 tunes)
• Babysit for my brand new granddaughter (update: now there are 5!)
• Walking my dogs daily
• Start being a regular at the gym (update: I have only been sporadic on this one!)
• Improve on playing my ukulele (update: I've written 2 original songs that I sing with uke)
• Nurture friendships (update: I'm a connector and have SO MANY new friends)
• Clean out rooms/closets
• Do some landscaping (created a new perennial garden and have 3 veggie gardens)
• Get back to golfing
• Learn Texas Holdem Poker (update: also I started a monthly group to play)
• Travel more (update: Scotland, Ireland, Nova Scotia, Spain, Panama - next up: England)
• More time for genealogy research (update: one line I'm back to the 900's!)

Going on a Lord of the Rings trip in New Zealand

Please please please share all the details on this one!

I thought about doing this a couple of years ago, but after seeing that (at least for the particular one I considered) you had to book a year or two in advance, and after seeing the price tag was a bit steep (though I think I'd be more comfortable with that part today), I ended up not looking into any further.

This is probably the sort of thing that I should do sooner rather than later, so I'd be very curious to hear about your experience. The good, the bad, and the ugly, etc.

I love your list and it gave me ideas as well! Here are a few from my wish list:

Explore eastern Canada - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland.

Knit a sweater

Have a vegetable garden

Learn French

Here are a few I’ve completed:

slow travel in the US southwest - Utah, Arizona, Nevada

Take ski lessons

Rent a lake house with my aging parents

Host a girls night for local friends

Hike Westmore challenge

Thanks for your post!