Whether you opt for part-time or full-time retirement, you'll realize very quickly that the lower your retirement income, the more you'll have to adjust your lifestyle. Americans are notorious for spending as much as, if not more than, they earn, which is why a majority of older Americans have simply not saved enough for retirement.

If you are not quite ready to retire but you're concerned about the adjustments it might mean to your lifestyle, one strategy you can follow is establishing a budget that constrains your expenses as if you're retired before you retire. The idea is to treat retirement as a kind of "test run," since your budget for expenses will ultimately have to mesh with retirement income that is likely to be quite a bit less than what you earn as a full-time employee. Living within a retirement budget before you actually retire could also give you some idea of what kinds of compromises you may have to make -- or what amount of income in addition to Social Security payments and retirement plan payouts you may have to earn if you want to maintain a certain lifestyle. One thing will probably be true for most retirees: your retirement budget will need to reflect the reality of reduced income.

Trey Smith offers a nice explanation of this strategy in an article he wrote for NextAvenue.org. For example, Smith discusses the need to isolate work-related expenses, which will be eliminated in retirement, and view all other expenses as personal expenses that can be adjusted. He also discusses expense areas that need special attention, such as car payments, housing costs, and travel. By carefully analyzing expenses and learning to live within a retirement-style budget while you're employed, Smith, says, "you’ll have a better understanding of whether you’ll need to make adjustments because you’ve seen what it’s like to live the retirement life."

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