Category: Lifestyle Design

What Sparks You In Work And Life?

The 4th of July weekend is about to be upon us, and so what better topic for the blog today then to discuss what sparks you in work and in life!

If you’ve read my story, you know that not so long ago, I was on the hamster wheel of work and life, with no clear way off but also no real intention of getting off the wheel. Then, a lot of things collided for me all at once. I took a pay cut for a job that ended up providing me with more time outside of work than I’d ever had in my life, I discovered Slow financial independence (FI), and I discovered my Sparketype, to name a few.

What is a Sparketype, you might be asking? Well, I’m here today to tell you all about it!

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Bus Update: We Got A Boat!

Yes, you read that right! No, we still do not have our bus and yes, a few weeks ago we bought a boat! What gives?

Well, our motto around here is finding joy on the path to financial independence. More specifically, we are of the thinking that you don’t need to reach financial independence before you can start living your best life. So, what is bringing us joy this summer? Our new-to-us fishing boat!

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The Magic Of An Organized Email Inbox

For the past few weeks on the blog, I’ve been writing a lot about goals. First, I shared my yearly goal-setting process. Last week, I wrote about how goal setting helps me make decisions.

This week, I want to tell you a little tale about how, when I recently decided to clean out and organize my email, I unknowingly aligned my inbox with my values and goals.

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How Goal Setting Helps Me Make Decisions

Last week, I wrote about my process of setting my yearly goals. In that post, I mentioned how setting goals has helped tremendously with my decision-making process. This week, I want to dive deeper into this topic.

I recently heard a story about a friend of a friend. I was told that this person uses her values to make all her decisions. When a decision is put in front of her, she advocates that it is easy for her to say yes or no because all she has to do is ask herself if what she is being asked to do aligns with her values.

I admired this strategy, but I immediately knew I wasn’t there yet. My first, gut reaction was that’s great and all, but does she feel any guilt about her decisions? Apparently the answer is no, but the guilt that comes with decision making is where I struggle most.

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How I Set My Goals

It’s June! Things are getting warmer and greener here in Vermont. In addition to a changing season, it’s also about the time I like to do my mid-year goal review with myself. Because I’m doing my own goal check-in, I thought what better time than now to share with my readers how I actually set my yearly goals?

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Intentional Spending – What It Means To Me

I read a great post recently on intentional spending on The Fioneers blog (if you haven’t already, check them out, they are fabulous). In the post, Jess described intentional spending as making intentional decisions to spend money on things they value. In 2021, they spent more than double what they spent in 2020, and they were 100% happy about it because it was 100% intentional.

I think what I love most about intentional spending is that, by nature, it is a very personal thing. Intentional spending is tied directly to a person’s or a family’s values, and values are inherently personal.

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How I Found My Accountability Partner

It was June 2018. I had just started a new job, in a brand new career, after my world had turned upside down. After the job that I had thought would be my dream job, that I had been on the hamster wheel working toward my whole life, turned out not to be the dream job.

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What I Would Do If I Wasn’t Working Full Time

“But, what in the world would you do if you didn’t work?!”

If you’re on a journey to financial independence, and plan to retire earlier than the traditional 60-65 work-til-you-drop age range, do you ever hear this response when you share your plans with others?

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How Part-Time Work Became My Goal

I may be on a journey to financial independence, but for the longest time, when I was still on the hamster wheel, it was just a feeling of “I’ll get there when I get there”. I liked working, and I didn’t have any plans to stop. How the times have changed!

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