These past 3 months since I shifted to an 80% work schedule have flown by. My sister-in-law recently asked me how I was feeling about it all on a trip I took to see her, my brother, and my niece. Then, I had a reader leave a comment on one of my recent posts wondering how it was going. The universe had spoken! I realized it’s about time I fill everyone in.
Continue reading “3 Months Into Part-Time Work: An Update”Tag: lifestyle design
It’s Time To Rock The Boat
Alright, friends. It’s big announcement time! Long-time readers may know that, since starting this blog, my big financial goal has been to eventually go down to part-time work. Well, it’s finally official. It’s finally time for me to rock the boat of the traditional 40-hour, 9-5 work week. I’m now officially on an 80% work schedule at my job, with Fridays off!
Read on to hear all about how I made the decision, the process of making it happen at work, and what I’m thinking about the decision now.
Continue reading “It’s Time To Rock The Boat”Finally Spending On Me For My Birthday
Hello, friends! Last week marked my 37th birthday. For the last several years now, since 2017 in fact, my birthday tradition has been to go camping. And camping is what I did again this year, but with a twist that I’m excited to share with my financially attuned readership! I hope you enjoy this short tale that feels like a huge step for me on my personal finance journey.
Continue reading “Finally Spending On Me For My Birthday”Can Routine Fuel Creativity?
I think the jury is still out on this one. Part of me believes what author Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her book Big Magic, that we should strive to be as light and carefree as possible to maximize creativity. But as creatures of habit, where does routine fit in? Today I’m here to share some of my thoughts on this topic.
Continue reading “Can Routine Fuel Creativity?”Experiment in Progress Alert!
Hello, friends! I’m so sorry I’ve been away for so long. I have missed writing, and hearing from you, so much. But I’m here today to fill you in on what I’ve been up to in the month of April and to (hopefully) get back to posting a bit more regularly.
Continue reading “Experiment in Progress Alert!”What If We All Tried To Rest More In 2024?
Hello, friends! Happy New Year! I know, I know, we’re in February now, but I had to say it since I haven’t said it to you yet 🙂
I apologize for being away from the blog for so long. I did not intend for it to be this long of a break, but I’m back from what I’m calling my holiday hibernation. I had the week off between Christmas and New Years for the first time since 2020, and I was really psyched about it. I had planned to be so super productive. To get way ahead on the blog.
But, would you guess what happened instead? My body told me it needed to rest, and I listened. I let go of the guilt of not being productive and not posting new content, and it was freeing and wonderful. It was just what I needed. And that vibe definitely spilled well into 2024…
Continue reading “What If We All Tried To Rest More In 2024?”Why I Changed My Money Check-In Strategy
Here we are, already half-way through November. We are getting close to the end of 2023, my friends! Pretty soon, it will be time to do some year-end reflection and goal-setting for 2024.
Before that though, we still have to close out 2023.
At the beginning of this year, I decided to switch up the way I do my money check-ins with myself. Throughout 2023, I’ve experimented with going from checking in on my money and my financial independence (FI) numbers on a monthly basis to a quarterly one. Today on the blog, I’m sharing why I made the change, how it’s been going this year, and what I want to do differently next year. Hopefully it will inspire you to start thinking about your own money check-in process and see if there’s anything you want to switch up in 2024!
Continue reading “Why I Changed My Money Check-In Strategy”Are We Too Scared For Slow FI?
I think it’s gotten pretty clear that I love to talk about slow FI (financial independence) on the blog. Slow FI resonates with me more than any other aspect of FI I’ve seen. Coined by The Fioneers, slow FI is a mindset related to taking a slower path to FI, using the financial freedom we gain along the way to FI to live our best lives now. But for many of us, how we may want to live our best lives now feels strange. It’s likely different than what “everyone else is doing”. It goes against the grain. It’s vulnerable. So, the question I’m going to be mulling over today on the blog is, are we too scared for a slow FI lifestyle?
Continue reading “Are We Too Scared For Slow FI?”Be The Editor Of Your Own Life
This past summer, I read and very much enjoyed the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. From this book, I learned a fun fact about the Oscars. I learned that since 1981, every film that has won Best Picture (which many argue is the most coveted award of the whole show) has also been nominated for Best Film Editing. The 2 awards are strongly correlated. In short, you could say a good movie is well edited.
The same can be said for life. Imagine if your life was your version of a Best Picture. To live your best life, it is also important to be really good at editing that life.
Continue reading “Be The Editor Of Your Own Life”Setting Better Boundaries To Enjoy The 9-5
How are you with setting boundaries? If you’re like me, patiently working a 9-5 while saving up in investments to one day downshift or retire early, are you content in your day job? If you’ve been reading the blog, you know I’m on a slow journey to financial independence (FI). I’m taking steps to design my life in a way I can enjoy it now, before reaching FI. When it comes to work, the only way I have found to not go crazy at my 9-5 waiting for my retirement day is to figure out a way to enjoy the ride. For me, the biggest factor in enjoying the ride has been setting better boundaries at work.
Continue reading “Setting Better Boundaries To Enjoy The 9-5”