It’s been two months since Mr. MH quit his job and I went down to a four day work week. In my last post I wrote of what we wanted to do with the extra time. In this post, I’m sharing my reflections on how life on one part time income is going so far.
With the extra time, I had hopes of using the extra weekday to focus on the blog (instead of evenings and weekends) as well as getting a more balanced life where we could visit friends more, exercise more and do more of the things we love. COVID had other plans but even if we could be going off on long weekends away, or even a meal at a restaurant with friends, things have been crazy busy and no-one’s fault but my own.
In last two months I’ve only managed to get one blog post written. With the extra time I:
- Presented at the Dublin FI meetup on our mini-retirement experience
- Co-hosted 2 Cork FI online meetups
- Wrote 2 articles for the Smart Money Series
- Presented at the first online FIRE event on the quickest path to FI for a PAYE worker – the event was recorded and still available to purchase if any one is interested, it was a super interesting event with something for everyone to learn
- Was interviewed on the Superb Diamond Range Podcast
- Completed 7 client consultations including 5 analyses on how best to invest lump sums and quickest paths to FI and 4 one on one Q&A sessions (I know that adds up to 9, 2 clients did both the analysis and one on one sessions)
- I also got involved with the Irish Savers Action Group on Facebook who focus on improving investment options for Irish savers and I’m excited to work with them to advocate for better, more accessible savings options for the every day worker.
As you can guess, this didn’t fit neatly into my one day a week as planned. Many (mostly all) nights and weekends since my last post were blurred into and it’s starting to catch up to me.
All work and no play makes Meagan a dull girl.
It got to the point where the blog started to feel like a chore and I even contemplated stopping the blog and going back to work 5 days a week. I certainly would make more money for the time I put in and would have a clear cut off between home and work.
But, giving up all together feels drastic when all I really need is to put a bit more structure, balance and boundaries into place.
So, I’ve decided that I will only take on one blog related effort per week. Be that consultations, interviews, presentations, articles etc. This will allow me to keep things balanced.
Anyway, what’s all this got to do with FI?
I guess it’s got me thinking about the what life would look like once we no longer need a day job.
One of the couples that presented at the FIRE HQ event was already retired since their late 40’s and they commented that they don’t know how they ever fit in full time jobs. They live full, rich lives and are never bored as they thought they might be.
My sister in law also mentioned in our last visit that she thought that COVID would be the perfect opportunity to catch up on reading, something we both said we love to do but never seem to have time, and that try as she might, other things just kept creeping into her schedule.
These two points got me thinking, maybe no matter how much “free” time we have, we will always find ways to fill it, and if it’s in our nature, over-fill it.
My need to say yes to everything and set my own expectations to deliver as quickly as possible to the highest quality is a habit that will be hard to kick.
***Google’s self help for over achieving people pleaser ***
I also feel the need to be productive even in my down time. Watching a movie is tough going as it feels like I’ve wasted precious time that I could have been doing something productive – as long as I have the energy.
This is something that I would like to work on BEFORE I reach FI, so that once I get there, I will already have the balance right, and stop myself from burning out before I get there.
I also read a really great article recently from the guy that wrote Financial Freedom. He has been financially independant for the last 5 years and reflected on his journey and what he could have done differently to make it more enjoyable and effective. Two of my key take aways is to schedule in down time and prioritise health.
If we don’t guard our own time and make space for our priorities, or the things we’d like to be priorities but always seem to take the back burner (hello exercise), then we will never get around to them, no matter how much time we have.
So, I write this in the hopes it will keep me accountable.
Today I made a start and scheduled in a long walk with a friend of mine. This ticked a few boxes: down time, catching up with friends, exercise and getting time in nature. I came home in a much better mental state than when I left and will try to prioritise something like this for myself at least once a week.
The path to FI is a long one, we must make sure we take care of ourselves along the way, and enjoy the journey as much as we can. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. It’s not about the destination. It’s a worthwhile goal but not the be all and end all.
On the regular day-to-day life, the change of pace has been wonderful.
There is no rushing around to drop off or pick up from creche, no sickness or COVID testing to keep our son in creche (all of our friends with kids in school have already been sick at least once and many needed COVID tests or extra time to allow their kids back to school), we have dinner together every evening (mostly made by Mr. MH by the time I finish work), I’m trying to pop out for walks alone at lunch time, I get to cuddle my son during the day when I come down for tea breaks and lunch or when he struggles from separation anxiety near the end of the week. All in all, I can’t complain.
We have so much to be grateful for: we are not at war, we have our basic needs and comforts covered, we are able to work and have our health, I have a loving and supportive family but even though I am conscious of this, the monotony of pandemic life does weigh on me from time to time. Especially when I was working almost every waking hour.
I miss my friends and family. We have been avoiding meetups now that kids are back at school as it’s too risky for our kids to intermingle when Mr. MH is a higher risk. We still have video calls at least.
I miss being able to just go into town, to be among the community, to bring our son to events, and play dates, to go the the cinema and restaurants without the worry of getting a potentially life threatening virus.
I know this is what everyone is feeling and many are in much worse places than we are financially and/or mentally and I’m not sure why I’m sharing this really, maybe just a way to be transparent that everything is not rosy and highlight that although we’ve reached partial financial independence it’s not the solution to all of life’s problems. If you have life work to do, no longer needing money will only give you time and space to continue working on them, so long as you make them a priority.
Personally, I’m hoping now that I’ve come up from the fog, I will be better at protecting my time and actually fitting in the important things.