Jobless, by Choice

It happened. I quit. With no job lined up afterwards, I quit. For the first time in our lives we were living comfortably with some money left over after the bills were paid. That’s one reason I felt trapped in that job. Was $40k a year worth it? Worth everything?

I was tired of my back bothering me after hours of sitting. My hand/arm would at times burn and become numb (apparently there is such a thing as cubital tunnel syndrome). I didn’t like who’d I become. I was unhappy and unmotivated. I’d stopped working out all together. My job was monotonous and boring. Not to mention I didn’t see how I was going to advance from where I was and I was not a fan of the 45 minute commute.

So here I sit, jobless, and so far I have not hit the panic button. I feel so relieved. Not to mention my back and arm don’t bother me as much and a lot of my stomach issues have gone away. I don’t plan on being jobless forever of course. I am looking for some small jobs, but I also am working on getting healthy and happy again. We want to start a business and I wouldn’t mind finding some side gigs as well. Oh yeah, the Mister quit his job as well…ha. No, we can’t “afford this”, but having very little debt is helpful. We are pursuing what makes us happy. The Mister is going to pursue his passion, which does NOT include working in a call center. He loves programming/coding and wants to build apps and video games. I am hoping to start a small business (yet to be determined) and pick up some side gigs to make ends meet.

I’ve realized that life is short. One thing that really brought this to light was when I lost a colleague at work that I had become friends with. He believed in me and had interviewed me for a position opening up in his department. He passed away that night. Things can change in a blink of an eye.

On that note, I want to do things! I want to learn things! I want to learn to crochet/knit, quilt, screen print, ride a motorcycle…I want to get back in amazing shape. And I really want to travel more.

Life is short, so be sure to enjoy it.

Banana Almond Butter Muffins

Because I love food.

I’m not big on peanut butter, so I’ve found almond butter to be a good alternative. This recipe has been adapted from a recipe posted by Bunsinmyoven. I don’t use the blueberries as the original recipe does. They didn’t compliment the muffins very well when I made them with the blueberries, but that’s my opinion.

Not very pretty, but this was my first ever attempt at making these.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of no-stir almond butter (try to avoid the natural kind that separates)
• 1/4 cup of rolled oats (sometimes I put a little more if the batter looks too runny)
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. I use a regular size greased or sprayed muffin pan. The recipe won’t make a full dozen, maybe 7-8 muffins, so I usually double it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.   (I usually do 8-10 and them check them because my oven is stupid)

The muffins will puff up pretty nicely, then fall after taken out of the oven. They may not look very pretty, but they’re delicious! They’re pretty dense too.

 

It’s Been a While

It really has. I haven’t been on here as much and I haven’t been going to the gym like I’ve wanted. I hurt my back about 2 months ago. I believe it’s a herniated disc. Normally, when I fall off the “workout wagon” I get pretty down and discouraged. Luckily, that hasn’t been the case. I have been SO focused on my finance blog and other *new* blog that I am giving my back the necessary time to heal without me feeling like a big fat blob. Though I have tried to stay mildly active, doing this thing called WALKING whenever I’m too paranoid to workout due to my back or know that I just really need to get up and move.

My back injury has definitely brought to light everything I have read about when it comes to the negative effects of sitting. I felt them first hand. Sitting for too long was just uncomfortable. Then that made me think about when I’m healthy…it’s the same. Just because my back isn’t hurting to tell me “sitting is bad”, it’s still bad.

Which is more reason to get out of my current office job and start my own business, or freelance 😀 It’s coming. I haven’t lost hope.

Stay motivated and move towards your goal.

Why You Should Do a Triathlon

No seriously, don’t laugh. I’m not talking about doing an Ironman or anything like that. Sprint triathlons are quite doable. Some of them are even aimed at beginner triathletes. There are also training and support groups aimed and beginners. If you’re intimidated, but even mildly interested, I would encourage you to find a training group in your area. These groups can be incredibly supportive and provide good information.

Doing a triathlon should be on your bucket list. It’s empowering to complete one.

Triathlons have different names according to their length. Sprint is typically the shortest one, but the course length can still vary by event. You can search for triathlons on such sites as Active.com and Trifind.com

Heck, if you have questions, I’ll even give some input if you like, but don’t count yourself out!

Quote

Do what you like and like what you do.

Quote

Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision, and change.

-Richard Bronson

Shameless Self-Promotion

Here…we…go…

I have been working hard to get my finance blog up and running. I wanted several posts under my belt before I did some shameless self promotion on here. It still has a long way to go. I will continue to tweak and refine it, but for now, here it is in all its glory: www.lifecheaply.com

I am also thinking about documenting some of my experiences on here about the start up of it. I knew it wouldn’t be simple (like this one), but it has certainly been a learning experience. From picking your host, placement of stuff (even though you have a template!), choosing an ad network, etc. It’s like an ongoing experiment. I just hope I can continue to improve it and eventually make 5 bucks from it lol.

Please, if you have a minute, visit my blog/website about personal finance. You might even learn something 😉

My Struggle with Sleep

It went on for months. I had the hardest time sleeping well. After a while I got to the point where I realized something is wrong. I couldn’t accept daily life like this. I was exhausted.

I started thinking…something had to have changed. What could I have possibly changed? I mean I can drink Diet Mtn Dew and go right to bed. I scoured through my daily routine in my head. Nothing major. But, I had started taking those delicious little gummy multi-vitamins. In an attempt to drink more water I had also bought some cherry water flavoring stuff. Dye. That had to be it! Both the gummy vitamins and the water flavoring contained Red 40. I used the water flavoring both during the day and when I got home from work. The vitamins, I would take one in the morning and one at night. After some research, I couldn’t find anything serious, but I did find a common complaint of it possibly being linked to ADHD in children. I stopped using both items.

And sleep came again.

Such a relief. I now make sure if I buy any sort of red water flavoring to only drink it during the day and limit myself. Vitamins (which I shouldn’t need unless I’m not eating right anyway) I only take in the morning, or skip all together.

Be aware of what you put into your body and any changes that may be caused by it. You’d be surprised of the ingredients that are legal here in the US, but banned in other countries.

Defeated.

Defeated. Deflated. That’s how I feel. My job is not stressful, but I stress about it. Every day I feel like I am spinning my wheels, working so hard, to never see progress. If I could see progress I would not feel so discouraged and get so stressed. Every day I basically stare at the same number of invoices or higher than the day before. It doesn’t help that my boss will not fight for changes that I suggest. I try to avoid going to my boss with suggestions because I know she will not try to bring them to light. I try to avoid asking her questions because that usually will result in a response which half consists of treating me like a child who has never done this job before, to eventually getting back around to answering my question with a one sentence explanation. I generally like my boss as a person. Just not as my boss. She is very knowledgeable and has been in her current position for a while.

My job is easy, but can be monotonous. I never thought after finding something I enjoy doing, that I would be so eager to leave. It’s an odd and confusing feeling. Maybe if I didn’t care so much and was just a button pusher like so many other people there.

More reason to leave. Find happiness. Coming Soon… hopefully