Aloha Moneybees!
I have decided to do something new. See, I know this is a financial independence blog, and my long-term goal has been to retire with my husband after his 20 years of military service is complete (he is nearly 11 years in now), and we’ve saved a lot and had some windfalls on our way to that path.
However, I had to throw a wrench in the plan. I’ve had some ups and downs with my employment. First, while I am not typically good at keeping my blog up and running and consistent, I am a 150%-er in my work life. I give myself so wholly that I am unable to manage the rest of my life, where I was going in on my days off, and thinking about work all the time on my days off. I was volunteering for extra shifts and working way more than I should have. Not necessarily a bad thing all the time when you’re setting huge financial goals, but that all came at a cost.
I spent the first quarter of this year on short-term disability from work due to a chronic illness I was unable to manage because of my lack of work-life balance, even as a part time employee. I found that I was healthier for myself and my family when I was not working. When I went back to work in April, I immediately lost my boundaries and went all in, agreeing to a lot of extra hours and spending so much more time than I should have been thinking about work.
After that, a few big things happened financially in the Bee household. I paid off my car about 6 months early; Little Bee enrolled in public kindergarten, which is free, even meals, so I don’t have to pay $600 a month in childcare anymore (I know that is cheap; we are very fortunate). Those two things alone were enough for us to re-evaluate our budget and see if it was feasible for me not to work.
Then my work climate changed a bit. I worked very hard toward a promotion, and the criteria for the position I had been working toward for 2 years changed suddenly without notice. I felt very demotivated, and spend a lot of time introspectively thinking about what I bring to the table and what I can offer elsewhere, for someone else or for myself.
Which brings me to this post. As of July 25th, I will be taking some time off from employment, and then working on something new. I have tossed around some interesting ideas, such as becoming a realtor, working for VIPKid, freelance writing, blogging full time, writing novels, starting a food truck, babysitting all the time, or even just getting a part-time job somewhere local and more flexible, where I would be able to disconnect myself more efficiently.
So I am starting a new project as of today. Why wait until July 25th? I can start now. A long time ago, I came across a blog from the YNAB forums called the Home Money Game. It’s quite a bit different from what I am looking to do, but I love her enthusiasm (I wish she didn’t stop posting!), and I am inspired by the way she came up with new ways to save money toward her Money Game goal.
For those who don’t want to click, the premise of the Money Game is to take $5, increase it by 5%, add it back in, do it again, and then do it 250 times, until you have a million dollars. She has a Google Docs spreadsheet to calculate the “levels,” to give you a better idea.
What am I going to do differently? While I loved her enthusiasm to reach the next levels, I felt like some of what they did didn’t exactly line up with the goal of the money game. My intention is to work to create additional income, especially with the funds in my “money game.” I can sell things, even things I already own, I can do projects, babysit, work, whatever, but I cannot just cut other expenses at the interest of re-allocating those funds. Ideally, I would find a way to sell things at a profit, whether that is through drop shipping, through starting a business locally, or something like that. The entire project is to turn money into more money.
To start this off, I am using my $20 that I’ve earned recently from Ibotta. If you haven’t used Ibotta, it’s an app that allows you to earn refunds, bonuses, and rewards from groceries and other purchases. You can even get money back on Amazon purchases! While I know it isn’t going to get me rich quickly, it’s money I didn’t have before, so I call it a win.
So, we may see some Income Project updates in the near future! I am hoping to blog a bit more, and hopefully that can move the ticker for my project a bit further.
Income Project, day 1, balance: $20.60.
