Six or seven months ago I had lunch with one of my good friends. At lunch, she told me that she had a potential job for me at the company where she works. In September when I got back from holiday, she emailed to confirm that I wasn’t working yet – and again in October, and November… Finally, in December the job got the green light and I’ll be starting in a week or so. Hooray!
Along the way I started to lose hope that the job would come through. I had promised myself that once I got to the cut-off threshold of $10k in my “not working savings account” that I’d start looking for something short term just in case this contract didn’t come to fruition. That amount represented about 6 months of non-working expenses – 8 or 9 if I cut back to bare bones. For whatever reason, $10,000 is a kind of magic safety number for me. So at the beginning of September, I was sitting pretty at around $25,000.
Then I bought a new vehicle. Then I kind of lost a bit of control around Christmas buying stuff like makeup, a fitbit (best self-Xmas present ever BTW and first time I’ve actually lost weight over the holidays), new luggage for a cruise in February since I’m too cheap to pay for checked baggage…
About a month ago, little things started to bug me. The sound of the furnace kicking on every half hour, the gas mileage indicator on the new vehicle, that crazy triple mortgage payment in December, the stock market (ok, that was a big thing)… I started hoarding groceries again in preparation for an apocalypse…
Right before Christmas, I got another contract offer from someone else I used to work with where I could earn about 2-3 times what my friend’s job pays. (Why does this happen anyway?) Even a couple of years ago, I would have gone for the one that paid the most because it would mean more money earned to save up for more time off.
But now that I know that I’m not really that great at dealing with large amounts of free time, I’m taking the one that I think I’ll do the best at and will satisfy more of my other needs.
Things like:
- Being a good manager
- Working with friends
- More time off regularly throughout the year and a more flexible schedule
- A big mess to clean up and a sense of progress to satisfy that need for challenge and to make a difference
- Greater autonomy – which contrary to Dan Pink’s advice – isn’t always a good thing for people like me who have a hard time with this work-life balance thing
- Better future prospects (a major consideration now that I’m closer to 50 than 40)
Unlike Jacob’s at Early Retirement Extreme’s un-retirement plan, I’m not planning on keeping up a Spartan-ish budget. Sometimes it’s a good thing not to have a reputation to uphold. Saving 50% is a nice round number and I’ll focus a lot more on conscious spending that makes life easier and more fun.
I even made a spending spreadsheet. 
Yay house cleaners again!
I recently went back to work fulltime and I have to say your blog was the inspiration. I had been working parttime for two years as my DH worked away a lot. But our finances went downhill rapidly when my DH became unemployed. We are both now working fulltime and are slowly dragging ourselves out of this financial hole. I love the way you tell it as it is. Nobody is going to hand any of us money for nothing. We all have to work hard to earn it.
I wish you every success in your new job and I hope my bank account is as healthy as yours sometime soon!
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Oh thank you SO much Ellie! I hope both you and your DH enjoy your jobs. A job you like with people you like is a wonderful place to be. That’s the only thing I don’t really get with the whole early retirement community. Personally, I’ve never been able to find the fun and challenge anywhere that I’ve found in the workplace.
And you absolutely will get there! That’s the beautiful thing about money – it’s just a math thing – put in X and Y happens (except the stock market recently, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic). How many other things are so certain?
Well, you do like working and making money, and that paycheque every two weeks is a nice bonus too.
Can’t wait to see your luggage!
I would have picked the job I like too. It’s easier to get up in the morning with a job you like and people you like to work with.
But you know that already, you have had the garbage jobs with the people that you really don’t like.
Cheers!
I’d like to see my luggage too – it hasn’t arrived yet! Maybe it’s on a plane somewhere…
Yeah, I think the high paying job would have been too much “use her and burn her out” – been there, done that – decluttered the t-shirt. This one has the option of going 80% after awhile which is hugely inspiring to me.
If I didn’t have a youngish kid, my perspective would be different. It’s a huge thing though as well to work with people I will like, and although I always like most places, this one I know I will like. Woot!
Yay!
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I know! I was getting bored – and neurotic!
2011 was all about not worrying about money.
2012? It’s going to be Sparta for me. I want to get back to my fleeting $200,000 net worth as a goal, and move to the U.S.
I am thinking of making my EF fund a little smaller now. I might put it at $50,000 and put the rest into investing instead (can’t contribute to retirement, already maxed it out).
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Fab, I agree on the target. The stock market this last year has been plaguing on me too. Part of me was thinking – DAMN IT! I want more cash to throw into this roller coaster! My RRSP’s and TFSA did pretty well but I had a few speculative stocks that mostly didn’t pan out. I think Encana and other gas co’s are going to be good investments this year.
What I like about the working years / not working hard years is that I can save the contribution room – eg. I didn’t contribute this last year. I’ve got $42,000 to use up I think. So that will get eaten up this year – and at a marginal rate of 39%, I’ll still be paying mid-5 figures on taxes. Oh well. The year after, if all goes well (or badly), I’ve got some shares to sell at a loss plus another $22k or whatever in RRSP’s. I’ll probably focus on the mortgage in 2013 and get rid of the stupid thing.
Have you got a job waiting for you in the states? I didn’t mind working down in Houston myself but the border guys were @sses. Are you thinking of Dallas as a home base? Nice town IMO.
How great to have multiple job offers to choose from- shows how respected you are! Are you working yet?
I love having the freedom to spend. Living ‘spartan’ is a bummer. I lived sparingly for so many years in my life that I don’t want to worry about buying a little something if I want to now.
Congrats, and now I have to go check out what fitbit is.
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I’m starting Jan. 16th! Thanks for the compliment, I’m just a believer that opportunities (sooner or later) flow from busting your butt – in the right places.
I don’t like being spartan either Kris. Not at all. I don’t mind it if I’m saving up for something, that’s different somehow. There’s usually a small little voice in my head saying “don’t spend that” anyway. It gets annoying.
Fitbit is awesome – and addictive. I use it with an app called loseit and push myself to hit various activity targets every day. It provides hours of entertainment – and exercise.
My job always seems so much more fulfilling at bonus time. Really though, I hate feeling inefficient and having a job makes it so much easier to make efficient use of your time.
I’m too old to do those burnout jobs anymore, and I’m not even 40. I may do a job again that requires global travel when the kids are older because I do miss that aspect sometimes, but burning the candle at both ends for years at a time did some permanent damage to my health.
I think the ideal job for me would be about 3 days/week fulltime..4 days off to do my other life stuff.
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Sandy, that kind of schedule is exactly what I had off and on pretty much the last couple of years. And the reason why I went for that kind of schedule was because of that same thing – I had overworked and burnt myself out. Fortunately I think everything’s all better now but it was a good lesson to never neglect my health or my relationships with other people ever again for some job that I’ll probably leave in a year anyway.
You’ve got an embarrassment of riches, with these multiple offers. It’s nice to feel wanted.
Mrs. 101 have discussed going overseas again, but not until after Number Two Son is kicked out of the house in a few short years. Maybe. Travel, good food in exotic locations, and exotic stinging insects.
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Oh, that would be SO fun Andrew! Well, maybe not the insects.
But do you think you’ll be working that long? You must have at least 7 years to go to punt the kids out?
Yeah, I have a pretty good network and fortunately, they’re in the position to hire. It takes awhile to build that up, but it’s worth its weight in gold – literally. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to put together a resume. Good thing, since I’m getting old enough that I can’t remember what I even did!
That’s right, about 6 years to go until honorable Number Two Son is evicted. We’ve been trying to talk up the joys of living overseas to them, but so far they’re not buying.
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At that age, (most)kids seem to want stability more than anything. I moved my oldest when he was about 13 and it took a long time before I heard the end of that. Now, he’s grateful – but at the time? Not so much. And here I thought I was providing him with a world-expanding cultural experience, but all he wanted was to hang with his old friends.
Ungrateful pups. LOL
We’re sitting with $25K in our emergency fund and looking at depleting it due to current circumstances. I think I’ll do what you did and put a limit we run through before thoroughly freaking out.
It’s more important to enjoy the job, the people you work with and the company than to have more money. That, I think, provides more job security than just having a big paycheck, because that ensures you want to stay at the job.
Way to go!
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Kris, I found the cut-off amount to be very important. Once X < Y, it’s time to mobilize! Personally, I really like having a year of expenses in the chequing account, but I don’t really have an emergency account per se at this point. I have in the past though but it was earning zippo, so I invested it in a really stable, dividend paying stock earlier this year. It was about $20-$25k, so a very similar amount to yours. But then, I kind of “forgot” about it and resolved to build it up again.
For whatever reason, it helps to force myself to save more because I’m afraid of being broke again. It’s not the same desperate kind of feeling that I’ve had in the past when I was broke but enough to light a fire under me.
Agreed on the “happy to go in on Monday” job vs. the big paycheck. Unless there was a monstrous discrepancy, in which case I’d go for the cash.