Thursday, February 19, 2015

How I quit my job

I quit my job 9 months ago after 2 years of planning.

The house has been remodeled, and I have two roommates covering the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilities.

This idea of quitting for a bit and traveling was discussed many times with my wife before she died.

I used many online retirement calculators to work the numbers. Many of the calculators were cumbersome to use, and very precise with tracking every tiny detail. I ended up finding a very useful retirement planner that was powerful once I understood how to create specific "rules" for my situation.

I highly recommend checking out RocketDog Software's website When Can I Quit? The creator of the website had a mini Q&A on Reddit.com and made some very useful changes with user input, and he also described how to set up rules. It's worth reading through if you plan to use the calculator.,

I had passive income from renters, money saved in the bank to last for at least 3 years, and I also still had some retirement investment accounts and a small pension that will kick in at age 65.  I had plans to re-enter the workforce in the next 1-2 years. I could quit, enjoy some time off, get another job in a few years and be none the worse for wear as far as retirement planning goes.

So now I had all my paperwork together, I had multiple website calculators that I fiddled with over and over and each time they showed at least a 95% success rate at quitting my job and living off savings for a few years.

I was ready, and I was afraid.  So I set a goal of quitting on a certain date. I set a goal of handing in my resignation letter to my company. I actually gave my company a 2 month notice, fully ready for them to tell me to go home that day.  I wanted to give them time to hire a new person, and for me to train them. I wanted to leave on the best note as possible in case I needed to go back.

So I did it. I was completely unemployed. Scared shitless.  My roommates threw a 'retirement' party for me at the house. We probably had 75 people show up. There was a band and everything. It was very humbling to see all the love and support.

And then Monday rolled around and I didn't go to work.

It was glorious....magical.... better than any vacation day.

I spent the summer travelling, working at music festivals, camping and hiking...it was amazing. I spent more than my budget, but I didn't care. I was free.

The Who I'm Free




Wednesday, February 18, 2015

How Life can completely change in a few short years.

Hello Dear World,

When we last spoke two and a half years ago, I was working a 9-5 job that was sucking my soul out, remodeling a house that was sucking my retirement fund dry, and in a relationship that was sucking out my life energy and moving it in a moral direction I did not want.

I changed many things in the last few years.

I quit my job. Yup, just up and quit, I have not worked full time for over 9 months and it feels great. I have traveled, explored and nourished my soul, and have worked at finding Passion and Purpose.

The house has been completely remodeled and I now have two roommates that pay enough rent to cover the the cost of the entire mortgage and utilities. That's right, I have zero living expenses in this house as long as I keep two roommates.

My last post in June, 2012 indicated all was well with WWW and we had re-confirmed a commitment to each other . Well..... I'm happy to say we broke up very soon after that last post. Our core beliefs were not a good match and I was tired of pushing personal boundaries that didn't need pushing.

So Where Am I Now?

I am in a very good place.

Life is much simpler. I am cooking most of my meals instead of eating out almost every day. My meals are mostly vegetarian with meat only 3-4 meals a week, This is saving me a huge amount of money and I've also lost about 20 pounds! My body feels great, and darn if I don't look pretty good with a healthy appearance!

I've slowed my social life down and no longer spending huge amounts of money on concert tickets, bars tabs, or fleeting moments of instant gratification.

I work a day or two each week helping an 88 year old woman with yard work and house work.  This feels really good.  She bosses me around quite a bit, but it's great to have moments of good conversation with her, and heck, she is even teaching me about gardening. I make enough money to pay for gas and some groceries each week.

My roommates are awesome, and they are really helping me stretch my savings. I am very blessed to have this situation. Years of saving and hard work has paid off. I can comfortably live in a nice home that is being paid for 100% by my roommates. My savings will last for quite a few years if I continue to work small jobs here and there.

When I started this blog, it was to document my progress in fulfilling a dream of traveling in a van across the country.  Well.... I can now say I've done a bit of that. With great pleasure, I bought an empty cargo van and outfitted it with a bed and some living accouterments and spent one full month traveling the west coast. It was wonderful.

And you know what else has happened in the last 2 1/2 years? Better than everything else?

I fell in love.

Yes, I fell in love with an amazing woman 9 months ago.

Life is Good. Passion and Purpose are slowly entering back into my life. I am happy. I am content.

It has truly been a Fantastic Voyage