Back from the beach and ready to party hearty! I mean, talk about money… :)
It was a long and interesting vacation (the wife got incredibly sick and literally stayed in bed for 4 days, while baby nickel woke up every 2 hrs at night), but overall there was plenty of beach and pool time to be had, and by the end of it everyone was happy and healthy.
We even got to check out a new brewery! Westbrook, which fellow blogger Joel recommended – it was awesome (and we got to take a tour while there too!). Here’s what I sampled below:
While away a few articles here on Budgets Are Sexy got picked up by Lifehacker and Business Insider too – so that was pretty cool! Here are the ones they shared around, in case you missed them:
- Remind Yourself Of This One Fact When You’re Feeling Envious @ Business Insider
- The Question You Should Ask Your Financial Advisor @ Life Hacker
- You Will Read These Money Jokes AND LIKE THEM! @ Money Talks News
Three articles I featured on Rockstar Finance also got picked up by Life Hacker as well – so a great week overall in business town. Congrats to the bloggers out there who got pimped out! Hopefully y’all liked the guest articles here on this site as well :) From the comments it looks like you did?
Speaking of business…
As we do every year at the beach, my siblings and I go over last year’s 12 month goals we previously set, and then come up with some new ones for the next 12 months as well. It’s actually pretty cool because it’s smack in the middle of the year and gets you to re-think and visit priorities in between the New Years’ resolutions. A nice mid-way check, if you will, though usually these are more business/dream like goals vs personal ones like health or habits/etc.
Here were my previous “beach goals” over the years:
- 2010: Become a full-time blogger (Success!)
- 2011: Be a full-time blogger AND save money vs breaking even all the time! (Success! Though I worked like a mad man to accomplish this…)
- 2012: There were three this year for some reason: #1) To get my wife pregnant again (Failed. Until the next year ;)), #2) Only work on BudgetsAreSexy and one other project (Super fail – I ended up bringing on/buying like 3 more!), and #3) Moving to a new area (Success!). 1 out of 3.
- 2013: To “find my next dream and cut out the crap.” (Mostly successful, but my dream has since changed). After a failed attempt at a local website, I launched Rockstar Finance which has since really taken off, and then I “cut the crap” by selling off a handful of projects that no longer aligned with my passions anymore. So I’d give myself an A for that one :)
So to recap, over the past 4 years I went from a 9-5 job to self-employment, from zero kids to two kids, moved from one state to another, and then grew from one project to 10 projects, and now back to only two projects again (I just sold the last of my non-passion sites which I’ll blog about shortly).
Oh, and let’s not forget about the money.
That roller coaster went from rolling in it (9-5 plus side hustles), to breaking even (just side hustles), to rolling in it again (tons of side hustles!), to now losing a little every month (less side hustles). All stuff that has mostly been thought out and planned over the years, but still quite the adventure to say the least. Never a dull day in self-employment, I tell ya.
Now for the 2014/2015 year?
The new plan in a nutshell is to quit working 12 hour days. Which is actually pretty fascinating because up until a few weeks ago I literally had NO idea I was working that much! In fact, I was in the middle of telling some friends that I only work “about 6 hrs a day” when my wife pulled me aside and told me how much of an idiot I was (okay, she didn’t use “idiot” but she might as well have – I was delusional!!).
She told me sit down and add up all the hours of an average week when I go home, and as soon as I did I was dumfounded. Here’s what I saw:
{the first column is early morning, then mid-day, then evenings}
Wow, indeed. This entire year I thought I was making good progress in the workaholic department but apparently not (and yet more proof of how important *tracking* stuff is too. Like when I used to think I was saving $200-300/mo back in the day when in fact I was losing that every month!).
I just couldn’t believe that I was putting in that much time, and then even more so not making nearly as much as I used to when I worked less! Haha… how the hell does THAT work?
Actually, I’ll tell you. By mainly working on projects that are more fun than profitable :) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I don’t like running businesses – I like running hobbies that happen to make money. Which is both a blessing, and a curse. It’s awesome to be able to work on whatever your heart desires (and I’ve worked years to get to this point), but when you’re also trying to support a family of 4 on one income things like money have to be paid attention to. Which all goes back to the pursuit of financial freedom – so you can do whatever the hell you want without worry about money!
So while I am “working” a lot technically, at least it doesn’t feel like work most days. It’s all fun and business mixed together. And thank God I’m still hanging out with my kids and not jeopardizing that time in the least – all hours I work are while they’re sleeping or in daycare. Though admittedly I need to do a better job of not thinking about online stuff while with them, something I struggle with fairly often.
Still, it’s never good to be glued to the internet 12 hrs a day – even if it is fun. We need to live life outside the computer more and quit staring at screens all day long burning our eyes. Or at least I do.
So here’s what I’m going to do about it:
- I’m going to try cutting out evening hours after 5:30pm, saving a good 2 hrs/day if pulled off
- I’m going to scale back weekend working, wiping away another 5/6 per week
- I’m going to concentrate on working *smarter*, not *harder*. I don’t exactly know how yet, but if I don’t none of the above points will work out all too well!
- I’m going to say “no” to more projects/requests/etc going forward
- And I’m going to do at least one thing a day that’s personal-driven vs online business/fun driven. If I find other things to enjoy outside the computer I’m bound to get off it more often, right? :)
Anyways, that’s the plan for the next 12 months… It goes completely against my Hustle 24/7 ideology, but f*ck it – I’m older and wiser now and realize there’s more to life than bragging about how much you work or make every day. There are times and phases where that’s important (the hustling/making money part, not the bragging ;)) and right now I feel like I’m in the “being a daddy” and “slowing down time to embrace life more” type place at the moment. I don’t know what that’ll look like come next year, but for now I jump in and give it a shot. Fingers crossed!
Today’s takeaways:
- It’s good to revisit goals as your life changes
- It’s better to work smarter than harder, if you can figure out how
- Beer tours are tasty!
- There’s life outside of work and money
What have you guys been working on since I’ve been gone? Anyone else realizing they work way too much than they should?
Here are some more pictures from our trip if you’re interested… Hope you guys had a great week!
{Cool marina we had lunch at}
{Baby Penny running away from water}
{Old coins (and fake coins) in an arcade machine!!}
{Beach sunset}
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PS: Remember how I budgeted $50.00 extra for miscellaneous stuff on our trip? Yeah… we blew that out of the water by over $200. First, I forgot about our pet sitter ($60 + tip ($20)), then $25 for car insurance via Amex to cover us in case something bad happened (it didn’t – whew!), and lastly just a bunch of random stuff we had to pick up to help Mrs BudgetsAreSexy feel better… Things we had at home but not on our trip. Told you stuff always comes up!
PPS: My Enterprise trick failed – oops. Got stuck in a small Rav4 for hours on end all squished like sardines on our trip, haha… Can’t win ’em all.
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I like your idea that it’s better to work smarter than harder. It seems like you’re doing it already based on the results you’re having. Been thinking to quit my job and put up a cafeteria nearby and a blog in relation to my planned business. Im just so excited to fulfil my dream.
well that’s interesting! you don’t hear people starting up cafeterias these days :) any way for you to work on it on the side until you’ve proven it’s good or it starts bringing in money so you can make a smooth transition? Reminds me of the time I wanted to start a cereal bar. You just walk in and grab milk and any choice of cereal you wanted and start eating :) Everything would be based on monthly membership so you can go in and out as you please, haha…
Isn’t it surprising how many hours you actually put into what you do every week? It’s really hard to shut things off every once in a while. There are many times when I get home from work and I say to myself I’m simply not going to blog or do anything on the computer tonight. There needs to be some relaxation time.
Working smarter rather than harder is my latest goal. I get way too wrapped up in things (ehem, twitter and facebook, even email), that I feel are productive, but in reality, are not the best use of my time. I recently started using this app called self-control that blocks you from sites you designate for however long you want. So far, I’m loving it.
that’s a good idea :)
Glad you enjoyed you vacation. Baby Penny is so adorable. I felt like I was wasting times during my day. So I changed my daily routine and adios evening social media visits. Seems to be helping to be honest.
The social media ignoring helps IMMENSELY. If you’re on there a lot during the day anyways, it’s not like you’re “missing out” either at night, ya know?
Wow, the beach sunset is really a perfect one! I also thought that I was only working 8 hours a day, but when I tried to calculate my work hours, I was very shocked that I’m working more than those hours. But I love my job, that’s why maybe I didn’t notice the time.
That seem’s like an admirable goal of cutting down your hours, I hope it works out for ya J Money!
That’s some great stuff. I wish my problem was working too much on my side hustle! Right now, i can’t focus enough on it because I’m still in a 9-5. And those kids, wanting attention and all that. They’re so greedy.
How’d the metal detecting go?
I don’t want to to talk about it ;)
Sometimes tracking the hours you work is downright depressing. My schedule at work always has a tally of the hours for the week and whenever my boss hands out the following months packet, as soon as I see numbers going over 40, it’s like being hit in the head with a mental brick and I start to dread that week. His program crashed and he handed them out without the tally at the bottom one month and I didn’t even care the week I had to work like 55 hours.
Mind games are pretty powerful.
It’s worse when you don’t get paid extra for the hours too!
I think it’s so cool that you and your sibs go over goals together!! And very cool that, despite working 12 hours a day, that you do it when the kids are at daycare/asleep. Keep up the awesome work, J$, and thank you SO much for your encouragement and wisdom.
Awww, well thank YOU for such kind words! I tend to get down on myself at times, so comments like this help get me back out there :) Hope you’re enjoying your Summer so far!
Checking in on visions and goals is one of my favorite things! I’m glad to see I’m not the only one. I really like how you took inventory on how much you’re working. It’s funny, I think I work “40-50 hour weeks” but that’s just my day-job. I never count the hours I spend blogging. Maybe it’s time to consider that!
Do it and then tell me what it is. I’m gonna guess an extra 15 hours a week :)
Ha! My husband (who is self-employed) is also the absolute WORST at estimating time spent on anything! It drives me bonkers. Usually I just know to double whatever time he says to me. (So if he says he’ll be home in 1 hour, I know he’ll be home in 2), but sometimes I forget, and it makes me so mad because I’ll make plans based on what he says will happen, and then end up waiting and waiting for him.
You and my wife would get along swimmingly ;)
Beer tours are amazing. I also spend too much time in front of the screen–at work and then in the evenings at home working on the ol’ Frugalwoods. I love it, but it’s too much. I’m combatting it by forcing self to attend yoga, take walks with Mr. Frugalwoods & Frugal Hound, and hike on the weekends. I was at a conference recently where the author/founder of Reclaim Your Whitespace spoke (www.julietfunt.com/whitespace). I’d never heard of this concept before, but it’s basically about working smarter, like you mentioned, and not burning yourself out. Good ideas, though I haven’t had the time to read the book yet (yikes!).
Welcome back! I LOVE your new goal. A wise man asked me what good success is without significance. Since then I’ve worked hard to be successful, but not without significance to my family and the world as a whole. Stepping back a few hours a day is a great step.
I’m working on a super awesome project that will help people do just that without sacrificing their success… just a tease for now, but the website will be up soon. I, like you, LOVE projects. :)
BTW, congrats on the new Forbes piece. (how cool is that to hear?)
I hate to hear that Mrs. Money didn’t get to enjoy the vacation as much (although maybe she did and the illness was a great excuse to not spend time with her in-laws :-)). I hate to break it to you, but workaholism is an illness just like many others and unfortunately there is not a great 12 step program to recover from it. I know, because I too suffer from it, and you may have a good run at not working so much, but the hours will probably slowly creep back. It’s hard when you enjoy what you do. For me, I give my guys quality time over quantity. When I am with them, they have me 100% and I feel like that is much better than more hours where I am checking my phone or working while they are around.
Well, if it’s an illness that means there’s a cure! So I can’t stop and just let it be ;) I think freeing up the nights will play a huge part in the mental state of things too.
I think that blogging and online things can take up so much time without you realising it, so I think it’s good that you’re aiming to work smarter and use your time wisely :) I’m really bad at just sitting on the laptop in the evenings and before I know it, 2 hours have gone by! Maybe I should make it my goal too… :)
Welcome back! Hope Mrs. Money is feeling better and you were able to salvage a few good days with here on vacation. I work in operations. If I tracked all the after hours/weekend time that is spent working I’d be sick. Work smarter, not harder is always a goal. Training staff to handle more so they don’t need to call me is a good thing.
Are you going to keep track of the time you spend at work each day? Looks like a daily work log would make a great ongoing page to go along with the “baby cost tracker.” We, your devoted readers, could then help call you on your excesses of labor and keep you on track with your goals.
Congrats on the Business Insider and lifehacker pickups!
Nah, doing it every day would probably depress me, haha.. But I’m actively paying attention to it now throughout the days. Sometimes I catch myself looking for something to do – even though I HAVE stuff to do – so then I walk away from the computer for a few and try to figure out the best use of my time. Sometimes that means calling it a day/night, or re-focusing again. The funny thing is that I can only think clearly once I’m AWAY from the computer, haha… There should be a term for that :)
Glad you made it out there man. Visiting a new brewery always makes me happy. And good luck on working less my friend. It’s a fantastic goal.
Another workaholic here and not proud of it. I’m glad you’re taking the initiative to pull back a little and focus on ways to work smarter not harder. I am trying to do the same and my DH is a big help in tearing me away from the computer :)
Sorry to hear that your wife was sick for most of the trip. Did Baby Penny not like the ocean?
He actually really did a lot! He just started playing the “let’s see how close I can get to this water without touching it, and then run fast away from it!” haha…
It’s great that you’re not putting money first, but using it to help you find what means something to you, and pursuing it rather than a bunch of work that might be profitable but not meaningful. It’s a tough balance to strike, and sometimes it’s hard to know where the “means to an end” ends and where the “end” starts. (I hope that makes sense!) You seem to be navigating it all very well. All the best as you continue to revisit those goals and to modify your path towards them.
It’s great to check in mid-year with your yearly goals. I think people often set their goals and forget about them. Sorry the wife was sick though on vaca…but beer tasting? yum!!! I sometimes question whether I actually need to be working MORE, not less. Sometimes I find myself daydreaming of all the things I want to do, but have a hard time executing some of them. I don’t have it in me to be a workaholic though…never have. Maybe it’s because I’m a libra and crave daily balance? I think you’ve had such an amazing amount of success though and I really envy all that you have accomplished! Hope you can achieve both continued success AND some downtime! And thank you again for featuring two of my articles on RS Finance!
Thanks friend – that means a lot :) Sometimes I fee like I HAVE to be successful if I’m spending so much time into it ya know? Imagine working 60-70 hrs a week and not going anywhere? OMG… so I’m def. thankful my stuff has been growing, now it’s just a matter of toning the hours down a bit.
So how were the beers??
In order of my favorites:
— White Tai (sooo tasty!)
— One Claw (kinda watery)
— Citrus Ninja (one of their best sellers, but not my fave type of beer)
— Nomader (sour’est thing I’ve ever tasted! they make it that way on purpose, but wowzers)
Welcome back! And thank you again for the Rockstar shouts!
Working “smarter” is something I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year, and I have to say, it’s been going well! One thing that’s helped me most is learning to be focused on the work at hand. I found that I wasted a lot of time trying to multitask and do 5 different things at once. But that’s just me! Some people work better that way. I’ve also learned that taking breaks, taking a step back and looking at the big picture, can be really powerful and productive, too. It helped me see where I was “wasting” my time, and how I could work more efficiently.
I’ve started doing the “one thing at a time” trick this week and so far I agree – it is making me more productive (though I do slip at least 3x an hour ;)). I’m hoping freeing up the evenings will give me enough of a break too so that when I sit down in the mornings again I’m super fresh and ready to roll… Right now everything sort of mushes together like a weird foggy dream. I’m amazed at how some of my projects turn out despite that, haha…
I asked my friend the other day after I just finished doing a bunch of stuff for eBay and writing my blog post, “How long do we have to hustle for?” and “when can I stop hustling?” I think you flipped it a little and asked “how much do I need to hustle for?”
Yeah take a few hours off 60 is a heavy load, see what changes.
I’m working 16 hour days it feels like, but then I have a FT job for half of that. Even if I didn’t have that I can easily see working the same hours as you based on how long my to do list is now. At least if you enjoy, it doesn’t feel like work. I will be really interested in your post on how I worked smarter not harder, because its easy to say but applying it will be key. I guess it means getting used to letting things fall off the table and only focusing on the priorities. I wish you best of luck finding that balance and glad you had a good holiday despite Mrs Money being sick which $ucked. :-
I guess you weren’t charming enough J! The extra vacation expenses could have been much worse. It’s better than when I go on vacation at least. Glad you had a great vacation and are back with us!
Thanks Marty :) They actually DID offer me an upgrade, but one I had to pay for, haha… and because it was last minute the only level up was a Chevy Tahoe for an extra $400 – ouch!
I’m learning the smarter vs. harder piece as I’m trying to revamp the design of my blog. I want to do it all myself to save money, but I spent about an hour last night trying to figure out how to change the font for the headers in my new theme lol.
You’ve got an awesome goal, but now comes the hard part – making it happen. As a workaholic myself, It’s tough to step away from work even to enjoy time with family, but if you can make more money in less time then that’s awesome!
Glad to hear Mrs. Money is feeling better and that you got to enjoy some of the trip. And major congrats to those bloggers who were featured!
But yeah, cutting down on work time is always on my list. If I can just get to the point where I can ditch the 40+ hours a week I’m spending at my FT job… I’ll be golden.
Love your pattern of making goals mid-year— and I support working smarter–not harder. Something I’m trying to do myself. Nice pictures as well. – Mike
I’m trying to avoid getting bogged down in the day-to-day small stuff so I can focus on the big picture. What helps is at the start of the day, I write down 1-3 things that if I get done by the end of the day – I’ll go to bed fulfilled. It keeps me focused on what’s really important. At the end of the day I can ask myself what all I got done. There were some days I would work 12hrs+ but really have nothing extraordinary to show for it! Ouch!
*Idea taken from The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.*
I do the same thing, though in my head cuz its always the same:
1) Get your blog post done
2) Find your 3 favorite articles for Rockstar Finance
I force myself to get those done no matter what every day, but since I know I’ll accomplish it (I’m a strict boss!), I tend to fill the rest of the day doing other things and sneaking them in knowing full well I won’t go to bed until I’ve done the two :) It’s a weird problem to have, haha
As to working smarter rather than harder: try GTD with Evernote, has made me incredibly efficient.
thesecretweapon.org has the details.
Scary at first to go to zero inbox, but after awhile you feel you start focussing on what’s important for you and you don’t forget any of the other stuff.
Zero inbox as in emails? I accomplish that about 4x a week. Which actually makes me wonder if that’s where my problem lies – always answering so many emails every day! :)
J$, I am so on board with the “cutting out the crap” notion. I’m one of those people that starts a billion projects a year, each of which I get quite excited about when I am brainstorming and in the planning stages, and then most of them end up being unfulfilling or otherwise just fizzling out because I lack direction.
For the past few months, I’ve been streamlining everything I can and giving up on projects that I’m not interested in anymore. It’s tough giving up things that you were once excited about, though, and projects that you put time and effort into.
I realized just last weekend that I hadn’t had a day where I did zero work since I started Add Vodka. That was FOUR YEARS AGO! I’d say before that but I just don’t remember what life was like before becoming a blogger. This weekend I spent all of Saturday getting caught up on favorite shows, going for a date with the husband, and hanging out with my dogs. it was crazy awesome and while I did do a teensy bit of “work” (only about an hour) it’s still refreshing to take a step back and look at your work habits and see them.. really see them. We get so used to working so hard all the time under the guise of hustling or passion projects or money making hobbies that we lose sight of why we are doing all of that.
Good for you!!!! Four years is no joke – I can’t believe it’s already been that long?? I remember when you first came onto the scene! :) And similarly I don’t remember what it’s like to not blog either… Though it’s a problem I can live with compared to not having one anymore, haha
I hope you had fun at the beach!! I need a vacation myself but have not had a chance to go. Oh well, I guess I will have to live vicariously through others for now. Your kid is so cute!!
I’m glad you guys had fun! Smarter not harder is my philosophy too! I like your idea of slowing cutting down on your hours. Once I become a full-time blogger, I’m sure I will start off working more than my current job, but I will set a plan to cut down my hours as well.
Not having a traditional workplace and schedule can truly make it seep into every moment of free time. I only do this on the side, but I see it slowly taking over my evenings and weekends. if I was relying on it for my income, I can’t imagine how much time it would take up.
I hope you’ll be able to find more balance. And good on the Mrs for calling you out on your bull hour estimation :)
Yeah, she def. put me in place with that one. I can’t believe I was off by so much!
I feel for Mrs. Budgets Are $exy. I notoriously get sick on vacation. As soon as my body relaxes it decides to get a nasty illness of some kind.
Good to hear you’re cutting back on the work hours if it helps bring balance to your life and that the missus is all for keeping you accountable!
I finally managed to update the look of my blog using a pre-made design theme. My ulimate goal is to get it custom designed or even trying going the DIY design route.
I am well aware that I do work way more than I should. I have the week off of work, yet I still managed to take on some extra hours with my part-time job and am doing stuff on my blog. I feel I barely see my partner even though we live together, but we also have different work schedules.
It’s hard for me to say no to extra money. :P
It usually is for me too :) But now I try asking myself “what’s more important, time or money?” And I’m slowly learning towards time bit by bit. It’s weird to go down that path when I’m so used to money-money-money all the time, but we go through different phases in life, right? Maybe next year I’ll be saying “Get back to work, slacker! You’ve got money to make!” haha…
It’s nice to be really awesome at 1-2 things than mediocre at a bunch of things and really get nothing gone and be frustrated. It’s hard to do in our multi-tasking world we live in.
Hours at work are a funny thing. I sat down with a neighbor who makes 100k and he was going crazy because he works 70-80 hour weeks. I said, “you know you get paid like someone making 50k a year.” He was pissed and said “no I don’t!” but when we did the math I showed him he works two full time jobs. He is making $25 an hour and not the $50 an hour he assumed.
Balance with time and income are a challenge. Smarter not harder like you said is the goal.
People like you used to drive me crazy cuz I liked living in my own bubble ;) But now I see the light and understand you guys are right!! It’s all in our heads sometimes!
I’m working a lot less now that I have the two beans but it’s really forced me to reprioritize. I’m giving out a lot more jobs to my friends and doing referrals more and only taking on ones I really like. :) Drop in income but increase in happiness.
Also I hope your wifey feels better :( That’s no fun to be sick on vacation.
She is! Thanks for asking :) It was hell for her for a bit there. Esp when the kids start getting it too :(
You thought a RAV4 was “tiny”!?! That’s our main “family” car – and I think it’s quite roomy… At least compared to the civic it replaced…. I hope Ms J$ feels better!
It would be fine without a week’s worth of luggage and kids stuff :) We had a family member sit in the back between two car seats too so it was much cozier for her than us up front, haha… solid car though. It had bluetooth for hands free calling through the speakers and a back up cam which was pretty cool!
I heard somewhere once if its not tracked, how the heck can you improve on it? Time, Budget, Networth, they all need to be tracked asap. Now if I can only track my sexiness – do I smell a good business idea partner. HA
I don’t think there’s a scale big enough to track that ;)
We talked about this a little bit last month, I think, but I’ve also been cutting back on all my side projects. It feels so good to finally focus on just a few things! I can’t believe you’re down to TWO – that’s inspiring, friend. All the ways you plan on cutting back on hours sound great. Hope your wife is feeling better now :)
Well, down to two main projects yeah but going the opposite of you in the side hustles, haha… I still do blog coaching (and now money coaching too), as well as helping people buy/sell their blogs and other miscellaneous things. All fun stuff for sure, just adds up in the end. Especially when you keep producing little humans :)
I like the idea if setting new goals every summer. What a great time to re-evaluate!
I really liked your post J. Money. I can totally relate to the the workaholic mentality. What really resonated with me was when you talked about trying to turn off the “business/internet mind” when you’re spending time with your family. That is a struggle for me a lot of the time. I’m currently in the full-time job / side hustle stage of life. Maybe one day I’ll be drop the 9-5. But until then I’ll be trying to work “smarter not harder” to achieve a better work/life balance. Keep up the good work and the good posts!
Thanks Ben, good luck to you too :) The nice thing about turning your side hustles into your main gig is you get to work on the company of YOU all day going forward and it’s pretty fun, however your brain then works in overtime even when you don’t want it too. Though, probably a better problem to have than the opposite! :)