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Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. It’s what you do with them that truly matters.
I often receive questions from others about how I was able to fit side hustling, college, and work into my life all at one time. It was hard, but it was possible. Yes, sacrifices need to be made, but like I said, it IS possible to fit side hustles into your life.
It all depends on how badly you want it. [Read more…]
Ever since I switched to self-employment, I’ve had several people tell me their thoughts on whether or not working from home would work for them. Usually these people say one of two things.
One phrase I often hear is “Oh, you are so lucky to be able to work from home. I would LOVE that.”
The other phrase I hear is the exact opposite “I would absolutely HATE working from home. That would never work for me.”
I know several people who work from home and couldn’t possibly love it anymore than they already do (I’m in that group), and I also know those who have worked from home in the past and completely hated it.
Whether we’re talking about working from home for yourself, or working from home for others, those who work from the comfort of their home usually experience similar problems and situations.
Working from home obviously isn’t for everyone, but below is how I make working from home work for me:
I’ve always had a lot of things going on in my life and I’ve learned to become a work-life balancing master.
In high school, I took a full course load, took college credits, volunteered, and worked full-time.
In college (both undergraduate and graduate school), I took a full course load (read about how I graduated in 2.5 years with two undergraduate degrees), volunteered, lived on my own (I moved out a few days after I turned 18 and later bought a house at the age of 20), and worked full-time.
In graduate school I did all of the above plus I started my current business.
Because of my past, I often receive questions about how I’m able to do it all. Some like to tell me that I must have no social life, I’m all about working, or ridiculous reasons for why my life must suck.
However, I am able to do it all because I have improved my life balancing skills and I know how to manage tasks efficiently and effectively. Yes, it IS possible to balance work and life.
Today, we have a post from my friend and personal finance blogger Harry Campbell.
Harry started blogging about personal finance on his main site Your PF Pro a few years ago and enjoyed it so much that he started a second site dedicated to finding the perfect work-life balance at The Four Hour Work Day. When Harry is not blogging, he works full-time as an aerospace engineer and enjoys surfing and playing beach volleyball.
Traditionally, in the United States our work days have been 8 hours long and we trudge into the office 5 days per week (and 2 weeks of vacation time is standard).
This pattern dates back to the Industrial Revolution – yeah, the cultural and societal revolution that happened over 200 years ago. We’re usually a little bit slow to catch up to the rest of the world I guess.
You’d think by now we’d have realized our way of doing work is a little outdated. [Read more…]
Time management is something that I’ve struggled with for a long time. I’ve struggled with it, mostly because it just seemed so easy to everyone else to just go go go all day long.
I’d listen, envious, while people talk about how they would get up an hour or two earlier in the morning to exercise, or get some work done, or just simply enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I’ve often harboured fantasies about waking up with the sun, pulling on my running shoes, and setting off into the misty morning for a few quick miles before work.
Unfortunately, when the alarm clock jolted me roughly from sleep, I would, consistently, hit the snooze button repeatedly until I’d snoozed away all chance of extra early morning productivity. I simply can’t bring myself to leave my cozy, comfy, warm bed in the morning. Nothing could rouse me from my slumber.
I spent a long time lamenting this feature of my behavior, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t do what came to other people so naturally.
About four years ago I would be what you would consider Jack Johnson’s biggest fan. lol! No seriously.
I’ve seen him…oh about ten times live (both paid and free shows), and used to be on his old website’s forum daily. I even made a few “real life” friends through the forum.
My obsession has since decreased (although I still really like him), but all of his CD’s still sit in my car, which I pop in whenever I need a little anti-road rage music.
And whenever I feel myself running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I always sing this line from Brushfire Fairytales…“slow down everyone, you’re moving too fast…”
There are so many reasons to “slow down,” because one way “moving too fast” really affects me are financially.
In just this last week, there are three different times that moving too fast has cost me money.
1. Parking fees. I was going to a yoga class last Wednesday and was trying to squeeze a million things in before I had to leave. If I would have left earlier, I could have driven around an extra five minutes or so to find free parking. Instead I parked at a meter.
2. Gas. Being in a rush once again and not planning ahead of time, I wasn’t able to make it to the cheaper gas station, so I had to go to the more expensive one near my house, just in case I ran out of gas. And if you’ve been to California in the last month or so, you know how expensive things got around here.
3. Convenience food. On several different occasions I was too busy and distracted to take the time to know what I already had in my kitchen and pantry, so I made stops for more food that I didn’t need that was quick and easy when I got home. If I would take a little extra time, I would know what was in my kitchen and come up with a meal from there.
1. Being late for something, so you drive too fast and get a speeding ticket.
2. Having to pay late fees because you got distracted and didn’t pay some bills on time.
3. And as odd as this may sound, being in frenzied mode means you’re more at risk for injuring yourself. I’m notorious for bumping into walls when I’m in a rush, and knocking over and breaking dishes.
4. Not taking the time to comparison shop, so you might be buying a more expensive version of an item.
5. Not making your lunch or coffee because you’re too rushed in the morning, so you end up buying them instead.
I know life is hectic, believe me, but I think there are things we can do in those moments of frenzy to re-center ourselves and not just rush, rush, rush.
1. Can it wait? I often find myself squeezing one last thing/email/phone call in before I need to leave to go somewhere. But more often than not, I can do it when I get back. Resisting that urge in the moment can save me a lot of time and money in the long run.
2. Breathe. So simple and obvious, yet how often do you just take a few moments to take a few breaths to gather yourself?
3. Stay organized. I could save myself a lot of time if I took a few moments the night before to put my keys where I know I can find them, or my bills that need to be mailed by the door. Or if you work in an office to pack your lunch the night before.
4. Staying present with where you are at in the moment. Have you ever read blogs (it might be this one) where you start to pass over whole paragraphs and maybe just get to the end part? (Guilty!) I think that’s just become a norm in our society because we are so busy all the time. Make a habit of trying to slow down and absorb what you are trying to read. If not you might miss some important details.
5. Alleviate distractions, especially while driving. Raise your hand if you’ve ever checked your email at a stoplight, or even sent a text? You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know how potentially dangerous this could be. It’s not worth even a minor repercussion like hitting the back of someone’s car to do this. Or getting a ticket.
6. Find a mantra that works for you to slow yourself down when you need it. You can even borrow mine! 🙂
This is a post from the lovely Tonya. T.L. is a freelance video editor and blogger living in Los Angeles. She enjoys movies, running and playing beach volleyball. You can follow her personal finance journey on her blog at Budget & the Beach, and follow her on twitter at @beachbudget.
Between working 45 hours at the office every week, taking 12 credits in my MBA program this semester, blogging and doing homework, I don’t have a lot of free time.Then you also have to through in the fact that I have a house and it doesn’t clean itself. Oh and my dogs can’t open the backdoor or take themselves for a walk.
Even with all of this, I love my life. I like to be busy but once my life slows down after this summer (I’ll be done with my MBA program), I will definitely enjoy the tons of extra free time that I will have. Yes of course I’ll still have work, but getting back around 25 hours a week from not having classes and homework will be nice!
When I’m done with my MBA, I know for a fact that I’ll still find ways to keep busy. There are so many things I want to do around my house, and possibly start another blog.
Also, I still find plenty of time to enjoy life. Yes, I may not have as much time as before, but I never feel like I’m crazily running around (except right now of course since finals are starting soon). The BF helps a ton around the house also, so this helps balance everything as well.
Lately, I have also been trying to go to bed earlier, and waking up 30 minutes earlier than I usually do so that I can have more personal time in the mornings. Not having as hectic mornings has definitely helped out. I don’t get a ton of sleep, but instead of going to sleep around 1:30 am, I now try to be bed by 12 to 12:30 am. This is something that I can definitely still improve with though. But right now it’s hard since I don’t get home from class until around 10 pm, so it’s hard just to go to bed right after I go home.
Thankfully with my job, work stays at work. We don’t ever have to bring it home. This helps a lot with my work-life balance.
I’ve also been trying to schedule my posts ahead of time. Usually I just type it up the night before, but on Sunday I managed to type around 2 weeks worth of posts. It was all stuff on my mind and it seemed like the ideas couldn’t stop flowing!
Limiting my time online is also another big thing. I spend way too much online. I’m addicted, it’s sad. I can’t stop reading blogs and looking and Pinterest. Lately I’ve just been setting the computer down far away from me and surprisingly that has been working.
Here are my tips to have a successful work-life balance: