One of my favorite parts of growing up has been learning more about myself and what I hope to get out of my life. My desires and aspirations have shifted numerous times, as they do. Like many people I am looking for the meaning in life and hope for something more profound than the 9 to 5 'til I die.
I went through a mini-midlife crisis not long ago. I was miserable at my job, I came home exhausted and basically sat around doing nothing of value until it was time to go to sleep and do it again the next day. As the book Your Money or Your Life says: I wasn't making a living, I was making a dying. It was then I talked with The B and decided to head back to school.
I started working part time and going to school full time. It'd been about 6 years since I'd been in college but I did well; 4.0 in both terms I attended. However, the debt I was taking in was weighing down on my conscious. The B was about to graduate and his student loans were going to need to be paid on top of our other bills. Then when I finally finished school we'd still have my student debt to pay off. I felt as if I was taking more from the table then I was giving. So I quit my job.
Of course I did this after being offered a new job. It was completely different from what I had ever done before, but it brought a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. I could work full time and not feel bogged down and emotionally drained everyday. It was really what I had been looking for in a job. So I quit going to school.
The B tried to talk me out of it, but as I explained: going to school was just the means to find a job I didn't hate. I have found a job I don't hate and enjoy, so why accrue more debt? Now we have a plan to be debt free by 2017. This is what I had always wanted to accomplish: financial independence that allows us to be self sufficient with our money.
Of course getting out of debt isn't going to be the be all end all that brings us our ultimate happiness. That is always something to strive for and the job will never really be done. However, it will give us the opportunity to do more of what we want with our life. We'll save to travel, we'll buy a house, we'll continually strive to learn more with what we have.
Our plan isn't just work more, make more money, and slowly chip away at the block of our debt. We will be more proactive by living more frugally, simply, and with more meaning. We have started tracking our money spending to see where it all really goes and if it was/is really worth it. Already we actively make decisions when we make purchases and ask ourselves if it's necessary, brings meaning or happiness, or if it'll just weigh us down with unnecessary clutter.
With this blog I hope to share some of what we learn and what we are doing to chip away at that block. Here you'll find what we teach each other, what we struggle with, and hopefully something new to try.
Thanks
The Bird and The B
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