Debt Free Kid

There are a few job postings where I work, and I'm qualified for all of them. They are all full time - 35 hours a week vs the 28 hours I am paid to work. I know from experience that this would be a net pay increase of around $550 per month, but it might jeopardize my interest relief status with the student loan centre, as well as my child care subsidy. And I will definately need the child card subsidy since I would be in the office for 1.5 more hours per day. I ultimately make the important decisions at our house, but my kid is smart and I always ask his opinion. He even helped me pick out the house I bought last fall. Today we talked about what it might be like if I worked longer hours each day. We talked about what would be better for us: more money or more time together? I reminded him that more money meant more sushi dinners (I really need to learn to make futomaki). Bean decided that more time was more important to him. We have a leisurely morning routine and our after...

What would I do if I didn't have to work? Near the end of my previous relationship, I was trying to make a case for early retirement (aka "financial independence.") Partner (ex) couldn't imagine not working his 45-hour-a-week job for the next 35 years and also could not imagine what he would do with all that time off. The only thing I could think of at the time was "travel!" but we knew if that were to become a reality we would have to have much much better finances. So, now I'm on my own, and I'm still planning my early retirement. Even though my collective agreement tells me that I can't access my pension until the first day of the first month following my 60th birthday, I hope to be finished working by 55, which is now 15 years from now. Ten years more of work would be even better. What would I do if I didn't have to work? - set my alarm for 7:30 am and get up around 8:00 - see my son off to school - practice yoga for two hours ...

I have been trying to wean myself off the internet, and it's not quite working. I took a two-week vacation from my Google Reader and it helped a bit but I WAS still checking facebook several times a day. I try to filter as much as I can by refusing to click on external links and this helps a bit. However I realized that I feel like an ostrich with my head stuck in the internet, and I am avoiding everyday, real-time life by spending more than five minutes on the internet each night. This is especially not fair to my beautiful four-year-old boy who is growing up so quickly. I thought, how ironic that I read all these sites about minimalism and quality of life, but I don't put them into practice. An hour online goes by, and my dishes are still piled up on the counter. I am overwhelmed by all the "stuff" I have to do but I avoid it by checking what someone from my life ten years ago is doing. It reminded me of how I first got into meditation, and I would read and re...

*This is not a sponsored post* Back in 2005 I spent two months in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and it is one of my long-term goals to return. For a few months now I have been receiving email from Sara Avant Stover and I thought I'd share the most recent one here. Dear K, I don't know about you, but for me, one of the hardest things to do is LET GO. Another way to put that is "Surrender." When I'm faced with a bad day, a challenging situation, or a super-human to-do list, sometimes I can get wrapped up in the drama. I can take on a defeatist attitude and say to myself, "Oh, I can never do that." "I'll never have enough time." "This is overwhelming." And, when I say these things to myself I actually start to BELIEVE them. This is when I get into trouble. I get tired, even sick. I lose focus on the big picture. And, worst of all, I lose touch with my soft core as a woman. I KNOW I'm not alone in this. I hear it from many of you, from m...

This time without a poll. I have an opportunity to attend a meditation retreat this weekend. I will have to use $125 from my savings to cover the registration fee. At first I was excited because it is in my town so I will not have to spend any money to cover travel costs. And then I started thinking that $125 is a lot of money for anything at this time. Then I started analyzing the program. It is not residential, which means that I will return home on Friday and Saturday nights, and it doesn't begin until Sunday afternoon (which will give me a chance to get to church). I will have to bring my lunch on Saturday or the organizers have suggested "lunch at local restaurants." The teachings will be led by a minister, based on the work of Pema Chodron (of whom I am a fan). In the past I attended three meditation retreats. They were residential, meaning I stayed immersed in the environment for the entire program. They were mostly silent, even throughout the meals (which were all...