Thursday Thoughts ~ 3/7/24

Published on by J-Dub

I’m catching up on my interesting stuff feed, a site hosted by a former co-worker who retired at the end of 2023. Since I’m seriously considering a leap to retirement myself, this article spoke to me. I’m musing over which category I fall into …

Here’s an important distinction about people who spend less than they earn. Frugal, by my definition, means depriving yourself of something you want and could afford. Not wanting something to begin with because you get your pleasure and identity from sources that can’t be purchased is something entirely different. The best word for it is probably independent. ~ Morgan Housel

I’m a bit of both depending on circumstances. I don’t consider it deprivation when I bypass expensive bright & shiny things that I know will end up in the dust bin one day. I don’t want my children to have to go through “stuff” after I’m gone. I also don’t consider it deprivation to not have the newest car or a bigger home. I take pleasure from the little things like time spent in the garden.

I’m also indecisive which means I have trouble knowing what I WANT. I overthink the topic want versus need making everything a useless want. Maslow’s hierarchy back in action. Okay this is becoming more like homework. I’ll take this topic offline & go back to seeing what’s what with respect to me jumping out of the workforce into retirement. Is there enough there to be truly independent? I’ll share more along the way & would like to hear your thoughts.

As always, more to come.

7 thoughts on “Thursday Thoughts ~ 3/7/24”

  1. If you love your job, stick with it as long as you can. Maybe look for ways to get easier conditions and more time off.

    If your job is just okay, treat it like the guy you dated but wasn’t marriage material.

    If you disliked your job, you wouldn’t be asking the question.

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    1. You’re spot on! Depending on the day I love my job or it’s just ok. I don’t hate it that’s for sure. Sometimes my feelings varies by hours within the day but I get back to loving it quickly.

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      1. If you like work, I cannot imagine any reason why you’d leave it as long as you were mentally and physically competent to do it. OTOH, you have to consider if it is keeping you from doing something else even better. If it is, can you see a way to still keep the job and yet have the freedom to do the other thing? Is a sabbatical a possible thing?

        Maybe take a month off and go tour Europe. or sip piña coladas on a beach for a while. Write your memoirs and then never publish them. Take up painting. Travel around visiting all the friends and family you don’t get to see enough.

        The time when you can’t work for whatever reason will come soon enough.

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      2. You are wise my friend. I always appreciate your comments. They truly help me make sense of what’s happening in my addled mind.

        Sabbatical is a thing but the bureaucracy to take one isn’t worth it. With changes to our time off plan, best I could get is 2 weeks in a row but 2 weeks in Europe might be just what the doctor ordered.

        If I write my memoir, it will be published! LOL. Not going to do the hard work for nothing. Tee-hee. I have it in draft form right now. Since I found the biologicals, I’ve been compelled to write. Like love ltters to them about my life … so ya, you’re right probably won’t publish. And I do wish I could travel to see them again but I fear my visit in June was a one time flash in the pan. I should be grateful for the scraps they give me now that we’re apart again … well sometimes more than scraps.

        Sucks to have been adopted but I’m really trying not to let it bother me. I can’t make ppl act they way I think they should. Wouldn’t like that if the situation was reversed. I’m often reminded that I expect too much.

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