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Showing posts from June, 2025

Gratitude while FIRE'd

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Another year has come and gone. Last November while watching the sumo tournament, Asanoyama said something that caught my attention. He's been gone from the very top division for sometime and I was happy to see him back. He did well and when he was interviewed after getting a winning record, he said: A lot has happened a long the way, the tournament isn't over yet. So I want to say focused, keep my gratitude in mind and continue giving my best. That is a good attitude to cultivate - an attitude of gratitude.  Last Monday, I stopped at a counter to do a pickup and I realized that people get up each day to show up to work. Later during the week, I stopped by the store to look for replacement bulbs and on my way back to the garage, I saw a worker helping a customer with loading their car and what I felt was gratitude to God. God has been good to me.  I think that sometimes, it's easy to forget the good we have but I think it is important to focus on the good we have, on the bl...
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An Interesting Thing I've done since FI/RE'd

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 I've had another nurse ask what I do with my time. She simply knows that I quit my job but I have not mentioned FIRE to her. She has asked that question more than once. Interestingly, I've been busy. I find it so interesting because I went to work full-time sometime post-pandemic and I read about 15 books in the second year of working full-time. I went part-time the year before I FIRE'd and read less books. I think I only read a handful of less last year. This year? I think I've only read 2 and it's June! One would think that I should have read more after going part-time and if "One" didn't think so, I  thought so. No, I'm not sitting at home watching TV, I'm also not on social media scrolling. So what do I do with my time? Living. I recall a colleague asking me back in 2023 when I went part-time: what do you do with all your time? I said I'm in the business of living. Actually, I wanted the days available so I could schedule therapy becau...
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Perks and Discounts for Healthcare Professonals

 Yesterday, I stopped at a Burger King. I don't think I've been to one since the Pandemic started. I wanted a milkshake and was looking for another outfit but saw this gave it a try. I don't think I've had their shakes before; it was really good and the price was good considering I got a small shake in my MCOL are for 6.99 pretax, this was 4.39 for a medium size in a LCOL area. Anyway, as I was making my way in, I saw signs for free iced coffee for healthcare professionals. This is 2025 not 2020. There were two of such signs at the same establishment. I was a bit surprised.  Why? I feel like prior to the pandemic, it was Military, Police and Firefighters who got such "perks" and discounts. Sometimes, Teachers were included in some but healthcare professionals weren't one of such groups. Then came the pandemic and  suddenly healthcare professionals got noticed. I took advantage of one such perks back when the pandemic started. Hilton was giving away free ro...
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A Week In The FI/RE'd LIfe: Wednesday - Saturday

 Okay, my goal was to write for each day but I think I'm going to combine the rest of the week. I just didn't have the time for this.  Wednesday: my goal was to prime some walls. However, I spent so much time in the morning trying to tape up stuff that closer to the afternoon, I had to put that on hold for an appliance delivery. They got here early with the new stove and took the old one away. Then I was debating on getting a sprayer. So I researched a few, debated and eventually went to the store. I looked a few there but decided the prep of the sprayer and cleaning it was something I didn't want to deal with this time. So I didn't start painting until after 6 p.m. I did until 9 p.m. Okay, there were other things in between like a phone call and other stuff. The thing is that I only ended up doing half of it. Had I started earlier instead of debating on the sprayer, I would've finished the whole thing.  Thursday: I finished my coat of primer. I may have been out la...
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What do you say when people ask about work after FI/RE?

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 I was at a wedding reception last December, so less than a month ago, when someone asked me where I worked. Usually, I get asked what I do for a living. It's easy to say "I have a degree in Nursing". But this woman asked where I worked. I simply said I don't work. She didn't believe me. She asked if I was being truthful.  Considering I don't know her very well and primarily know her from the church, I don't know why she would think that I'm lying. But I quickly turned things around to ask her where she worked. And was asking more questions when the couple came in and so I stopped.  The question about what to say when people ask what you do for a living is something I've seen asked on the FIRE subreddits. So here  is my take on it.  First of all, I try not to talk about work. I think some people ask this question just to make conversation and in some cases, it's easy to say "I have a degree in Nursing". That tends to move the conversa...
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Time Value of Money (Inflation? Or the "T" word?)

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 I went to IKEA last weekend. I had a coupon that was going to expire and because I knew I wasn't going to get the chance to go on Sunday, I stopped by after going to the Japanese Festival . I almost went to Greekfest after but most of us decided to go home. I  decided I'd like to use the coupon now than have it wasted since IKEA was less than a couple miles away and on the way home. I spent $0.75 with tax for a set of dishes and a serving bowl . The dishes were $0.79. I got 11 of them and one serving bowl because I had already purchased one to try out. I wanted to try it out because it is white and I wanted to see if it will stain. It doesn't. So I went back to complete the set. I added the serving bowl because the coupon was $10 off a $10 or more purchase. The serving bowl was $1.99. I got the small bowl-like instead of the small plates because I thought that would be of more use to me. They look like the small plates but with the curve so I felt they would still work f...
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