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Showing posts with the label Nursing

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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7 Retirement Savings Mistakes Nurses Make

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 I got the idea for this post because I remembered one older nurse. When I recalled that older nurse, I recalled another nurse and others and some attitudes I've come across working with other nurses. My hope is that this post will encourage you to start contributing to your employers retirement plan if you don't already. If you do, I hope you will look at increasing your contributions.  The first nurse had not set up a work 401k. Actually,  she's not the only one I have encountered who didn't have one. Oh...wait...She isn't. I encountered another one years later who also hadn't set one up. Dear Nurses in the US, not signing up for your employers 401k is giving away free money. Free Money!  In the past four or so years, I've helped a colleague sign up for one.  She is a nurse - RN. There are people I've helped set up their work 401k at work simply because it comes up and I tell them that they are missing out on free money. There was one lady I worked wit...
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You Don't Have to Start in Med-Surg as a new Grad nurse

In reflecting on my career, I'm reminded of something I heard a lot of as a student: start in Med-Surg. I got lots of reasons. In hindsight, It would've been better to do the thinking myself regarding what I wanted instead of listening to those telling me how it is supposed to go.  Do You Have to start in Med-Surg as a new graduate nurse? No. That is my opinion after working in different specialties of nursing. It is not a bad idea to start in medical-surgical nursing but it is not a requirement or an absolute necessity. If you get the opportunity to work in a specialty you would like to end up in, please go ahead and take that opportunity. Your body will thank you later.  When I was graduating from college, a professor I admired told me to start in med-surg. And back then, it wasn't uncommon to here people say "start in med/surg". One of the reasons I sort of recall was so you can learn the basics of nursing and what not. Another rationale was that because you ar...
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Snow Days when FI/RE'd (Financial Independence Retire Early)

 Happy New year!  Last night, I was on the phone with a friend who asked if I was working and I said no. And she may have said something about it being good because "you don't have to worry about the snow". I simply thought she meant this season. I didn't bother to look outside until this morning when I realized that it has snowed overnight. I'm pretty sure schools are closed because I didn't see much activity outside.  So one of the things I was grateful for this morning was the fact that I don't have to go outside. I thought I would go out and clear the snow but I didn't feel like it. I really wasn't expecting a snow storm. We really haven't had one for a few years and I'm so glad I exited before we got one. Whew! One of the benefits of getting FIRE'd is not having to worry about getting to work during snowstorms. I got some groceries on Thursday and I have enough food available. So what did I do today? Lived. I actually did some cook...
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Things I do more since FIRE'd

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 There's something I've found myself doing lately. I sometimes walk into the bedroom on my second floor and look out the window. I didn't use to do that. I had family there and they would do that. They were retired but they didn't look out always. Still I had to change the blinds so that says something. I was usually amazed they knew who lived where, who was pregnant, who did what when I didn't even know. Or I would ask "is so and so pregnant" and would hear something like "...long time". While I didn't work full-time for the longest time and so was here, I still didn't look out or bothered with what was going on around here. I had houses sell on the block that I didn't even notice were for sale.  Today, I looked out and saw a pick-up truck across the street. The man in it had what looked like a cigarette and the windows was up. I was wondering why one would smoke inside a parked car with the windows up. I was also on my computer havi...
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Do You miss Work after Retiring Early or reaching FIRE?

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 This came up just moments ago as I read a message from someone who said work has been really busy today. No, they are not in the nursing field. But it brought back memories - Wednesdays were our busiest days. And I realized I do not miss it  - not the people, not the place and not the patients. I miss none of it.  Honestly, it's been more than 7 months and it doesn't seem like a long time but it's all a blur. It's almost like a part of me wanted to forget and has worked on doing so. I also have to remark that I went from 0 to Burnt out quickly. I realized I could leave and be okay back in September or so. And I was dragging my feet and kinda didn't want to leave. What was I thinking?!  But between realizing I could FIRE and about 2 months later, I was burnt out. I'll discuss when I knew  it was time to leave another time because that is a story by itself. I talked to my manager at the start of February and I'm not sure why I decided to hang around for the s...
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Should you take a sign-on bonus in Nursing?

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 It depends...on how desperate you are (a bit of joke here😜). Seriously, It depends on your goals and needs. And in some cases, whether you're up for what they indicate in terms of the potential perils of the unit or hospital you may be working in.  I don't think they are bad. However, in some, if not most cases, they indicate a situation where the hospital or unit cannot keep staff.  And most of these units are not easy to work on. The patient acuity is high, it may have a toxic culture or  it's a toxic environment.  Think of a  mercenary going to fight a war. He knows he could be injured or die. But considering he's being paid a huge sum of money that will set his family up, he takes the risk. I suggest you think of a sign-on bonus in those terms. There is no free lunch. What will you be really  sacrificing in exchange for that money. And I'm not talking about the time spent working there. They make it seem like you are trading your time but is that...
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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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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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A Week In The FI/RE'd LIfe: Tuesday

My plan was to visit a particular city, see their downtown area and have a meal. I thought it was an 1.5hrs away but it was a bit farther and I took the longer route so it turned out to be 2 hours. The issue is that I didn't leave home early. I left closer to 1 and the restaurant I was going to was going to be closed when I got there but would reopen at 4 🙄 With that discovery, I decided to detour to another town and see what it's like there. When I got there, I saw they had Long John Silvers. I haven't seen those around here and it had been a while since I ate at one. I decided to order an old favorite. Big Mistake! I feel like they took all the salt in Utah and dumped it into the batter. The hush puppies were good, the Coleslaw was good and the fries were good. The shrimp and fish were hot but it was so salty. I tasted the corn and trashed it with the rest of the fish. For me to throw food away, it means it was bad. All I really wanted was the shrimp which I ate.  The la...
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