How Do You Balance Work And Leisure?

[Libertarian666]

Here's another obvious tip: bring your lunch to work every day. Wasting most of your lunch break going somewhere to get food and/or paying for lunch (and delivery) is a fools game.

I read this advice all of the time in my teens and 20s as I studied bogleheads and frugalism.

What I realized in my 30s is if you’re making over $200k a year, and your housing and car is frugal, then it didn’t matter one bit that I spent $30 for lunch everyday at a nice restaurant near my client site. And the leaving the office to get the food is the best part.

Then again, in my line of work, I make a lot of money and no one has a stopwatch for when I leave and return to my desk. I could be gone for 3 hours for lunch, and I have, and no one blinks or cares. Because ultimately it only matters that I turned in my deliverables and they were high quality.

So yes, if I was making widgets for $50k a year and had a 30 minute lunch break that my manager recorded on a clipboard, then bagging my lunch makes sense. When you’re a 1099 and 50% of the lunch is tax deductible and no one cares how long your lunch break lasts, then go out and splurge daily. And you’ll still be saving 70%+ of your income.

As long as your housing and car costs are kept in check; those are far more critical than food.

That is right, but even better is the situation where your client pays for your food and lodging, tax-free. I was in that fortunate situation for about 9 months in the early 2000's. Too bad the consulting company I was working for was run by lunatics...

[vnatale]

As long as your housing and car costs are kept in check; those are far more critical than food.

+1

In personal finance, the Pareto principle has always made more sense to me than the leaky bucket approach of trying to minimize dozens of relatively small expenditures.

Also, a Yes to the above. However, there is a certain mentality that starts with the small things. Maybe, in the big picture those little things are not THE keys to personal financial success. But they do set a discipline for how you treat the big things that really do matter.

I learned, early on, as a child when I had extremely limited income - a nickel a week allowance...gradually moving up a dollar a week allowance....that money was limited and, therefore, I needed to get maximum value of the little that I had.

[dualstow]

Also, a Yes to the above. However, there is a certain mentality that starts with the small things. Maybe, in the big picture those little things are not THE keys to personal financial success. But they do set a discipline for how you treat the big things that really do matter.

I learned, early on, as a child when I had extremely limited income - a nickel a week allowance...gradually moving up a dollar a week allowance....that money was limited and, therefore, I needed to get maximum value of the little that I had.

Heh, I remember getting allowance in coins, too, and payment in coins for polishing and buffing Dad's shoes. I think that was the last time money was exciting. (and maybe my first check, first debit card..) Now it's just a boring tool. But the lesson about value is intact.

[vnatale]

Also, a Yes to the above. However, there is a certain mentality that starts with the small things. Maybe, in the big picture those little things are not THE keys to personal financial success. But they do set a discipline for how you treat the big things that really do matter.

I learned, early on, as a child when I had extremely limited income - a nickel a week allowance...gradually moving up a dollar a week allowance....that money was limited and, therefore, I needed to get maximum value of the little that I had.

Heh, I remember getting allowance in coins, too, and payment in coins for polishing and buffing Dad's shoes. I think that was the last time money was exciting. (and maybe my first check, first debit card..) Now it's just a boring tool. But the lesson about value is intact.

I lost getting my nickel a week or two because I refused to dust! Could not stand to do that. Have not done it ever in my own homes since!

[Kriegsspiel]

As long as your housing and car costs are kept in check; those are far more critical than food.

+1

In personal finance, the Pareto principle has always made more sense to me than the leaky bucket approach of trying to minimize dozens of relatively small expenditures.

Also, a Yes to the above. However, there is a certain mentality that starts with the small things. Maybe, in the big picture those little things are not THE keys to personal financial success. But they do set a discipline for how you treat the big things that really do matter.

If I ate a $30 lunch every day it would be my biggest expense It would have to be really good food.

[Smith1776]

Marginal utility theory strikes again.

[dualstow]

I lost getting my nickel a week or two because I refused to dust! Could not stand to do that. Have not done it ever in my own homes since!

I don't know if it's been covered in the thread, but balancing work and leisure includes housework. Dear Lord, Vinny, how do you have all those cats and not dust? !!! Or do you have a person come in? I'm guessing no.

[Mark Leavy]

peasants.jpg (52 KiB) Viewed 7498 times

[Mountaineer]

peasants.jpg

ROFLMAO


.

[Hal]

Your cartoon reminds me of this clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0iAcQVIokg

[dualstow]

peasants.jpg

Oh man! Wizard of Id! I'd forgotten all about that strip.

[vnatale]

I lost getting my nickel a week or two because I refused to dust! Could not stand to do that. Have not done it ever in my own homes since!

I don't know if it's been covered in the thread, but balancing work and leisure includes housework. Dear Lord, Vinny, how do you have all those cats and not dust? !!! Or do you have a person come in? I'm guessing no.

I ignore whatever I have.

However, here is the funny thing.

A few years ago my oil burner person said my oil furnace filter was spotless. He said that must be because I must maintain a clean house! That is far, far from the case!

[vnatale]

I lost getting my nickel a week or two because I refused to dust! Could not stand to do that. Have not done it ever in my own homes since!

I don't know if it's been covered in the thread, but balancing work and leisure includes housework. Dear Lord, Vinny, how do you have all those cats and not dust? !!! Or do you have a person come in? I'm guessing no.

I'm guessing he doesn't clean the toilets either. And since he doesn't shower, no need to clean the shower/tub.

Only one toilet in this tiny house. It gets cleaned once in a while. But since all my urine goes into jars to then go into my compost pile the toilet gets much reduced use. I now shower every day since my medical problem emerged in early June.

I'm not a germaphobe? Are you? It looks like I may complete my work life with never having taken a sick day due to being sick.

[Smith1776]

This thread really blew up in the weirdest way.

[dualstow]

Vinny, you don't get credit showing up to work while sick.

This thread really blew up in the weirdest way.

It did, sorry about that.

[Smith1776]

Vinny, you don't get credit showing up to work while sick.

This thread really blew up in the weirdest way.

It did, sorry about that.

Honestly, I think it's awesome and hilarious. Seeing how a thread title can become a conversation starter to things none of us expected has value I think. If the discussion ever needs to be pulled back to the OP someone can always just chime in.

[vnatale]

I am rarely sick. In 35 years, I've missed work 2 times due to illness.

I do however like my house clean. I am a bit of a neat-freak and I have mild allergies, mostly to dust and mold, so keeping things clean helps keep my sinuses happy. So if your implication is that a dirty house leads to an improved immune system, I don't buy it.

OTOH, I also don't jar my pee.

When I was a kid....I was Little Mr. Allergy. Allergic to innumerable things - dogs, cats, ragweed, roses, hay fever, forgetting what else - now that I'm writing it, it seems that the commonality was animal dander and pollen. I'd pet a dog or a cat and that would induce five sneezes in a row.

It was so severe that from first to third grades I had many, man half days of school because of having to take time off for frequent and regular anti-histamine shots.

Luckily after I went through puberty all the allergies left me except for the hay fever, which would come back in ferocity and regularity on schedule in the first week of June every year. Then, sometime in my 20s that left, leaving me completely allergy-free.

I think that the way I was brought up due to a family situation from 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old living in a large group home among a lot of other boys of all ages did contribute to an improved immune system in regards to colds and the like. It's been my observation that I experience any kind of sickness far less than my peers.

You must not have a garden. I'm not wasting a ton of good nitrogen which would otherwise just have to be dealt with in our town's sewage system. I am putting my urine to excellent use. Just another example of: "Waste Not, Want Not."

[Kriegsspiel]

OTOH, I also don't jar my pee.

You must not have a garden. I'm not wasting a ton of good nitrogen which would otherwise just have to be dealt with in our town's sewage system. I am putting my urine to excellent use. Just another example of: "Waste Not, Want Not."

Vinny, I think you'd really get a kick out of Farmers Of Forty Centuries by King. About Chinese agricultural practices.

[vnatale]

OTOH, I also don't jar my pee.

You must not have a garden. I'm not wasting a ton of good nitrogen which would otherwise just have to be dealt with in our town's sewage system. I am putting my urine to excellent use. Just another example of: "Waste Not, Want Not."

Vinny, I think you'd really get a kick out of Farmers Of Forty Centuries by King. About Chinese agricultural practices.

Thanks!

Just bought the Kindle version for only $2.99!

If I can finally finish the Beach Boy Mike Love book I am reading tonight, I may make this book my next book to read.

Another in a long line of books I've bought due to you revealing them to me in this forum. I went to town on that list you put here sometime over a year ago.

[Tortoise]

OTOH, I also don't jar my pee.

You must not have a garden. I'm not wasting a ton of good nitrogen which would otherwise just have to be dealt with in our town's sewage system. I am putting my urine to excellent use. Just another example of: "Waste Not, Want Not."

Seems like it would be simpler to just pee directly on your compost pile instead of jarring the pee and taking it out once a week in big batches, wouldn’t it?

[vnatale]

OTOH, I also don't jar my pee.

You must not have a garden. I'm not wasting a ton of good nitrogen which would otherwise just have to be dealt with in our town's sewage system. I am putting my urine to excellent use. Just another example of: "Waste Not, Want Not."

Seems like it would be simpler to just pee directly on your compost pile instead of jarring the pee and taking it out once a week in big batches, wouldn’t it?

Please stop trolling Vinny, of course he can't pee directly into the compost pile because if he neighbors see, he will be found guilty of a sex crime. If a child sees, he will become a registered sex offender!!

Plus, he already has the peanut butter jars since he eats half of one per day, so the marginal cost is zero.

My attorney has, as usual, far better stated my case than I ever could!!!!

[Kriegsspiel]

OTOH, I also don't jar my pee.

You must not have a garden. I'm not wasting a ton of good nitrogen which would otherwise just have to be dealt with in our town's sewage system. I am putting my urine to excellent use. Just another example of: "Waste Not, Want Not."

Vinny, I think you'd really get a kick out of Farmers Of Forty Centuries by King. About Chinese agricultural practices.

Thanks!

Just bought the Kindle version for only $2.99!

If I can finally finish the Beach Boy Mike Love book I am reading tonight, I may make this book my next book to read.

Another in a long line of books I've bought due to you revealing them to me in this forum. I went to town on that list you put here sometime over a year ago.

In addition, I just remembered about this one, from A Farewell To Alms by Clark:

One crucial economic problem for hygiene in preindustrial Europe was that human waste had little or no market value, because it was not socially acceptable to use it as the valuable fertilizer it was for farm and garden purposes. As Alan Macfarlane notes, "where in Japan, night soil could be used in lieu of rent, in England one had to pay to have it taken away."

Although Clark might have been quoting FOFC and I cribbed it from the bibliography, I can't recall.

[Tortoise]

Please stop trolling Vinny, of course he can't pee directly into the compost pile because if he neighbors see, he will be found guilty of a sex crime. If a child sees, he will become a registered sex offender!!

Plus, he already has the peanut butter jars since he eats half of one per day, so the marginal cost is zero.

My attorney has, as usual, far better stated my case than I ever could!!!!

But you said you live in a sparsely populated rural area.

So you get all the inconveniences of rural living (long trips to the library, etc.), but you still have next-door neighbors who live close enough to your house to report you to Sheriff Andy if you pee in your own compost pile in the backyard?

That’s messed up.

[vnatale]

Please stop trolling Vinny, of course he can't pee directly into the compost pile because if he neighbors see, he will be found guilty of a sex crime. If a child sees, he will become a registered sex offender!!

Plus, he already has the peanut butter jars since he eats half of one per day, so the marginal cost is zero.

My attorney has, as usual, far better stated my case than I ever could!!!!

But you said you live in a sparsely populated rural area.

So you get all the inconveniences of rural living (long trips to the library, etc.), but you still have next-door neighbors who live close enough to your house to report you to Sheriff Andy if you pee in your own compost pile in the backyard?

That’s messed up.

I never said described my area so. I have always referred to it as rural in a large area with a low population.

I have two houses behind me, one aside me, and one across the street from me. If I am on my property and any of them are outside and talking, I can hear them talking.

Plus it is far more convenient to be able to have "portable" bathrooms all over this house - this bedroom, kitchen, garage - than to make the much longer trek to that compost pile. I'm extremely time conscious as to what will end up consuming the least amount of time.

Try not to waste time or resources (whether they be $$$ or other items of value).

[Tortoise]

But you said you live in a sparsely populated rural area.

I never said described my area so. I have always referred to it as rural in a large area with a low population.

Huh? I think you just repeated what I said using slightly different words.

“Rural in a large area with a low population” = “Sparsely populated rural area”.