07-10-2020, 10:02 AM
(07-10-2020, 09:16 AM)Jake Wrote: One strange perk of this pandemic and not traveling anywhere or doing much of anything (even eating out, for the most part) means I've saved more cash than I ever have before. I've been fortunate that work has not let up and we've been paid at 100% this whole time. It's been a new/odd kind of fun to sock so much money away at my savings account. Also started investing a little bit, though mostly getting my feet wet instead of doing anything super substantial.
I was in the same boat, I saved the most I've ever have in a single month in April by a large margin. Then I had to buy a bunch of crap to stain the house and deck. That put a halt on that real quick but I for sure saved a boat load of money doing it myself. Dying to get back to saving, which is a new feeling for me. Didn't make any real money selling the Ralliart and Fit but been holding onto that cash and it definitely feels great to have a bit of a reserve even if it's costing me a bit in interest to keep the loans for the cars going a bit.
My current job situation and search has really opened my eyes to a lot as well. If I pay down my bills then I can take a slight pay cut to end up somewhere I'm a lot happier. Right now that's just not an option. Ultimately that's a mindset that seems to be a winning a ticket for me. Sure I have to start telling myself "no" a lot more for the next year or 2 but that will put me in place where I will have a lot more options in the long term across the board. O'reily's was ready to bring me on fully remote a few months ago. Seemed like an awesome gig, pretty chill but also a great chance to gain experience with scale. The CEO there believes strongly in building things in-house and investing in employees. They just wanted to bring me in a lower level and openly admitted they couldn't compete with a DC salary. Crunched the numbers I would have been making about $900 less a month and I just couldn't do it. Looking back it would have saved me so much stress and heartache if I could've taken it. Now I'm stuck selling a house I love and leaving an area I love even more and it fucking sucks. Lesson learned though: There's more than just a dollar amount to pay when you're stupid with your money. Freedom isn't free.