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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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A week In The FI/RE'd LIfe: Monday

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As I mentioned in yesterday's post, a question I see sometimes is: What do you do with all your time now that you have FI/RE'd or reached FI/RE. Since I don't use that term, I've had another nurse ask me what I do with my time now that I'm home because she knows I quit and it's been months. She actually found out around last September so she's not known for long. I was driving home earlier today after having a conversation with someone I met last month and I thought to blog about this week. I wrote about Sunday and I'm going to document some of the things I did today.  I was up after 7 today but really didn't get up until closer to 8. I'm trying to get up early. I really should have been up around 7 because I went to be early. I did my morning devotion and then ate. I just realized that I haven't really read the paper today. I usually take time to catch up on Wapo while eating breakfast. I had planned to cancel my subscription in May but I fo...
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A Week In The FI/RE'd LIfe: Sunday

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A question I see on Reddit sometimes is: What do you do with your time now that You have FI/RED?  To me, simple answer is "living". The sum of one's life shouldn't consist solely of work so that when you don't work, you feel you are not living. Also, if your entire identity is tied to what you do, I can see having a sort of crisis, existential or whatever, when you stop doing that.  Life is meant to be lived. Personally, doing this in my 30s has been a blessing and I feel like it is a great time to do it because there is much to do while young.  I thought to give a glimpse into how I spend my days. I don't think this is representative of how I usually spend my days as I've had some interesting past month that may have been worth blogging about but I also chose to spend my free time doing what I wanted. I don't have much planned for this week so we'll see. I tend to rest on Sundays because during the weekdays and Saturday, I'm usually doing some...
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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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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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TD Banks Incoming Wire Fee (A look at Fees)

 I had thought to write a one year update but here we are and time has passed by. I hope to do that soon, hopefully 😉. I've been living. What is interesting is that the year before switching to part-time, I read a lot of books and then when I went part-time, I read less and then when I FIRE'd? You guessed right - less than part-time BUT I had to deal with a major life event not too long after I FIRE'd so I've been reading more this year...maybe not in the last couple of months but I started out strong and hope to exceed my reading goal.  I had Incoming Wire sent to TD Bank and when I checked the update, I saw that the wire was incoming and alongside it was a $15 fee. WHAT?!   A fee for the privilege of having money deposited into your account via wire transfer? That's absurd! I completely understand the fee charged for an outgoing wire (BTW, there are cheaper and FREE ways to send a wire transfer). The other aspect of it is how hypocritical it seems and feels. Ther...
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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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Happy New Year to the FI/RE'd life.

 The last month of 2024 was busy. I wanted to finish up work around the house. I wanted to get other things done. And I had events to attend. I was at a wedding last month when someone asked where I worked. I simply said I didn't. They thought I was lying. I simply turned it around to ask them where they worked and tried to ask more questions about what they did but the couple came in.  That said, I thought I would've possibly FIRE'd this year or next year. Instead, I felt the call to leave in the Fall of 2023. I am grateful to God for getting me through the year. To be honest, leaving seems scary. Even if the numbers look like they would work, it's not easy to leave. For me, I was afraid I wouldn't have income coming in. I was wrong. I needed to trust God because he more than sustained me throughout the year. It took me about 6 months to leave because I wanted to be sure in the beginning and then I got greedy and wanted to use up benefits. I wouldn't advice tha...
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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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