
Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it? - granfalloon
Hi HN,<p>A week from now I&#x27;ll be leaving a high-paying&#x2F;high-stress job at a big law firm for a part-time remote position (bitcoin related) that pays (comparatively) very little. I decided I wanted time to seriously pursue music, while also having time to read and learn new things (something I haven&#x27;t done much of the last few years). Diving into the workings of bitcoin has also made me want to get back into learning programming, which I haven&#x27;t really done since college.  It&#x27;s a big change and a bit scary, but I figure now is the time to do something like this, as kids are still at least a few years off.<p>So I&#x27;m looking to HN for general advice on budgeting my time and money -- I&#x27;ll have plenty of the former and little of the latter. I really want to maximize this experience, but I also know that I tend to be a bit over-ambitious (&quot;5 hours a day of music! Learn python! Work through euclid&#x27;s elements! Start an exercise regimen!&quot;.)  I&#x27;ve read plenty of great posts on HN about productivity, efficient use of time, and ultra-budgeting, so I thought this would be a good place to start.  I&#x27;m also looking for any general tips about staying engaged and active while working from home.<p>If anyone has any advice or stories to share, I&#x27;d greatly appreciate it. Thanks, all!
======
atlantic
I've been working from home for about 5 years. If you want to be productive,
the key point is to make a very clear distinction between work and leisure. On
a normal job this is clear enough - the clothes, the physical setting, the
timetable, all converge to trigger your professional mindset. Not so at home.

Organize a little corner of your house for working. Even if it's just a desk
and a bookshelf. Keep it reserved for your work hours/activities only. If you
can schedule certain activities outside the house, eg a shared workspace, even
better.

Give yourself working hours and respect them - preferably for a whole week,
but at least for the next day. If you have several activities, divide up your
time between them in advance. If possible, set daily or weekly goals for the
activities you are engaged in.

Dress for work, even if you are at home - not necessarily a suit, but put on
some decent clothes and shoes, and brush your hair, make yourself presentable.
Go out for a short brisk walk before starting work, to simulate your commute;
possibly repeat at lunchtime (more relaxed) and in the evening.

Do not snack between meals - VERY important. Avoid sweets, fizzy drinks,
pastries, as you are less physically active than before. Schedule exercise
every day.

Create at least one "event" every day which takes place outside the house and
involves other people. This will give a focus to your day. Make sure you get
enough human contact. You'd be surprised how important work is in this
respect, even if you have no friends there.

Edit: be very strict about your use of the internet. Reading news is not
working. More generally, honestly evaluate how you use your time relative to
the objectives you have set yourself for that day.

~~~
bananas
A million upvotes for snacks. I work primarily from home now and they
absolutely destroy you. Make sure you get out and do some exercise too!

~~~
toomuchtodo
Healthy snacks are fine. Nuts (cashews, pistachios), fruit (as long as you
don't overdue it).

Just don't go through 2-4 cans of Mountain Dew a day.

~~~
bananas
I found nuts of all sorts just killed me too.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Really? What kinds? Nuts high in protein and fat should burn slow and not give
that lethargic feeling.

~~~
bananas
Pistachios surprisingly!

------
rkuykendall-com
You should use [https://habitrpg.com/](https://habitrpg.com/)

Take everything you want to do every day, cut the time in half, then cut the
time in half again, and add it as a "Daily."

* [x] 1 hour of music

* [x] 30m of CodeAcademy Python

* [x] 20m exercise

The key is to keep is so absurdly short that you will have no trouble doing
them in a day. BUT, by doing them every day, you will accomplish much more
than if you had overcommitted.

Using HabitRPG instead of a daily to-do list ads a gaming aspect to it. Skip
enough days, and your character dies and loses a level. It's a lot of fun.

I'm currently using it to get myself to do a little Duolingo for spanish,
floss every day, and try to stop drinking soda (habits section).

~~~
rk17
I'd increase the time a little at least a couple of times during the week.
Because learning to programming or playing an instrument is like learning a
language, and it requires some extended time of immersion to really make
significant progress. An hour of focused practice is the minimum I need to
really have noticeable progress.

------
wpietri
There's a meta-rule that's been very helpful to me: never change today's
rules.

For example, for the last 6 months I've been changing what I eat. Sometimes
the rules I've picked seem like such a good idea, but turn out to be really
challenging. Does that mean I've been too optimistic setting my goals? Or just
that I'm in the middle of useful struggle?

By deciding that I'll only change tomorrow's rules, never today's, it makes
habit-building a lot easier. If I booked myself 5 hours of music per day this
week, then by gum it'll be 5 hours today. But I'm allowed to say, "Tomorrow,
though, fuck it."

This constrains my rule-hacking powers in a way that keeps me from undermining
my progress when things get hard.

~~~
gamegoblin
That is an awesome idea.

What I do is tell myself "I'll start this activity, and if I still don't want
to do it after 5 minutes, I'll stop"

Chances are, after 5 minutes, I actually want to keep going. The human desire
to not leave something undone works in your favor.

------
wpietri
Rest.

For a while, do a lot of nothing. Long walks. Relaxed hikes. Meditation.
Sitting at cafes, watching the world go by. Dawdling on park benches, tree
stumps, beaches.

Why? Well, part of it is that high-stress jobs have a long-term cost. You
likely need to heal. But it also sounds like you have both a learned habit of
and a natural bias toward keeping busy.

That business has its benefits. But for me at least it was also a symptom of
avoidance. I didn't want to think about uncomfortable things in my past, my
present self, my likely future. Changing that has made an enormous difference
in my life, and I wish I had done it years ago.

So book a lot of time for rest until you feel like you can sit quietly for a
half hour without resorting to distraction. You could try an Unschedule [1]
for that as a way to get started. Or you could just have some set working
hours and let the rest of the time be. And definitely consider picking up a
meditation practice. I'd suggest simple insight meditation (aka Vipassana) as
an easy way to start.

[1] [http://www.lifeclever.com/how-to-unschedule-your-work-and-
en...](http://www.lifeclever.com/how-to-unschedule-your-work-and-enjoy-guilt-
free-play/)

~~~
redtexture
Part of the usefulness of vacations, can be that one is disabled from the
usual busyness, by not being in a familiar environment. You get the
opportunity to see how exhausted you are because you cannot engage with your
usual activities, and can actually rest, and do nothing.

------
elleferrer
Follow the five-rule plan:

1\. No more zero days - do something towards whatever goal or want. (e.g. make
time to study/research/learn/design/develop/create/build/launch)

2\. Be grateful to the 3 You's - The Past You, The Present You, and the Future
You.

3\. Exercise - when you exercise, you are doing your future self a huge favor.

4\. Read Daily - almost everything we've ever thought of, or gone through, or
wanted, or wanted to know how to do or whatever has been already figured out
by someone else. Reading will help you better understand.

5\. Have faith and follow through with action.

~~~
kirubakaran
Context+Source:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_jus...](http://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_dont_care_about_myself/cdah4af?context=3)

~~~
elleferrer
yup! that's it!

------
3pt14159
Get a good kitchen set and starting making your own meals. Spend two weeks
where you make every meal you eat, so you break the habit of eating out.

Also continue to surround yourself with fantastic people, it will keep you
from getting depressed. Exercise (jogging, especially) is a very economical
and beneficial pastime. Start that as soon as possible.

~~~
pearkes
To add to cooking idea, challenge yourself to eat "simply" – i.e with cheap
carbohydrate heavy ingredients such as rice, pasta, potatoes as a substantial
portion of your calories.

Use meat sparingly (it's expensive!) to make things more exciting, and always
put onions, garlic and [all kinds peppers[1], zucchini, fennel (the bottom
parts), herbs[2]].

All of those ingredients last in the fridge and can be "revived", or cooked
when they're starting to go bad. If you're new to feeding yourself all of your
meals and having food in the fridge all the time, the tendency to buy fresh
products that rot in the fridge is high. These ingredients let you cheat a
bit.

Olive oil and salt and pepper should be liberally applied to all of this.

Finally, on the the health front, you'll probably cook more than you need –
this can cause overeating. I usually portion food into a storage container
before I start eating, forcing me to control portions. When you start cooking
all of your food and controlling your portions, you realize more what your
body needs and honestly how _little_ it actually requires for sustenance. Rich
world countries eat such an incredible amount of food.

My two cents! This is a personal thing, so your mileage may vary, but hope
it's a bit helpful.

[1]: I live near a substantial hispanic population, so all sorts of
interesting peppers exist that can change meals completely for very little
cost and effort.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum)

[2]: Depending on your market and the season, herbs can be relatively
affordable or completely absurd. I only buy it if it's fairly priced, can be a
real gouger.

~~~
luka-birsa
Suggestion to eat cheap carbos is insane. Sure its cheap, but it will also
raise your blood sugar, make you feel without energy and make you obese.

Considering that I've been practicing diets without any carbs for a while now,
I can say that:

1\. They aren't much more expensive if you plan ahead. You need to buy in bulk
and refrigirate at home. 2\. You do get added benefits of canceling any drinks
with carbs, which means no juices and beer and much less carbonated stuff (all
you can do needs to be sugar less). 3\. You should feel better across the day.
I always got super tired after eating rice or pasta (especially the simplest,
white stuff, full grain is usually better but not much).

If you need a very good crash course on what to do, read the 4-hour body from
Tim Ferriss. That's a nice starter for people trying to change their
lifestyle.

BTW: Since I reduced/removed carbs from my diet I lost 10-15% of body weight,
am much less tired/sleepy and can perform better mentally. I also eat less
without even trying, overeating is very hard + regardless of the fact that I
eat at least two eggs daily + insane quantities of fatty foods (ribs, suckling
pig, bacon, butter) my bloodwork (including holesterol) improved.

------
jasonkester
"Guy on the beach with a laptop".

Seriously, lots of time/little money is why Thailand was invented in the first
place. Rock up on Tonsai beach today, just as the high season is winding down
and you'll have no problem negotiating a bungalow for less than $300/month if
you tell them you plan to stay a while.

They have good enough internet for casual remote work, good power, awesome
rock climbing, Australian girls sipping stiff drinks out of a coconut, and all
that James Bond Villain Headquarters scenery that Thailand is famous for.

And there are roughly thirty thousand equally nice beaches scattered across
this world that will offer pretty much the same combination of cheap living,
paradise, and wifi.

Sucks to be the rest of us. Keep us posted!

~~~
mpatobin
If I were in his situation I'd be in Pokhara, Nepal - my personal paradise.
You can pay $6 a night for a beautiful hotel room so you could probably get a
good longterm rate.

~~~
kirubakaran
I'd love to hear more, especially about where to stay. Could you please share
your email? My email is in my profile. Thanks!

~~~
mpatobin
Sent you an email

------
namenotrequired
Congratulations on taking the big jump and going on a new adventure!

I'm hoping to be in a similar situation in the future (uni student with a gap
of up to 7 months because I'm ahead of the curriculum, and I have maybe ~€3k
in savings, while living with my parents). Here's some ideas I had for myself.

\- Travel cheaply. I have friends in many parts of the world and hopefully
some of them will let me stay with them. I could also stay closer to home and
travel by bike with a tent, but sleeping in a tent might be harder to combine
with a remote job.

\- Experiment with freelancing, possibly on a "Pay what you want" basis
because I won't really need the money

\- Focus for some time on just learning the things I've wanted to learn for a
long time; technologies, languages, hobbies, professional skills.

\- Create some side projects, primarily to learn but some might also bring in
a little money.

Disclaimer in case it wasn't clear: I'm not speaking from experience, those
are ideas I have for the future.

 _> I'm also looking for any general tips about staying engaged and active
while working from home_

This is something I do have experience with and I found that communicating
sufficiently, clearly and honestly is both harder and more important than at
non-remote jobs.

Edit: I'm also bookmarking this thread to find advice for myself - thanks a
lot for posting this question!

~~~
aculver
There's really no need to freelance on a "pay what you want" basis. Just set a
rate and stick to it. If you don't need the money, set the rate higher, not
lower, because it will filter out projects where a) people don't understand
the value you're providing or b) you're not actually providing enough value
for them to justify paying you your normal rate. There's no need to do work
like that, especially when you can be pursuing your own passions and investing
in yourself rather than someone else's project. Save your precious time for
those projects where everyone is winning from your involvement.

Also, that might sound like a lot of savings now, but for most of us life gets
a lot more expensive, so you really do need the money, even if you don't need
it right at this moment. :-) I'm _not_ saying that means you need to be
working now... just don't squander your valuable time on someone else's
priorities because you "don't really need the money."

~~~
wpietri
Amen on the freelancing. Most people judge contractors the same way they judge
wine: they look at the sticker price and figure it's meaningful. The more you
charge, the better your clients listen to you. Which often means the better
you can serve them.

~~~
namenotrequired
Thanks, this is a good point I hadn't considered.

------
eswat
I’ve started the same process as you; left a comfortable, well-paying job two
weeks ago so I can pursue other ways of making a living and doing contract
work to meet basic needs.

The most important thing for me is to make sure my health is in check, since
that’s the foundation for everything. My mental checklist - things I go
through my head every now and then to make sure they are at healthy levels -
is food, fitness, sleep, stress and sun. I try very hard not to compromise
these in pursuit of doing other things.

Another thing I’m doing now is treating every project as a client, including
personal projects. I had been using FreshBooks for keeping track of client
work, but I also use it to keep track of the open source projects I work on.
Obviously I don’t charge these people, but I find it helpful to see in one
place where I’m allocating the time I spend designing UI and writing code. If
I notice I hadn’t been putting enough time yesterday, I’ll let go of other
pursuits to make the time.

As for saving money, having a budget that you can easily refer to helps. I use
You Need A Budget becaus - unlike mint - it forces you to really look at each
transaction and “give your money a job”.

What I haven’t solved yet is the social interaction I had while working in an
office of people I knew. While I have access to a co-working space, people
tend to keep to themselves. Same thing with coffeeshops. I’ve had to just rely
on friends and meetups to balance this instead.

EDIT: my contact info is on my profile if you ever want sync up and share
further tips and experiences. This goes for anyone else trying out this type
of experiment. :)

------
grayrest
Learn Clojure via Overtone!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Mf...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Mfsnlbd-4xQ#t=150)

I personally have to either wake up early, wake up and exercise, or start
working outside my apartment (e.g. eat lunch out and take my computer) in
order to not fall into slacking off all day. Assuming I don't fall into one of
my slacking off patterns (e.g HN/Reddit/Twitter tech "news" all day), I've
never had trouble staying engaged. I think of it as working every day but
sometimes I get paid for working on other people's projects and others I get
to enjoy working on my own. My personal priority list of things to do puts
sleep and waking up without an alarm as the top priority.

------
asterfr
Do that stupid thing: a todo list. Write what you want on it, set priority,
set a lifetime for the todo list (like say it's for three month), setup
deadline for some achievements like (30 hours of by june), update your todo
list.

You'll keep track about what you have done so far and it will remove that
feeling that you will meet at some point that you haven't achieved anything.

The key is to review your todo list regularly : to know what to do, to remind
you of your objective, to write down that you have actually done something and
also, very important, to update it by removing what doesn't interest you
anymore and adding new stuff.

I have a three months todo list, with all the big things in my life, I have
milestones or targets for all these. I find it pretty efficient.

------
derwiki
Congratulations :)

\- when you find yourself not being productive any more, stop and take a walk.
You can't be productive 100% of the time, and it's important to accept that.
30-60 minute walks will do wonders for you.

\- pick modest goals for the first month to make sure you knock them out of
the park, and then set appropriate goals the following month. Nothing gets you
down like missing your first set of goals and being perpetually behind.

------
Mz
Let me suggest that you view this as an opportunity to _unplug_.

I was a homemaker for years and I homeschooled my sons for a long time. We are
solving hard (personal) problems and making a significant transition in our
lives in part because we tend towards not having a TV, have gone through
periods without a phone, and tend to have fairly quiet lives, literally and
figuratively. People who have super busy lives often have very noisy lives.
While driving, they have the radio on. While jogging, they have the ipod on.
While relaxing after work, they have the TV on. Their phone is always on and
they are super plugged in to social media and on and on.

I think constant noise makes it hard to think. I think it promotes that sense
of needing to do a million things and not being able to afford to do just
"nothing" for a time if you wish. If your brain is constantly being bombarded
with musical lyrics and TV advertising and on and on, how can you ever really,
truly think about anything?

When my kids were little, I was able to deal with some serious personal issues
in part because I was able to be a homemaker. Cooking, cleaning, doing laundry
and caring for small kids took all my time but it did not take all my mental
capacity. Thus, it allowed me to think deeply about a lot of things without
much interruption. It became a habit and I continue to arrange to live quietly
in some sense so my brain is not bombarded with other people's word, ideas,
etc all the time so my own ideas and feelings can find their way to the
surface and be expressed.

Congrats and good luck!

------
amha
You should read Mr. Money Mustache!
[http://www.mrmoneymustache.com](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com)

He's an ex-software engineer who, by living reasonably (not even at extreme
levels of frugality) saved enough money in seven or eight years to retire at
age 30. He's got great money advice! You'll love him!

------
analog31
Speaking as a musician, it will cost you a bit of money up front, but finding
a top notch teacher and taking a few lessons might be a great way to kick off
the new phase of your life. Of course I'm saying this while having
procrastinated on doing the same for myself. Find a teacher who could provide
you with a frank assessment of your technique, and identify gaps in your
abilities that might hold you back from fully engaging in your local music
scene at a desirable level.

Also, a check-up on your technique might be a good idea in order to avoid
injuring yourself once you do start in with those 5 hours a day. Naturally
some instruments are more physically demanding than others, but any instrument
can hurt you if you don't consider ergonomic technique.

------
wj
I'd recommend filling out a dreamline (Google it) to figure out SPECIFIC goals
you want to achieve over the next year or so. Then list the specific steps you
need to take to achieve those goals.

Start on step one today.

~~~
dragons
There's a lot of irrelevant stuff on the first page of a Google search for
dreamline. Here's a solid link:
[http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/lifestyle-
costing/](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/lifestyle-costing/)

Thanks for posting about this; I've read Ferris but hadn't heard about this
one.

------
EdwardTaylor
I took on a similar shift last year, with a similar drive to cement my grasp
of a few languages. Depending on your location, I cant recommend highly enough
looking for a hotdesking site if there is one nearby. This will not only break
up the monotony of your house, and provide a clear "work/play" separation, but
will stick you in with like minded people / freelancers who may be further
along the process. This "productive socialising" hits two birds with one
stone, accelerating your learning and keeping you sane!

------
bediger4000
If you're going to go to a bar and socialize, get a low-priced single malt
scotch, and really stretch it out. Bartenders will let you nurse a single
scotch far longer than the equivalent dollar amount of beer. Also, most
people's bodies recognize that scotch isn't all that good for them, so you
will feel biological pressure to not drink very much at all.

~~~
cschep
This is a great socializing hack.

Extreme version: tall soda w/ lime. some bars won't even charge you because
they will assume you're driving and want to encourage responsible behavior,
and no one will bother you about "come on just one drink!" because it looks so
much like a voda/gin and soda.

------
AdrianRossouw
I've actually spent the last month doing the same.

I started blogging. just to decompress, and figure out what i've learnt over
my career.

I actually think it's allowed me to rediscover my voice, and i just... i have
so much to say. I didn't expect that.

It's been very freeing, and I think possibly life changing.

[http://daemon.co.za](http://daemon.co.za)

------
ar7hur
If you can do your work remotely then pack a small backpack, and travel around
the world. No flights, just cheap road transportation, trains, boats, where
you'll meet ton of people you'd never meet in your life. Go to South America,
to Asia, to Africa, if you're smart and tough you can travel a year on a $15K
budget.

------
quesebifurcan
Since you're interested in both, one possibility would be to somehow combine
your interest in music with your curiosity about programming (especially if
you're into electronic music). Something like SuperCollider/Overtone or, if
Python is your thing, maybe
[https://code.google.com/p/pyo/](https://code.google.com/p/pyo/). You might
not be able to rush through the docs at CodeAcademy-pace, but -- who knows
where you'll end up? Also, having a project you're personally invested in
(which is usually the case when music is involved) is incredibly helpful when
learning new stuff; there is always something to do.

------
matchagaucho
Sounds like you've already taken the biggest and hardest step; which is to
simply initiate the change.

My #1 piece of advice, while you're setting goals and scheduling activities,
is to understand the organic rhythm and cadence of growth for each goal.

Work brings an inherent cadence of 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri and success is often
calibrated every week/sprint/quarter.

But learning guitar, body building, and understanding new programming
languages each have their own organic cadence and process for achieving
mastery.

Sometimes taking a break from learning something new and simply reflecting is
better than grinding away for 5 hrs per day, as that pattern tends to
reinforce bad habits rather than develop new and better habits.

------
burritofanatic
It felt good to have a regular job after leaving a law firm when I did that
myself a few years ago. I ended up working as a lowly CSR for something I
considered my passion at the time. After a couple unexpected transitions, I've
picked up coding and am doing that full time remotely at home now.

People here are right: Separation between time and work, Food - don't eat too
much of it, and Humans - you need that contact.

[http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home)

------
joshuaheard
I don't know how much money you have, but I would invest it into an income
asset like a rental property or dividend paying equity. You will need an
income stream if you want to live work-free for any length of time. Otherwise,
I would buy a house or condo or find a situation where you can live "rent-
free". Also pay cash for an older car. Those are your major expenses.
Generally, I would live within your means, and cook your own food. Avoid
travel and entertainment expenses, especially bars. Have fun!

------
rabino
Try very hard not spending 18hs a day in front of the computer. It's really
hard to do that when you switch to remote. Go out, shave, shower every day.
Try to keep you healthy.

------
benbou09
Take 20 min a day to meditate

~~~
asterfr
I kinda like your advice !

------
w1ntermute
Since you're interested in Bitcoin, educate yourself on economics. There's a
good reading list on /r/economics.

------
mck-
Read SICP, take MIT's 6.001 and learn Lisp -- it'll get you ready for any
other language you'll pick up. Then take any number of free courses online on
Coursera, Udacity, Codeschool...

This is what I did after I quit being a trader at an Investment Bank, and
moved to the Chinese country-side for 8 months of re-education :)

------
bttf3
I'm a recent graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK; If
classical guitar is something that interests you music-wise, I'd be happy to
help point you in the right direction. alir3142@gmail.com

------
burritofanatic
If you do plan to keep your license active, your state may have a poorer-
lawyer fee scale. Take advantage of that. Same goes with CEB requirements.
There's no need to pay for the expensive all inclusive programs.

------
undoware
I just did this. Learn piano. If you suck, write code that will make it faster
to learn. (off the top of my head: write a midi filter that only permits
keystrokes that are onbeat, and makes a fart sound if you miss.)

------
granfalloon
Wow, thanks so much for all the great responses! This has gotten me really
excited. Lots to think about!

(And special thanks to those who left their contact information -- I really
appreciate it.)

------
jnsaff2
I started Udacity courses, highly recommended, you don't have to pay as well
if you don't want to. There are othe MOOC's as well..

------
TrainedMonkey
Make sure to spend some time with your family/parents/friends.

------
bayesianhorse
Make more money.

