Last week I spent a majority of the time cleaning out my desk place and returning the mountains of equipment into it’s correct place. Despite my frugal and minimalist aiming lifestyle at home.. I’m the complete opposite at work:

All around my desk were piles of electronic equipment, half built laptops and discarded components. I have a terrible habit at work of trying to do too much at once and letting things pile up around me.

Not anymore:

It’s time to simplify my work, focus on one goal at a time and achieve that to the best of my ability before moving on to the next challenge. I wrote my farewell email to the department and received far more replies than I ever expected. At 5 it was time to walk out of the building for the last time.

Investments come in many forms

Since then it’s been a hectic week. Normally I refuse to buy new clothes unless my current ones are literally falling apart.. however the new role requires a certain image to be maintained and that demanded I purchase some suits. Believe it or not; I have never worn a suit. I mean, I’ve worn schoolboy smart trousers and an ill fitting borrowed jacket to interviews.. but I’ve never actually purchased myself a suit. This weekend I went out to purchase my suits and when I saw the average prices; my eyes watered. However, As a requirement of a better paid job and with better opportunities, the initial suit purchase can be seen as an investment with financial dividends paying in the future.

Similarly; my new role has already opened the doors to far more training and personal progression than I could have had at the previous place. Investing in yourself is every bit as important as the financial investments you make.

 The time sacrifice

Only 2 days into the role and already it’s clear that this is going to be a massive time sacrifice compared to the previous position. A first day commute of over 2 hours and already plans drawn up for a work placement in the north of the country. I’ve barely had a chance to catch up on my regular blog visits and even less of a chance to update my own. Still; despite this.. I’m sure it was the right decision and things should settle down a bit once I’ve established myself better.

What was an unexpected outcome now though is that I value the spare time I do have far greater. Similarly to appreciating small luxuries whilst living a financially frugal lifestyle, It seems the same also applies to a spare-time frugal one also. Over this past week I’ve spent a much higher proportion of my free time doing activities with my partner and family. Whereas previously I’d spend most of the evenings at the computer reading financial blogs or forums I’ll instead sit at the dining table discussing the day with my partner or watching a film together. It’s an unpredicted but not unwelcome outcome of working the longer hours.

Apologies for the lateness of this post and a massive thank you to everyone who has posted their supporting comments. I feel like we’ve just hit a massive bend in the Early Retirement journey, but once round it the road should be much shorter to destination.