well, almost. i have a mortgage.
i am a plumber that works for himself but mainly do blocked sewers (im not going to plug it here though )
pretty stress free, get to surf or whatever with a bit of planning, and sleep in a couple of times a week.
and i enjoy the work. i think thats the secret. if you enjoy what you do, you wont spend a day working

Hell yay, 35hrs a week. Can come in any time I want as long as I do 35 hours a week. So usually 10 hrs 1 day, 8hrs, 6hrs, 6hrs and 5hr Friday.

I make enough to buy toys and drugs.
No mortgage or property... bank pays me 6.51%... government takes half though .

Property is just a pain in the neck... always bills, bills and more bills... and you can't even run away from them, and your buggered if your neighbours suck as$.

Life is good, and when the wind blows in the right direction again and the sun stays up longer it's gona be TOTALLY AWESOME!

If there were less people in Sydney and sun and wind everyday this would be heaven.


WAIT you said:

That doesn't set an alarm each and every week day?

You got me there, damn fire alarm goes every time I cook something. I can smoke a cigar in the garden with the door close and it goes off... pisses me off!

Big eeeZeee said...

Anyone out there that works to make enough money to be happy?
That works on their own terms?
That doesn't have a mortgage to pay off?
That is relatively stress free?
That can choose to go for a walk, read a book, kite/windsurf when they want?
That doesn't set an alarm each and every week day?

I'm talking about an actual life that isn't dictated by a 9-5, 5 days a week program...

I make a decent wage but I'm too tight to light the gas heater.
I work a 40 hour week on varying shifts.
The bank owns my soul.
I set the alarm most days.

*****

I'm too tight to light the heater because gas bottles are expensive and that money could be better spent on a new kite.
I might be stuck working 40 hours a week but shift work is very accomodating to kiting (and the new boss is a wink junkie so things can only improve) and I've got the time between sitting in the office to being on the beach pumping up the kite down to 4 minutes.
I have a mortgage on a house but someone else is living in it and paying that mortgage for me so I can live in a cheaper rental 200 metres from the beach.
In summer the alarm is normally set so I don't sleep in after a late shift the night before, that might give me 5 hours down the beach instead of 4 before I go to work again.

Sounds like working for a wage isn't too bad sometimes.

Gwendy said...
My life exactly all through the 90's

Wife got pregnant

The end

LOL you beat me to it.

I used to watch Rage lazily in the morning, then make my way to the beach for surfing and windsurfing, whenever I wanted.

Yep, family life, with all of its good sides, brought all this stress I didn't have before.

Galah nailed it.

Sometimes I sit there thinking that life is way to easy... I love... then a bomb hits everytime and it brings me back to earth.

Its about the attitude. But that is a practiced art. Maybe I should become a buddist?

I'm debt free and work when I want, for myself.
So basically...I'm free as a bird

Yeah I work 40 to 50 hours per week but never get paid more than 38. Not allowed to take holidays last x-mas so it will be 2 years inbetween holidays. Plenty of stress as I report to eight directors with managers above them and below them means I have up to 40 or so mangers trying to tell me what the priority is. Public service an't what it used to be.

^^^
I could have written that - almost word for word my situation... [Except that I don't buy second hand boards - but do keep them until they are starting to go brown and have more pressure dings than you'd find in a second hand rack...].

I have just been asked to apply for a senior role that is another 20km+ city commute on top of the 20km I currently do - and working Saturdays most weeks... the money and position are very attractive and good for the long term career path, but the work-life balance would be shot to sh!t. I am tending to think that I don't need the extra stress or loss of family/my time... whilst we are not wealthy by any means, we make ends meet...

Chris6791 said...
(and the new boss is a wink junkie so things can only improve)

Please edit to "wind" ... don't want anyone to think your new boss has an unvoluntary tic in one eye

(wink junkie)

GalahOnTheBay said...

Hmm lots of interesting questions, but why do you need all of those to be "happy"?

As someone once said "life wasn't meant to be easy"

Every day I wake up and make a conscious decision to make my day stress free, regardless of:

- how much money I make
- the fact I don't work on my own terms
- the bank owns me
- I work when I want to be doing other things (beach etc)
- my alarm clock seems to be going off earlier and earlier

I might not necessarily need all those things to be happy, but I am planning to try and live a life that doesn't purely revolve around a job. I refuse to build a life in the evenings and weekends, simple as that.

Life isn't meant to be easy, but I also don't believe it's meant to be spent working for a 1/3rd of our lives just so we can put a roof over our heads and food on the table. It may mean that i may have to live more simply (kites not included), but at the same time I believe it will be much more fulfilling living a life that is based upon actually 'living'.

I just wanted to see if anyone has stepped away from the 'norm'...

hahah reminds us of this song.

work a month, play a month (plus a wee bit accumulates).
As close as I can get to a decent income and provide for the tribe.

With all this talk about jobs & lifestyle, I wonder if it's worth having a 'Job-board' section on seabreeze?

Just a thought...and btw, anyone in need of services provided by a building designer that is about to go out on own...PM me (pplllleeaaasseee?)

I work a 35 hour week
earn an ok wage.
just bought a house for $107k repayments are less than renting!!!
and live 40 mins from bells beach, jan juc, torquay.

Im 34.

Gotta think outside the box amigo, and not follow the sheep.

I live deep in the bush, commute to the CBD for work (only 65 mins)

I have the best surf, best neighbours (who cook a roast every monday night for half the street) and i know everyone in my township, who are extremely friendly and an awesome laugh.

or.....I could move to the city, rent, be stressed, travel to work packed in a train like a canned pilchard and would want to blow my head off within a month.

theres a very thin line between madness and guiness!!!

everyone at work thought i was mental when i told them where i was moving. now all of them are envyous as f***

oh forgot to mention, theres a waterfall loaded with very small gold nuggets and gold flake (around 1mm) not far from my front door..... (been digging the falls and rapids every weekend!!)

suffer you city mother f******rs !!!!!![}:)]

Big eeeZeee I think about that all the time. Ever since the arrival of my son it has certainly changed my attitude to work/life balance with life definitely winning.