ICYMI: I’m in the midst of a 14-day required self-isolation, after my hasty return to Australia. I’m currently bunkered down at my parents’ home, after my 2020 work, travel and housesitting fell apart courtesy of Covid-19. I’m fortunate that my pursuit of financial independence means I have solid emergency funds for now, with creativity and resilience to adjust future plans – after some rest and ‘Room Service By Mum’ amongst this uncertainty.
Missed one? Read my other posts on this theme:
- How Covid-19 Thwarted My Plans For 2020
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 1-3
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 4-6
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 7-9
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 13-14 & After
Day 10 – Tuesday 31 March
- After video calling my NZ work team from the South Australian Bedroom Regional Office, I decided to do some of my remaining month of admin from the backyard today. I enjoyed the sun while working on my laptop in my designated quarantine chair. Am I doing location-independent work right?
- ‘Room Service By Mum’ was a wrap and fruit for lunch, plus dinner that included 10 veggies to celebrate Day 10 (and make me feel about 10 myself…) Sticky date pudding and icecream for dessert was deluxe.
- More guilty-pleasure Netflix in the evening. I’ve gotten into fantasy show ‘The Witcher’, plus a crime series ‘The Blacklist’ (with 7 seasons; plenty of escapism fodder). The latter had an episode with a deadly virus, which was probably not the best idea to watch right now; but James Spader and team save the day. #spoileralert
Daily questions
- What did I create or learn today? – Uh, mostly created some solid work emails today. Onward and upward tomorrow!
- What was I grateful for today? – Receiving my delivery of wine from a local South Australian label; doing my bit for a small business, plus getting a bargain.
- What fun or beauty did I enjoy today? – I watched some SXSW 2020 short films online, released for free after the March festival’s cancellation. I’d had a great time at the event in 2019, so enjoyed reminiscing at the same time.
- How did I move my body today? – Mum found my old hula hoop in the garage, so today’s exercise was very waist and hips-focused. All the LOLs.
Content I enjoyed
I Lost $70k in One Month – Should I Give Up On FIRE? – Financial Mechanic
I like this level-headed personal response to concerns about FIRE in this current environment. “Critics wonder if FIRE is just a pipe dream built on the back of a bullish market by people (like me) who haven’t really experienced economic turmoil. With my portfolio bruised and bloody, is this the time for me to tap out? The answer, of course, is no. I’m confident because I have implemented the 4 P’s of Investing: portfolio allocation, preparation, perspective, and self-preservation.”
Meme of the day
Day 11 – Wednesday 1 April
- Holy hell, here we are finally in April. March was quite a month! Can’t believe I went from enjoying Auckland, doing two housesit assignments, and launching the event I’d been preparing for months – to suddenly booking a flight, packing my bags and leaving New Zealand within 72 hours.
- I had a good early-morning podcast recording with Becky from TwentyFree, providing an update on how my plans have changed since I first appeared on her Find Your Freedom podcast – Episode 6 in February.
- I updated my net worth on my spreadsheet, which I’ve done at the start of each month since mid-2014. I knew this update would make me wince after the recent stockmarket dip, but turns out I didn’t feel as bad as I expected. The fall in value seemed kinda abstract, as I don’t plan to touch my index funds for years yet, but I felt validated by not experiencing any panicked reflex to sell.
- I’d been assured that today’s ‘Room Service By Mum’ would be of particular interest to international readers. With apologies, see below.
Daily questions
- What did I create or learn today? – Another podcast recording under my belt. Now on my third, each experience is making me more confident in articulating my story and aware of areas for improvement when recording.
- What was I grateful for today? – A group video call with friends here in my hometown, which we may not have done in different circumstances.
- What fun or beauty did I enjoy today? – Got my nail polish game on; a bit of flair to contrast against my 24/7 comfy pants look.
- How did I move my body today? – Les Mills on Demand has 100+ free classes right now and I enjoyed a Sh’Bam class on there (similar to Zumba). Uplifting indeed, but I made sure my bedroom door was firmly shut so my family didn’t see my ridiculousness! I last took Zumba classes in a gym while briefly living in Chiang Mai in 2016. I was the conspicuously tall ‘farang’ flailing to keep up with my Thai-speaking instructor and classmates. Funny memories.
Content I enjoyed
Now is the Perfect Time to Start an Ultralearning Project – Scott H Young
Scott is the author of ‘Ultralearning’, after his Year Without English language-learning experiment and his ‘MIT Challenge’ to learn the 4-year computer science course material in 12 months. I enjoyed this post for some motivation to immerse myself in learning those things I’ve always wanted to. This other post was useful too: How to Build Skills that Matter. I was fortunate to hear Scott speak at the World Domination Summit in USA last year; his 30 minute presentation is worth a look.
Meme of the day
Day 12 – Thursday 2 April
- Now in my second week of working from home (finalising my current event admin contract), I finally feel like I’m getting into a rhythm. I put in about 4 productive hours in the morning, then sign off for a late lunch to end my intermittent fasting. While I am scheduled to be working 8 hours daily, cutting out office distractions and socialising with coworkers means I can compress work-time on tasks for the same results. (Well, not always. A few days ago, I was able to stretch similar tasks over a chasm of 9 hours through some Olympic-standard procrastination and wallowing…)
- I discovered that you can get a 60-day Scribd free trial right now – including ebooks, audiobooks and book summaries. The Scribd ‘perks’ offers also enable 12 months of Mubi’s film website, plus assorted other offers. After I signed up for my Scribd free access for 60 days, I set up diary reminders to cancel later before I’m charged.
- I usually use Libby, the free app for audiobooks and ebooks via local library membership. However, it’s nice to have instant access to some titles while in lockdown through Scribd.
- ‘Room Service By Mum’ was top-notch coming into the final stretch of self-iso, before I need to start making my own darn meals. Omelette lunch, then salmon and veggies dinner, with a dessert of brownie, icecream and berry coulis. Making a good show for social media!
Daily questions
- What did I create or learn today? – Drafted some content, adding to my long list of blog posts to complete…
- What was I grateful for today? – Having access to clothes left behind in my old wardrobe, to change things up after living out of a backpack for nearly 2 years.
- What fun or beauty did I enjoy today? – Watched a full concert by Nils Frahm free on YouTube, while reminiscing on seeing him perform live a year ago in USA. His music is an emotional, soothing balm for the heart.
- How did I move my body today? – Enjoyed the backyard in the sunshine, did some hula hooping and did another free dance-type class on ClassPass free videos.
Content I enjoyed
SlowFI: Write Your Own Script; Early Retirement Might Still Be Someone Else’s – The Fioneers guest post on Wallet Hacks
I really like the nuance appearing in the FIRE movement. SlowFI is about pursuing financial independence while working on lifestyle design along the journey; making intentional changes to improve your life now (such as reducing work hours), which may mean achieving FI more slowly. I subscribe to this idea, along with the concept of CoastFI; building up your investments to a level that will ‘coast’ via growth over time to your desired retirement figure without further savings efforts. A good lengthy guest post.
Meme of the day
Stay tuned for more nonsense or follow me on Instagram or Twitter for live updates. What’ll Mum serve up next?
This was Day 10-12. Read other posts in the series below:
- How Covid-19 Thwarted My Plans For 2020
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 1-3
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 4-6
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 7-9
- Diary of a SelFIsolator: Day 13-14 & After
2 comments
You have agreat sense of humor!
Ha, thank you! Gotta keep a good sense of humour right now.