And also…
101 days without a glass of whisky (or any alcohol for that matter)
70 days without applying ChapStick to my lips
and 43 days of not using the internet or any apps on my phone (!!!)
Challenge Mode activated, baby!! And it feels great! Also – kinda boring, lol, but super proud of myself for pulling it off so far and honestly can’t believe I even have. Who gives up all this stuff at the same time??!
But more on that in a bit…
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Hello!!! It’s been a while! 😁
And it’s completely my fault.
I made it my mission this year to swap out “screen time” with more “real life” time, and I’ve gotten so good at it that I almost forgot the internet still exists, haha…
But I’ve missed you and I’m back now! And I hope your $$$ is still going strong! Anything juicy happen since I’ve been away?? Still saving and budgeting your hearts out? I just checked and it’s been exactly 6 months since my last post to y’all (!!!) which is way too long…
As for us, life continues to be good and our health and wealth are trucking along nicely. Definitely lower on the income side of things since that’s what happens when you unofficially retire, lol, but thankfully the decisions of younger J$ hooked us up to be just fine ;) Even without adding anything extra our net worth continues to grow! The power of compounding at its finest!
But while I haven’t been “working” much, I have been channeling all that time and energy into somewhere else: myself.
Last year’s “Project of Me” continues in full force, and now on top of the juicing and working out and volunteering and yoga’ing every day, I’ve added a few more life improvements to the mix. Or rather, improved *habits*. Not that any of these were all too terrible really, but it’s always good to hit “reset” every now and then to see what you truly need in life, you know?
And I decided to hit the hardest, most trickiest, habit first: COFFEE!!
Something I love and devour every single day, but something I’m sure my body doesn’t exactly appreciate. I had been slowly trimming it down over the years, going from 3-4 cups/day to 2-3 cups and then most recently just 1 cup/day, but never in my 25 years of drinking it have I dared to go cold turkey. I mean, why would you do that to yourself??! 😂
But once the seed gets planted I can’t leave things alone until I go ALL IN, and one day I just woke up and thought, “Today is the day – no more coffee!” and that was that.
The first week was a bitch, not gonna lie (those headaches are real! Especially when your life is full of rowdy little boys!) but eventually I stopped thinking about it and learned to live my life as I had the first 20 years of it :)
I don’t know if it’s had a super big impact on me, other than chilling me out more and maybe lessening some anxiety (I feel more “even” these days, like, no more huge HIGHS or LOWS, but just kinda sorta floating in the MIDDLE, if that makes sense?) but it is amazing how fast our bodies can adapt when given the chance. Life without coffee seems just as normal now as life was with it! And in the process I learned that I really enjoy decaf teas, such as lemon-ginger which I’m currently drinking as I type this, as well as the turmeric based, “Golden Latte” – a real treat if you’ve never tried!
It’s also been a great reminder of how powerful a force *momentum* can be. The beginning stages are always the hardest, but as time goes on you get better and better with less effort until the point of not even really paying attention anymore. Not unlike saving or investing really!
Even more importantly – doing these little challenges helps prime you up for even MORE challenges in life. Momentum breeds momentum, and similar to what happened last year when I joined that soccer league, which then got me to start eating and drinking better, which then got me to start exercising more, one positive act propels you to another until you’re left with a string of better habits stacked on top of each other.
30 days into the Coffee Challenge I then took on a 31 day Meditation Challenge, which then led to a 21-day Inversion Challenge, and then a random No ChapStick Challenge (??) and then finally a No Internet on Your Phone Challenge which is my present dare I’ve taken on… A dare, of course, I dared myself with ;)
Here’s more on each for those curious:
31 Day Meditation Challenge – If you’ve always wanted to try meditation but didn’t know how, this is an easy way to get started. You just set the timer for 5 minutes and then sit there and do nothing except try and focus on your breath. Which you can never do all the way, of course, but you still try and eventually get better at it. When the 5 mins are up you’re done and hopefully feel a bit more peaceful! Then you repeat for the next 30 days 👍
If you crave a little harder challenge, which I was, you do the same 5 mins every day BUT you add 1 more minute on top of it with each passing day. So, day 1 is 5 mins, day 2 is 6 mins, day 3 is 7 etc etc until you realize you’re at 35 mins/day and feel like a monk! It’s a fabulous challenge if you’re into such things, and of course the hope is that you continue with it until it becomes a daily habit – even if not for long. (I’ve found the sweet spot for me is 7 minutes, which I can easily slip in any time of the day!)
21 Day Inversion Challenge –This is a yoga challenge a friend of mine and I did together, but even if you’re not into yoga you could try it (just be careful!). With this challenge all you have to do is get *upside down* once a day which is supposedly really good for you (something about the blood rushing down and then back up to improve flow?). But – it’s also just plain FUN :)
You can do a hand stand up against the wall, or a head stand in the middle of the beach or even just have a friend dangle you at your ankles for a few seconds! 😂 As long as you get upside down every day you’ve accomplished the mission.
No ChapStick Challenge — This is going to sound weird, but next to coffee this was probably the hardest challenge I’ve ever taken on, haha… I’d never realized how engrained of a habit this was until learning that my brother has only used it like once or twice in his entire life??! I was shocked! I told him I probably apply it at least 5-6x day automatically without even thinking about it, and that it’s one of the three things I *always* carry in my pocket:
- Phone
- Money clip
- Chapstick (or a variation of – this isn’t to shame Chapstick the brand, I don’t have anything against them, lol… unless the rumors are true that they put *addictive* substances in it which would 100% explain my obsessive behavior with it!!!)
He then told me I needed to take it on as my next challenge, and 70 days later I have still yet to apply a single swipe! :) Though I did early on have to apply some Vaseline as WOW were my lips not happy as they were adjusting!! And I couldn’t count the number of times I reached into my pockets to get the Chapstick only to remember it wasn’t there anymore, lol… So it’s kind of a minimalism and savings win too! One less thing to carry around, and one less thing to purchase too – woo!
No Internet on Your Phone Challenge — This one came about after just being tired of being on my phone one day and seeing everyone else on theirs too. Which this challenge doesn’t exactly solve (if anything it gets you to realize how MUCH everyone else is on their phone!) but it is a good start to breaking your own scrolling habits.
In a nutshell, you just stop opening up any apps outside of those made for communication (like text, calling, etc) and then see if you can survive ;)
I started it on vacation which is probably the worst time to start since you usually have so much downtime!, but it did help re-focus my attention on real life and nature and has been great for my mental health too. I have since sneaked in the maps app and allowed for the camera and one or two other more *productive* apps too, but so far it looks like I’ve broken the habit of haphazard scrolling and getting lost to time. I’d bet I use the phone at least 50% less now!
(Another trick to not picking it up as much? Wearing a watch! It can’t suck you in like when you go to your phone to check what time it is!)
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And that’s where we are today :) Looking for the next good challenge!! lol… You have any for me?
But while it may look like I’m trying to devoid myself of all the best things in life, the point as mentioned earlier is more to break myself out of my daily habits that have essentially been on auto-pilot for years and then reinstitute better ones. Some things like the coffee and alcohol I’ve slowly introduced back in again – having my first glass of whisky last week, and my first cup of coffee the week prior (it all tastes so much better in moderation!) – while the ChapStick and phone scrolling ban still remains fully in tact.
And of course, you can do all this with your finances too! In fact, that’s where my love of pushing myself all started from – when I took on a “No Spending Challenge” back in 2008 and tried to get a handle on where all my money was going! The first week was the hardest (I kept forgetting and finding myself in stores!) but eventually the new habit kicked in long enough where I trusted myself to start spending again without overdoing it.
A few years later, I decided to up my game even further and go through *every last expense* I had and either nix them completely or lower them enough without affecting my quality of life. I dubbed this the “Challenge Everything” experiment, and at the end of 12 months I had saved $5,484.07 and forever cut out $200/mo going forward! Half of it coming from swapping cell phone carriers alone which netted me $100+/mo (I swapped Verizon for Republic Wireless which no longer exists, and eventually landed at Mint Mobile which I LOVE. Only $25/mo!*)
And then of course there’s getting into the habit of investing more and paying off debts and all other kinds of challenges you could take on to better improve your future.
Here are some of the ones we’ve featured over the years if you’re pumped and ready to take some on!
- The $2 Bill Challenge
- The Spavings Challenge
- The $1,000 Savings Challenge
- Gamify Your Money Goals with These 8 Fun Saving Challenges!
- 30 Mini-Challenges for September to Improve Your Life and Money!
The trick is just starting with one area and then letting the momentum (and confidence!) keep building and propelling you further into others. And remember – it gets easier the more you flex that muscle!
Anyways, that’s what I’ve been up to these past 6 months :) Hope you’ve been learning and getting into some fun stuff too! I really thought this was going to be a steady normal year over here and then BAM – the fire was lit and the sparks started flying! Haha… But I love it… You gotta be constantly changing in order to grow and I welcome every last bit of it.
See you back here again soon! Thanks for reading :)
// Top painting by my 6 year old, titled “EYE BLEEDING” lol… Pretty much exactly how I felt the first few days of these challenges!! 😂
* Mint mobile link is an affiliate link… and also the best phone carrier around! Even Deadpool uses it!
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All right!! Always a treat when you put up a new post!! Great job on all that, motivates me to get out of some of my “auto pilot” habits.
Glad things are going well for you!
MATT IN MICHIGAN
Thanks dude! You’ll have to let me know which ones you try tackling so maybe I can give them a shot too :) it really is amazing how many things we do and aren’t even aware of it. Hopefully in the end we’re just doing more POSITIVE things than negative ones!
You haven’t left us, woohoo! I was checking the page every month or so and wondering, when will we get to hear a life update from J$. Summertime is a nice time to take a break and detox, I did a detox, like no social media for a week, which was nice, and then left my phone on airplane mode for 36 hours, and nothing bad happened! It was so nice to be one with nature.
You hit the nail on the head, things are so much more enjoyable when you have them in moderation, whether coffee, sugar, or social media. Grounding oneself is a good way to find oneself!
Oooooh airplane mode for 36 hours – that’s a good one!
I actually only thought I was gone for a few months, and then realized my last post was in February!! Hahaha… woops. Time flies when you’re depriving yourself I guess??! 😂
J, you’re going to love this one…I had my Retirement Mastermind meeting yesterday, and one of the guys just bought a watch based on your recommendation! When you left that update in my blog post about what you’re doing to reduce your screen time, he latched onto your suggestion to get a watch. More importantly, HE DID IT! He was raving about how he’s looking at his phone less now, since whenever he checked the time he got sucked in. No more sucking going on…that’s a WIN!
HAH!!! Best thing I’ve heard all month! Thank you sir! He needs a medal or something, lol…
It was a great article too, even without my inclusion. Here it is for anyone who might be interested: https://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/beware-the-dopamine-cartel/
Welcome back! What timing. I was just checking in on my favorite peeps after being off the FIRE grid for many months, and lookie here – you posted today!
Anyways – Congrats on your personal growth and embracing this life in a more meaningful (i.e., less digital) way. I’m tracking with you in all these 100%, though I must confess to rarely using chapstick until the harsh Minnesota winter kicks in…
Peace, Brother!
You know what’s funny? I stumbled across your blog a cple months ago too wondering if you were still around, haha… And was glad to see you were! Although, now you’re gonna have to up your game as my site is more up to date ;)
It’s so silly honestly. I tend to sit way too still when I’m at the computer and I feel like I’m literally fossilizing.
So yeah, writing is not an easy chore for me these days, nothing health-related, but I just have to get creative and take little breaks here and there. First world early-retiree problems ya know??
(and yes, thank you for the little nudge to get my butt back in gear!!)
you can try the 100-day pushup challenge in between writing – that’ll get you nice and wiggly again! 😂
Great to hear from you again. . . . Was wondering what had happened. As usual with us all – life happened! Good for you on you success with the various things that you have successfully stayed ‘away’ from (especially the tech stuff!). I tried that once when we went on a vacation & lasted about 6 hours, HA!
Hope to hear more from you as you always have such interesting & informative things to say. ;-)
Appreciate you, Jana – that means a lot :)
Better you than me being off coffee, haha! But seriously I haven’t had any alcohol in 20 months, not that I’m counting. Still not sure if I’ll swear it off completely but so far life’s good without it. Cheers to challenges!
hell yeah dude – good for you! Alcohol is def. a worse poison than coffee so out of the two it’s a good pick ;) if you could go back to just having one every now and then that would be ideal, but for some reason that’s always harder than just going cold turkey, haha…
I miss Republic Wireless (before they sold). That $5/mo Wi-Fi only plan was perfect at a time in my life I really needed those savings. Good to see you are still posting. I tried getting off coffee once, it was horrible. For like a week I felt an advanced state of tired, I don’t really want to stop but I do try to water it down as much as possible, the older I get the more susceptible I am to jitters and anxiety.
That’s a good idea! You can always just drink *less* too. I woulnd’t have been able to make it going from 4 cups/day to nothing lol… But I will say after the first week your body does start adapting and it’s not *as* bad. Esp if you switch to tea or something so it kinda tricks your body and gives you a little boost too :)
RW was incredible – you’re right. So far I’m finding Mint is MUCH more reliable, connection-wise, though so that’s good. Really fun seeing you back here man, thx for taking the time :)
Great job! I don’t think I’ll join you, though.
Making coffee in the morning is such an enjoyable ritual.
Less screen time sounds like a great idea.
Hey bud! Thx for stopping by! It’s like the good ol’ days up in here :) I’ve been following your blog on and off this year and it’s always fun seeing what you’ve been up to. I think we’ve been friends for like 10 years now or something?! Let’s keep it going 🙌
What? I don’t know what is more surprising that you were able to go so long without coffee or that you found over $20 in change on the ground! LOL. I agree though that good choices make more good choices easier. It is kind of like hanging out with the smart kids helps you make smart choices too. If you start having a positive attitude all of your choices will become more positive and sometimes that may take a lot of work when we have negative things going on in our lives but it is worth the effort.
you got that right! the motivation can work both ways – towards the positive or towards destruction. I much prefer the positive (though I’ll admit a little destructive can be fun here and there too, lol…)
J, I’ve been following you and enjoying your posts for sometime now. As much as I appreciate your posts I usually shake my head upon reading them muttering something like, “This guy lives on the upper tail of the Bell Curve! His attitude is positive beyond measure!” It’s like you’re an Olympic athlete speaking to other Olympians while I barely make it to the gym once a month, if that. I’ve yet to figure out how to join your exclusive club but I’m not going to give up just yet. Wishing you and your family all the best.
Hahahaha… that was one of my favorite comments of late, appreciate that :) I’m not always so positive, but the more I practice the easier it seems to be! And being stubborn helps out as well, lol… (you can be stubborn with positive traits just as you can be with negative ones! It’s like interest! It compounds in both directions!)
Thank you, J. I’ll keep that in mind.