6-Month Update: Our Unjobbing Life So Far
Author Laura McDonald
Wow! We’ve made it a full six months since John left his full-time, steady-paycheck job. And guess what? We’re still happily married, the kids still talk to us, and there’s plenty of food in the pantry. We were even able to take a 2-week vacation in February to visit sunny Florida and several unschooling friends.
A few of the major changes in the last half year:
- We’ve begun the process of paring down our possessions to fit our new home-based lifestyle. We sold the truck and the newish car and replaced them with a gas-sipping Saturn sedan. We have our 15 acres of land for sale, too. Realistically, we’re just not going to get around to building that earth-sheltered house any time soon. John’s even down to 2 banjos. Banjo players seem to accumulate good-sized collections of instruments, but for now we want the money for other purposes.
- We’ve redesigned our living space to serve many functions. Running a home and a couple of businesses out of the same building means that every room serves many purposes. Add to that the fact that we homeschool and the five of us spend the majority of our time in the house. John built a super packing table in our basement to remove the mailers/peanuts/boxes/packing slips clutter from the main living space. Now we can pack efficiently without worrying that puzzle pieces or food bits will end up in the merchandise!
- We’ve become much more involved in and important to our local community. Although we lived in this town for 8 years before we started unjobbing, not too many people here would have missed us if we had moved. We’re much more likely now to shop at our IGA in town. John’s the Treasurer of the Library Board. Our daily shipping accounts for a decent percentage of the local Post Office’s counter sales. We’re a big part of why our small town still has a post office. We could switch to automated shipping, but it wouldn’t be the best choice for the town.
- Days of the week mean little to us now. We literally work every day. Christmas Day we didn’t have to ship parcels, but there were plenty of other tasks to accomplish. Even in Florida, we had customer and vendor correspondence to deal with, feedback to respond to, inventory to scout, and a teleconference.
- Our work flow varies from day to day. Some days we wake up full of energy at 8 AM, work all morning, and then go to a double feature at the movies. Other days we work an hour or two here or there, interspersed with chaperoning field trips, grocery shopping, riding bikes, or chatting with friends. John puts in more business hours most days, while I do more of the driving and general housework.
- We’ve been remarkably healthy for the last six months. A couple of stomach aches and one kid with a mild cold is the sum total of our sick days. We eat when we’re hungry, rest when we’re tired, and spend a lot of time talking and laughing. Unjobbing is good for us!
I’ll get more into what we’re doing to make a living in a future post. For now, we’re pretty happy exploring this new lifestyle and shaping our lives to fit our needs.
Arrivederci,
Laura
Top 10 Benefits of Unjobbing
Author Laura McDonald
We’ve been living our Unjobbing Adventure for six weeks now, and it’s been quite a ride already! From this early vantage point, here are the top perks of our new lifestyle:
10. Unjobbing saves money. We’re spending much less on gas and clothes, and we’ve got our car up for sale. Anybody want to buy a 2009 Kia Rio5?
9. Unjobbing allows us to schedule activities to our best advantage. We can avoid rush hour. We can finally hit those weekday afternoon book sales. We can visit Florida in November, when the water is warm and the air is cool.
8. Unjobbing enables each of us to follow our natural body rhythms. If I’m keyed up one evening, I can stay up until 4 AM without paying for it the next day. If Ellen is sick, she can sleep through the whole day. Everyone looks so much healthier already.
7. Unjobbing and entrepreneurship spread to the whole family. When we have to buy something that seems really overpriced, I’ll hear the kids mentally calculating whether they could sell that item profitably in the wholesale market. The more outside money the children make, the more freedom they have and the less stress on the family budget.
6. Unjobbing evens the workload and the responsibilities of both parents. We no longer have a stay-at-home parent who feels guilty when the house is a wreck or a working parent who’s too tired to play with the kids. If the house is a mess, we blitz it together and then watch a movie with the kids.
5. Unjobbing eliminates most of the wasted time in the workday. John really resented his commute, check-in time at the prison, and the inefficient meetings. Our meetings now last about half an hour each week.
4. Unjobbing reduces our stress levels. Less stress means more patience, leading to better interactions in the family, which reduces our stress levels….
3. Unjobbing opens a whole new vista of possibilities. We could spend a month abroad doing a short-term project. We could sell nearly everything and try the RV lifestyle. John could buy a plane ticket and escort a banjo overseas instead of shipping it. No schedule and no calendar bring a lot of flexibility!
2. Unjobbing gives each of us freedom of movement. No longer does Lee have to come with me to the Post Office every day. Kelly can arrange to meet her school friend almost every afternoon. After 10 years of keeping an eye on kids 24 hours a day, I can’t describe the amazing feeling of putting on my shoes and going for a walk alone any time I want to.
And, the most wonderful benefit, in my opinion:
1. Unjobbing deepens relationships between the formerly working parent and the rest of the family. John now has several more hours with us each day. I’m thrilled to wake up each morning and find him still next to me! John can come on trips with the family and spend special time with each of the kids. I know that the drives to Indy singing bluegrass at the top of his lungs with Lee will be treasured memories.
Yes, there are a few little downsides to unjobbing, and they’ll be the subject of a future post. For now, however, the positives are so overwhelming that I want to keep up this lifestyle forever.
Have a great day and, as Lee’s fortune cookie suggested, “Give a hug to someone who needs it more than you.”
Posted in Top Ten lists, Unjobbing Life | 
Tags: benefits, freedom, relationships, unjobbing | 
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