I’ve started the same process as you; left a comfortable, well-paying job two weeks ago so I can pursue other ways of making a living and doing contract work to meet basic needs.
The most important thing for me is to make sure my health is in check, since that’s the foundation for everything. My mental checklist - things I go through my head every now and then to make sure they are at healthy levels - is food, fitness, sleep, stress and sun. I try very hard not to compromise these in pursuit of doing other things.
Another thing I’m doing now is treating every project as a client, including personal projects. I had been using FreshBooks for keeping track of client work, but I also use it to keep track of the open source projects I work on. Obviously I don’t charge these people, but I find it helpful to see in one place where I’m allocating the time I spend designing UI and writing code. If I notice I hadn’t been putting enough time yesterday, I’ll let go of other pursuits to make the time.
As for saving money, having a budget that you can easily refer to helps. I use You Need A Budget becaus - unlike mint - it forces you to really look at each transaction and “give your money a job”.
What I haven’t solved yet is the social interaction I had while working in an office of people I knew. While I have access to a co-working space, people tend to keep to themselves. Same thing with coffeeshops. I’ve had to just rely on friends and meetups to balance this instead.
EDIT: my contact info is on my profile if you ever want sync up and share further tips and experiences. This goes for anyone else trying out this type of experiment. :)
The most important thing for me is to make sure my health is in check, since that’s the foundation for everything. My mental checklist - things I go through my head every now and then to make sure they are at healthy levels - is food, fitness, sleep, stress and sun. I try very hard not to compromise these in pursuit of doing other things.
Another thing I’m doing now is treating every project as a client, including personal projects. I had been using FreshBooks for keeping track of client work, but I also use it to keep track of the open source projects I work on. Obviously I don’t charge these people, but I find it helpful to see in one place where I’m allocating the time I spend designing UI and writing code. If I notice I hadn’t been putting enough time yesterday, I’ll let go of other pursuits to make the time.
As for saving money, having a budget that you can easily refer to helps. I use You Need A Budget becaus - unlike mint - it forces you to really look at each transaction and “give your money a job”.
What I haven’t solved yet is the social interaction I had while working in an office of people I knew. While I have access to a co-working space, people tend to keep to themselves. Same thing with coffeeshops. I’ve had to just rely on friends and meetups to balance this instead.
EDIT: my contact info is on my profile if you ever want sync up and share further tips and experiences. This goes for anyone else trying out this type of experiment. :)