Mustachianism certainly reduces my stress in bad times

[MoneyCat]

So, I got the news yesterday that the school where I work won't have a position for me next year.  Budget cuts.  My co-workers were really concerned for me and asked me a lot of stuff like "How will you manage?"  Thanks to Mustachianism, I'm actually not that badly stressed about it.  We were already living just on my wife's income and putting all my income into savings anyway.  I was already on my wife's health insurance so that's not going to change.  The only thing this is really going to do is reduce the amount going into investments -- although I plan to put a lot of my unemployment insurance into my funds over the next few months.

We already get all our electricity from solar panels on our roof and we get a couple hundred bucks back in SRECs for every mWh we produce.  We grow a lot of our own food in our backyard garden.  I earn a little extra money teaching martial arts classes.  The library as always is there for free entertainment.  Our vacation to Vegas is still on because it's free with all the rewards programs we exploit.

Mustachianism turns potential major disasters into small bumps in the road and I really appreciate that I found this website and forum.  Hopefully, I'll find a new job in the next month or two over the summer, but if I don't and it takes a while longer it's okay.  We're going to be just fine.

This is what Mustachianism has done for me.  It has changed potential disasters into small bumps in the road.

[Kris]

That is a fantastic story! Thanks for sharing it!

[forummm]

Sorry to hear about the job loss. I'm glad that you've prepared your life to deal with this crisis in advance. It's great that you're feeling so good about the situation.

[MrStash2000]

A very classy move by the school to let you know they won't have a job for you this late in the year (rolls eyes).

[2ndTimer]

Totally agree with you.  Not having to worry about money turns what could be a disaster into an opportunity.  Can't count the times when some employment bump has appeared on the horizon and I have serenely told the Hub, "If it happens, we'll be able to do X, just like we have been hoping."

[Milizard]

Glad to read that you're doing all right with it.  My story is a little similar to yours, but backwards.  Never made much salary-wise, so I quit my job to go back to school to get a different degree.  (I was tired of getting up to barely $40k after 14 years--that was with a B.S.  DH made even less, although he had a B.B.A.)  6 months in, my husband lost his job.  Between the stash that we already had and Obamacare, it was no big deal.  That's when I came back to revisit Mr. Money Mustache.  I had dismissed his way from what I thought was even possible for us, due to the low salaries we both had.   Suddenly, I saw the real possibility of it all.  I proceeded to read the whole damn blog from the beginning after that.

[mrshudson]

Terrific story! I have the same attitude toward these sort of bumps on the road. And the most amazing thing has been that being unstressed at work is actually winning a lot of confidence from coworkers/bosses, which has a snowball effect of giving you even less stress and a lot more happiness at work.

OP, so glad you are able to weather it out.

[Redstone5]

So many of the best cost-reducing strategies take time and up-front investment that it's hard to take them on when a person suddenly really need them (like buying cloth diapers, buying a bike, using a home gym, growing your own food, driving an inexpensive vehicle, etc). I think that the person who already has those habits in place is much better able to withstand tough times and they also avoid the stress from "lifestyle downgrade" as they're already living modestly.

Best of luck with your new job search :)

-edited for spelling

[Bajadoc]

Your story shows how smart it is to keep and invest what one earns instead of wasting it on junk. If more people behaved like you society would be much richer both figuratively and literally. You are smart and will never be a burden on society. Thank you for sharing.

[Big Boots Buddha]

Hey Moneycat, right on! It helps you have an SO this is on point with you too, but it seems like all phases of your life are Mustached out so things like this work out much better!

I just got similar news: I quit my job to work for a new employer, but when I went to sign the contract they decided they wouldn't hire me. (I feel really lucky the person who I was dealing with there was not in her office at that moment or I may have pummeled her right there, just bad for both of us.) So that got me really down in the dumps. But on the other hand I have saved up 150k so I feel a lot better about "figuring sh!t out" at the moment. I got over the desire to drink a lot by working out everyday at my home gym (thanks MMM) and may fly home to hang out with my parents for a while (they just retired and I've lived in Asia for 10 years). Oh yeah, its Asia, that's how the above BS could happen.

Anyway, MMM really does make everything better!