paycut for quality of life?
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- monkeyshine
Has anyone taken a big (BIG) paycut for a better quality of life?
- boobs0
Seems like if your pay went down, your quality of life would go down.
- you don't get out much do you?lvl_13
- what lvl saidProjectile
- Peter0
First few years of working for myself.
The hours, the freedom, and work got better too...
Less money to buy shit I didn't need....back at the giganticorp federation now though.
- monkeyshine0
Peter, what made you decide to go back?
- One of the bigger reasons was the earthquake last year. Clients tightened their budgets and I couldn't sustain long enough.Peter
- e-pill0
i took one recently.. i wont say the quality of life is better, but financially, i will have more savings, perhaps it actually evens out.. im not sure yet.. but i slashed more than half my salary to take this job.. i will need to purchase things i guess i never needed before such as a car, so that expense will be felt.. but overall nyc versus florida where nyc has massive taxes on your income to florida which has only the federal.. i will get to save.. im still not sure on quality of life as i had everything at my fingertips in nyc.. and in florida the choices are limited.. but.. perhaps i just needed a change.. i know i will not be making this stay permanent but enough for a few years.. as i like the brand and product i develop.. plus the weather is always nice.. so some quality of life and some not.. i dont see my paycut really as that as i still freelance with my nyc clients and can bank almost any number realistically as i was in nyc respectively.. and i get to keep the majority of it and write off as it fits.. so perhaps the quality will work itself out.. ?? who knows..
- wow! You're leaving NYC for Florida...please say you have a blog documenting this? :)monkeyshine
- i left in january been in florida since.. although i am in china now.. and qbn is my blog..e-pill
- a blog documenting this. LOLmg33
- i moved to work for this brand only.. not for anything else.. when im done im going back.e-pill
- mekk0
friend of mine started to work part-time after she had a huge burnout. still earns enough and waaaaay more quality!
- randomname0
What's more important than quality of life?
- orrinward20
I didn't take a pay cut as such, just opted for a job that pays roughly 40% of other offers I had. Fresh out of Uni I didn't feel I needed lots of money and thought I'd get better experience working in a startup.
I'm incredibly happy with my job. I live comfortably enough and if ever I need money I can just answer the phone. Hopefully things will turn out well where I am and not have to...
In a few years time when a baby is on the cards I'll have to reconsider but for now there's no need, and experience-wise I'll be much better off staying where I am rather than getting lost in the system.
- when a baby is on the cards?!?! but you are like... 16 y/o!maikel
- WhiteFace0
Exactly what I did last year, moved from London to the French Alps, took a massive pay-cut which freaked me out at the start but it worked out I have the same amount of expendable income here as the cost of living is so much cheaper. Mountain biking, Snowboarding, 300 days of sunshine, best move I ever made.
- < thisProjectile
- that's the way to do it! jealous. :)monkeyshine
- What do you do in the alps?goldieboy
- Still graphic design, the company has an office here.WhiteFace
- kingkong0
I've just resigned from probably the best paid job I may ever have. A ludicrous amount of cash to run an ad agency.
Frankly after two years of 60 hour weeks I came to the conclusion that they were getting 40% of my life for free, so fluck that.
I'm going to halve my salary, sell the house, change some stuff.
Money is a golden cage. the more you have the more you spend.
- jfletcher0
My most recent job I took my second professional paycut. The first time I took a paycut it was almost a 50%, this time it was maybe 5-10%.
However each job made me a lot happier and gave me a lot more opportunities.
With my job now I travel all over and see all sort of places around the world... I'd love to make my original amount, but there is no way I'd go back to that job.
It was already said above, you don't need a lot of money to buy shit you don't need to impress people you don't like.
Find what you love and what makes you happy.
- " you don't need a lot of money to buy shit you don't need to impress people you don't like." I like that.detritus
- it was from another source, but I don't remember it...jfletcher
- Tyler Durdenbiusness
- Fucking prophetic filmbabaganush
- jfletcher, you feel my pain and I feel yours. :)monkeyshine
- Jamiehutber0
anybody care to explain why your quality of life would go up if your pay goes down... I'm stumped :/
- ideaist0
Free time > disposable income...
I WAS underworked and overpaid in the city, until I jumped ship with my ol' lady and moved to a village of 1300 people where I am now overworked and underpaid (becoming more resourceful, smarter, adaptive, etc.)
My life is 100% manageable now; once you get over the concept of not needing anything but the love of a woman, well grown nutritious food and fresh water you can truly flourish and start living towards true contentment.
Mind, body & (non-religious) spirit boys & girls...
- & don't give me the old "money buys you time" shit; you're environment allows you time...ideaist
- you're = your...ideaist
- < Do you have kids?babaganush
- Working on it (marriage/elopement in less than 2 weeks, Hawaii in the fall & then baby making)ideaist
- Just wondered - sounds like u have your head screwed on :) good luckbabaganush
- monkeyshine0
thanks for the input, guys. Inspiring words. I took a 20% pay cut a couple of years ago and I'm still paid very well. I love expensive toys but I'm not happy in my day-to-day so I'm considering either going out on my own again or the non-profit route.
- doesnotexist0
just left the shackles of endless 60hr work weeks myself, back to freelance!
quality of life = quality of work
- mathinc0
Looks like my wife and are going to be forced into this sort of situation. We found out that we're being let go recently. Screwed up part is that she's due to give birth any day to our first child. We've had a pretty cushy work situation for a while, even being able to live where we want. The work we did was highly beneficial to the company and the circumstances of our release still dumbfounds me. We chose to live in a small mountain town in northern Arizona and there isn't a whole lot of industry here. Oh well, it seems like the bad things that happen never come when you want them to.
After the shock of it all I'm actually pretty excited about the future. The company we've been working for is a family business, my family. Which makes the timing of this with the baby even more difficult to wrap our heads around. Now we're jamming to get our portfolio site up and still be prepared for the little guy. Super stressful. I've got a good side client and I'm waiting to hear if they can give me more hours once we're unemployed. There's also a big company here in our town that hires local designers for their materials, and I've heard nothing but good things about them.
In any case we absolutely love where we live and we're going to make a go of it. Cutting expenses and giving up some pleasures we've been accustomed to. We'll probably be getting rid of one of our vehicles, canceling the gym memberships, more vegetable meals, blah blah blah. Hopefully we don't need to move. If we can balance out the money/cost end of things then I think our quality of life will be better than ever. Here's to hoping, oh and working our asses off!
- Wow! That's intense. Good luck to you both. Least you'll have more time for the baby.monkeyshine
- Definitely! Things will work out. At the very least we'll have the little guy and the mountains. Pure happiness.mathinc
- vaxorcist0
Once I took a voluntary 20% pay cut in return for working one day less per week... it was a good thing, and I wish more businesses would do this rather than lay off people....
Too bad the health insurance and benefits mafia want to force companies to categorize everyone into full-time or part-time and nothing in between...
- albums0
Establish an EOM or End of Month for yourself.
After food transportation entertainment, necessities, etc. how much do you want left over? Which of the opportunities allows you closest to that?
I've taken pay cuts and moved because my EOM would be higher as cost of living changes by region. it's really ALL about what YOU want because "quality of life" is subjective. Do you want access to trendy lifestyle, water, mountains, snow? Or is a gym fine with you as long as you can put money in the bank?
- great way of putting this idea....vaxorcist
- This is wise!orrinward2
- scarabin0
fresh out of college i turned down a higher paying job at disney 'cause i didn't want to work for the mouse, in favor of a lower paying job at an agency.
...whose biggest client turned out to be disney.
go figure
- Mistake?randomname
- nah, just thought it was funny. i hear working at disney is hell and will destroy your soulscarabin
- and i'm doin' alright these daysscarabin