on the value of Work and an Expirement

I've been thinking about time and work a lot lately.

My dad stayed with me for a week back in October and he is a farmer. He tried to be considerate of my sleeping patterns but soon I was up at 8am and eating breakfast. By midnight I was exhausted.

Soon after that my boss started asking me to come in at 10 (instead of my usual noon) for a big deadline. The extra ten hours a week made quite a difference in my paycheck so I started working even later hours too. At the peak of my insanity (read financial success) I went in at 10am and left at 9:30pm.

It was time to go back to the basics and figure out what I want.

My favorite way of starting the day is by reading in bed for an hour or so. I stay in bed with a magazine, book or even blogs and just read around for a while. Then I get up for my teeth and shower maintenance and sometimes grab breakfast. If its the weekend I probably shop, if its a weekday I work.

If I had unlimited financial resources that is still what I would do every day.

When I start a few days in a row without that early morning lolling I am thrown off balance. I get irritable and even worse - feel justified in my irritability. By Friday I don't care about anything at work and when I get home I make snappy, lackluster meals and get ready for bed so I can do it again.

How could money ever make up for that peace of mind?

Starting Monday I won't be paid as a freelancer anymore. Taxes will be taken out of my paycheck and direct deposit will start happening. I've been thinking of how to handle the direct deposit.

I am planning to direct depositing into my stagnant bank account. One of this bank's branches used to be a block between a CVS and a Rite Aid near where I used to live so I would deposit cash weekly. I haven't deposited since I moved because its out of my way.

The other bank account is at Wells Fargo; which annoys me but I keep because its branches are convenient. I've been buying gift cards like mad (at least $1000 last month) to capitalize on rewards so I have about $300 there right now. I have about $2500 in pending checks (plus all my rebatables).

I think I will have all of my work money deposited at the bank I never visit and see how long I can live off of the Wells Fargo account. In preparation I have been pre-paying as many bills as possible and estimate my monthly consumption to be less than $500. Other money (regular freelancing, eBay, rebating) will still go into Wells Fargo but I want to see how long I can live without a "real" paycheck.