Getting back on a diurnal schedule
Last week, WebWorkerDaily posted an article about being green – 4 simple tips to working green. The fourth point hit a little close to home.
I am a night owl by nature – it is extremely easy for me to slip into a nocturnal routine. When I was bound to a normal 8-5 schedule, I forced myself to go to bed by 2am so I could wake up at 6 to get ready for work.
But when I left it all in the summer of 2008, I said goodbye to sunlight.
Twilight had nothing on me
I was sick of having to wake up at 6am every day, so I set my eyes on 10am as my wake-up goal.
Manageable, right?
Of course!
What I didn't count on was staying up later and later each night. Whether it was because I was goofing off after working, or trying to reach deadlines for projects because of prior goofing off, I went to bed later and later each night. Eventually, I wasn't going to bed at night anymore!
My schedule had gone from 10am-ish to 2am in June, to 4pm-10am just last month.
24/7 burning
Of course, because my husband and I were on completely opposite schedules, we were burning electricity 24/7. We don't have many windows in this place, and what we do have are all upstairs. Any time someone is downstairs, a light is always on (except when we're watching movies – having no windows comes in handy then).
Imagine our dismay when we got our $250 electric bill last week.
This is not a large apartment – our electric bills are typically $100 less. We were surprised at first, especially since the heater and a/c had been off for all but 2 days that month. Then it dawned on us that our opposing schedules probably had something to do with it.
So, begrudgingly, I'm trying to get back into the habit of waking up early…if for nothing else than to get our electric bills back to an affordable rate.
Although, upon reflection, I may be going about it all wrong by staying up for 40 hours until I'm so exhausted that I pass out by 8pm…
I find your comments useless…we do not care what your freaking electric bills are….your website should contain valuable information on how to market yourself, how to get jobs and the time you are actually spending on looking at the available jobs…we do not care if you are a nightowl..what a waste of my time looking at your soap site.
Thanks Veronica,
I'm glad you took the time to read the rest of the site that actually does offer tips and advice, instead of just a single post filed under the "personal" tag. Your attention to detail is breathtaking.
Don't listen to Veronica. I just found your site and I think it will be a valuable resource for my upcoming venture into the world of freelancing. What I'm interested in hearing about is your total cost per job, from time to materials to taxes. I wasn't aware there was a Freelance Tax. How does that work? Is there a way to avoid that by becoming an LLC?
Thanks for your tips,
Jason
There are only two ways that I know of to avoid paying the extra freelance tax:
1) LLC/Incorporate
2) Report enough losses that they issue a return – be careful doing this, though…too many losses year after year, and the IRS will most definitely audit you (basically, you cost them too much money)
Note: I am not a tax professional, so I may not have precise information when it comes to taxes – only a working knowledge as it applies to myself (all of my tax information comes from my CPA…who also happens to be my father-in-law).
Who doesn't enjoy getting audited?
Thanks for the tips. Looking forward to seeing more from you!
Veronica clearly needed to vent – poor baby didn't have enough coffee before she read your blog post apparently. Sheesh. Did you overcharge her to comment on your blog? Oh my it's free right? Ok well then she clearly feels free is too much