Category: Resignation Diary

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5 Days after my resignation

I don’t think I have quite got the hang of this resignation thing. Yesterday and today I ended up putting in 13 hours each day at the office – I’m sure the point of resigning is to do less work! Meanwhile while I have been working hard so have my seeds – came home today to all my peas germinated and my lettuce seeds that I have planted outside in an ice cream container also starting to sprout. Incredibly easy to grow. My self-seeded lettuces are ready to start eating – we will have to start having salad every night to get through them all. Every time we have had visitors I have been handing over a tub of lettuces as a take home gift. While everyday life continues normally at the moment it is a lot easier to get up for work – I am up early each day even fitting in household tasks before heading off to work, eager to get to the end of my resignation. I am finding it hard though to put up with those well meaning comments from people like “No regrets?”

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3 Days after my resignation

Today I realised that I still had to go back to work tomorrow and face the same old situation even though I had resigned. Had a few grey moments. Found this guy on your tube who cheered me up with his resignation routine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PJt0DXdZ0k . Didn’t quite have the guts to do it quite like him – I need good  references (plus I have breasts). We cut down our spending to $2 today(hubby couldn’t resist the sausage sizzle outside Mitre Ten) – not bad for a weekend. I have been buying in bulk the last few weeks while things are on special to help us reduce our grocery bill over the next few months – got butter at pak n save this weekend 2 for $6. The top of my fridge is full of butter now – should last us until after Xmas. I am not going to pay over $5 for butter – that is just crazy. Hubby helpfully made stuffed schnitzels when he got home from work as he could see I was feeling a little down – one spare meal left over which has gone into the freezer for another day.

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2 Days after my resignation

I woke up about 6am again even though it is the weekend. The cats rose also and joined me. Hubby kept sleeping – this is his luxury sleep in, he has to go to work later in the day. This morning I created a new spreadsheet which now accumulates each category of spending on a yearly basis so that I can also see how our annual spending is going, not just our weekly and monthly spending. There are a few categories that seriously need to get reduced if we are to slow our spending down to cope with my resignation- will have to have ‘that chat’ with hubby when he is in a good mood. Watched the week’s round up of Business Review – how crazy is it that the Christchurch earthquake can cause so much havoc in people’s lives but will end up improving NZ’s GDP. The way we measure ‘wealth’ is seriously screwed. Spent the rest of the day cleaning with white vinegar as a few girlfriends are coming around for drinks before we go out to dinner – haven’t told them yet about resigning. (Can’t really afford to go out to dinner either!) Mother in law dropped around with some onion seedlings and fresh lemons – I traded with lettuces, my porch is absolutely covered with lettuces at the moment, all of them are ready at the same time as they all grew from self-seeding. There will have to be a lot more planting over the next few weeks to help with food. My mum has spare soil – I might take over some of my seeds and seedlings and plant them in the empty spots in her garden.

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1 Day after my resignation

Even hubby bounded out of bed today – I think even he was excited about my resignation. We were all organized and on the road by 6:30am. There is something exciting at the beginning about breaking the rut you have been in. I got the official letter back today accepting my resignation – in my job I have to give eight weeks notice so it will be a while before I am officially jobless. It is now time to start pulling our belts in even more though – came home and planted more lettuce and pea seedlings. Cooked dinner with chicken left over from the night before – no takeaways for a while and smaller portions. Rang the local newspaper to put in a classified advertisement for tutoring over the next few weeks as students are starting to rev up for their exams. Hubby still felt we should stop and get a lotto ticket – I guess he feels we need it even more now! And then as a reminder of reality my visa and electricity bill was in the post when I got home.

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0 Days after my resignation

Well I’ve finally done it – I handed in my resignation today. Still not sure if I’m crazy, only time will tell. My reading material the last couple of weeks has been “What Should I DO with my Life?” by Po Bronson. His book was on the New York Times No. 1 bestseller list a few years ago now. I got to the end of the book a few days ago and decided it was now or never – my job has been dragging me down for over a year. My mother almost had a heart attack when she first heard the news today but she has just rung me back this evening and has calmed down a bit! It probably is the most insane thing I have ever done given we are in an economic recession but I think I will learn a lot from this experience. I am planning to document my day to day journey over the next few months, hopefully I won’t sink into a pit of depression along the way.