What would reduce the most stress in your life?
Is there some change that would take a load off of your mind? Are you doing something to make the change happen?
Simplify your life - think about what you really need and what you don't need! That will help reduce a lot of stress and give you more time to relax!
As a freelance, with only a small pension to look forward to, my biggest source of stress is knowing I can never stop working and worrying if I will be able to keep going at the same level as now. I'm in my late 50s, so this is a very real problem!
I originally came to HP to try and set up some passive income to help this situation, but have been very disappointed with the results. I am now setting up a couple of sites. With luck they might bring in some money, and at least I will feel I more in control with my own web sites.
In February, I invested quite a lot of my savings in roof solar panels. The UK government will pay me for all the electricity I generate over the next 25 years and the payments will be indexed-linked. Even in the rainy, short days of February-April, I've been paid a sum which is equivalent to a 10% annual return on my investment, far better than if the money festered in the bank. What is more, I've already been told the next set of payments will be paid at a rate 4% higher than the previous one because of the inflation calculations. Over summer, the sum will increase considerably with longer days and (I hope!) more sunshine. In addition, my electricity bill has gone down by about 30%. Over each year as a whole, between the two aspects of income and savings from the panels, my gas and electricity bills are more or less covered by the panels and there will probably be some money left over.
My next step is to build up savings again to pay off my mortgage within the next year or so. If I succeed, I will not have to worry about losing my home, whatever happens.
At that point, I will be covered for home, heating and lighting, which leaves car loan, local council taxes, phone/internet, water rates, petrol and food as essential costs to be met from active income.
Since going freelance, I have also kept a minimum of two years income as savings in one form or other. This is over and above the other savings I've mentioned, which paid for the solar panels. This money is set aside for major emergencies/inability to work and I do not touch it for any other reason.
I still worry about pensions and poverty in old age, but, ironically, less so than I did ten years ago, when I was in full-time employment and married! Again, I think it is a matter of feeling I am in control of things, because I am certainly not going to sack myself (!) and I do not have to worry about somebody else's financial irresponsibility affecting my life.
Stop using credit cards, downsize as much as you can. Do you really need a car payment, or a car at all? Get a bicycle if you don't have one, keeps you healthy and saves money. Walk around in a natural setting, stay close to the ducks and squirrels. Staying healthy is paramount, so exercise and eat your veggies.
Having, and know you are going to have enough money to pay all the bills every month. Preferably with multiple streams of income, you know you can build back up if necessary.
Paying off all credit cards, and never picking one up again. Paying off all debt.
I think you should live your life slowly, because if you live it too fast, you cannot enjoy the little things. Overconsumption causes unhappiness and stress, I believe, so I try to keep my consumption to a minimum. It has worked well so far.
Well, something has already reduced stress in my life....when I got fired from my last job. When I was off work with a knee injury and receiving State Disability, my employer held my job a few weeks and asked me if I could come right back to work.
I was unable to because I could hardly walk on my right leg, so they fired me.
Since that time, 11 months ago, the stress of driving one hour to work and the same going home, is gone....as well as the stress I had at work, because I worked in a particularly hectic department for a well known bank. I worked in the office, not in a bank. I think the commute to work and back and the job itself contribute to a tremendous amount of stress....at least that was the case in my situation. It may not be the same for others.
I think I might be doing the right thing now. I have found a lovely retirement place for my mom and aunt where they will be comfortable and cared for. Means less shopping, worrying and running around for me. All I have to do now is visit them.
For people to be less judgemental would be great. A steady reasonable income would be a weight off my mind too, as I am a freelance artist money comes and goes but working a regular job is not an option for me. I am working on more sources of income and also trying to find more outlets for my work so it gets seen more.
by Rambler1 12 years ago
I have considered converting my house to solar power. My question is it worth it and how long is the payback
by Aya Katz 11 years ago
Which alternative energy source is more efficient and cheaper to maintain: solar panels or windmills?
by russellwnentwich 12 years ago
I recently came to the conclusion that no new house should be built without solar power, and solar water heaters installed.Currently solar power cells cost more per kilowatt hour than conventional power does. But, what if the EPA manned up and pushed for new buildings to derive a certain percentage...
by Arthur Russ 2 years ago
Having just had solar panels and a wall battery installed I recently published an article about our experience on HubPages, but with the comments section no longer available, by popular demand I’ve created this forum.In summary:-The system we’ve had installed is 10 x 380w solar panels (5 panels...
by PhoenixV 11 years ago
Are There Any New Solar Panels Being Developed?How can solar panels turn sunlight into electricity? Are there any new types or more efficient types of solar panels being currently developed? How Do Solar Panels Work Exactly?
by lime light power 12 years ago
Would you install solar or a wind at your home if it cost the same as power from the utility?
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |