I took on a similar shift last year, with a similar drive to cement my grasp of a few languages. Depending on your location, I cant recommend highly enough looking for a hotdesking site if there is one nearby. This will not only break up the monotony of your house, and provide a clear "work/play" separation, but will stick you in with like minded people / freelancers who may be further along the process. This "productive socialising" hits two birds with one stone, accelerating your learning and keeping you sane!
Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
31–40 of 74 posts
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
A million upvotes for snacks. I work primarily from home now and they absolutely destroy you. Make sure you get out and do some exercise too!
Healthy snacks are fine. Nuts (cashews, pistachios), fruit (as long as you don't overdue it). Just don't go through 2-4 cans of Mountain Dew a day.
Depends a lot on the person. For me, I've divided snack foods into "things I will eat when bored" and "things I will only eat when I'm actually hungry". There are very few on that latter list, but they are the only ones I'll keep in the house.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#33You should use https://habitrpg.com/ Take everything you want to do every day, cut the time in half, then cut the time in half again, and add it as a "Daily." * [x] 1 hour of music * [x] 30m of CodeAcademy Python * [x] 20m exercise The key is to keep is so absurdly short that you will have no trouble doing them in a day. BUT, by doing them every day, you will accomplish much more than if you had overcommitted. Using…
Wow, this is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#34If you're going to go to a bar and socialize, get a low-priced single malt scotch, and really stretch it out. Bartenders will let you nurse a single scotch far longer than the equivalent dollar amount of beer. Also, most people's bodies recognize that scotch isn't all that good for them, so you will feel biological pressure to not drink very much at all.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#35Congratulations on taking the big jump and going on a new adventure! I'm hoping to be in a similar situation in the future (uni student with a gap of up to 7 months because I'm ahead of the curriculum, and I have maybe ~€3k in savings, while living with my parents). Here's some ideas I had for myself. - Travel cheaply. I have friends in many parts of the world and hopefully some of them will let me stay with them. I…
There's really no need to freelance on a "pay what you want" basis. Just set a rate and stick to it. If you don't need the money, set the rate higher, not lower, because it will filter out projects where a) people don't understand the value you're providing or b) you're not actually providing enough value for them to justify paying you your normal rate. There's no need to do work like that, especially when you can be…
Amen on the freelancing. Most people judge contractors the same way they judge wine: they look at the sticker price and figure it's meaningful. The more you charge, the better your clients listen to you. Which often means the better you can serve them.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#36I'm a recent graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK; If classical guitar is something that interests you music-wise, I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction. alir3142@gmail.com
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#37There's a meta-rule that's been very helpful to me: never change today's rules.
For example, for the last 6 months I've been changing what I eat. Sometimes the rules I've picked seem like such a good idea, but turn out to be really challenging. Does that mean I've been too optimistic setting my goals? Or just that I'm in the middle of useful struggle?
By deciding that I'll only change tomorrow's rules, never today's, it makes habit-building a lot easier. If I booked myself 5 hours of music per day this week, then by gum it'll be 5 hours today. But I'm allowed to say, "Tomorrow, though, fuck it."
This constrains my rule-hacking powers in a way that keeps me from undermining my progress when things get hard.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#38Since you're interested in both, one possibility would be to somehow combine your interest in music with your curiosity about programming (especially if you're into electronic music). Something like SuperCollider/Overtone or, if Python is your thing, maybe https://code.google.com/p/pyo/. You might not be able to rush through the docs at CodeAcademy-pace, but -- who knows where you'll end up? Also, having a project you're personally invested in (which is usually the case when music is involved) is incredibly helpful when learning new stuff; there is always something to do.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#39I just did this. Learn piano. If you suck, write code that will make it faster to learn. (off the top of my head: write a midi filter that only permits keystrokes that are onbeat, and makes a fart sound if you miss.)
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#40Get a good kitchen set and starting making your own meals. Spend two weeks where you make every meal you eat, so you break the habit of eating out. Also continue to surround yourself with fantastic people, it will keep you from getting depressed. Exercise (jogging, especially) is a very economical and beneficial pastime. Start that as soon as possible.
> Get a good kitchen set and starting making your own meals. Spend two weeks where you make every meal you eat, so you break the habit of eating out.
How would you suggest doing this? Both in terms of learning cooking techniques as well as constructing a healthy diet for oneself?