My Top Tips to Turn Unemployment Into Funemployment

My Funemployment Story

One morning early in the pandemic, I got a 20 minute meeting invite from my boss's boss and we all know what that means.  I drafted my goodbye email to my colleagues, cleared personal files off my computer, backed up my contacts, called a friend to get a refresher on how the meeting would go and what questions I should ask, and started wrapping up my work.  A few hours later, I joined the meeting and, shocker, HR was there.  It was straightforward, boss's boss told me my work was exceptional and this had nothing to do with me (which is true), and the terms were actually pretty good.  I sent my goodbye email, closed my laptop, and sat in my reading nook, reading the nice emails my now former coworkers were sending me.  I was sad for a good 30 minutes, and then that was it.  Like I said on my Career page, I like my job, but I don't love my job.  My job is not a huge part of my identity nor does it have much impact on my self-worth (thanks, decade of therapy!), and I was now free to do anything I wanted (within the limits of a pandemic).  

Thanks to how I structure my life and finances, I have always lived way below my means.  So when I ran the numbers, I was essentially free and clear for the next 5 years.  10 years if I wanted to sell some stock. I decided not to go back to work until I was ready and had accomplished everything I had wanted to do but was too busy.  That ended up being 18 months.  I got to experience what retirement would be like, and it was *magical*.  Friends told me they had never seen me so happy and relaxed.  I know not everyone has the opportunity to do this, but if you have a chance,  even for a few months, you should take it.  This was a 10/10 experience.  

Assessing Your Situation

To figure out how much runway you have, create a cash flow spreadsheet.  I added all of my expenses like my mortgage, insurance, food, internet, cleaning person, nails, etc.  I added my COBRA payment for months 7+, because I got 6 months of health insurance from my former employer. Then I worked out my available cash and the money I had coming in from unemployment payments and severance.  

Once you know how long you can comfortably go without working, you can start figuring out how you want to spend that break.  

Creating your To Do List

Do a brain dump of everything you've ever wanted to do but never had time for.  I initially had 71 things on my list, and it grew to about 130 things.  These things could include:

I made a Trello board and mapped out what I wanted to accomplish in the first 6 months, which I later extended to 12 months, and then when I still wasn't ready to go back, 18 months.  

I completed 114 things on my list during my Funemployment, including: 

Daily Routine

The number one question people asked me was: what did I do all day?  Here's my recommended daily schedule:


*I woke up at noon and went to bed at 4am the entire time because I'm a night owl and that's what feels right to me.  Since I know that is not most peoples preferred schedule, I reordered my daily activities to fit a more normal wake up time.