I skate. Yes, actual inline skates with wheels in a row and everything. I’ve also started skateboarding, which I took up last year. I thought I'd be better at it, as I snowboard, but I guess I've yet to develop this further.
The other day, I was out at my usual smooth stretch of tarmac, practising some slightly questionable slalom moves with a friend. We’re both freelancers, just in completely different worlds. her education and music, mine solopreneurs and C-suite directors and everything in between. At some point she asked how work was going. I told her I still pick up the odd job on Fiverr. Not loads. Explaining the fees are heavy and the payment timing drags, but I keep a foot in. It brings in the occasional lead, and more importantly, it serves a purpose.
That income covers my subscriptions.
All of them, and that’s where she paused… properly interested. Instead of letting subscriptions feel like this constant drain. Netflix here, Spotify there, a few apps and something you forgot to cancel, that low-level pressure sitting in the background. I separate it. One income stream, one job, one bank account, one lane to cover that entire category.
It sounds simple, and it is simple. Mentally, it changes everything.
You’re not looking at your main income thinking it’s being chipped away from all angles. You’re not adding up ten different monthly charges in your head. You’re not feeling that quiet overwhelm that comes from “money going out everywhere.”
It’s contained. It's done. And the best bit is you still get to enjoy it all. The music, the shows, the random app you’re into three months later, and it's all without that underlying friction.
At 50, I’ve realised it’s not always about making more. Sometimes it’s about structuring what you already have in a way that keeps your head clear.
Same reason I skate, really. Not because I need to, but because it adds something. One of which that it keeps me moving. Skating gives me character.
Money should work like that too.
