While I was away on vacation I missed the huge announcement from J.D. of Get Rich Slowly. He’s quitting his day job to pursue his dreams of writing. If that sounds a little familiar perhaps it should. He’s also launching a health site called Get Fit Slowly, which might not seem too unfamiliar to those of you who read Lazy Man and Health. We are both making the change for the reason, to get more time back in our lives.

That’s where the similarities end. J.D. earns around $5,000 a month in revenue from Get Rich Slowly. That’s significantly more the $1,375 that I made last month from all my alternative income sources. This should come as no surprise to many people as he has over 36,000 people subscribed to his blog. By the time you read this, I might have 1,500. In his announcement, A list bloggers from all over the blogosphere have stopped to bring support. I can’t even seem to garner a mention in a book about personal finance blogging.

There are many reasons why J.D. has been more a popular blogger than myself. If you read the article I mentioned above, you can tell he’s a fantastic writer. He’s also done his homework. He’s got a plan and has done the preparation. He’s done all the right things like determine if the math works out. I did a little rough math, but it’s far comprehensive. I’ve been embracing frugality for quite some time now. I do occasionally splurge and buy something like a Roomba vacuum, but I make sure I buy it off of Craigslist. That way I can resell it for what I paid, if there’s a need.

I apologize if the title was a little misleading. He’s phasing out his job over time. I also don’t mean to imply that blogging is a substitute for a day job. I’ve been at it 18 months and I’m looking at around $15,000 after tax. That is working about 40 hours a week. And I consider myself very lucky to be making the money I am.

Ever since I’ve stopped working at my day job, everyday conversations with friends have gotten difficult. You don’t notice the number of times that people nonchalantly as how your job is going – until you are jobless. It’s as if they are saying, “How are you doing?”, without expecting to get a long, detailed answer. However, the last few times I have been asked that, they have been quite surprised.

I really don’t know how to answer the questions of “How’s Work?” or “What do you do?” I try to say, “I was asked to resign, but I was looking to quit anyway”, but people assume that to be a negative life circumstance. I start to hear things like, “I’m sorry” and “Wow I didn’t know…” You’d think that someone close to me just died.

The next question is the all-too-obvious, “How’s the job search going?” How do I tell them that I’m not looking for another job? I tried that with one friend and he seemed ready to check me into an psychiatric hospital. I can’t tell them about my alternative income or my blogs and remain anonymous. I realize I must sound like I spend my days wallowing in a Cheeto powder mess watching TV.

I haven’t told my mom about my job situation since she’d have the same reaction as my friends. She’d probably offer to try to help out risking her own retirement income. Is there anyway to break people’s preconceived notions that you must have a job?

[This is a guest post from my wife. I’ve add a couple of editor’s notes here and there.]

When Lazy Man first broke the news that his employer had decided to separate ways with him, I instantaneously began the 5 stages of grief:

• Shock ““ Denial (What! You don’t have a job! It can’t be, this is not happening!)
• Anger (That stupid *@#$% company, no warning, @#%#% them!)
• Bargaining (Can you fight it?)
• Depression (Poor Lazy Man, Poor Energi Gal, What are we going to do?)

In less than a week, I have reached Acceptance stage and it is a nice feeling. I told Lazy Man that I wanted to write on his blog why this can be and is a good thing.

So here is Energi Gal’s top ten ways that Lazy Man not working is okay with me.

1. Lazy Man is home when I get home. He used to come home at 7:30pm and in an hour I was starting to fall asleep. I come home at 5:30pm and we have more time together.
2. Chores are done during the week, dishes are clean, house is vacuumed
3. This company paid for lunch and dinner everyday at a restaurant, Lazy Man will be losing weight have a healthier lifestyle eating wise.
4. We are more conscious of our spending. We were at a bar last Sunday watching football (since we can’t watch our team at home) and we watched how many 2 dollar Miller Lites and sodas we got.
5. Lazy Man always told me that he felt like he didn’t belong there, we went to the company picnic and honestly, I didn’t like anyone there. I thought everyone was snooty (That “smart snooty”, like I dress like I went to Salvation Army to buy my clothes, but I am WWWAAAAYYY smarter than you, and I will prove it to you as we have a social conversation)
6. I travel on business and have a lot of vacation time with my job, now Lazy Man can come too! [Editor’s note: …but I probably won’t since traveling is expensive]
7. We are not destitute, I make 6 figures. I think about all the stay-at-home Moms and single parents and we don’t even have kids! [Editor’s note: I make a bit of alternative income as well.]
8. Lazy Man can now pursue his dream to be a writer- how many people get that chance? [Editor’s note: I’m not sure my dream is to be a writer. I enjoy it for now.]
9. Lazy Man believes over the long term he can make more from exploring other business opportunities and blogging might just be a small part of that.
10. Lazy Man is happy and that is the best reason of all!!

Lazy Man promised me that he would not get depressed and grow a long beard and sit on our couch until his butt imprint appears – and so far that has not happened, this is a day by day thing and we take it like that! Editor’s note: I couldn’t say it better myself.

For those who haven’t read, yesterday I was asked to resign from my day job. Today is the first day being “job free”, even if it wasn’t exactly by choice.

I’m a lot happier than I thought I’d be. In fact, I’ve never felt so free. This could fade or get old, but right now, it’s new and exciting. My wife is concerned that I’m not crying in the corner. I can’t understand how crying in a corner would be a good thing. Fill in your own life and lemonade quote here.

My wife joked that I could be a stay at home dad. I reminded her that we don’t have kids. She said we could adopt one. That doesn’t strike me as the best reason to adopt, but it was a fun exchange nonetheless.

Our kitchen has never been so clean. My wife’s coffee is already ready for tomorrow.

Tap water with ice is the new Diet Coke.

The 18 things that I wanted to do with Lazy Man and Money should be down to about 3 by the middle of the week.

Rather than fill the dishwasher up completely with a few big pots, I’ll clean them with elbow grease. That seems like a money savings – even if it’s just a couple of pennies.

If I wear these clothes for 3 days without washing them how much money do I save. I’m kidding…

We have VCR tapes in a bookcase in the living room. I haven’t hooked up the VCR since we moved here a year ago. Maybe it’s time to purge things a bit.

I deliberately have avoided Monster.com today. It’s been calling me a bit, but I feel like I need one day to decompress and get other things in my life that have been piling up done.

I’m heading to Wal-Mart in a few minutes to stock up on quite a few things.

I’m excited that I paid off my HELOC a couple of days ago. That’s interest that I don’t have to pay back each month.