Is time really money?

Of late, I have been struggling over how I use my time and the costs inherent in my choices. We are talking the fine edge of the wedge sort of stuff here. My employer get much of my prime time. My son claims another three days of the week.

And there are my friends, whom I really like and enjoy. We are generally an outgoing bunch quick to make the most of an evening. But I find being outgoing means going out a lot and my pocketbook is taking a hard hit.

But it is more than the $40 for an evening out. There is the element of time. I have set a few goals related to fitness and learning to play that extremely cool bass sitting in the corner of my living room.
The social life takes time away from the very things I have decided are important to me.

Consider my bass guitar. I saved for six months to buy it. I’m paying $80 a month for lessons and, due to my choices, I’m not setting aside the practice time needed to make real progress.

And then there are the hard costs of a great social life. Dinner, drinks, gas and parking. And I wonder why I’m not making progress on my savings goals.

Before this sounds too much like a whine, I’m going to state what must seem head-slapping obvious to most folks. I’m going to set aside an evening or two each week to exercise, play my bass and not spend money. And I’m going to have a great time the other night.

Hello again,

At last…progress! For the third straight week I’ve managed spreadsheet entry. Very satisfying. It seems there has been a breakthrough in my pattern. I’ve realized it’s sorting the receipts that’s tripping me up. The trick has been to remove the receipts from my wallet daily and sort them while there are only a few. Even letting them build up to one week’s worth feels daunting and time-consuming to deal with. Sorting daily means that when I sit down to do the actual data entry, it’s simply a matter of punching up the total of each pile and entering those totals in the spreadsheet - which I find painless.

Sorting the receipts is not difficult work, it’ just something I really don’t enjoy…it’s tedious and boring to me. So by keeping the piles very small (and I mean my sort literally takes 30 seconds from one day´s receipts), it really IS painless! Exploring this obstacle in my blog and sharing my struggle openly with my fellow YMbD classmates has been very helpful by allowing me to make a conscious assessment of the situation. Instead of coming up against a wall of negativity about my inability to have a continuous routine and then forsaking the effort altogether, I examined all parts of the equation. By persisting with the exercise even though I was really disliking it, I was able to pinpoint EXACTLY which part was causing me difficulty. I’m recognizing that this particular pattern crops up with continuity (or more rightly, lack thereof) in MANY of the routines I’ve tried to establish in my life - not only financially. I dislike sorting, therefore I dislike a lot of routines that involve that: laundry, dishes, clearing mail/bills/paper and other clutter that collects in my home.
In my last blog I wrote about my coach setting a timer for 15 mins. to do spreadsheet entry and at the end of that 15 minutes, no matter what point she was at, she could stop. You might remember that I said I wasn’t sure that this strategy could work for me….well last week after my spreadsheet entry, I took the time to read a website recommended to me two months ago by my coach called www.flylady.net. The principles on that site are basically the ones I’m writing about here: break the task down into more manageable bite size (15 minute) pieces to get through it. This can apply to ANY job which feels overwhelming, whether spreadsheet entry or clearing clutter! I realize this seems like a painfully obvious suggestion, but I didn’t realize how empowered I could be by using it.

For the past week I’ve been setting a timer to spend 15 minutes doing many “routine” things I usually dislike doing. Avoiding those routines has the result of making my home and my life messy and chaotic. 15 minutes - even for an unpleasant task - is very manageable for me. Using that strategy in the past week meant I’ve managed to make my bed, have my dishes done, and have a clean kitchen and bathroom EVERY DAY. The the house has been vacuumed, I’ve sent a few clothes off to charity, I’ve cleared off my bedside table and fridge top for the first time in months. Every day I’m spending 15 minutes on one task that hasn’t seen the light of day, in some cases, for YEARS!

This means I’m clearing the clutter in my life on MANY levels simultaneously. It started with my money but it’s rapidly spreading to the rest of my life and WOW it feels fantastic!!

I encourage you to use the same “15 minute” strategy for whatever might be overwhelming YOU today. Take 15 minutes to check out www.flylady.net. It doesn’t cost a cent…and as I’ve said before, what you might gain in insight and personal growth may be priceless!

Cheers,
Kat

Caving-in for peace of mind

A month or so ago, I recounted my sad, sad tale of dealing with a series of extra bills I could have planned in advance for, but didn’t.

These bills included my annual contribution towards the financial well-being of ICBC, my son’s summer camp fees, inline roller hockey fees and next season’s soccer and ice-hockey fees. Without dipping into debt or long term savings, I had 90% of the grand total paid, in part by cutting back on fun spending.

And then the unexpected happened. My car mechanic needed an extra $700 to fix my brakes. This blew my brilliantly-conceived plan to little bits. Once I realized I would not be able to handle this without using debt or dipping into long-term savings, I did what any sensible guy would do: I bought a barbecue.

I’m not saying that is the financially prudent thing to do. And if I was more disciplined I would never have bought a “wanted” as opposed to a “needed” item with outstanding bills on hand. However, my son and I had a wonderful time making our first batch of burgers. I’ll cover the bills using savings, remember that my son has opportunities as a result and that I have a safe car to get him there.

I can live with this…

Hello again, all. Happily, I did manage to complete the spreadsheet, although not at the time I’d set aside for it. Two weeks in a row the dedicated time I had chosen for money management was not workable so I’m adjusting and choosing a new day and time. It helped to hear that even my coach struggles with this process at times and she shared something very valuable with me: she sets aside 15 minutes per day and does as much as can be done in that time. She actually sets a timer and when it goes off, no matter what point she’s at, she stops and goes on with the rest of her day.

That has a potential pitfall for me from the standpoint that I really have a hard time leaving things half done…however, I can also see that in this way she’s creating a very regular habit and she lets herself off the hook at the end of that 15 mins. so it doesn’t become all-consuming. A second strategy she uses is to call a buddy at the appointed time and say, “Are you ready? Let’s go!”. Then they each do their 15 mins. of money management (spreadsheet entry, or whatever) and call back when they’ve finished. That’s a strategy I could see working very well because it involves accountability - supporting and being supported by someone else who’s going through the same process. I don’t know about you, but for me it really DOES seem to help to know I’m not alone!

Tonite before I wrote my blog, I sat down and sorted the receipts I’ve gathered just since doing my spreadsheet last week. It’s been only 4 days but already I have about a dozen receipts. It was much easier to sort out a dozen than a month’s worth! I’ve realized since last week that my resistance to tracking these expenses is that I simply do not want to acknowledge my spending habits right now. I’m feeling a familiar feeling of not earning enough money to live the way I really would like to live and while I am working on reaching bigger long-term goals related to my income, I’ve been in this place before and it’s just not comfortable. So I’ll be talking with my coach about how to manage this feeling of “being where I am” while working on where I intend to go in the long term.

I am continuing to be aware of treating myself gently, with kindness and respect. I’m learning to observe and witness my thoughts and actions as opposed to analyzing them critically. It makes a huge difference to how I feel about myself and my efforts. When I simply see without judgment, I can develop understanding. This allows me to self-manage productively, as opposed to suffering from “paralysis by analysis”. Let’s face it, beating myself up about not doing this process perfectly or not being where I think I “should” be, does not get me any closer to the goal - it only serves to reinforce negative feelings I’m already experiencing. When I am honest about what is true for me and then act accordingly, I am acknowledging my humanity. This allows me to see clearly how I am developing and maturing. For me, that is evidence of personal growth and what I gain from that is priceless.

-Kat