Prioritize Time to Make and Save More Money

Any person who finds themselves abruptly with considerably less time, will notice pockets of wasted time. For me, that was when I became a mother. It was no longer my time anymore. It was time to be shared with my daughter and family. An hour long commute seemed exceedingly painful. Not getting home until after 7 pm was regrettable. Weekends filled with commitments left me feeling exhausted. I now view time as my ultimate currency for life. Time is more important than money, or success. If you change your currency to time, you’ll prioritize your life. In doing so, you’ll also save and make more money.

Wastes of Time

Just as we have habits that waste money, we have habits that waste time. For example, buying unnecessary stuff is a waste of time and also a waste of money. Let me show you why. First you have to go to the store. Then you have to browse the products there. Then you have to make a decision. Bring the stuff home. Get bored of the stuff. Organize your stuff and put it into storage, which costs money. Decide to have a garage sale to sell the stuff. Label the stuff. Then, waste your weekend at the garage sale, selling the stuff no one wants. It takes a lot of time to have stuff, and so it’s an easy decision to have less stuff because it’s actually time and money wasted possessing that stuff. 🙂

Prioritize Time to Make and Save Money

Another waste of time is the amount of time spent consuming media. One of the biggest dilemmas I face with writing a blog is not the amount of time I spend writing, because that time I enjoy, but the amount of time I have to spend on social media. I don’t want to write a blog if nobody reads it, so I have to use social media to promote it, but sometimes it sucks the life out of me. It’s a trade off, like written about in the book Essentialism.

I wrote a blog post about setting boundaries with news media as well. You can easily get sucked into the headlines that are written to strike fear and sensationalized to get clicks. You then can spend 30 minutes reading through an article while getting angry! I’m not saying stay uninformed, but just don’t waste your prioritized time feeling overwhelmed by news media.

Another complete waste of time is driving. It costs money to drive and more importantly it costs time. Obviously, we live in America and you can’t just stop driving all together, or maybe you can if you live in a major city with public transportation. Luckily for me, my commute was eliminated as I now work from home, but I used to spend 2 hours every day in a car. That’s 10 hours a week! That’s a lot of time.

Solutions to Stop Wasting Time On Stuff

Don’t be too discouraged. There are a myriad of solutions to help save you time. The trick is just being aware of how you spend your time, and you will eventually block out wastes of time and instead prioritize time well spent.

Here are some easy solutions to the three big time wasters – stuff, media, and driving

Don’t buy as much stuff

Time is More Important Than Money

Just don’t buy as much stuff. Don’t bring it in your home and you won’t have to organize it, put it away, put it in storage or try to sell it later. You can follow the minimalist rule: one in and one out, also written about in Rose Lounsbury’s book Less: Minimalism for Real. If you buy a new item of clothing, as a consequence, donate a piece that you no longer wear.

Shop online

I haven’t been shopping for clothes this year due to our #debtfreejourney, but when I do, I shop for them online. Shoes are easy to purchase online because typically the fit is standard. Instead of taking yourself to the store, order online, in the comfort of your own home. If you’re into consignment shopping, Poshmark is a great online consignment store where you pay and review the owner’s apparel directly.

Keep a list

If you need something, write it down first. Then think about it for a while. Stick the list on your fridge. Ask yourself do you really need this item? Will it save you time? Will you use it? If you do, then make sure you buy only what’s on your list. You’ll halt almost all the impulse purchases you would have been prey to, which saves you money.

Solutions to Stop Wasting Time on Media

Photo by George Morgan on Unsplash

There are ways to take back your time freedom with media. Remember, media can be anything from the nightly news, scrolling through Facebook, or reading blogs.  Here are a few solutions. I also wrote about media boundaries in a few other posts.

1. Create Boundaries – Create some rules that you’ll follow. For example, avoid being on social media early in the morning when your brain is its most productive. Try to save it for when you are most tired, like after 3 pm.
2. Avoid “browsing” news media websites – Instead block out time spent to keep you informed of current events, and avoid fear provoking headlines.
3. Schedule a Social Media Detox – Once or twice a year give yourself a month to detox from social media. It will save you time, and help you be mindful of your social media habits.

Solutions to Stop Wasting Time Driving

Bike to Work

Photo by Fernando Meloni on Unsplash

How does biking to work help you save time? Well, it counts as a workout! Plus, it leaves you energized, instead of sluggish in the morning, probably making you more productive. This habit will also save you money.

Carpool

I loved my carpool when I was commuting as a teacher. Some of my best friends were formed in that carpool. Not only did my commute time become more enjoyable, I could actually would get work done in the car, or just read and relax. You also save money, which in turn saves you time.

Batch places to drive to

If you know you need to head across town for something, wait until you know you have to do two activities in the same area. This is easier said than done, but will save you time and money.

Consider a work from home job

There is a market for virtual assistants, consider these for your side-hustles. Also, I’m a teacher and I exclusively work from home now. I did this specifically to save time, and now I make about the same as I did in a brick and mortar classroom, and I eliminated 10 hours a week spent driving. You may not think a job for you exists in a “work from home” environment, but there are a lot of options out there. Investigate for yourself. You could even ask for a few days a week to work from home at your current position.

Work closer to where you live

Try to find a job that is actually closer to where you live. This requires making some changes, but the economy is great. There is a middle school across the street from where I live. I plan to work there in about 5 years. I’m not joking. I want to work there because it will take me 5 minutes to walk to work. Calculate how much time you actually spend in a car every week and motivate yourself with these numbers. It does add up, and it could be time better spent, and money better saved.

Prioritize Time Spent Being Happy

Photo by nikldn on Unsplash

Obviously if time is the ultimate currency of life, then time spent being happy is your goal. How does one spend time happily?  I love waking up up on Saturdays, morning sunshine streaming through the windows, my husband cooking pancakes, blaring Chris Stapleton, while my daughter dances. Then we decide what to do for the day. It’s the freedom of choosing an entire day. Could you put a price tag on that moment?

When you have more time you don’t have to hurry up and be entertained, which saves you money. People are so stressed by the weekend that they fill it full of “fun” things to do, drink too much alcohol, and then feel exhausted by Monday morning. Filling up time with entertainment, I think is actually a reaction to having too little time. In Laura Vanderkam’s book Off the Clock she suggests giving yourself time throughout the week, so by the time the weekend hits you don’t feel like you have to cram every bit of entertainment into two days, and spend more money.

Time as Currency = Higher Paycheck

Thinking of time as my currency has changed my perspective in my career as well. If I’m going to be away working on an extra project, I better be getting paid well for it, or really enjoy it. It’s actually made me more assertive and affected my paycheck positively.

TIME IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY

Why Time is More Important Than Money

It’s no surprise our family is on a #debtfreejourney, and making more money is a topic of conversation and a goal of ours. However, it’s easy to make more money. (Disclaimer: As long as you’re above the poverty line. I think we all are aware that a single mom in poverty has many challenges, and making more money would be one of many.) You can get as many side-hustles as you want, or get another job. Sell stuff. Pick up projects at your current job. It’s making more money, while also not using up all your free time that is really what we’re after. You see it’s not just about money. It’s about making your money give you more time.

My husband and I arrived at this epiphany recently. We actually don’t want a giant house. We don’t want the nicest cars. You know what we want? Time. We want time to watch our daughter grow, plant a garden, hunt and fish, volunteer, create, engage in hobbies like writing and reading. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to make money. We want simply enough money.

I think one of the reasons that money or success is prioritized over time is because it’s easily comparable. You can tell how expensive someone’s clothes, shoes, car or house are just by looking at them. However, you can’t tell by looking at them how well they prioritize their time, how much they spend it with close friends and family, or how happy they are.

Overconsumption seems like a never ending game that we Americans especially have been blindly playing. Keeping up with the Joneses could keep you in a cycle of negative thinking when money is your most important currency, constantly comparing your lifestyle to that of your neighbor’s. I’m not suggesting that we all wear uniforms and call each other comrades to avoid comparisons. Some people make more money. Some people don’t, but you should decide on what you think is “enough” money, and then prioritize time off. That number will be different for every situation, and at every moment in life, but avoid making decisions based on what other people have. Comparing your own situation to the Joneses will only keep you on that “make more money for more stuff” treadmill and consequently make you time poor.

In the book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress author Steven Pinker explains that “if a person lives a long, healthy, pleasurable, and stimulating life, then how much money the Joneses earn, how big their home is and how many cars they drive are morally irrelevant.” Morally speaking, It’s not important that everyone has the same, or that you compete for the nicest things, but more important that everyone has enough. Make a plan to make enough money, and then prioritize your time.

FINAL WORDS

Grandma Took This Picture 🙂

When you think of time as your currency you start to prioritize how you like spending it. To be honest, much of the time I spend working is enjoyable, and bonus I get paid for that! However, would I like to have even more time off during the summer, cut my hours to care for my daughter, or have the freedom to travel and visit family? Yes, so those are goals we’re striving for, but I’m not working extra hours to buy a brand new car, a bigger house, or more clothes. Nah, I’ve stepped off that treadmill.

I hope this post has made you think differently about money and time. That in fact, time should be the priority, and that there are plenty of ways we squander it through our habits. Also, that when we prioritize time, we might end up saving or making more money.

You should follow me on Instagram and Pinterest, like my Facebook page and subscribe to this blog!

Sources:

Pinker, Steven. ENLIGHTENMENT NOW: the Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.         Penguin Books, 2019.

Vanderkam, Laura. Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done. Portfolio/Penguin, 2018.