Spend Money and Time Wisely

“Sometimes I have more time than money… sometimes I have more money than time.”

This little saying has saved my sanity on more than one occasion.  A busy family schedule with plenty of work, two young kids, and businesses to run doesn’t exactly lend itself to doing everything ourselves, every time.  And while I absolutely believe in DIY and elbow grease, let’s face it.  There are only so many hours in a day!

So what does this mean to us?  It means that we carefully pick and choose where we spend our money, but when the occasion arises, we are more than willing to throw a little money at a problem!  And we are fortunate enough to be comfortable enough to do so.  It takes work to make sure you are living within your means, but once you do so, it can offer freedom that you just don’t have when you are spending more than you make.  Once you get to a point that you have room in your budget, you can make decisions that help make room for your happiness.

Here’s how it works.  Love gardening?  Landscaping service too pricey?  Roll up your sleeves, get dirty and enjoy the fruits of your labour all summer long.  You, my dear, have more time than money in this instance.  But don’t you fret, before you know it, you’re looking at your bathrooms and floors and thinking, dear God, are they dirty again?  Oh yes, they are, and lucky you, this time you have more money than time.  Find yourself someone reliable to come take it off your hands.  Oh, yes, you can.  There’s nothing in any definition of wife, mummy or any other role you fill that says you need to clean toilets if you don’t want to.

When you start taking stock like this, it becomes very easy to handle anything and everything that comes up in your path.  Your time is valuable, and you have a lot of great things in your life to spend it on.  Family, friends, fulfilling work and yes, even some rest.  So, find work that fills you up, manage the dollars that come in… and use them to create the life you want. 

Do what you love.  Yes, even the DIY stuff.  But don’t be afraid to let any of it go to make room for living. 

This piece was originally published by The Yummy Mummy Club, a great website created by Erica Ehm.  Fun for yummy mummies (and delicious daddies)! 

 http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/how_to_spend_money_and_time_wisely