Uncommon Cents

I gave up television a few years ago. Just gave it up. I had been to the point where the only thing I would watch would be sports (well, and pseudo sports) anyway, and when my mother’s television died, I just gave her mine.

It was the best thing I ever did.

While I had reached the point where I was down to a handful of hours of television viewing a week, the average household has the television on over 6 hours a day.

One of the things I learned is I came to appreciate silence, which explains why I often have earbuds in and not connected to any music device–I just want more quiet. And since then I’ve become acutely aware of some of the odd behavior related to television I see around me.

For instance, my sister–who is definitely in that 6 plus hour per day viewing category–regularly watches shows with my ten year old niece that make me shudder. Shows about teenage pregnancy or with sexual innuendo–intermixed with Scooby Doo.

What is she thinking? She’s not thinking. She’s numb.

It appears to me that’s a sad outcome of too many years of excessive television viewing.

Time is money–this is an age old adage that is undeniably true. Yes, I believe in (and to some extent participate in) volunteer work, but I would not be hanging out at a hospital 40 hours or more a week just because it made me feel better about myself.

We also pay out money in exchange for time. For instance, when I pay someone to do something I am perfectly capable of doing–for instance, unclog my shower drain–I’m doing it because of the increased convenience for me, as I’ll spend my time elsewhere.

However, in that same case, if I’m not capable of doing the drain unplugging, I’m not exchange the money for time; I’m exchanging it for expertise. I don’t know how (or don’t have the proper tools) to unclog the drain, so I’m paying someone else to do it.

For the most part, I’m willing to exchange money for expertise–I cannot, for instance, service my truck’s air conditioning system without some expensive tools I do not have access to right now. But I’m not so willing to do so for just time; I can wash my truck all by myself, thanks.

Now, there are times I would be willing to exchange money for time–if, for instance, I can get someone to paint my house for a reasonable amount, I might do that, because while I can paint my house, it takes a lot of time that I don’t have. But for the most part, I’m more willing to exchange money for expertise than for time, meaning that the more expertise I get in certain areas, the more likely I am to need to pay money out for it.

What if I told you that the tools you need to manage your time can be had for free? During the parenting class I teach to those who are often challenged on many fronts, we have a lesson on time management. I tell the students that they need three tools to manage their time at a minimum: a calendar, an action list (some call this a to do list), and a pen.

Interestingly, over 50% of the students cannot produce for me any of the three.

I wonder from time to time how much of the barriers of these things is cost. Yet this year, I’ve received at least five calendars as essentially free gifts from businesses that my employer have relationships with.

Free.

In past years, I’ve given these away to some of my students, but very few of them have actually used them. It’s not stopping me from doing so. At least if I give them the tools of time management, maybe some of them will actually use them.

If Stephen Covey’s greatest contribution to time management is the concept of prioritizing by what’s important–how much something means to you–and what’s critical–when something must be completed by–shopping for your holiday gifts (something I’m completing this weekend) is the perfect example of prioritizing.

Since dollars are always limited, we prioritize our gift giving by importance–who is currently important in your life? Perhaps people you don’t see very often anymore fall off, but new acquaintances get added on. This is the way we make decisions about who gets a gift and who doesn’t. Perhaps the neighbors don’t get gifts but the mailman does–that shows what (and who) you consider important.

The critical part of things has to do with deadlines. We have a very clear deadline for this kind of shopping: close of business December 24th; if it becomes Christmas morning and we have unpurchased gifts, people get checks or whatever 7-11 happens to have in stock that day (instant ramen anyone?).

One of the points made by the late Randy Pausch was that as things get more critical, the “time is money” principle really comes into effect: as time gets short, it gets very expensive to do things. If I know in advance that I am getting, say, a bike jersey as a gift for someone, I have a lot of time to get it for about $15-$25 from a vendor like Performance Bike; if I’m down to a day or two, I’m left with options locally that are about $70! That’s somewhat of an extreme example, but we’re talking almost triple to quintuple the price.

As I’m down to less than a week to finish with my shopping, I may have missed some of the best deals, but I still have a pretty decent plan. I’m hoping that I don’t run into absolutely critical situations, but it’s certainly possible I will, so we’ll see how things play out. Here’s hoping you don’t run into something critical with under a week to go!

Randy Pausch’s lesser known but very valuable video on time management mentions that if he’s asking someone about their budget, the person being asked typically thinks about their monetary budget, but he is more likely to mean their time budget. His underlying belief is that you can always make more money, but you can never recover squandered time.

He’s correct.

Time is the most important commodity we have. We can never make up for lost time–once it’s gone, it’s gone forever, and in the case of someone like Pausch, he could appreciate his incredibly short amount of remaining time. But the reality is, we’re all dying, and many times we have no idea of its approach, so making the most of time isn’t something for just a few–it’s for everyone.

Yes, money is important–to say it’s not is romantic but unrealistic. But time is what really matters. Time isn’t just money–it’s more precious.

My money budget has been okay recently, even though my crazy schedule has put me onto somewhat of an autopilot mode. However, my crazy schedule has destroyed my time budget, and that’s what I need to take back.

I’m not sure how much I’m going to blog about it here, but right now, my time budget totally outweighs my money budget.

It’s often difficult to say no to other people’s requests. Requests from bosses, coworkers, family, friends, and almost anyone else seem to happen on a daily basis–if not more frequently. Often these have nothing to do with what is in line with our own goals, unless one of them is to be helpful and benevolent to others.

Many people feel guilty saying no, often including myself. It’s a powerful word, so often we try to find other ways to say no without being direct, like making up excuses or delaying answering until too late.

However, saying no is the better thing to do. It’s braver. It tells people exactly where we stand, rather than hinting about it. There are no mysteries involved, and it makes things clear for both ourselves and the other parties.

I’m going to practice saying, “No,” a few times this week. Hopefully I can do it.

I’m in semi-hermit mode this weekend. The last two weekends–pretty much the only time off I have–were not really mine. I had the century (then the long recovery from the century) two weekends ago, and last weekend I had a wedding on Saturday evening far from home–by my standards, anyway–then a birthday party on Sunday where I was one half of the official photography crew.

Time became a premium, and I fell drastically out of routine.

How am I getting back on track? This weekend I don’t have any other serious obligations, so I’m spending it mostly alone, trying to catch up on this blog, my other blog, and some other responsibilities. The truck badly needs to be cleaned and so does the house.

My form of selfishness is to not share my time off with others. I don’t really like to be selfish, but this is apparently one of those times. Hopefully by the time I sleep on Sunday things will be much more to my liking.

Stephen Covey’s work has been groundbreaking in terms of time management and productivity. Instead of the epic Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (which I’ve listened to before), Put First Things First is just a one disc audiobook that focuses on ways to prioritize.

Using Covey’s groundbreaking but now classic system of prioritizing by importance and urgency, the reader is guided through a series of exercises and examples on prioritizing. Covey continues to emphasize how efficiency and effectiveness are not the same thing and how it’s important to be efficient with things and tasks but to be effective with people.

I’m not sure if this is the most important part of Covey’s work, but it’s definitely important to understand how to prioritize tasks. This is something I’m still learning and may never really master. I appreciate the work here, but my feeling is that it’s a secondary work to the original Seven Habits. However, if you’ve listened to (or even read!) that book, this one is definitely worth listening to. Whether it’s worth the price or not I’m less sure, because–like so many other books I’ve listened to or read, I borrowed it from the library. It is, however, definitely enjoyable if you’ve done much of any work with time management.

Welcome to your it’s even busier than ever Link Payday for August 23, 2009. I keep hoping for a break but it’s busier than ever! Not our latest version ever, but we’re a few days behind here in looking at the best of the personal finance blogosphere over the last few weeks:

Ron over at The Wisdom Journal tells us what are The REAL Top Money Drains. Interestingly, lots of these are surprising to many (but not so much to me) such as houses and cars.

My Canadian buddy Squawkfox, always practical, gives us a lesson in dusting with 4 Swiffer Cleaning Hacks for Cheaper Dust-Free Living. My mother is a Swiffer fan, so I’ll be bringing this one to her attention.

Mrs. Micah looks at the ages old statement–100% true–that time is money but takes a bit of a twist on it when she tells us how to Spend Time to Save Money. This is something the frugal among us often have issues with–and it’s something I need to learn about, for sure.

Spilling Buckets says something those of us in health care know, but don’t really say, which is that The Health Debate Isn’t About Health At All. Yes, it’s about dollars. Just like almost everything else.

And finally, The Frugal Duchess gives us a little look into retail as a Sales Clerk Offers Inside View: ‘We’re Supposed to Befriend Kids’. When I worked retail I wasn’t told this, but it doesn’t surprise me at all.

And that’s our Link Payday for August 23, 2009!

This is a cross post from one of my other blogs, The Athletic Diabetic, which is about diabetes and exercise. It does have a bit to do with finance, just in the sense of managing time and health care, so I thought I would share it here. If you are interested in subscribing to The Athletic Diabetic, click here for its RSS feed.

There’s no question there’s a cost to working out. In some cases it’s a cost for materials or equipment–a bicycle, for instance. A helmet. Cycling cleats. Pedals. Running shoes. Sunglasses. Headbands. Even the lowest cost sport I participate in–swimming–costs me money in terms of goggles, towels, and shorts (not that I didn’t have the last two, but they are still expenses). When I enter an organized event like the marathon or century or Great Aloha Run, I pay money for that as well.

There’s also a substantial time cost to working out. Time is money, and time is not a commodity that can be replaced–it’s precious. So any time I spend on a workout is time that I spend away from this blog, for instance, or with my aging mother, or my nine year old niece, or from any of a million other projects that are calling to me. It can get expensive both in time and dollars, and as a guy who also runs a personal finance blog, I can certainly appreciate that.

But perhaps the way to look at my investment here is not what it costs me to work out–but what it would cost me not to work out.

In my eyes, exercise is one of the three sections of the triangle of health: diet, exercise, medical care. If I stopped, I would be okay–for awhile. But I’d be much more likely to have issues with my weight and strength, for instance, and maybe need more medication as well. I could compensate some with diet–but not entirely, because no amount of diet management is going to make me markedly stronger, more flexible, or have better lung capacity.

Interestingly, a recent CNN Money story states that prevention won’t save health care (I have to look at this very closely), but that instead, prevention–which includes weight management, exercise, proper diet, and other tasks to try to maintain your health–increases your quality of life.

Having worked for years with folks who were reaching the end of their time on earth–even those who are very young–I can tell you that quality of life matters. Even if I’m not gaining any time in terms of the length of my life, if I can go longer with my vision, my kidneys, and my limbs intact, I think the investment I’m making is well worth it.