Every choice has a cost. The cost may or may not be financial; track with me here. Ever notice how we talk about relationships? We spend time with people or invest in a relationship to create a closer bond. We use financial terms when we talk about relationships. And just like in our finances, each choice we make with our time has a cost. For example, if you are choosing to spend more time at work, you have less time to be with those you love. If you are choosing to watch TV, you are choosing not to do something else.
Let’s think about our finances for just a bit. If we go along with the thinking that every choice has a cost, then every consumer choice we make costs us (no duh, right?). But the thing is, we make choices all the time about how much we spend for our consumer choices. You can get a burger off the dollar menu at McDonald’s or you can pay $15 for a burger at a sit-down restaurant. The more expensive burger probably tastes better, but is it worth it to you? Do you want to be able to eat at the dollar menu 10 times or a sit-down restaurant once? We have a tradition we started with the kids where we go out as a family once a month to a sit-down restaurant. It’s not a super fancy place, but every month we rotate who chooses where we will eat and the kids really enjoy this and look forward to when it’s their choice. A couple years ago, one of the kids had chosen the Old Spaghetti Factory and we had a lovely meal there. But, when you have a family of five it was expensive! I had to work really hard at just breathing and letting it go knowing that it only happens once a month and the experience with the kids is worth it. Shortly after that, we had an opportunity to attend a live professional baseball game, and wanting to make it an experience to remember, we decided to grab hot dogs and drinks. Unbeknownst to us, our seats happened to be near the gourmet hot dog stand (as opposed to the regular stand). This being our first time at the stadium, we didn’t know there was a difference and just figured that stadium food was expensive. So, our “gourmet” hot dog meal ended up costing us $11 more than our meal at OSF. I nearly died, but again…suck it up as a good experience for the kids (meanwhile determining that this will never happen again *wink*). We talked with the kids about the cost of our choices and the difference between these two meals and they couldn’t believe that the hot dogs cost more, when the actual meal at OSF was so much better. It ended up being a wonderful opportunity to teach them about finance choices. Every choice has a cost. When we realize this fact, we can then begin to understand the opportunities that might be available when we make certain financial choices.
I love to go to the thrift store. I think I’m addicted to the thrill of the hunt. And, I LOVE a good deal. What’s more efficient with our money than buying something used that is WAY cheaper than when it was new? I happened to be at Goodwill one day looking for pants for work. I was minding my own business when this sweet elderly lady says to me, “You look like you wear this size; you should buy these pants. They’re really expensive, well-made pants, and you should buy them. I would if they fit me, but they don’t.” After placing the pants in my hands, she walked off. Outside of this just being a rather bizarre encounter, these ‘fancy pants’ piqued my curiosity. As it turns out, these fancy pants are made in New York City and sell for a mere $359. I paid 3.99+tax. If that isn’t cost efficiency, I don’t know what is. BAM! I have fancy pants for work that I only paid barely over 1% of the cost, and I feel like a million bucks in them. #winning
While financial efficiency is important to me and I’ll probably post more on that in the future, it’s really one of the stepping stones to creating the space for the inefficiency of love. The choices we make with our time also have a cost, just not a financial one (unless, of course, you quit your job and no longer have money coming in to live on, but you have loads of time. I’m not recommending you do that without a different plan). How you choose to spend your time has a cost and each cost limits the opportunity to use our time for something different. For instance, if you’re choosing to spend two hours on social media, then you’re losing the opportunity to spend time with those you live with (if, in fact, you live with people…I have a husband and kids, so every choice I make to spend my time doing one thing means I am making a choice to not do something else with my time). This being said, I’m an introvert, so I don’t necessarily want to be spending my time ALWAYS with people; I have to recharge my batteries. But, I want to choose wisely, so that I can maximize my time with those I love. For that which you value, you will be willing to pay a higher cost. And, in turn, you might find that some things just aren’t worth the cost—meaning that the value you place on them isn’t high enough for what it costs you.
What are the things that take up most of your time? Is it worth the cost? Any time we spend on one thing means we sacrifice that time that we could be doing something else.
Now, what is it that you value most? Is it the same answer as what you spend most of your time doing? If not, are there areas that you can be more efficient in order to free up time for what is most valuable?