Often people say they don’t have time to do money saving activities- they’re just too busy.

I empathize with how full life can be – overwhelmingly full, even.

There are two parts to my response.

The first is that very few people are completely honest with themselves about how they spend their time, and that leads them to think they have less time than they do.

Nine years ago I began tracking my time throughout my day, and I did this for many months. It was incredibly eye opening. It showed me where I actually spent my time, how much time I spend on those activities, and how much time I wasted with nothing to show for it.

Time tracking is like money tracking – it lets you know what you have and where it’s going. I’m not suggesting you track your time but I’m positive that if you did, you’d find you have much more discretionary time than you think.

I think just as big an issue as not having an accurate idea of how your time is spent, is the fact that no one wants to spend their time doing things that they associate with drudgery and deprivation.

Everything takes time. It takes time to shower, to get dressed, to make your food, to eat, to take care of your children and to drive to work. It takes time to go to the gym, or take a hike or a vacation.

Life is full of time consuming activities. Just like with money, it’s potentially empowering when you realize YOU get to choose to spend your time in a way that brings the most value to your life.

I deeply appreciate having peace of mind around finances. I like knowing that my family always has food and clothing, our bills are paid, and upcoming expenses are budgeted for. I like being relaxed when the holidays come around or when my children get engaged and married, knowing that I’m prepared for all of the related expenses. I like living without deprivation and without worry about debts. This is fundamental to my quality of life.

It’s not our income that has created that peace of mind, but how I spend what we have. Right now we have a comfortable income, but even throughout all of the years that our income was much, much lower (most of our married lives), living frugally has consistently created a high quality of life for our family.

So I spend time tracking our income, budgeting, meal planning, shopping carefully and doing a lot of things myself rather than hiring others to do it for me. I enjoy doing those things and have a sense of satisfaction around them. I see the value of them and I associate them with an abundant life.

I suggest that if you were to associate money saving activities with being able to live your life in the way you want, you’d also find enjoyment in them. It’s much easier, even with a busy schedule, to make time for the things you enjoy doing.

You have all of the time you need. But you have to use it intentionally, you need to be conscious and aware of how you budget it, so that it will add to the quality of life you want to have.

Avivah