Accumulating wealth paves the path to Financial Freedom, but so what? Why does anyone want to be financially free in the first place? Well I think there are a few reasons, but one of the main reasons we strive to be financially free is so we can exercise more jurisdiction over how we spend our time. Simply put, we don’t have to work if we don’t want to! We don’t have to stay at a job we don’t like! We can choose how we spend our time without having to figure out how to pay the bills! Time is one of the most scarce resource that we have, and being financially free means we no longer have to spend our most precious asset in exchange for cash.
So how much free time do we really have outside of our typical working day? Below I broke down how I spend my time during a typical week because I was curious to know a.) how much free time I have in a given week, b.) how I am spending that free time and c.) how much that differs from how I think I want to be spending that time. It’s an interesting and slightly terrifying experiment, but I’d highly recommend it. So here’s my week:
- Total Hours in a Week: 168
- Sleeping: 56
- Working: 50
- Making / Eating Dinner: 7
- Getting Ready AM / PM: 7
- Walking / Commuting: 7
- Formal Exercise: 5
- Remainder: 36 hours
36 hours sounds like a lot of time, but as soon as you build in a few social activities, spend some time on the ‘gram, or binge watch a few shows (hell, the average American spends just about that amount of time watching TV in one week), this time gets gobbled up pretty quickly. Yikes.
So in an effort to try to conserve that sacred time, I’ve tried to whittle down the time I spend doing things I’d consider non-value add. Meaning, they are activities that I need to get done, but actually doing them gives me little to no return. So here are my top “time-savers”, hopefully they may help you hoard more of that forever dwindling resource.
- Amazon Fresh for Grocery Delivery – I really love cooking at home, not only because it saves money and is healthier than eating out, but because I actually like the act of cooking. I do not however enjoy the act of shopping. That’s why my partner and I decided to give Amazon Fresh a try. Now we spend just about 8 minutes per week ordering groceries (we tend to order the same things over and over – see below) and probably another 8 minutes unpacking them upon arrival.
- “Subscribe and Save” for Household Products / Pantry Staples – The is similar to the Grocery shopping dilemma – I derive little to no pleasure spending time deciding what brand of toilet paper to get or how much olive oil I should buy. I’ve simply selected the items that I’ve reused over and over again and set them up on “Subscribe” through Amazon. Not only does this unlock 5-15% of savings per item, it also means I never have to think about ordering toilet paper or olive oil. My items show up just when I need them!
- Simplifying weekly meal planning with my “Go-To Recipes” and “Pantry Staples” – I like cooking homemade meals and love ‘family dinners’, but I don’t always have time to cook during the week. My partner and I take turns preparing meals, so in an effort to ensure we were eating healthy, and weren’t spending hours preparing food, we crafted a list of our 30 or so ‘go-to’ meals. And beyond that, we typically cycle through about 10 meals consistently. Thankfully we don’t mind the repetition and it has made shopping way simpler and cooking way quicker (especially because you know all the meals by heart).
- Pre-Purchasing Cards and Gift Wrapping Supplies – This may sound strange, but I’ve gotten into purchasing occasion cards in bulk. I hate having to run to the store because I’ve forgotten a birthday or an anniversary. Now I never do! And in addition to that, I have a supply of gift bags and tissue paper on hand for last-minute gifts. Both are a major time and money save. Also make sure to keep Stamps on hand! Here’s a link to my favorite cards. I actually think I stole this idea from Sheryl Sandberg.
- Go-to beauty staples – Recently I’ve been doing research on some personal care products and make-up in an effort to use all natural and organic products whenever possible. This is a real time consuming process, not only from a research perspective, but also from a trail perspective. Therefore once I’ve found an item I like, I’ve just stuck to it! And I know exactly when to order it when I’m running low. Again, no more mindless browsing at a drug store.
- List of “To-Buy” Items – I try to stick to a pretty tight budget each month, so in an effort to meet my goals, I’ve created a list of items that I want to purchase so that I don’t make any impulsive purchases and blow through my allotted spend. In addition to evening out my spending patterns, it helps me think carefully about each item I am purchasing.
- Auto-Savings / Auto-Investing / Auto-Bill Pay – This one may seem pretty basic, but I cannot stress the importance of it enough. Every time I get a paycheck, I make sure to pay myself first. I had an old boss that used to say you need to pay yourself before anything else, so I actually set up a separate direct deposit that links to my high-yield savings account. It’s money that I never see in my checking account and helps me stay honest to my savings goals. I also have an auto transfer to my brokerage account, so I never have to wait for funds, and I just go into my brokerage account each month and allocate those funds accordingly. Lastly, I have most of my recurring bills on auto-pay, except for my credit cards. Because my credit card balance fluctuates monthly, I like to get my eyes on the balance before paying – especially since I try not to keep too much of a buffer in my checking account.
- Dry Shampoo / Awesome Hair Dryer – This may sound crazy to some, but I have a lot of hair and it holds a lot of water, so the entire hair drying process can take me up to 10-15 minutes in the morning. My solution? I wash my hair only about 2x/week and I use dry shampoo in between. Try it. Thank me later. I also purchased a pretty expensive blow dryer that really cuts down on dry time for those mornings where I just have to wash the ol’ locks.
- Capsule Wardrobe / Work Uniform / Seasonal Purchases – So I’m sure many of you have heard of the Marie Kondo movement (obsession?), but I really think she’s on to something serious. People are overwhelmed by choice* and don’t want to spend their limited amount of decision-making power on inconsequential decisions, like deciding what to wear. It also takes up time trying on outfits. Instead I’ve gradually moved onto a “work uniform” with a few variations. I’ve invested in a few killer pieces that I can mix and match, and have some seasonal favorites. It makes getting dressed way easier if everything in your closet is something you a. love and b. look good in and c. is work-appropriate and comfortable.
- “Gift Idea” List – So I’m one of those people that really hates the forced occasions to give gifts. I find Christmas to be stressful and excessive. Now don’t get me wrong, I really like giving gifts, I just hate the pressure to give something just to give something. However, I can’t just not buy gifts if I’m not inspired, so instead I keep a running list of things that I hear people talk about during the year so when Christmas rolls around I have no problem buying meaningful gifts for my loved ones.
Now I’m saving a “tech specific” post to detail my top apps and tech gadgets, and a Productivity post to capture some of my professional strategies, so stay tuned. In the meantime, how did you find this post? Was it useful? What are some of your top time-saving ideas?
Photo by Angels Vicente on Unsplash
*I still remember being physically paralyzed in a grocery store when I got back from a 2-year stint in the Peace Corps.