It just seems like I am forever overestimating what I can get done. So, I decided to sit down one day and go through this glorified to-do list and figure out how to slim things down. What could I stop doing, or consolidate?
As I looked through the book, I actually became rather impressed with all the things I was able to schedule - a Yoga class, meditation group, one-on-one classes for various artistic pursuits...then a less impressive thought came to me--how was I affording all of this? How was it that none of these activities ever made it into my carefully maintained budget? Uh oh. Frugal alarm was in red alert--was I slipping? Was I wasting money?
These activities were improving my body, mind and soul, helping me relax and keeping the artistic juices flowing. These things are just as important as healthy food and clean water. But that didn't mean I could actually afford them.
So I sat down and carefully tallied the cost of each activity. To my surprise, I found that I WASN'T PAYING A DIME! But that didn't mean I wasn't paying.
For each and every activity I was performing a service in exchange. I designed a huge website for a friend in exchange for six months of meditation classes. Then I started noticing how many other work exchanges I was involved in. I designed a flyer that "blew away" my pal in exchange for shiatsu treatments. I designed another website for a friend who is a dentist in exchange for some dental work. I edited a number of technical documents for another friend who is a research and development engineer in exchange for helping me move and perform various other manual labor tasks.
I had unwittingly been doing what my grandmother had done for years--work exchange. No wonder none of these things ever made into my budget. All my extra activities were under the financial radar. Unless I got a fabulous new job earning about twice what I make now, I would never be able to pay cash for all the things that help make my life well-rounded.
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