Throwing on a jacket, I hurriedly move wide-eyed about the house, gathering my crap strung aimlessly in seemingly every room. Let’s see, it’s a gym day, so I need my gym bag, chalk bucket, climbing shoes, and post-session snack. Damnit, where are my keys?! IT’S TIME TO GO!!
Ugh…honey, can you fill up the dog’s water? LOOK, I’M JUST ASKING FOR ONE SIMPLE FAVOR!!
Yes, love you too. I’m sorry I raised my voice. Kisses?
Sound familiar? Busyness, often worn as a badge of honor, is one of the prime reasons folks struggle to spend less. This is particularly true when it comes to food. Yes, spending less often requires front-end planning and action, preparing meals in advance for easy and quick deployment later. Below we examine the often-ridiculous fallacy of busyness and offer six ways anyone can free up more time to live better and spend less.
How Busy Are We? Do We Really Have No Time?
Before I tread deeply into a quagmire of no return, I’m not here to diminish the host of responsibilities that some of you share. Some out there are crushing it as parents of young children, purpose-driven professionals, and still finding time to take care of your body and mind. For those of you, perhaps a few bucks here and there on pre-prepared food is not only forgivable, but downright necessary to support your life. Well done!
But you are the exception.
Most of us have far more time than we claim. To examine a tiny part of the day, pumping hot water through an AeroPress takes about two minutes and costs roughly $0.50 for a product that rivals any of the chic downtown coffee shops. Contrast that with a daily trip to the drive thru or waiting in line at a coffee shop, where far more time and money is spent. In this case, you are probably looking at a 700-800% increase in time and money spent for this “convenience.” And coffee is one tiny, and arguably insignificant, piece of the puzzle.
Again, with all of this, we make our own choices. If daily Starbucks is well within a healthy fiscal and calendar budget, then have at it! These suggestions are simply for those looking to make changes, and perhaps coffee away from home is an identified excess. Just like with that mouse in your closet…where there is one there are likely many.
We Want to Save, Until We Don’t
As usual, personal finance is personal. But I can’t tell you how often I hear something along the lines of:
“I want to save money by making my own food, but I can’t find the time!”
According to a survey by CIT Bank, 65% of Americans started 2019 with a financial resolution. Somewhere in there is a disconnect between what we want or need and what we’re willing to give (or give up) to obtain the desired outcome. Results require a different input. It’s time for taking action.
But First, A Sense of Perspective
Why should you care about saving money on food? We have to again consider the 80/20 principle: 80% of one’s typical spending is tied up in 20% of the budgetary line items. For most, the biggest culprits are housing, transportation, and food.
(Related Post: Five “Essentials” That Are Destroying Your Savings)
What is considered a cheap meal? I think many would claim that a meal in the range of $5-$8, perhaps a quick sandwich or a burrito, would be a good deal. My God, no!
We eat out about once a month, but otherwise source all of our food from the grocery store, preparing all meals and snacks from scratch. We operate at what I believe is luxury-level spending, eating well with high amounts of protein and quality ingredients not found in any “affordable” quick-eat stops.
How Much Money on Food?
Our costs come in at about $2.50-$3.00 per meal per person*, which is honestly on the high side. That’s around $500 per month on groceries for two people. See? We’re not skimping on food.
Many of the options for eating out in the range of $5-$8 not only carry a hefty premium, but those options almost certainly offer lower-quality ingredients made by a 17-year-old kid with a crappy attitude who cares little about your well-being. I know, because I was once that 17-year-old kid vigorously shaking the wire basket, spraying the excess fryer oil off your dinner.
While I certainly appreciate the occasional meal out, it has to be something special for me to blow a day’s (or a week’s) food spending.
So, for comparison, an average meal cost of $8 per person per meal will total over $1,400 per month for two people. That could be a mortgage on a house! Ouch!!
Let’s examine how to find more time in the day so we don’t feel like we have to resort to eating out on a regular basis.
(*This figure assumes three meals per day. I eat about five, but we have to normalize somehow.)
Step 1: Make Lists of “Must-Do” Daily Tasks
It’s so easy to get off on tangents without a clearly defined list of goals or objectives for the day. Each morning, as soon as possible, write out a list of objectives for work and personal life that absolutely must be (or should be) completed each day.
These tasks are often a mixture of personal and professional, such as “call insurance company to honorably fight latest rate hike,” or “say something nice to Sarah.”
Simple enough, right?
(Related Post: On Being a Slave to the Schedule)
Step 2: Schedule Every Minute of Your Day to Save Time
I’ve found that while having a list is a good start, to ensure maximum productivity it’s important to schedule the day. Now you might balk at the idea of literally scheduling every minute, and I would too. We don’t need that level of detail.
I came upon this idea while reading Deep Work, by Cal Newport. Newport is a top-level academic, published author of multiple best-selling books (this one included), a husband, and a father. Good ole’ Cal is crushing the game because he knows how to schedule his time and fully commit to tasks, foregoing social media, television, and other common distractions. Give it a read, seriously.
The point is to take the tasks you’ve outlined as important for the day and schedule them. Below is a detailed hypothetical example. Let’s assume that breakfast has been eaten (or not, for you intermittent fasting types) and you are sitting down to start your day.
Hypothetical Example Schedule
7:30 – 8:00 Walk to work
8:00 – 8:15 Check and respond to work email
8:15 – 10:00 Finish presentation for tomorrow’s meeting
10:00 – 10:15 Change email signature on co-worker’s email when computer unattended and unlocked. Put 46 sticky notes on his screen.
10:15-11:15 Read journal articles related to new work project
11:15-11:30 Check and respond to work email
11:30 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 – 12:30 Walk
12:30 – 1:00 Research Airbnb option for upcoming Trip
1:00 – 2:00 Team meeting
2:00 – 2:15 Check social media and personal email
2:15 – 4:45 Write proposal for budget
4:45 – 5:00 Check and respond to work email
5:00 – 5:30 Walk to gym
5:30 – 7:30 Gym
7:30 – 8:00 Walk home
8:00 – 8:30 Dinner with wife and kids (pre-made, meal prep from weekend)
8:30 – 9:00 Netflix or reading
9:00 – 9:15 Prepare tomorrow’s lunch
9:15 – 9:30 Prepare for bed and read until dead to the world
This is Crazy!
I know…at ease soldier. In truth I would never schedule to this degree. I know my home routine well, and generally reserve this kind of scheduling for my productive day, which for me is between 6:30am and about 4:00pm. This sort of thing might come across as more than a touch anal, and perhaps it is. But man, look at all we can accomplish with this schedule!
Notice by scheduling, we’re not distracted by every ping of work email or social media likes. All notifications can be turned off, and we can intentionally schedule time throughout the day to be responsive and still active, yet not a slave to the technology.
It’s important to know that this sort of schedule is far from written in stone. If you get in a groove with important work, by all means continue! Morph the schedule to feed the muse, being careful to honor the other commitments of the day.
Do I usually stick to the schedule? Sort of.
I’m human and very flawed. But just by making a schedule I’m ensuring I will accomplish more than I would otherwise. Give it a good ole’ college try.
(Related Post: Digital Minimalism: Give Me Back My Brain)
Step 3: Meal Prep to Save Time
Meal prep is critical. Food cooked in batch is a game-changer, as discussed In Defense of Stew. When we cook, we try and ensure we get at least two (and ideally many more) meals out of that brazen effort. And this comes from someone who loves to cook.
Low-effort items include sliced and baked sweet potatoes or other roasted vegetables. Simply cut, toss in a bowl with salt, pepper, and olive oil, spread on an oiled sheet pan, and bake for about 20-30 minutes. Stews are fantastic, and if made in a hearty growing-boy fashion, are total meals. Homemade hummus and containers of cut, fresh veggies are staples around the CC household, providing a quick and easy snack.
An hour or two of effort on an otherwise lazy weekend day can provide for a week’s worth of pre-prepared food.
For those that hate cooking, you might schedule half a day to make enough food to last for weeks to a month, so long as you have the freezer space. The world is your oyster.
Bon Appétit!
Step 4: Go to Sleep
Sleeping more sounds counterintuitive to the notion that we should be accomplishing more. After all, we can’t dream our way to getting more done in the day, so why not just add more awake time?
Study after study has documented the negative impacts of sleep deprivation on productivity. And we don’t need studies for confirmation, do we? When we get a crappy night’s sleep, the motivation just isn’t there; we just don’t have that snap.
We still need at least seven hours of sleep every day, and we can’t make it up on the weekends. Now, some folks consider themselves the exception, but research shows that 5% or less can get by on fewer than seven hours of sleep without cognitive decline.
If you don’t want to drift through the day in a fog of mediocrity, make your best effort to schedule getting to bed and asleep a full eight hours before the alarm goes off. You won’t regret it.
Step 5: Learn to Say No
It’s exhausting to feel like you are always hurting someone’s feelings or that everyone needs your help and compliance. Precious time begins to be filled with unwanted and unnecessary tasks, and you are at risk of continually being used and taken as a “yes-man” (or woman). Learning to say no can earn you more respect, from yourself and others.
Here are a few tips to help:
Be Simple and Direct: There’s no need for a long and elaborate story on why you are saying no. Nor is there a reason for over-apologizing. Something along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to make it” is plenty.
Respond: Don’t ghost people. I know, we’ve all done it, but we also know we shouldn’t. Saying no can be hard, but nothing inspires thoughts of putting fist through drywall more than being ignored. Plus, the ignorer is likely to carry a sense of guilt for the inaction. If you have decided not to participate, it is best to respond, plain and simple.
Set Boundaries: Caving to everything asked of you is not only a detriment to your time and energy, but it could also be damaging of those depending on you. Allowing others to carry on without your regular assistance helps them develop their own sense of self-control.
Step 6: Turn off the TV
How caught up are you on television, Netflix, or YouTube? The average American still is watching nearly four hours of television a day! I’m with Steve Bechtel on this one — this kind of time spent in a cognitive comma is a tragedy. Somewhere in there I have to imagine there’s some margin for making a simple sandwich, or cutting some vegetables. A $15 wrap from Whole Foods is not the only way.
This Psychology Today article aptly describes television as an opiate from the stressors of our day. It’s acceptable to indulge in small doses, for maybe an hour or so, but only after the daily tasks are complete, as discussed above.
Every minute spent watching TV is a minute lost to achieving what’s important to you, or spending real time with those you love. Read a book, call a friend, study a map of unexplored places, write an article….or just cook some eggs.
Cancel cable. Not only will you free up your mind and schedule for more important tasks, you can save well in excess of $1,000 per year.
Time is There After All
So, there you have it. Despite the constant moans of groans of a lack of time in our life, we really have more time than ever in human history. We aren’t sitting over a loom to sew our t-shirts, aren’t grinding grain to make flour, or tip-toeing through dark forests in loin cloths to snare a jackrabbit for lunch. Few of us are rising with the sun to plow the fields, or cutting wood for the long winter ahead.
But we can rightfully point out that the very technology that frees our time paradoxically also saps it. Work issues can be addressed around the clock due to easy access of email, and we are constantly urged to see what everyone is up to on social media.
To overcome this pull of distraction and busyness requires intention. There’s no shortage of stuff to consume our attention, so it’s up to us to draw the line. Prioritization is key in deciding what’s important, then designing each day accordingly. With intention comes savings, with savings comes investment opportunities, and with (sound) investment comes wealth. And finally, with wealth comes freedom and choice.
What other common time wasters am I missing?
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You only work 7 hours a day? Every job I worked started at 8am and stopped at 5pm with a one hour non paid lunch time. Is it really typical now to start at 8am, get off at 4pm and still get a one hour lunch break? I thought most “9to 5” jobs were actually 7.5 hours of work with a thirty minute paid lunch break, though I never knew anyone who actually worked those hours.
Nope. Steve, look closely and you will notice both in the text above and in the section headline I describe the “hypothetical example schedule”. This is not my schedule. I’m actually at work for about 10 hours a day. It’s a fair point though: someone at work for an hour or two less has more time by default. However, even if I gave an unrealistic example, the meat of the issue is to schedule your day, however that looks for you. Perhaps I’ll update to make the work schedule more realistic.
Steve, I updated the schedule to add an hour to the work day.