Get More Freedom in Your Life With a Time Budget

Get more freedom in your life with a time budget

How would you like to find a few spare hours in your week? The secret to finding that extra time is to do your own quick quiz to find out how your time is spent and where you can get that spare hour. We will be delving into something even more important than money –time. Many of us know what is involved in creating a budget. A budget is usually seen as something that has to do with money. Whether we are saving up for something or trying to maximize our loan repayments to pay off debts quicker. Like money, a time budget is also very important to achieve our goals in life. Unlike money, we all start with the same amount of time. You may now be thinking that a time budget is something that will box you into a corner. But it is exactly the opposite, a time budget will give you more freedom to achieve what you want out of life. It will allow you to see where your time goes, whether it’s Netflix, Facebook, spending too much time at work, chatting to friends, or watching television, or surfing the internet.

By taking time out to create a time budget you will discover exactly how much time you have, and how your time is spent. This is the first step in planning your life and achieving your goals.

The starting point when creating a time budget is the same for all of us. We all get 24 hours. However, the challenge then becomes how much time we are left when we add all those essential things we just have to do in our life. If you work long hours and have commitments outside of work, then you will know how difficult it is to find that spare moment to do the things on your list that you never get around to ticking off. Hopefully, after reading the ideas in this article, it will give you some tips on how to reclaim that time. You may even be surprised when you find out all those individually insignificant activities, which when they are all added up can accumulate to a lot of time.

So, without further delay, let us get down to it. The first step is to start tracking your time for a week (or more) depending on how keen you are. You can get started by writing down all the things you are spending time on and then and then allocate time to them.

Below is an example to get you started:

Weekday (hours)

Sleeping 7

Work 8

Housework 0.5

Reading 0.5

Eating 1

Social Media 1

Entertainment 2

Exercise 0.5

Travel 1.5

Family time 2

Total hours 24

Weekend (hours)

Sleeping 7

Housework 3

Reading 0.5

Eating 2

Social Media 1

Exercise 1

Shopping 1.5

Family time 4

Going out 4

Total hours 24

Another approach you could use if you like is to divide your activities between non- discretionary or must do or discretionary.

After you complete this exercise you will now have a snapshot view of how you are spending your time. Now you can decide what you need to change to get to where you want to go. This exercise you give you a good understanding of how your time is spent, then you can choose what tasks to cut back on, and how you would like to use that free time.

Similar to when you invest your money, you would want to choose an investment in things that give you the biggest return. We should consider time in the same way. We should ideally ‘invest’ our time in areas that will give us the best return. For instance, although we will get a lot of enjoyment by using our money in the present by going out and having a great time, in the long term we will achieve little in terms of achieving financial security. We need to consider the use of our time in the same way. We can use our time on entertainment-type activities, such as social media or surfing the internet, or by being more focused and using our time in say an area to develop ourselves, or that of our family, if we are helping the kids with homework for instance. By working on developing and improving our skills we increase our chances of achieving our long-term goals in life. 

In my case, I found that I was spending too much time surfing the internet or doing a range of small things, not focusing on one specific thing. The schedule allowed me to carefully look at what I was doing. It also allowed me to cut out things that I knew were not adding any value. The goal is not to just go cold turkey and have no entertainment, but to keep it in balance. In your particular case, you choose to use the time you can identify to work on something that will help you in the future. For instance, you may want to improve yourself at work, by doing a relevant course. Alternatively, your aim might be to spend more time with someone special or work on some project you have been contemplating for a few years. Or you may think that you could use that additional time to get yourself back into shape or a combination of the above, or something entirely different.

Your’ aim is to tailor your plan to suit your unique situation. Since only you know what your goals and aspirations for the future will be. Thus, this exercise is not only thinking about your current situation but forces you to think ahead 5 – 10 – 15 – 20 years. By thinking in advance, it allows you to plan in the ‘now’ to achieve what you want in the future. Many of our big goals will involve a lot of hard and focused work to achieve. By thinking ahead, it allows you to change your life. If you don’t plan your life, you are allowing the environment and others to plan what will be your future. This is not an ideal situation and is the equivalent of allowing someone else to steer your car and hope that you will get to the destination you want.

It’s worth remembering that the idea is not to create a complete timetable to live by, although if you wanted to you could. Knowing how you use your time is more about giving you a clear picture, since sometimes in life we travel along not appreciating the options we have available to us. If we don’t plan our lives, then we are at the mercy of our environment which may not be an effective way to live. 

Let us assume you have created your list and have freed up some time, now you are in a very good position to decide how you want to use that time. This could be either more time with family or focusing on some of your long-term goals in your life. There are no right or wrong answers. The main consideration is to have a good think about your situation and do what’s best for you.

Once you identify what time you have free the next thing is to decide is to consider at what time of day is the most suitable to do this new activity. As an example, some people prefer to do the most challenging things early in the mornings, while leaving the easier tasks in the afternoon. Everyone is different, and our body clocks work differently, so you will need to consider what works best for you. There is no one size fits all.

Once in a while, you can re-visit your schedule and see if you are tracking according to your plan.

Time to unwind is something that we all need. You may be one of those people that wants to cram everything into every hour, but it is better to give yourself some flexibility and leisure time. The time budget is a tool that can be used to allow you to become more productive, it is not intended to make your life a misery. A common-sense approach to time management will allow you to focus on what is important, while at the same time give you time to enjoy your life and do the things you really like.

It’s best to consider any plan you do create as a draft and a work in progress, nothing is set in stone. If you feel you can tweak it to improve it, then go right ahead. This is your plan and you need to make whatever changes you need to make it work for you.

Something that people sometimes forget is that it is very important to look after yourself, physically and mentally. Sleep plays a big role in helping your body in many ways. With enough sleep your reflexes are sharper and more creative. Rather than slog away trying to solve a problem, sometimes with sufficient rest and sleep you may come up with a more creative and simpler solution to your problem.

Some tips for preparing your time budget:

Create some buffer – life being as it is, things rarely go according to plan, so add in some time for unexpected events.
Determine what your priorities are – for some people this may be family, or you may be trying to build up your career at this point in your life.
Your priorities will also change each year and during the many phases of your life. For example, when starting in your career you may be focused on working yourself up the ladder. While at another stage you may choose to focus on your personal life.
Time wasters – you may be surprised to find that a lot of your time is used up with the usual chatty friends and relations. Keeping in touch with people is important for our social wellbeing, however, it becomes a problem when you feel resentment that it is chipping away your precious time which you could be using more constructively.

Happy planning!