How to spend your time & money intentionally - Ep 106
Remember when being an adult seemed like the ultimate freedom?
While most days are perfectly fine, the sheer volume of daily choices can leave you completely wiped out, particularly when it comes to time and money.
Beyond the everyday decisions, life adds extra layers of complexity once you throw in things like running a business, managing homeownership, or navigating marriage and family life.
In this episode, I am breaking down how to think through these resource trade-offs so you can ensure you are getting the absolute best value for your hard-earned money and actually feeling like your time is well spent.
Create & consume:
What Austen is creating: younger self trend on Instagram and TikTok
What Austen is consuming: the music video for Olivia Rodrigo’s new song The Cure, has a paper doll aesthetic, could be a cool Halloween costume her album comes out June 12th
In this episode:
Everything has a cost, even if it is not financial
When making choices, people naturally look at the financial price tag first. But cash is not the only currency you are spending.
You also need to factor in your time, your energy, your stress levels, and your long-term longevity.
A cheap option can quickly become incredibly expensive if it completely drains your time or compromises your sanity.
Sometimes, paying a premium for convenience is the best financial move you can make because it buys back your creative energy.
On the flip side, doing something yourself can be deeply rewarding if you are picking up a valuable new skill or getting a sense of personal satisfaction from the process.
In the business world, people talk constantly about ROI, or return on investment.
It is time to start applying that exact same framework to your time, your emotions, and your overall quality of life.
Consider these common scenarios:
Spending three hours deep cleaning your apartment every single weekend versus outsourcing a cleaner once a month so you can have your Saturdays back
Driving an hour out of your way and wasting gas just to avoid paying an eight-dollar highway toll
Trying to DIY highly specialized areas of your business, like your taxes or legal contracts, only to end up paying double down the road to have a professional fix an expensive mistake
Figuring out your own priorities
There is no universal blueprint for a well-spent life because everyone values different things.
You might highly value fashion, aesthetics, and curated experiences.
Your neighbor might prioritize travel, unstructured free time, and physical wellness.
Both paths are completely valid, but they require entirely different choices with your time and money.
If you struggle with anxiety when spending money on smaller luxuries, there is a helpful tool called the 0.01% rule, developed by personal finance blogger and data scientist Nick Maggiulli (originally highlighted in a Yahoo Finance article detailing spending strategies).
The 0.01% Rule:
Take your total net worth and multiply it by 0.0001 (or 0.01%). The resulting number is the amount of money you can spend on a guilt-free indulgence without impacting your long-term financial health.
For example, if your net worth is $500,000, your 0.01% threshold is $50. That means you can drop $50 on a nice dinner or a small splurge completely guilt-free.
To help map out what actually matters to you outside of the numbers, try asking yourself these four questions:
What are the things that consistently and tangibly improve my life?
What do I absolutely never regret spending money on?
What specific tasks or situations drain my energy every single time?
What do I care about enough to deliberately pay extra for?
When you align your spending with your answers, choices become much clearer.
It explains why you might prefer buying fewer, better-quality clothing items for your closet staples rather than cheap fast fashion, or why you might choose an expensive boutique fitness class over a standard gym membership.
It justifies paying a premium to live in a bustling city that makes you feel energized, or choosing to hail an Uber home after a exhausting day instead of dragging yourself onto the subway.
Can I vs. should I?
Just because you possess the skills or ability to do something yourself does not automatically mean you should.
When building a business from the ground up, out of necessity, you usually have to do everything yourself.
When this podcast first launched, it was a total DIY operation featuring a simple gradient background, a logo thrown together in Canva, and a quick photoshoot done at home.
As things grew, it made sense to graduate to branded professional shoots and outsource work to specialized contractors.
The same logic applies to your personal life. Certain DIY projects can morph into massive sources of chronic stress.
Renovating an apartment is a massive financial hit, but the immense amount of time and emotional stability lost by trying to tile a bathroom or install flooring yourself often makes paying a professional worth every single penny.
Before you take on a new task, run it through this quick filter:
Will outsourcing or automating this save me time on a consistent basis?
Is this action solving a painful, recurring problem in my life?
Does this choice directly improve my overall quality of life?
What "worth it" really looks like
When we look closely at intentional purchases, we see that the best ones generally fall into categories that elevate our human experience rather than just cluttering our homes.
Reducing stress: Subscribing to Instacart or HelloFresh for easy meal planning and grocery delivery
Creating memories: Snagging concert tickets, booking weekend trips, or investing in a quality camera to document life
Inspiring creativity: Buying a fresh paint set, a needlepoint canvas, or a beading kit to get your hands working
Protecting your peace: Utilizing physical tools like a Brick device or time-blocking apps to keep you away from doomscrolling
Improving relationships: Investing in couples therapy or hiring a house cleaner to eliminate arguments over chores
Helping you rest: Upgrading to a truly high-quality mattress, a white noise machine, or a contoured eye mask for better sleep
Summary:
As you go about your week, take some time to sit with these questions and evaluate where your resources are going:
What is one thing in your life that you will always happily spend money on?
What is something you recently realized is simply no longer worth your limited time?
What is one single task you could outsource, simplify, or just stop overthinking this week?
On the flip side, what is something you used to outsource that you have actually learned you enjoy doing yourself?
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