For the past few months, I have been running on a tighter than normal budget. In fact, for three straight months, I have barely broken even. Like many people, I was struggling with inflation and an increasing cost of living. So, what did I decide to do about this financial shortfall? I started cleaning my dining room, of course.
I was cleaning off my dining room table for the gazillionth time, a place I use as a secondary workspace when I grow tired of looking at the four walls of my home office and where a week’s worth of mail easily piles up, when it dawned on me: Why am I spending time making things look pretty when I needed to focus solely on money-earning efforts until I was back on solid ground.
Financial experts would call this a classic example of opportunity cost. In my case, I was missing out on earning extra income by choosing to do something that wasn’t directly related to growing my business and bringing in money.
So, for the next few weeks as I trapesed through dusty, hardwood floors, leaving behind my size-9 footprints, I polished off a few blog posts and pitched stories to other sites that pay for content.
As I sauntered past a towering basket of clean clothing in my laundry room, I sent second notices to some slow-paying clients.
One week, instead of shopping for groceries online, I spent time setting up an account and selling clothes online. I subscribe to a meal delivery service, so it was easy to skip a week or two of grocery shopping.
As the dishes piled up, I posted on social media and revamped one of my websites to better monetize these platforms.
Instead of shredding junk mail, I finished off one ghostwriting project, billed that customer and then started another.
One Sunday, instead of working on my several-months-long project of cleaning and organizing my garage to expand my home gym, I took a series of calls that led to consulting on a critical issue for a new PR client.
So, how does my house look after one month of neglect? It’s a mess. But my bank account is all the better for it.
SaveYourSelf caters to the financially fit and the financially flawed. Everyone is welcome. Check out our blog. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Sign up for emails.
SaveYourSelf | Blog 