Lots of reading material this week. Kim Palmer quoted me in her US News money column, which was then reprinted at Yahoo Finance. The piece was called “Can I Afford a House, Car, and Vacation?” My point on houses was that there are various calculations out there on what you can spend, but spending a higher percentage of your income on housing means you can spend less on other things: trips, dinners out, a cleaning service, etc. Those might actually make you happier than a more expensive house.
I’m also the featured “Nestpert” over at TheNest.com (TheKnot.com’s companion site for newlyweds). The article “How To Save 7+ Hours Every Day.” Wow, there’s a bit of time saving inflation going on! Some of these tips are mine and some are not (I’ve never recommended Rescue Time) but we did get my American Time Use Survey stats on how long the average woman spends cooking per day in there.
Speaking of the ATUS, I’m introducing it over at BNET to some commenters who can’t believe that there is such a statistic that full-time working women work 46 fewer minutes per work day than full-time working men. There have been, oh, about 20 articles on the pay gap between men and women over at BNET lately, some more inflammatory than others. I mention that men work more than women, and then show some areas where one can find extra minutes to work if you want. This particular piece is called “Get Dressed Like a Man” and highlights the benefits of spending less time on personal care. I’m just astounded by the people saying that doesn’t make sense since personal care time comes before work hours so it can’t affect work hours. Um, not everyone has a job where you show up right at 9AM and punch a clock. I personally am typing this instead of showering right now, so yes, it does affect things. Housework is another area to trim, as is shopping. Those give you the extra 46 minutes without cutting childcare, TV, exercise or sleep.
Also on BNET this week, “Outsource Your Way To Success.” In this post, I highlight the finding from the Count Me In organization (which I wrote a USA Today column about last summer) that women business owners who crossed the $1 million mark in revenue all got their groceries delivered. Before their businesses hit it big. They know that time is valuable. Time spent in the grocery store is time you’re not chasing the next $100,000 client. No one else can sleep or exercise for you, build your business like you can, nurture your family like you can. But someone else can definitely get your groceries to your front door. Better to take that time back for more important things.
lots of good links to look into. I’ve put it on my calendar for the weekend. Thanks again for the good food for thought.
I like this — but the time saved not-primping is not enough to make up for the entire difference between men and woman’s hours worked… definitely need to work on fathers some more in terms of time spent and equal division of labor of home and children.
The outsourcing is a really really interesting topic for us small business owners, how much to do of it to whom and how to get your sales up to a level where it is a given. Very tricky. It also gets to the psychology of money like how to get yourself into a mental — and economic — state of mind to do this. There are some interesting women posted on Make Mine a Million Web site who’ve taken businesses from $10,000 or $300,000 of revenue to $1 million and it would be interesting to read more about these women, what their lives look like and their money is spent on … I’d like to know how to do this and be a good mom, wife etc. parent. And work out, etc.
I like the 2 week outfit rotation. When I return to work I will shop with that in mind. I remember spending (wasting) so much time figuring out what I ‘felt like’ wearing every morning. I have tried to streamline dressing now by making sure that almost every shirt I own goes with at least 2 pairs of pants, since they can be worn more often before washing.
I am going to clear out some rarely worn items in my closet too.
Getting ready still takes me more time than I’d like, even though I feel like I minimize the routine already. I have seemed to save time by getting ready before my kids get up–maybe it’s the constant interruptions that are actually wasting my time)