Learn How To Enjoy Buying More Free Time For Yourself
When I say buy more free time for yourself, what do I mean? We all know hiring someone to complete a task we do not enjoy doing also saves us time. Many of us pay people to clean our homes, mow our lawns and even cook our meals.
That is not exactly what I am talking about when I say learn how to be happy by buying more free time for yourself. We usually pay people to complete the task for us out of poor desperation to escape the growing time pressures of modern life, not to create more time for ourselves to be happier.
Paying people to do a certain task sometimes causes guilty feelings or thoughts of being perceived as lazy. Why? Let’s talk about buying free time for yourself for the sole purpose of making yourself happier. We will create a guilty-free happiness zone.
Consumerism Should Be The Cause Of Guilt Not Free Time
Studies show that buying stuff does not make you happier in the long term. The magic quickly wears off over time. We have closets, basements, attics, and garages full of forgotten purchases that were supposed to make us happy.
Shopping because you are depressed or bored should make you feel guilty, not paying someone to complete a task for the sole purpose of creating more free time for yourself. Using that shopping money to buy more free time for yourself may have been a better choice in the long run.
The feeling of being pressed for time is typically linked to higher mental stress and lower life satisfaction. We have all been there, constantly pressed for time and it’s not a good place to be.
Unfortunately, some people have been living there in that uncomfortable space for years. Feeling pressed for time has become normal fact of life for them.
Many don’t realize they can stop and decide to deliberately buy more free time for themselves and enjoy life more. Use that time for yourself and not to just please others. Just do it.
Find regular opportunities and pay to have a task done while you enjoy that time for yourself. Not to turn around and use that new-found free time to do something for someone else. Enjoy that time for yourself. Relax, and create a wonderful memory.
Women Have It Worst
Women are usually the caretakers of the family and often work outside of the home. They are expected to do double duty and work inside of the home after a long day of working outside of the home.
Buying more free time for them should be celebrated but many women would feel guilty for doing so. There is no problem with paying someone to clean the home, take care of the children for a few hours or any other task that will allow you more free time for yourself. You earned it for all you do. Give it a try.
As a Minimalist, I believe that experiences are worth more than stuff. Save the money that would be spent buying unnecessary stuff and buy more free time for yourself. Subconscious consumerism is only a band-aid and does not serve you well for long-term happiness.
Walking in a home after a long day of work and finding it cleaned from top to bottom and the children quietly doing their homework is worth more than most any pair of shoes (Almost any) LOL.
Consciously Buy More Time For Yourself
It’s difficult to be truly happy living a life starved for time. Our daily schedules are dizzying. We sometimes pass this practice on to our children as they have schedules comparable to a fortune 500 CEO.
Many people take pride in living such a hectic schedule. Why not be time affluent as opposed to time starved? Why not buy more free time for yourself and be happier? You do things to save time for work and others to benefit. Why not consciously do it for yourself?
When you consciously and deliberately buy more time for yourself it feels so good and the experience is memorable. We all know about paying someone to complete the task we do not enjoy doing, home cleaning, and yard work. What other tasks would you consider paying someone to do that would allow you to have more time for yourself?
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Here are a few tasks I believe you could pay someone else to do to create more free time for yourself
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1. Lawn Care
Who wants to spend Saturday morning mowing the lawn? Wouldn’t you rather be relaxing or spending time with family and good friends?
2. Laundry
This may not be practical for a family unless you have someone come to your home. I remember the first time I saw a young man drop off a bag of dirty laundry at the laundry mat get a ticket and walk away. I thought he was a lazy bum. Now I see the wisdom. Instead of fighting for machines and waiting around for clothes to wash and dry, he was home relaxing or being more productive.
3. Cooking
Pay a friend or family member cook for you a few times a week to more free time for yourself. A professional Chef or Cook could be considered also.
5. Grocery delivery
Depending on where you live grocery shopping can be a chore. Why not have it delivered to your home to create more free time for yourself? There are local services that will deliver your groceries and there is always Amazon Fresh. There are also services like Blue Apron and Balance that deliver the ingredients for a meal and you prepare it. That saves time on shopping and planning.
6. Pet Care
Be it dog walking, Grooming or Veterinary visits, pay someone else to do it and create more free time for yourself. I am sure your pet would enjoy it also.
7. Amazon
Just give in and pay Amazon to do it. LOL. Amazon can deliver almost anything to your home within 24 hours or less. They also offer Amazon Prime, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Video and much more.
Did I miss anything? What task would you be willing to pay someone else to do to create more free time for yourself?
Great post, Tony. Struggling with not enough time for myself is long-running issue for me. We all have these endless lists of chores, work and never-ended obligations…Thank you for this gentle push and all great ideas on your website-I love them all!