Budget Your Time
- Jonda Beattie
- Jan 24
- 2 min read
We may be very careful about budgeting our money but how well do we budget our time?
When budgeting our money, we may not always know how much to expect for our income.
With our time we all have the same 24 hours in a day to spend.
The first step is to know how we are spending that time now.
For a week or two track how your time is spent.
When do you start your day? Is it the same for every day?
How much time do you currently spend on:
· your morning routine
· work
· household chores
· meals or breaks
· exercise
· social media
· fun activities
· recreational TV or books
· meditation
· sleep
As you track your time you will probably note that not all days are equal. Weekend schedules will probably vary from weekdays. There will be the occasional doctor appointment. The point is to get an overview of how your time is spent.
Now, look at your values and your goals.
How do you need to adjust your time usage to align with your vision?
What areas need more time allotted?
Just like when you work on your financial budget, if you increase time in one area, you need to decrease time in another.
What would your perfect week look like?
I budget in half-hour slots of time on my electronic calendar.
At the beginning of the week, I look at my paper calendar which has all of my appointments and unique tasks listed. I also note what household tasks I do each week at a specific time like shopping or doing laundry.
I schedule times on my electronic calendar for all of the scheduled tasks and allow transition time around them. Next, I plug in tasks on my “to do” list, trying to schedule most of the urgent and important tasks first. Then I need to review what is on my weekly calendar and see if I need to make changes to match my values and goals.
As the week progresses, there are always life events that make it necessary to adjust my plans. That means that I either have to just drop a reoccurring task for that week or reschedule it.
By having a time budget in place, I do not stress over not having enough time for basic and vital tasks. When big life events happen, I am aware of how that is affecting my time budget and rework my plan accordingly.
If you need some help setting up a time management plan, jumpstarting a project or some guidance with organizing paperwork, reach out and we can schedule a consultation.
Phone: 404-299-5111 – call and leave a message or text
Jonda S. Beattie, Professional Organizer owner of Time Space Organization, and co-owner of Release, Repurpose, Reorganize. She is based in the Metro-Atlanta area. As presenter, award-winning author, as well as a retired special education teacher she uses her listening skills, problem solving skills, knowledge of different learning techniques, ADHD specialty, and paper management skills to help clients.
A time budget is every bit as important as a financial budget, especially because there's always the potential to somehow make more money, but we can't ever "make" more time than 24 hours in a day; the best we can do is free up and re-arrange how we do use our time. And because we each have different values, our budgets will be unique to us. I'm lucky in that I've made life decisions to ensure that I have more time than I need to do everything; it doesn't ensure that I will always do what I've set my mind to, but it ensures that I will never run out of time due to an over-filled schedule. Every must-do thing has…
I love this perspective on budgeting time, and I appreciate your suggestions.
There are many apps on phones that will limit one's time spent on a particular task online. When my kids were in college, they started using a feature on their phones that limits the amount of time on Instagram - the app of choice for Gen Zer’s. They took the initiative themselves. No guidance from me.
The concept of a time budget is awesome. I like how you figured out what works for you.
I'm more of an intuitive time manager. I can visually see where my fixed appointments are on my weekly electronic calendar, as well as the white space with no fixed appointments. I use that white space to handle the tasks and projects on my to-do list. Only on rare occasions do I actually block out time on the calendar. That tends to be when I'm working on a time sensitve project that needs prolonged attention over a period of time. Otherwise, I don't need to block out non-appointment items.
I get, however, that for some, blocking out everything is essential. What works…
I've tried many different systems for managing my time, but one thing I've never mastered is scheduling specific tasks for specific time slots. Like you, I have my weekly recurring tasks, but other than that, I mostly list everything for Monday, in priority order, and bump whatever didn't get completed to the next day.
I'm interested to read about how you use two calendars. Sounds like the electronic one is mostly for tasks?
I have my calendar and tasks in one book. Like you, I first look at my calendar before setting my task goals for the day. I don't use the half hour blocks, but I do generally have an idea of when I want to work on what. It's a luxury to be able to do this at this stage of life, when my time is not beholden to little ones demanding my attention! This whole process is harder when you are a caregiver, or when you work for a company who adds appointments to your calendar without asking you. My husband…