Buying Time vs Buying Things

I am learning that buying time far outweighs buying things. I fought this concept for a long time thinking I could do it all. I'm quite capable of cleaning my house so why should I hire it out? I love working on paperwork so why should I hire an office assistant to do it? Then I realized that I could either do what I love or do what I'm capable of.

I'd prefer to do what I love.....

Unhurried time with my boys

Downtown in the evening with my husband

Lead a women's ministry for women

Be a part of the Worship Arts Leadership team at my church

Run a part time business from home

Coffee with girlfriends

Date Nights with Jeff

Snuggling time reading or watching movies with the boys

homemade, healthy meals and snacks

All while still doing all the wife and mom duties that are important to me

Instead I found myself stressing over...

a dirty house

an overflowing desk filled with paperwork that I can't keep up on

unhealthy meals

guilt because I couldn't keep on anything

not being able to do what I love well

I realized I could not do it all or have it all. Even though I work from home, I could either use those hours to further my business, my home or ministries (which I love!) or clean my house. Plus I love to lead and have a passion for serving in specific ministries. All of this takes time. So, it was time for some help! When I weighed the cost in the form of $$ to pay a cleaning crew to come twice a month and hire an office assistant to come for 3-6 hours a week I realized that my sanity was much more precious than any thing I could purchase with that money.

I heard of a top executive in my company who chose to live in a small house, wear simple clothing and live moderately for several years while making it to the top all because she chose to hire help. She could have invested in a larger house, designer clothing, extravagant vacations but chose to live a balanced life instead. After hearing this story I realized that it was a choice to either live a peaceful life or work all the time to acquire things that you get tired of having anyways and not enjoy life.

So I made a list of what is important to me and what is not. I chose to buy time and have not regretted it!

For more suggestions on how to buy time, a great read is Find More Time by Laura Stack.