Before your Balance your Chequebook, Balance your Life

You focus a lot of your energy on balancing your chequebook. You should also devote some time to trying to achieve work/life balance.

Although work/life balance is a “nice idea” at times- it is attainable. And you’d be surprised at what other kinds of harmony (financial and otherwise) you can get closer to, by paying attention to this primary (and important goal)

Efficient. Effective.

Day after day, do you feel like you are running in circles? That’s probably because you are.

Chances are, like every other parent , your to-do-list is impossibly long. Time to pare down on tasks, and up the efficiency factor.

Prioritize

Work. Check. Kids. Check. Extended Family. Check. “Me” time (What’s that? I’ve heard of it. Tell me more!).

Time to slide the order of events so that time with your family (enjoying each other’s company) and a little personal relaxation get equal billing to work.

Slice and Dice

Write down everything (everything) you do in a day (do you have enough pen and paper?), with time allocations attached (i.e. 6:30am-8am, wake, feed family, drop to daycare. 8am-8:45 commute to work. 9-5 work, etc. etc.). Do this for an entire week.

Do the hours allocated to a specific part of the day make sense? Is work creeping into your evening hours? Does your commute take up a ridiculous chunk of the day? Do you spend an unreasonable amount of time running errands?

What’s Missing?

It’s possible that you are missing sections altogether. Do you spend time specifically with your spouse? Do you do things together as a family? Do you make time for exercise? Do you ever see your friends?

Change your Approach

Get creative in coming up with solutions to your time management woes. Would your employer be open to you working at home a couple of days a week to cut down on the time (and cost!) that you spend getting to work and back? Are there tasks at home that you can delegate (don’t have to do everything yourself). Can you slide in exercise during your lunch hour, so that evenings are free?

Results

Once you declutter your mind (and your lifestyle) you’ll likely be in a better position to attack other areas in your life that may be plaguing you- like better managing your finances.