The Bottom Line

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These are expensive times. Not as much from an economical perspective, although it can seem hard to maintain the life style we have grown accustomed to as the prices for food, rent and utilities keep rising. But reaching the goals we have set for ourselves cost more from an energy perspective. ‘Getting there’ takes more out of us than it used to.
Or so it seems.

Either way, it is a good idea to keep track of what we are spending our time, money, and energy on.

Over the last month or so I have been bombarded by ‘best offers’, mostly for utilities and insurances. I have found that it is important to keep in mind that the company making the bid first and foremost has their own bottom line in mind ~ mot mine. In other words, it pays (literally) to sit down and do the calculation for yourself. It even pays to make the expensive phone calls to other suppliers in order to see comparison bids. Only when you know exactly how much you are spending, and what you are spending it on can you make a well informed decision.

So far I’m doing pretty good with it...
I have done my due diligence, found my best options, and I have made my decisions accordingly. Money-wise it does add up!

But what about the time and energy it has taken me to get all the information I needed to make those decisions? This week alone I have already spent about four hours sorting out what is what... I have found that these four hours were high focus, high energy hours ~ in other words, they have taken a lot of my energy.
And like with money, energy spent on one thing, cannot be spent on something else.

It got me thinking; where can I save on energy expended? (And yes, money and time too ~ although I have to say, the ‘time aspect’ doesn’t seem to be as pressing of right now.)
It comes down to three questions:

• What do I need to accomplish?
• What do I desire to achieve?
• What do I feel I have to do?

The first two are pretty straight forward.
It is the last one that gets me into trouble every once in a while; the things I feel I have to do. Usually that feeling is related not to what is important to me (or it would have been covered by the first two questions) but by what I think is important to others.
It has to do with values I grew up with. It has to do with things I have been told along the way. It has to do with things I think are expected of me...
But are they?

The bottom line is that it is a good thing to take stock every once in a while. To take the time to really see where you are expending your energy and your money.
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