Most people have a financial budget. Even though my generation gets a lot of flak for being bad with money, most millennials have budgets, too. We’re not actually just spending all our money on avocado toast.

But a lot of people I know do not have a balanced schedule.

Why not? Money and minutes are both finite resources. If you ask me, it’s time we start treating our time like money and balancing our books across the board.

Your Time Is Valuable

It can be hard to mentally commodify your time.

I struggle to see any project or task as not “worth my time,” but in reality, there are some things that should be higher on my list than others. And some things shouldn’t be on my list at all.

At work, I make sure my time is spent efficiently. I don’t say yes to things I know I can’t handle — just like I don’t buy things that I can’t afford.

As a company, 9 Clouds follows the same philosophy. We don’t build websites for clients because it’s not the wisest use of our time. We’ve narrowed our services down to the areas where we can be most effective. The things that aren’t “worth our time” are really the things we’re not meant to be doing!

This really became apparent to me when I became a homeowner. I was confident I could DIY a lot of house projects. Until I started adding up the time I spent researching online, watching YouTube tutorials, actually attempting the project, and often correcting my mistakes. In most cases, it was more cost effective to hire an expert than use my valuable time.

If I would never overdraft my bank account, then I should be equally focused on ensuring my time is evenly accounted.

Manage Your Minutes

Is your budget busted? Are you spending every day playing catch-up with your to-do list? Are you really tired right now?

Start managing your time like you manage your money. You can do this with a digital tool or a pen-and-paper planner. My time management tool of choice is actually a combination of a good, old-fashioned paper planner and a digital calendar.

I have this planner, and I love the ability to see my whole month at a glance as well as break down my weeks in the pages. It’s also a place where I take notes, store business cards, and track my grocery lists. For work, my time management is all done on Google Calendar, a product we’ve praised at length in the past.

Your method of time tracking can be old-school or high-tech. All that really matters is that you give yourself a sense of where your time is going (so you can see what’s left).

Put aside blocks for the basics — you know, like where your mortgage or rent would be in your financial budget. This is where work, sleep, and family go. Put the most important essentials at the foundation of your calendar.

Budget “discretionary” time for those extra things you can control: exercise, errands, happy hours. And always leave yourself a bumper. Life happens, after all, and sometimes we have to dip into savings for the unexpected.

I found that once I started accounting for my time — both at work and personally — I was a lot more productive. You don’t have to take it to the extreme, but it’s valuable to gain a little self-awareness about the things taking up your day.

Stay Productive with 9 Clouds

We’re writing about these things because we struggle to balance our time, too! Our team is always searching for new ways to improve our work selves while maintaining a happy life.

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