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Jun 22, 2020    |       2 comments

How Valuable is Your Time?

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How Valuable is Your Time

My dad has recently begun “archiving” our family photos. And by our family, I mean our extended family from way back when. I began the process about 10 years ago as a labor of love and got almost 400 images processed.

This process includes:

  • Scanning the image
  • Naming the image
  • Repairing/restoring the image
  • Updating a spreadsheet with all the details I know about the picture – who is in it, when it was taken, what they are doing, etc.

It was a long and tedious process, especially since I didn’t know very many people or places in the pictures so had to do a lot of research. The point is that it takes a very long time.

Photo of green leaves printing out of a black Canon printer

I did it as I had the time and was in no rush. My dad is a bit less technically inclined and wants the process, especially the scanning, repairing, and numbering to be easy…and quick. It’s not. And coaching him from a distance has been time-consuming and frustrating, for both of us, but mostly for him.

He’s got at least 1,000 images to go. And frankly, I don’t want to spend my week with them next month scanning and repairing images. And I want to spare him the frustration and time suck this can be.

Father’s Day – Give Him back His Time

As my sister and I were discussing Father’s Day presents, it came to me, I could give him back his time, without giving him mine. (As I read this, I realize this sounds bad. But with limited time with my parents, I know 1) I wouldn’t be able to complete the task and 2) economically it makes more sense that I work.)

So my plan is to gift my dad with at least getting some of the images scanned and repaired for him. Hopefully, if we can get some back before I get there, I can help him organize and process them.

There are all sorts of services out there that will scan and repair the images for you. Have you ever used one? I would love personal recommendations.

 

Jun 21, 2020    |       6 comments

Wearing Down My ‘No’ Muscle

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I was superiorly pleased my ability to keep my diet and exercise in check. Not only did I accomplish my goals, I dragged a lot of folks into accomplishing theirs. What I realized in that experience is that I can only say ‘no’ to a limited number of things. I worked REALLY hard to pass on processed foods and motivate myself to exercise. I ran out of energy saying ‘no’ in my finances.

May was our worst spending month of the year. June is shaping up to be a close second. I bought so much stupid stuff. New pair of workout shorts? Of course! New pair of tennis shoes? I NEED those. A new this. A new that. I bought all the things I’m usually so good at saying ‘no’ to. Embarrassingly, I even bough a pair of AirPods. AirPods! I do a lot of conference calls and my wired headset was falling apart. Rather than replacing them with another inexpensive set, I bought AirPods.

Silver iPhone and AirPods on a white surface

I wore them when I went for a run this morning and I was embarrassed. They felt showy and stupid. They’re not me (no offense if you love them and do not feel that way!).

I used my individual budget money (I get $60/month) to purchase them and that ate more than 2 months of my savings. The other purchases though, I blew those budgets. I knew I was way over so I ignored balancing our accounts for weeks.

Sure, it doesn’t help that we are smack in the middle of a pandemic or that we are experiencing a lot of social unrest, but trying to be restrictive across too many areas of your life is dangerous. Yesterday, I packed up everything that hadn’t been worn or used and shipped them back to Amazon, Nordstrom, and Famous Footwear (I told you it was bad!). Most had already been opened so I’ll only recover $200 back from my spending spree.

I moved around the budget as much as possible but I’m still going to have to dig into the buffer fund we just built. I feel sick.

You’re probably thinking, “You just did a post on Accountability! Where was your husband in this!?!?” Whelp, he was making purchases as well. Apparently his ‘no’ muscle was weak too. We were also really busy and didn’t sit down together to look at our spending at the end of the May. This probably would have helped us rally in June. Neither one of us was paying attention which made things so much worse.

I’m trying to extend myself some grace. These are some crazy times. But I’m embarrassed. I messed up. Ugh. This is always going to be a battle. It’s a matter of choosing which battle I want to try the hardest to fight.

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