Time And Money

Time and money. Money and time. We all wish we had more of each.

When I was young, I possessed so much time I couldn’t give it away fast enough. Unfortunately, I had no money so boredom reigned supreme. I couldn’t imagine being young today and being able to access any bit of information or media I could be interested in. For example, I have a DC Comics membership. I can read any one of thousands of comics immediately on my phone or table for $10 a month. Netflix has thousands of hours of content. YouTube has videos on just about anything you want to know. Get an XBox and a Game Pass and play a hundred different games. It’s insane. Back then I had a farm to walk around on, that was it. It was great in the summer to be outside (you had to be, we barely got three TV channels), but sucked the other nine months out of the year (because we only got three TV channels).

After I got out of college and began working full time, I suddenly had both time and money. It was awesome. Outside of the requirement of working Monday through Friday, all other waking hours outside of that window was a free for all. I also stopped budgeting because I could always pay my bills. As long as I wasn’t too extravagant, I could do what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it. I had every night planned out. It was pretty much gym-Bible study-fly fishing club event-Jaycees-gym all week long. I was outside every weekend, but it was lonely.

Eventually I met someone and got married. Time was still plentiful and you are spending it with someone else (which you don’t mind because you want to be with that person). Money is not even close to being a problem as there are now two incomes to cover expenses. This is great time for married couples. If my wife and I had met earlier we would have pushed this time out more, but given that I was in my early thirties I wanted to get a family started so we could be around for their adulthood.

Then you have those said kids. Suddenly time and money are gone and in an extreme way. Daycare, medical bills, car seats, clothes, diapers, birthday parties, they all add up. And time, what time? It gets so hectic you start planning out a 30 minute break in the day, usually when you’re in the bathroom, to just sit on your phone and read the news. It becomes the best part of your day because it is the quietest. You go to bed tired and wake up tired and there’s no real relief. Friends want to hang out still, but you have to be up at 6:00 am when the kids wake up. If you are sick or want to sleep in, it doesn’t matter, you have to be up at 6:00 am. It just becomes easier to be in bed the same time on the weekend then you do during the week.

I am honestly at the point where I am looking forward to having time again. I would trade not having money for more time, which is probably what retirement is going to be for most of us anyway. If I could, I would spent the day like the old people at the gym do. Get up in the AM, get a swim in or a workout, talk to your other old folk friends, then head to the library for some reading and back home to work on whatever hobby you have. It’s just wiling away time but in a sense there’s value to it even if it is not entirely productive. I am looking forward to this day and hope I get some of it tagged onto the end of this life.