How to Have Golden Days

Golden days are those days remembered in your picture albums.  They are days filled with Kodak moments.  Times with family or close friends or time spent alone doing something really satisfying.  Golden days can include doing really important charitable work.  For some lucky people, golden days can occur at work.  For most of us, these moments occur during our "free" time.  

Free time is hardly free though.  We spend a huge amount of our time making money to get a few weeks of vacation a year.  Many weekends are spent catching up on personal business.  When we finally get those free days (or at least free hours), they are extremely valuable.

This blog is meant to be just as much about time as it is about money.  Time is more valuable than money.  Money can be recovered but lost time is never recovered. My main motivation in managing money well is to protect time.  To protect those golden days.

Time and money are tied closely together. We spend time to make money.  We are paid for our time.  We save money to take vacations.  Families struggle with the decision of being a two-income family because of the time it costs.  We are constantly balancing time vs. money whether we realize it or not.

In order to have more golden days, we must take control of this balance and tilt it toward having more "free" time or time margin.  Since money is so closely tied to time, we have to control it in order to control time margin.

Money Margin

Time margin is very hard to achieve without some money margin.  Many American families are one paycheck away from losing their home.  How can we have freedom when our existence is so dependent on each and every paycheck.  The more money margin we have, the more control we usually have over our time. Key principles for having money margin are:

• Live Debt Free - Less debt requires less work
• Save and Invest - Savings allows us to work less, find a new job without stress, or start a business without stress
• Giving - Giving is a golden day activity

Doing the above while valuing time (not working 70 hours a week) requires that we follow another critical principle:

• Spend Less

This is where the rubber meets the road. Every good thing requires some sacrifice.  The sacrifice required is that we spend less on things which don't contribute to golden days.  Things which are not in your picture albums. 

Time Margin

If we have some money margin, we can attack the issue of gaining more time margin.  The breathing room of money margin gives us power to make some other life choices.

 For example:

• Reduce or eliminate overtime
• Do not work on weekends (or other off-days)
• Live on one income
• Take advantage of alternate schedules or virtual work options
• Find a job that allows all of the above
• Spend a complete day with each of your kids one on one
• Do the above items several times every year
• Date your spouse regularly
• Get involved in a charitable activity

You get the picture.  Once you get used to having a lot of golden days you will never be satisfied with a life of busy frustration for very long.  You won't settle for a life draining job.  Having more golden days starts a cycle of a positive fulfilling life.  This kind of a life will automatically allow you to influence others in a positive way. 

I think filling our lives with golden activities which value people over things (and work) is a significant part of being a successful Christian.  Isn't there a verse about life more abundantly? 

So, go re-organize your finances and your time and have a lot of golden days.