The Keys to Effective Budgeting: Autonomy and Automation

Most people avoid budgeting because they consider it an exercise in repressive tedium. But it doesn’t have to be. By applying the science of motivation, economic evidence and the art of creativity, the apparent boredom of budgeting and saving can be remade into part a life-giving financial rhythm.

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Finding Surer Footing

We left the trail head at 1 a.m. and headed for the summit of the Grand Teton. I had made this climb several times, but my friend was still new to mountaineering. This trip was his first attempt at the popular peak. Our goal was to reach the top by sunrise so we had enough time to get back down before afternoon thunderstorms made the trail dangerous.

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Three Ways to Write Your Own Story, Like Baseball’s Daniel Norris

Yesterday, a bearded 21-year-old surfer who lives in a 1978 VW bus, and on a self-imposed annual allowance of $10,000, mowed down my beloved Orioles with a 96-mile-per-hour fastball.

Blue Jays pitcher Daniel Norris isn’t striving to make a statement with his apparently Spartan existence. He’s simply choosing to live life according to his priorities. He’s writing his own story.

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Finding the Right Balance of Time and Money

One summer, a friend of mine planned a river trip. The closest public airport was a day and a half’s drive from the river. So my friend decided to hire a private plane to get his group to the destination in a few hours. I know this choice sounds extravagant, but it represents a choice we’ve probably all experienced at some point.

My friend had the money, but he didn’t have the time. For him, time had become a supervaluable commodity, and saving a day and half was worth the price of the private plane. We make a similar decision, for example, when we spend more to book a faster direct flight or pay for overnight delivery. At these moments, we’ve made the decision that our time is worth more than our money.

In other situations, money will matter more. Maybe we’re saving to buy a home or pay down our college debt. So we take the cheaper flight that takes twice as long or wait two weeks for our package to arrive. At these moments, we’ve made the decision that our money is worth more than our time.

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Every day, we make exchanges between money and time. We exchange time for money in the form of work. We then exchange our money for things that represent time, like bread. We want toast and sandwiches, but we value our time more than the time needed to bake a loaf. So we hand over the money and go back to work to exchange our time for more money.

Throughout our lives, the pendulum will swing back and forth. For instance, I have a friend who stays at the same hotel every time she’s in town. It’s more expensive than other options, but the location is so convenient that she saves time going back and forth to meetings.

On the flip side, she drives 45 minutes to shop at a cheaper grocery store. She’s done the math, and even when gas is included, she’s still saving money. For her, that 45 minutes in the car is worth less than the money she saves on food.

This exchange tends to happen more frequently as we get older. We still need money, but we often start to value time more. We care about time spent with family. We care about time spent with friends. We care about time spent doing the things we love. So we hand over the money and count ourselves lucky. We have the money that gives us the time with the people we care about, doing the things we love.

When and how we exchange time for money, or money for time, is incredibly personal. The decision doesn’t fit neatly into some formula. Instead of assuming there’s a right or a wrong answer, we need to put the exchange in the context of what’s right for us right now. Some days, money will matter more. But other days, we’ll consider the money well spent for the time it buys us. That’s the way it should be.

This commentary originally appeared February 23 on NYTimes.com

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