Budgeting Time for the Year – Part 3
Budgeted Time – Part 6.3
Some things are just expected. As far as your year goes, in certain months like November some things are just expected (i.e. Thanksgiving). What if you were so on top of your game that you already had a plan for Thanksgiving pre-set in your time-budget? So go ahead and plug those items in. Over the span of a year there are some items that reoccur. I call them staple items. Always consider your staple items and put these large stones in place because they’re not moving. They are not even optional for the most part. Place your staple annual events on your calendar so that you don’t overbook them or overschedule yourself. Remember, in previous sections, we talked about living with margin. Living with margin means accounting for these annual staple items. For this lesson, let’s take a look at each month and review a few examples and suggestions that will help you identify your annual staple time-transactions.
We will look at each month respectively but in quarter blocks (i.e. seasons).
The Winter Months
Allow me to say this as we begin, don’t think of your time-budget or calendar as having a beginning or end. Think of it as being cyclical or seasonal. In other words, it’s revolving. With that said, we will begin with the winter months which actually starts in December. Our natural inclination is to begin in January. However, if we want to truly consider winter and plan with this season in mind, we mustn’t leave out December and try to throw it into the fall.
Here are a few ideas to help you plan for your annual time-transaction for the winter by month.
December
- The Holiday Season – You might not realize this, but Christmas is fairly involved. It takes up almost the month in its entirely. One might have decorating activities, Christmas parties, special events, office events, traditional events, and family must do’s. For example, our family has made a tradition of enjoying the Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they come to our city during the holiday season. To see it all clearly you want to add it to your time-budget so that you can make the most of your holiday season which is most of December.
- New Year’s Preparations – Preparing for the new year and having a new year’s celebration is big. New Year’s is a time that we reflect. Take a week to reflect over your year. We take the time to put together a family yearbook, like a school yearbook, just to remind us of the major events that we’ve achieved throughout the year. What will you plan for yours?
January
January has a few unique staple possibilities.
- New Year’s Day – Day one of the new year. When we think about day one we must ask the question, how do you want to start your new year? A lot of people talk about resolutions, but we’re more intentional about how we want our year to go and how we want it to begin. Make the first day of the year a special day, but more importantly have a plan for it.
- Focus on Spirituality – In January, we do an exercise, an activity that we call 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. That’s when we focus on our spirituality. Since it’s at the beginning of the year, we give the first of our year to prayer and fasting. This exercise helps us to cut out the things that we may not want to have in our lives or the year, but use it as a catalyst to push our year in the best direction possible. Use your resolution and goals (spiritual acts) as we do, to reconnect to your passions, your purpose, and your mission for living.
We participate in small groups or community groups. We connect with other like minded people during this winter semester of small groups. This means that one day out of the week, we’re with a group of people to sharpen us. There’s a Bible verse that says “iron sharpens iron.” [1] We are intentional with surrounding ourselves with people to help us grow. - Holidays – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (MLK Day) which is in January is a day of rest and reflection. We put that on a calendar because it’s a holiday. All holidays that you celebrate should be included. It is not going to be a workday. Therefore, we schedule around this day to make it a special time for our family.
February
- Tax season – February is considered tax season for our family. That’s when we prepare our tax return documents. By this time, we have all the documents we need to populate the templates & checklists we’ve created for this purpose.
- Valentine’s Day – Also in February is Valentine’s Day. Even though it is not a day that we get off of work, it’s a special day we observe. This day is important to couples and so we want to make sure that we don’t forget about Valentine’s Day. How can we prepare what reservations we may need to make, and what gifts we need to purchase? These items and timing for such go on the calendar so we don’t miss it out.
The Spring Months
Spring which follows winter, the slower months, is when outdoor activities begin to pick back up. It’s a time where everything from people to animals and vegetative begins to come alive. That means we shouldn’t be doing winter activities in the spring. Spring is when the world is emerging from its winter cocoon, so to speak. Spring is your time to come out of your hibernating period. With this in mind, let’s look at a few time-transaction examples we can plan for.
March
March has no holidays. So we’re always inclined to insert a day off or days off in March.
- Plan A Break – In March we bake in a few days where we can intentionally have rest. We call it spring break.
- Spring Cleaning – Most people follow this pattern each year to perform some type of spring cleaning in early spring. Plan for it. What can you do this spring that you didn’t get a chance to do last spring?
April
April has no true holidays either, none that are honored by secular society, workplaces, or the business world.
- Anniversary Retreat – Since Pamela and I were married in the month of April, it marks our wedding anniversary. So, we always plan for some type of marriage retreat. Our plans and the dates are something we add to our time-budget specifically for the month of April.
- Easter (Good Friday) – Easter is a holiday for us because we’re Christian believers, that’s no secret. Therefore, Easter and the events leading up to Easter are extremely important for our plans and our calendar. Our Easter and Good Friday activities include getting together with our family, sharing a meal, and simply making it one of those occasions that we can enjoy time with our families.
- End of School – Prepare for school to end. Because our daughter goes to a school whose year ends in May, as opposed to June, we prepare for what happens when school lets out. We have activities already in mind and plans established for what happens to our schedule and hers during the months ahead.
May
That brings us to May, also considered summer month number one if you want to get an early jump on summer.
- Mother’s Day – It comes every year without fail. What are you going to do to go to the next level for Mother’s Day? If you plan for it, you can make it special, you can make it memorable, and you can make it better than it was the previous year.
- Graduations – Graduations generally occur in May. Graduations in and of themselves bring a time for reflection.
When you start to think about all the things that happen in a year, you can see how they start to pile up. Your calendar begins to easily fill up with more than you thought. Which in turn causes your year to feel like it’s shrinking. This is why budgeting your time is critical.
- Memorial Day – Memorial Day is a holiday; how will you celebrate it?
By this time in May we’re not even halfway done with our year. Yet, within the winter and spring months a ton of activities have already occurred. Without a time-budget, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and even stressed out.
The Summer Months
Summer marks the halfway point of a year. It’s the perfect opportunity to reset and reevaluate the plans you began and get back on course if you’ve been knocked off course.
June
- Father’s Day – In the same way we accounted for Mother’s Day, we want to account for Father’s Day. What are you going to do to go to the next level for Father’s Day? Plan for it.
- Mid-year Activities – For people who are in the workforce, you have your mid-year activities like mid-year evaluations and things of that nature. Go ahead and start blocking your time off to prepare. The sooner, the better. There is no reason to be caught off guard when you know these activities come each year with regularity.
- Summer Small Groups – As I mentioned for January, we intentionally gather with likeminded people, we do this in semesters. Just like in the winter, we have summer small groups. The difference between the Winter group and the Summer group is a shorter period of time like six weeks. The Summer semester ends with a large project intended to serve our communities. Since we know this is coming and we desire to participate, we make plans for it in our time-budget.
July
- Independence Day – One holiday to note for July is America’s Independence Day. That day is a day of no work. So how are you going to celebrate it? Put it on your calendar, budget for it.
August
- Reset – Similar to the 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting in the winter, we have 21 Days of Prayer (no fasting) that’s in August. It is a reminder for us to get ourselves back in tune spiritually and make sure we do a spiritual checkup. You see, in summer you know things can get off course and the summer activities start to take over our lives. Therefore, we participate in this 21 day exercise to get back on course and to start the school season off right.
- School Season – In August, we want to begin preparing for the return of not only fall, but the school season. This season also includes fall sports like football. Not only is it important to prepare your time-budget mentally but physically as well. Don’t be like everyone else who allows life to drive them instead of being the one in the driver’s seat of life.
- Birthdays – Because we honor each other’s birthday, those are days to be celebrated even if that means we take whole days away from working to celebrate. Since Pamela’s birthday is in August, we plan for this special day so that our birthdate isn’t like any other day. If there’s going to be a day that we determine to be special, let it be our birthday.
The Fall Months
Fall makes way to the final season of the year. When we think of fall, it represents the harvesting period. For us it means the closeout period. We’re getting ready to bring the year to a close and prepare the way for the new year.
September
September is where summer ends and fall begins.
- Labor Day – In September we take one holiday to recognize all the work or labor that we’ve put in over the year. This holiday is called Labor Day. Place this into your time-budget and don’t take it lightly. You deserve a time to celebrate and take a break from the labor. [2]
- Small Groups – The fall offers one additional and final small group semester to end our year. Since we participate in groups by semester, it offers us a chance to change groups and/or activities. Therefore, we need a plan for our groups in this case to work around our fall schedule. In order to work around a schedule, one must have his or her own system for budgeting time.
October
- Fall Activities – Fall activities include fall festivals, Halloween (whether we like to admit it or not), All Saints Day, and preparations for the holiday season approaching. In October, you have school homecoming activities, homecoming week, homecoming games, and homecoming dances. All these events must be pre-planned? So go ahead and start mapping those activities out.
November
The last month of fall and last month in our time-budgeting year is November. Don’t let this confuse you as you may not recall that December is at the start since it is the first month of winter.
- Birthdays – We get your significant birthdays may fall in other months, we’re noting birthdays here because Tamia and I celebrate ours. The takeaway here is to state that when you have multiple birthdays it’s easy to short one if you don’t plan appropriately. This is another selling point for using a time-budget.
- Thanksgiving – The last holiday we account for is Thanksgiving which includes the day after. How are you going to plan and put in whatever days you need for Thanksgiving festivities and being with family? Go ahead and map that in.
Keep in mind that your calendar can fill up very very quickly. Without these items in your calendar, it sneaks up on you and creates what we call overload or overwhelm. Overwhelm leads to stress. If you go ahead and start planning for these events and the things that you need on your calendar, then when you look at your calendar you can see what all you have going on. You can maneuver better, feel better, and will know which events you can say yes to and what events you can’t. You don’t want to overload your calendar with activities when you can avoid it. You want to plan it out and set yourself up for success by budgeting your year.
Otherwise, if you don’t plan for what you like, someone else is going to take over your plans. In other words, if you don’t have a plan for your year, someone else will have a plan for your year. If you don’t have a plan for your day, someone else will have a plan for your day. If you don’t have a plan for your week, your month, your season, someone else will overload your season, your month, your calendar.
Question: What items can you think of that are staple items you can place on your calendar for the year?
[1] Proverbs 27:17 NKJV, Bible.com, accessed October 18, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/114/PRO.27.17.NKJV
[2] Hebrews 4:10 NIV, Bible.com, accessed October 18, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/111/HEB.4.10.NIV
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.