Life with Margin – How to Get the Freedom You’ve Been Looking For

Often times, life can be busy. There are many demands for our time, our money, our space, and sometimes, things can get overwhelming, like there is no excess room in our lives. Every so often, we need some space. We need to take some time to evaluate our lives, and find the places where modifications can be made, so our schedules breath a bit more easily.

 Be Intentional.

The first step to living a life with margin is to be intentional with all of your life. Being intentional means looking at your plans, your finances, your space, and choosing with purpose what you want to have in these spaces. How do you know if you are being intentional? Well, examine your life. When it comes to your time, do you find yourself constantly overwhelmed, living day to day, struggling to fit all of your desires into your time? Are you frequently late, overcommitted in your tasks?

What about your finances? Is there excess room in your budget? If an emergency were to strike tomorrow, would you have the ability to address it? Or would that emergency cause undue stress on your life.

Plan for it!

When it comes to your lifestyle, you need to plan for the things that are important to you. This means taking the time to plan for your time, what your days and your weeks will include. Something to note here, is when you are planning your time, you may notice there is not room for everything you want to do. Although unfortunate, this is something that happens, and why it’s important to make a plan for your time. In these circumstances, it’s important to focus on what is most important to you, what is the best use of your time, your values and your abilities at this point in your life. Do not let the FOMO (fear of missing out) control your decision making, but rather, consciously choose the activities and the people most important to you.

When it comes to your finances, you need to do the same thing – plan for it. Our money will go where we plan for it to. Or in some circumstances, where we lack to plan for it to. In other words, one way or another, your money will be spent. Without a plan, you have no way of determining where that money is going. Instead, have a monthly working budget, and stick to it! This is your roadmap for your finances. In this way, you can again consciously plan to spend your money on the activities and the people most important to you. However, it’s difficult to do so successfully without a budget.

*Don’t have a working budget? Get started here!

Learn to Say No.

The power of the word “no” is incredible, when you know how to use it properly. When trying to live a life with margin, the word no is a necessity. You need to be able to say no to the demands for your time, your money and your space. Sometimes, it’s an external “no” to another party. Other times, it’s an internal “no”, denying ourselves something we desire. But the ability to say “no” is so important in this decision-making period.

Time

In terms of your time, as mentioned above, many people are vying for a piece of it. Whether it’s work for additional holiday hours, church leader for volunteer work, school volunteers, PTO’s, parties, sports practice, etc.. – the list goes on – people are requesting time from you. You do not have to say yes to each request. In fact, you should not say yes to each request, for several reasons. First, you need to have space in your life, and time to complete all of the items requested of you. By saying yes to too many requests, you will not be able to deliver on all of them. Secondly, by saying yes to multiple requests, when you do not have the time/ability/etc., you are taking away someone else’s opportunity to fill that need. Just because the person is asking you to complete the task, does not mean that you are the only person who can complete the task. Learning to say no is one of the many things that can bring your schedule some freedom.

Money

When it comes to your finances, again there are many things vying for a piece of your pocket. However, not all of them should get it. If you have a budget, you should be able to determine what is available for spending, and what is not. Being able to say “no” to purchases, impulsive or otherwise, is a huge benefit to your financial well-being. This is again, the ability to deny yourself, so you may work towards financial freedom.

Now, this is not to say you can’t and shouldn’t be generous with your time/money/space. If you have the space to breathe in your life, you should be able to donate as well, whether it is time, money, or space (ie: hosting a party, or a guest).

Be patient. Take time for yourself!

There you have it! If you want to live a life with margin, a life with more freedom, it is not impossible. You need to learn to be intentional with every area of your life – with your calendar, your finances, your relationships, your space. Be intentional, consciously choose daily what you want, and what you do not. Then, you need to develop a plan. Plan for what it is you want to accomplish, whether it is financially, personally, professionally, etc. Plan for how you want to spend your time, your money, and your space. Finally, you need to be able to say “no”, to all types of requests, personal, financial, and even to yourself. Saying “no” gives you the freedom to choose what you can and cannot do, versus what you feel obligated to do, but don’t really want to.