Over a month and half ago, I stated that I was performing an audit on my time. Having time is very important to me as I generally much rather waste money than waste time. I finally got around to putting all the data together, and looking at how I actually spend my time. It’s not a pretty picture. However, I engaged the exercise because I didn’t think I would like what I found.

I spend over 65% of time either sleeping, working or commuting. Of those three things, I only really enjoy sleep, and even there it’s not something I want to devote my time towards. If I exclude sleep, I spend nearly 50% of my waking hours working and commuting. If you’re going to spend half your time doing something, you should enjoy it.

After accounting for the time that I have less control over; sleeping, working, and commuting, I’m left with a little over 8 hours each day to do with what I may. This 8 hours is an average of 8 across every single day, including weekends. 8 hours is not a lot. Nearly on whole hour is taken up by mundane routine tasks such as brushing my teeth, taking showers, getting dressed, and eating. In my eating category I’ve only included meals that I eat alone (or at my desk at work), the rest of my eating is lumped in with socializing as that’s what I’m really doing.

Having cataloged my time, the exercise has only reaffirmed my value of time over money. I really don’t have as much time as I want. Looking at the table, I see not only where I spend too much time (work, commuting, and sleep), I also see where I want to spend more time (relaxing, sports, personal work, blogging, socializing). I feel time constrained much of the time, and I hardly engage in sports activities (including the Gym) that I both want to and know would be good for me. I look at pie and don’t really see much I can squeeze time from. The only thing glaring is how much I sleep. I’m in bed for nearly 8.5 hours a day. I think that’s alot, but I do enjoy it so.