The other day I was reflecting with a friend and the topic came up about the judgments bestowed upon us over the years. I shared that my own family has teased me about my diva personality. I also shared that my father’s wife (was not always the nicest person in the world but may she rest in peace) has gone so far as to call me “Ms. Prissy” because I tied my hair in a knot when I was too warm playing softball with the family in full-body post-surgical compression wear ( never mind that this diva had just had liposuction). On top of the compression garment I was wearing full sweats and a long-sleeve shirt to hide the post-surgical compression wear; I was hot!
News Flash: I’m not regular!
Here is the truth of the matter: I am not regular. I have never been regular. I don’t want to be regular. Perhaps, most important, I refuse to apologize, ever again, for being the diva that I am. I am most comfortable walking around in silk robes with furry heels. I believe in the value of having a maid. I find it pointless to do my own grocery shopping. Let me explain…
Time Value
I grocery shop 1-3 times per week. Hey! I’m a diva – I like my food fresh! Let’s look at this intellectually… if I only shop once per week half of the weeks of the year and twice per week the other half of the weeks per year then I grocery shop 78 times per year. My Instacart annual plan costs me $99 per year. In other words, each time I pay Instacart to do my shopping for me it costs me $1.27. In fairness, it costs me a little more because I always tip my shoppers and I do think most of the prices are inflated. Nonetheless, we have some insight into the costs so let’s consider a few of the benefits:
- When shopping with Instacart I tend to spend less on groceries, overall, because I put thing in my cart as I need them instead of strolling through the aisles and throwing stuff in my cart that I don’t need. I also eat less junk food (because I don’t buy it).
- As CEO of Exquisite Air Charter, Diva CEO (blogger), mom, GLAMma, Notary Public, and God knows what else, I have to take my time into consideration. If I take my income over a year (all sources) and divide it by 52 weeks per year then divide that number by the number of hours I work (average) per week then I will have an idea of my hourly rate of pay. If you make an hourly wage then you already know but this is how self-employed divas can figure out their hourly wage. Hypothetically, if I make $100 per hour and between cost and tip my groceries being delivered costs me $35 then I am saving tremendously by outsourcing my grocery shopping: 2 hours @ $100 per hour = $200 minus $35 = $165. I just saved $165 (plus calories and monies by not buying crap I don’t buy when I use Instacart).
This same time value concept can be used when considering hiring a maid/cleaning service. If it takes you 4 hours to clean your house and your hourly wage is $35 per hour then as long as a maid will cost you $140 or less then hiring someone to clean can be justified. If you can make $25 per hour driving for Lyft or Uber in your “spare” time and a maid costs $100 or less to do what would take you 4 hours to do then it can be justified. The catch is to be making money and not sitting on your butt watching reality TV.
Do you!
The idea here is to focus on being your best self – as sparkly and eccentric as you want to be. If you allow other people to get in your head then you won’t ever be happy. My own mother used to tell me I was wasteful for maids and other choices. I have to do what is right for me. What is right for me is using my time to make more money, spend with my family, and live my best life. My time value calculations justify my expenditures and I get to be the true, unapologetic, diva that I am.