Time Thieves

I think we all become a little introspective during New Year’s week.

Whether we’re “resolutions” people or not, many of us feel a desire to do an adjusted “mapquest” of this journey through life we’re taking. We instinctively give some thought to what’s working for us, and what is not . . .

I recently read a phrase that struck a chord with me:

“Time is a modern day luxury.”

Wow, is that ever true!

If you can carve out a little free time in any given day, you are living the good life. I am serious!

Our ancestors surely must have dreamed that they could be ladies of leisure if only they didn’t have to haul water from the well, wash clothes on a rock, and keep that fire going to cook and heat the home. So why is it that with all the of conveniences of today, we still have so little free time?

curlyline

The conveniences are, of course, part of the problem. There’s no down time. You can be reached by phone 24/7. No more blissful time in the car when you are incommunicado with the rest of the planet. Now, your boss or pesty neighbor can reach you at any hour.

And “taking care” of our “conveniences” takes time – or at least, effort! You must charge your cell, sort the good email from the spam, perform computer updates, scan for viruses, shred mail and papers that could lead to identity theft. And don’t even get me started on our ability to snap photos, willy nilly. Digital cameras are a good thing, for sure. It’s fabulous that there are no more processing fees to develop our pix, but the TIME to sort, delete, and organize can be overwhelming, especially if you are an incurable shutter bug!

curlyline

It’s all enough to make you cry “uncle”. How ironic that we may have less time because we have more conveniences!

I won’t pretend to have the best answer. It’s something I wrestle with and have blogged about several times in the past. I know one thing though. I’d like to make 2011 the year I get closer to finding the key to the luxury of time.

How about you? Do you feel you have less time now than you did a decade ago?

Hugs,

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That’s Progress I Guess . . .

Do you ever long for the days when life was simpler? I truly miss the little moments of “free time” I used to have before:

junk mail
telemarketers
spam
paper shredding

Ironically, as personal computers began to appear in homes across the country, and a paperless society was predicted, the flood of junk mail continued to escalate to crazy proportions!

junk-mail

Today, more than ever, I’m sorting through and disposing of catalogs, brochures, credit card offers, and sales pitches on everything from replacement windows to service contracts for the fridge. It’s become a constant chore.

Then there are the telemarketers – the countless numbers of them that are somehow exempt from the “do not call list”, either because they are only “doing surveys” or because you inadvertently gave them permission to call you. This permission may have been given when you gave your phone number during a purchase, or perhaps opened a bank account, bought a car, entered a drawing at a local shopping mall, or on any number of other occasions you offered your personal information to a company that’s affliated with the company the telemarketer is representing. Ay yi yi!!!

telephone

And how about the nuisance of deleting email spam? Whether it’s for vitamins, “enhancement” potions, or maybe just forwards from well-intentioned friends (who felt compelled to send along that chain letter so that you might escape 10 years of bad luck!), it’s time-consuming to have to sift through it all.

spam2

But what annoys me most is the relatively recent chore of shredding! This is a new job. Who was shredding 10 years ago? Big corporations perhaps? Certainly not Mr. & Mrs. Average Citizen. Today we’re warned that all hell could break loose if we casually discard papers that are financial/personal for we could be “tempting” identity thieves! Some of the things that you’re advised to shred, like credit card offers, often arrive as junk mail!!! Talk about a vicious circle of lather, rinse, repeat.

paper2

Honestly, if you totaled the minutes wasted with all of this nonsense, you could probably paint a bedroom, knit an afghan, read a book . . . maybe even WRITE a book!

It’s frustrating. I’ve done all of the usual things – getting on the do not call list, removing our name from mailing lists, and not giving our email address and phone number out willy-nilly. Unfortunately doing those things only seems to lessen the problem, not totally eliminate it.

What do you do to tame the junk mail, telemarketing, spam-sending, paper-shredding tiger? 😉

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