Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Time Is Money

I read in the paper this morning that some lawyers in downtown Toronto are charging one thousand dollars per hour! Costs of doing business are also very high - People really don't get that. Office space costs a fortune. Education costs and the interest rates on money to pay for that education costs big. A single book can cost hundreds of dollars. Professional fees, insurance fees, and costs for periodicals and programs so that you can keep up to date on what's going on in your field are huge. All of these things are necessary, basic minimums to work.

My costs aren't as high as those guys, but it still costs me about $60/hr just to sit here and breathe. If I have to travel anywhere or hire someone for a specific task or back-fill, etc, the cost is higher. It bugs me when people gasp at how much our fees are - and they're not even close to that 1k an hour that the lawyers charge.

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Went to the dentist today - probably for the last time in the foreseeable future. My dental and drug coverage has come to an end. I'm grateful that I got better before my drug coverage ended because the cost of the medications I needed would have meant having to sell my house and going on social assistance. I'll die before I do that. I've been there before and I'm not going back.

Anyway, at the dentist they said I'm brushing properly and all that... but there are problems starting and they believe it's due to improper nutrition.

It's not like I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing - It's that I don't have the option. Try explaining that to someone to whom not buying groceries or not having the money to pay for hydro is a foreign concept. Telling me to get more sleep is kind of like telling a drowning man that he really ought to breathe.

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The demands for my time are piling up. If I spend 15 minutes reading something (like reading the paper online this morning), that's 15 minutes I'm not spending either earning money or pursuing opportunities. That means groceries, hydro, a roof over my head. It's not about the money itself; It's about surviving. Time really is money and time is also about survival.

I just want to be okay.

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