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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that if you get an unexpected stretch of

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Speaker 1: free time, be intentional about how you spend it. That way,

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Speaker 1: you will enjoy your time windfall a lot more so.

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Speaker 1: On this podcast, I recently shared recommendations about what to

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Speaker 1: do with a small windfall of money. The key is

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Speaker 1: to use the money intentionally, so the extra cash doesn't

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Speaker 1: get folded into your usual budget and forgotten. The same

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Speaker 1: is true with a windfall of time. If you have

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Speaker 1: an hour next week because a meeting is canceled, you

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Speaker 1: could go see an exhibit at an art gallery near

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Speaker 1: your office, or grab coffee with a work friend, or

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Speaker 1: do some long term strategic planning. With an afternoon unexpectedly

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Speaker 1: free on a weekend, you could take your kids to

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Speaker 1: an amusement park, or get lost in a novel, or

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Speaker 1: take out your watercolors and paint. When we don't think

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Speaker 1: about how to use unexpected free time, it's easy to

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Speaker 1: just unload the dishwasher, or process email or putter around

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Speaker 1: the house, and there's nothing wrong with those things. But

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Speaker 1: there's nothing particularly special or memorable about them either. Much

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Speaker 1: better to make a conscious choice and spend the time

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Speaker 1: on something that matters to you. Windfalls of time were

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Speaker 1: on my mind when I read a recent New York

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Speaker 1: Times article about money windfalls. Financial advisor Ariana Alicia Bono

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Speaker 1: was quoted as suggesting you create a windfall plan every

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Speaker 1: year for how you might allocate any larger windfalls of money.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of a nice problem to have, but what

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Speaker 1: percent would go to debt or savings or spending and

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Speaker 1: so forth. That way, you won't be caught up in

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Speaker 1: the emotion of a windfall. Instead, if you get a windfall,

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Speaker 1: you will execute on your windfall plan that is in

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Speaker 1: keeping with your long term goals. That seems wise, especially

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Speaker 1: for people who are likely to get some sort of windfall,

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Speaker 1: like perhaps a year in bonus. As is so often

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Speaker 1: the case, that good idea for money is a good

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Speaker 1: idea for time too. It is a lot easier to

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Speaker 1: be intentional about unexpected free time if you have thought

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Speaker 1: in advance about what you would like to do. So.

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Speaker 1: I am not sure you need to write up a

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Speaker 1: windfall plan for time quite as systematically as that article

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Speaker 1: suggested for money, but I do think it could be

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Speaker 1: helpful as you are planning your week or doing any

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Speaker 1: big picture planning for the season, to think about what

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Speaker 1: you would do with extra time. For instance, in your

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Speaker 1: weekly planning, you might decide that if you have a

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Speaker 1: windfall of an hour during that particular week, you will

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Speaker 1: call your sister, or you will bake some bread. And

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Speaker 1: your fall planning, you might decide that if you have

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Speaker 1: a windfall of a half day, you'll have lunch with

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Speaker 1: a friend who lives ninety minutes away, or spend the

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Speaker 1: afternoon revamping your wardrobe, or put together a photo book

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Speaker 1: from the past year. With a plan in mind, you

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Speaker 1: will be able to use any time that is not

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Speaker 1: spoken for in a meaningful way. What's more, when you

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Speaker 1: have specific and doable ideas in mind for any windfalls

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Speaker 1: of time, you might even get through your Saturday afternoon

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Speaker 1: life maintenance tasks faster so you can act on your

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Speaker 1: wonderful ideas now. To be clear, thinking through what you

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Speaker 1: would do with a time windfall isn't about putting one

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Speaker 1: more thing on your to do list. You are not

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Speaker 1: saying you have to do these things. It is about

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Speaker 1: dreaming of how you would spend a stretch of uncommitted

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Speaker 1: time that presented itself, so you are ready to make

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Speaker 1: the most of it. Snow Days happen, plans get canceled,

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Speaker 1: projects sometimes go faster than expected, and it is fun

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Speaker 1: to have an idea for something special to do. That way,

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Speaker 1: you will enjoy the extra time. It might feel a

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Speaker 1: bit like winning the lottery. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.