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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip it's too bank time. Just as you save

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Speaker 1: money for unexpected expenses, you can create a time cushion

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Speaker 1: in case your future self has more demands in her

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Speaker 1: schedule than you expected. If you read personal finance literature

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Speaker 1: or listen to personal finance podcasts like my favorite How

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Speaker 1: to Money, you know how important it is to have

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Speaker 1: an emergency fund. Keeping six months of living expenses in

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Speaker 1: liquid accounts means that you can deal with almost any

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Speaker 1: unexpected expense hole in the roof, medical bill, need to

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Speaker 1: fly to visit a sick relative. You'll be able to

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Speaker 1: handle these things without going into debt. If you lose

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Speaker 1: your job, you'll be able to cover your regular living

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Speaker 1: expenses until you find a new job. Stuff happens, and

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Speaker 1: a financial cushion softens the blow. Having money in the

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Speaker 1: bank means you can feel calm about events that might

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Speaker 1: otherwise lead to some serious anxiety. Time and money are

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Speaker 1: similar in many ways. They are both limited resources, so

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Speaker 1: you probably won't be surprised to hear me say that

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Speaker 1: you need a time emergency fund too. Of course, while

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Speaker 1: money in the bank stays in the bank until you

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Speaker 1: need it, banking time isn't quite so straightforward. Once a

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Speaker 1: second is gone, it is gone and you cannot buy

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Speaker 1: it back. But it is possible to bank time in

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Speaker 1: certain ways that can be helpful when you have future

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Speaker 1: unexpected demands, like needing to cover for a sick colleague

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Speaker 1: or take care of a sick kid, or if you

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Speaker 1: need to deal with the burst pipe that requires you

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Speaker 1: to schedule plumbers visits during the day, or you know,

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Speaker 1: the emergencies could be good things too, like an unexpected

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Speaker 1: invitation that you'd like to accept when something comes up,

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Speaker 1: it's helpful to have banked investments of time that you

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Speaker 1: can draw on so you don't fall behind. One of

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Speaker 1: the most straightforward ways to do this is to bank

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Speaker 1: extras of anything you're regularly required to produce. I work

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Speaker 1: ahead on both my podcasts, so my schedule is more flexible.

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Speaker 1: A teacher or trainer might have some banked lesson plans.

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Speaker 1: Magazines and newspapers have evergreen features that they can slot

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Speaker 1: in should things go awry. The key here is evergreen.

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Speaker 1: A teacher wouldn't know for sure that he'd be absent

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Speaker 1: on the day he planned to cover Act three of Hamlet.

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Speaker 1: But a standalone lesson on let's say a T. S.

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Speaker 1: Eliott poem could work. A blog post on a great

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Speaker 1: chocolate cake works better than a blog post on a

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Speaker 1: Fourth of July themed cake because the latter is too specific.

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Speaker 1: You can bank time with personal tasks by working ahead too.

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Speaker 1: For example, whenever you cook lasagna, make two, one to eat,

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Speaker 1: one to freeze. Voila, you have banked time for a

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Speaker 1: busy night when you need to make dinner for your

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Speaker 1: family or take food to a friend but are short

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Speaker 1: on time. Similarly, by keeping plenty of pantry and freezer

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Speaker 1: staples on hand, you can skip a planned trip to

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Speaker 1: the grocery store when you need to use the time

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Speaker 1: you would have spent going to the grocery store for

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Speaker 1: something else. Perhaps the most effective way to bank time

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Speaker 1: is by leaving time open. I try not to schedule

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Speaker 1: too much for Friday's. That way, when stuff comes up,

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Speaker 1: it's got a spot to go. Friday. The time seldom

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Speaker 1: winds up staying completely open as and I won't be

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Speaker 1: staring at the walls twiddling my thumbs. Instead, it's about

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Speaker 1: recognizing that my time estimates aren't always accurate. Leave time

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Speaker 1: open and I won't fall behind. I'd also recommend banking

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Speaker 1: time with other people when you can do favors big ones,

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Speaker 1: little ones. It's a nice thing to do, of course,

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Speaker 1: but it's also about recognizing that humans are reciprocal creatures.

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Speaker 1: If you have helped your colleague out when he's swamped,

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Speaker 1: he will happily help you out when you are swamped too.

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Speaker 1: How do you bank time to cope with unexpected demands

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Speaker 1: on your schedule? You can let me know at Laura

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Speaker 1: at Laura Vanderkamp dot com. 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. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's b the number four, then Breakfast

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Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at I heeart Media dot com.

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Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.