Considering cost per joy

I spent my childhood in the countryside and my parents are keen gardeners. So when I was growing up there were always flowers around and flowers didn’t cost money. Occasionally, a guest would bring my mother a bouquet and she would treat this like a huge indulgence. I have memories too of her tutting at the price of cut flowers. She obviously thought is was wasteful to spend on something that was going to die in a few short days.

As an adult I carried this inherited attitude for years. As a reaction to my extremely frugal childhood, I sometimes overspent on clothes and shoes, cocktails and meals out, club entries and gig tickets and, of course, the much reviled “fancy coffees”. I didn’t buy myself flowers.

Sometimes a romantic partner would buy me flowers and I would be overwhelmed and almost resistant. It seemed an extraordinary act. Over time this feeling lessened but it never disappeared. If someone else wanted to throw silly money at flowers for me then that was their choice. To buy my own would be ridiculous. I was someone who would unthinkingly spend £35 on a forgettable lunch, but wouldn’t pay £10 for a bouquet that would make me smile for a week.

I remember the moment I realised how foolish this was. My then boyfriend, now husband, and I had braved drizzly weather and gone to Columbia Road Flower Market for a Sunday afternoon out*. I had chosen an array of blooms and foliage; some scented, some merely elegantly shaped. I was clutching them against my chest, almost up to my face, as a I walked to the train home. My mind was on which vase would suit them best for arranging.

I love London, but grey streets under grey skies can bring you down. Having this armful of living colour with me brought me so much joy. As a noticed my joy, I had a flash of insight. The flowers had cost the same amount as the tea and cake for two we had bought in a chichi independent café at one end of the market. I hadn’t thought twice about the refreshments. I was revelling in my flowers.

That was a defining moment in how I think about my non-essential spending. It stopped just being about whether something was cheap or expensive within its category of expenses (food, event tickets, clothing and accessories etc). I started to compare across categories and to think about how much joy each purchase would bring me for the price. This changed my appreciation of value and means I spend more wisely and get more from my purchases of all kinds.

I’m still more likely to buy coffee than flowers, because catching up with a friend is joyful too. (More than ever after months of lockdown.) However, I no longer rule out a whole type of spending without considering it first, and I suggest you don’t either.

Did this blog post make you think? You will probably enjoy the episode of my podcast, Squanderlust, where we talked about ‘mental accounting’ and the weird tricks our minds play on us about prices. Listen here.

*For those not in the know, Columbia Road stall-holders discount their plants and flowers after about 1pm, so they can pack up and leave with minimal waste.

When is a budgeting issue not a budgeting issue? (A blog post for freelancers)

When you’re a freelancer working out what you can afford to spend can be a nightmare. I mean, it’s ok if you’re established and making the big bucks, but what about when you’re just getting going, or if you’re in a field that’s more known for passion than paycheques?

How do you plan your spending when you don’t know how much money you’re going to have until you’ve got it? When you’re living job to job and struggling in between, it can feel like everything is out of your control.

I have lived this life. I know this issue well. I hate to tell you this, but this probably isn’t a budgeting issue, this is a business issue.

My first question for people in this situation is this: are you sure you don’t know what you’re going to make and when? Why not?

Many, many types of freelance work have a pattern to them; some are seasonal and follow the weather, or the academic year, or certain holidays. Others just tend to go through a cycle (pitch, contract, set up, work, close, payment) with relatively predictable timescales for each stage.

If you haven’t figured out the time patterns for your freelance work, it’s worth taking a few hours and trying to do so. These patterns determine when you get paid and that is vital information.

If you’re not a business-y type you probably avoid words like ‘cashflow’ but you’ll be familiar with the dreaded phrase ‘feast and famine’ or as I like to call it, having a lumpy income.

But unless you smooth out those lumps you’re always going to struggle, so go back through your invoicing, go back through your work calendar and look for the patterns.

Once you know roughly what happens with your work you can plan how you’re going to manage both your time and your money better. For example, your pattern might include something like this: “everyone needs my outputs about six weeks before the major holidays and seasonal events. I tend to get paid about two weeks after that”. So you can plot when those holidays and events come and reckon on getting paid about a month before each. Or else find another income stream with the opposite seasonal pattern to balance you out.

Or your pattern could be “it takes an average of six weeks from pitching to starting work, eight to finish a project, and another four from finishing work to getting paid” You know that you need to start pitching at least four weeks before work on each job ends, so you aren’t leaving a huge gap between projects and struggling for money if an invoice becomes overdue. You could also consider setting up your contracts for part payment midway through to prevent the gaps from getting too long.

Once you start paying attention to this, you’ll feel much more in control of what’s happening in your work. You can start looking for solutions and that will give you confidence as you promote your work.

It will also allow you to plan your spending, so you know how long you’re likely to have to make each payment last and you can make sure bigger essential outgoings tally in with times when you are confident of having more money.