Ah, the unexpected - those things that throw us off-balance, put us off schedule, throw our plans off.
This week, my unexpected had to do with automobile repairs. I went in expecting just an oil change and came out with new tires on one vehicle and the other vehicle has a new muffler, among other things.
This forced me to re-examine some of my other purchases for the week and re-evaluate what I wanted and needed.
We can never fully expect everything that will happen over the course of the week, or each day. That’s why it’s important to allow yourself some cushion. You need not only a financial cushion to pay for necessary unexpecteds, but also a time cushion, and a stress cushion. Never pack your day so tight with activities that a small unexpected could throw the whole day into chaos.
An easy way to add this cushion is when you are scheduling, assume that you’ll need one and a half times the amount of time or money as you plan. In other words, if you think something will take an hour, plan on an hour and half. Even if you finish in an hour and 15 minutes, it took longer than your original plan, but you still have a 15 minute cushion in your calendar.
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