When you think about money and your creative goals, you probably think about funding the project: supplies, a course, a website, a domain. Those matter. But the scarcest thing in your creative life usually isn't cash. It's time and energy. And money is one of the few tools that can buy some of both back.
What the research says about buying time
Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans and colleagues studied more than 6,000 people across the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and the Netherlands. People who spent money on time-saving services reported greater life satisfaction. In a field experiment, working adults reported more happiness after spending on a time-saving purchase than after spending on a material one.
Whillans calls the feeling of having enough time time affluence, and her work suggests it matters for well-being more than many of us assume. Yet many people with the means still don't buy back their time, often because it feels indulgent.
Make a "time budget," not just a money budget
Look at your week and list the recurring tasks that drain you and that someone else could reasonably do: cleaning, laundry, errands, meal prep, the long commute. Then ask:
- What would one recovered hour be worth to my project? If a $40 service gives you two focused hours on your book, that's a real investment.
- What am I spending on that doesn't buy joy or time? Unused subscriptions and impulse buys are often the easiest place to find the budget.
- Can I trade instead of pay? Swap childcare with a friend, split meal prep with a neighbor.
Talk about money plainly
On Aspire with Emma Grede, Emma Grede has talked about why so many of us avoid talking openly about money, and why women in particular should understand their own finances. Treat your creative life as something worth investing in, not a guilty expense. Put a line for it in your budget: "Creative time and tools, $X a month." Seeing it written down makes it real.
Spending to protect your time isn't indulgent. It's choosing what your life is made of.
Your accountability partner helps make sure the time gets used
There's a trap here: you pay for the help, the time opens up, and it fills with more work or more scrolling. Bought time only pays off if you use it for what you meant to.
That's where an accountability partner earns their keep. Tell them, "I'm getting groceries delivered so I can have Thursday evening for the shop launch." Then report back Friday. Pairing a money decision with a clear plan and a check-in turns a purchase into progress.
This week
Find one hour you could buy back for $50 or less. Decide in advance what that hour is for. Tell someone, and then protect it like a meeting you'd never cancel.