Ray Henson and I are hosting the August Challenge. Since this is supposed to be a fish tale, I am not a fisherman or woman. I thought this would have to do. Can you relate?
Many years ago, I cared for my mom with Alzheimer's while running a real estate business as a solo agent. One day my delightful husband inquired about my checking account. Lee was a Wharton School Graduate, and his checkbook was always balanced.
"Your checkbook is a mess," he said. "You have no idea how much money you have." My answer, of course, was, "Sure I do. It's within a couple of thousand dollars." You can imagine the exasperated look on his face. He said, "If you reconcile your account, I will take it over."
The next day, I took my checkbook to the bank and instructed, "Please close this account and open a new one."
Upon returning home, I placed the new reconciled checkbook on my husband's desk without a word.
There was that exasperated look, but I also think a wee bit proud...as if I put one over on him. I did what he asked. The checkbook was balanced and reconciled. I just did it differently than he would. It made sense to me. I could have spent hours, days, or weeks adding, subtracting, entering, and deleting. But in the end, I felt the bank would be right, so why should I do it? My time was much more valuable.
This story is one of my favorite ways of explaining time management and how I can work without an assistant. It's always interesting to see the reactions. Some people laugh and applaud, while others say, "Oh, my, you could have cost yourself hundreds of dollars!"
Thinking of buying or selling a home
Call Margaret Rome
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