Cost centers and profit centers

As I was cleaning the house the other day, I was busily trying to figure out the brain game I could play with myself to make housework more palatable.

And I realized I may have worked in industry for too many years.  Because I started thinking in terms of cost centers and profit centers.

For the uninitiated, in business, a cost center is exactly what it sounds like, it is a place where you spend money, with no measureable return on investment.  A profit center is a place where you spend money and get a return.

What I really want to do is walk, write, crochet, play with my dogs, hang out with my husband, and play in the pool.  I like seeing and hanging out with family and friends too.  But at this point in my life, they are all cost centers.  The walking and writing are low investment cost centers, as mostly it is time that I put in, but I am at risk of developing a serious yarn habit with the crochet art.  Playing with the dogs and in the pool, and hanging out with my husband and family and friends can be low cost, or high cost depending on the activities chosen.

Cleaning the house is cost avoidance, so that puts it in the profit center category.  I am spending time to save the money of paying someone else to clean my house.  I'm hoping that cleaning my house will be more enjoyable if I think of it as profitable.

Then, as per usual, my brain spun off on this whole cost and profit center thinking.

If we think in terms of memories, and feelings, and happiness, what is a cost center and what is a profit center?

What things do I do with my time that have a high return on my investment?  A return of good memories, of happiness of contentment?  What things do I do with my time that just leave me feeling empty and tired?  What are my personal cost and profit centers?  And how do they align with how I spend my time and energy?

I spent so much time worrying about making a living for thirty-five plus years, that I am surprised that I also remembered to make a life.  I was very lucky that I mostly enjoyed my work, and my co-workers.  I made great friends through my work and through my running and walking hobbies.

I'm looking forward to making new friends through my writing and my crochet - I still don't know whether to call them hobbies or a new career.

Do you need to make money to have a career?  Or do you just need to add good to the world and feed your soul?

I'm going to try to flip my thinking on cost and profit centers from money and material gain to contentment and personal gain.  As I write this, I don't think it will make a tremendous difference in how I spend my time.  But it may help me with my click-bait habit.

When all is said and done, once you have enough money to live on, more is just more.  And we all know our time is limited.  I'm going to try harder to spend my time wisely on those things that build up my personal profit centers of happiness, contentment, and joy.

I hope you can do the same.