8 days to go: doing it yourself

Day 42: today is definitely day 42 because I spent about an hour checking and re labelling my posts with the correct days.  Somewhere between day 8 and day 34 I got lost (several times), which was a shame because I missed having a big fanfare for day 40.  I was going to blog about how proud I was that I had stuck to my commitment and posted every single day without fail for the last 40 days.  However as I initially thought yesterday was day 39 and it turns out that today is day 42; I guess I missed my chance.  Instead I can start the countdown: today there are eight days to go to my 50th birthday.  

I looked up what percentage of the world’s population has a life expectancy less than 50 years.  Although I couldn't find a figure, I did find a list of countries where life expectancy is under 50.

No prizes for identifying the obvious links; poverty, ex-colonial nations, previous or current war zones and areas with high instances of HIV infection.  So whilst many may feel that the loss of their youth is a cause for lament, I truly believe that growing old is a real privilege; which is the reason why I am having a party.

Despite the fact that my party is only eight days away, I have only just began to mobilise myself with regards to sorting out my party arrangements.  Happily the most important thing is done. I have decided on the design for my birthday cake.  My birthday cake has to be gluten-free and dairy free as I don't eat wheat and a lot of my family are lactose intolerant.   Google provided me with a list of baker's specialising in supplying cakes for people with allergies.  Do you know you can have a wheat free, dairy free, egg free and sugar free cake?  What I'm curious to know is how it can still be classified as a cake given that it doesn't contain any of the basic cake ingredients.  I suspect it's just a cardboard cut out of a cake with those dried “free from everything” crackers that taste of nothing, inside.  Anyway, niche marketing may offer you the ability to have exactly what you want, but it comes at a premium.  The quote for my cake was £600!  Yes £600!  No I didn’t request a 20 tier cake rich in fruits, nuts, alcohol and other expensive to source ingredients.  Actually my spec is for a Victorian sponge, 14 in.², with a smaller, 7 in.  X 9 in. cake on top of it.  Admittedly, it was a bespoke design, but £600… I don't think so!

My solution is to do what I always do when I think "I can do that myself at a fraction of the cost"; so I am baking my own cake.  You have to wait to see the results but I promise I will post the pictures on my blog along with others of me and my guests enjoying ourselves at the party. (And the one of me holding a spider in a cup – I’ve not forgotten the spider).

My tendency to do everything myself because I think it's too expensive is both a blessing and a curse.  It's a blessing because it has resulted in me becoming a highly efficient problem solver who is nearly always able to find an alternative way of doing something.  On the other hand it's a curse because, whilst I can normally turn my hand to anything, it does take time and if you recall, I'm the world's busiest person.  Therefore, adding more things to my already overloaded schedule because I don't think paying for it is value for money can be a problem in itself. 

I'm not sure if it's because I mean, thrifty or simply projecting the “strapped for cash” mentality that I internalised during my childhood.  Like many children of first-generation immigrant families from the ex-British colonies; I grew up poor.  This didn't mean we were lacking anything necessary for a relatively comfortable life.  On the contrary, I remember always feeling that I had what I needed.  It did mean however, that our parents were skilled at making the money stretch and substituting low-cost versions of expensive item or making them in order that we didn’t go without.

My mother could sew; therefore she made most of my clothes.  She had, and still has, an amazing talent of being able to copy any item of clothing and so I was never short of the latest high fashion garments.  Strangely enough, “back- in- the- day”, mass-produce close from Hong Kong were rated more highly than personalised handmade clothes.  Consequently my couture wardrobe did not improve my “cool” rating at school.

It is difficult to shake the patterns of a lifetime, however, I recognise that this belief, i.e. I can do it better myself, or save money is sometimes a false economy.  The reason I did not commission a birthday cake for £600 is because I can't afford the tariff, its way outside my budget.  Perhaps if I had that sort of money to spend on a cake, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.  I could have opted for a cheaper more affordable cake; however it wouldn't have been the cake I wanted.  Luckily for me, in this instance I found a way to have my cake and eat it (please excuse the pun).   Total cost of cake: £50.  By the way I can bake in my sleep, some making it should be a piece of cake (sorry couldn’t resist that one).

It's important to know whether it is more advantageous for you to do something yourself or pay out for somebody else to do it on your behalf, especially if like me you work for yourself. Time is money and so if I’m not crystal clear about what the true costs to me are, I could be losing more than I gain through missed opportunities to earn money. Here is my decision strategy:

1.  In absolute terms, can I afford it?  I.e. do I have the money? 

2.  If I have the money what is the opportunity cost of spending it in this way, i.e. what if anything do I have to forego if I spend my money on this?

3.  How much time will it take me?

4.  What is the opportunity cost of me spending my time this way?  I.e. what will not get done, and what is the impact?

5.  If I do it, can I do it in a fast and efficient way and get the results I want?

6.  Can I source the same thing or something similar at the price I can afford?

My thinking process starts with a straight forward yes or no:  If I can afford it and I think its value for money I will pay for someone to do it. If I can afford it and/or I’m not immediately convinced I am getting value for money, I decide based on the balance of benefits. The diagram illustrates my thinking.

How do you decide whether or not to pay someone else to do something you could do yourself? Would you have paid £600 for your birthday cake? I am keen to read your thought so please leave a comment.