I’ve been a little crazy with work travel lately, and a few small (but valuable) lessons came out of my journeys.  Here are a few things I learned this week:

If you sign up for something far in advance, it could save you money, but at what cost?  Months ago I signed up for a 5K race in Harrisburg sponsored by a Craft Brewery.  It seemed like it would be super fun, and the swag for the racers sounded really cool, so I didn’t mind the higher than typical race fee.  But in between then and race day life happened.  I was traveling a lot for work.  I got sick.  And on race day almost the last thing I wanted to do was drive to Harrisburg and run a 5K.  But the absolute last thing I wanted to do was to lose the money I had paid.  So I drove.  And I ran.  And I had fun.  And I was exhausted.  Waiting until closer to the race to sign up would have cost me more money, but had I waited I would have known that my life wasn’t going to be conducive to participating in this event at that time, so I wouldn’t have signed up at all.  Lesson learned.

When traveling very early in the morning, be sure to split your breakfast/lunch budget into three separate meals.  I had very early flights on Wednesday and Thursday mornings this week.  And both days I found myself starving at about 10 am and purchasing a second breakfast.  More hours awake means more food intake required, so you need to be financially prepared for that.  Lesson learned.

Saving money by buying a less expensive pair of shoes will quite possibly cost you more money in the long run when you end up having to buy a more expensive pair of shoes because the cheaper ones make  your feet hurt.  When you have to stand a lot, there is no substitute for really good, comfortable shoes.  While my less expensive shoes are fine for sitting at my desk in my office, they are not suitable for trekking through airports and standing for a few hours at a time.  Lesson learned…and more expensive shoes purchased (at a significant discount on eBay).

Life does tend to throw lessons at you all the time.  What did you learn this week?