Running the 'Business of Me'

Written 24th June 2025

I'm on jury service for the next 2 weeks. My first time. 

There were about 40 of us in the jury waiting room, we'd all taken time away from our normal job or study or day to day life to be there and do our duty for King and Country. 

We can all claim for loss of earnings if that's applicable to our circumstances and we can all have our travel costs reimbursed and get a lunch allowance each day.  If you add all that up it's quite a sum of money per day just on juror costs, before you factor in the court staff and building costs and everything else that goes into prosecuting someone for a crime.

It got me thinking about our individual operating costs and overheads in running our 'business of me'.

Yes, we all need to eat and a roof over our heads and transport but what about the other costs we are spending each month that perhaps aren't essential running costs they are extras that we are paying for that we don't use and get no benefit/return on our investment from?

What about the gym membership that would work out cheaper if you went 'pay as you go'? European breakdown cover you're paying extra for but have no plans to go to Europe. Or home breakdown cover, but you only work 2 miles away and could walk or get the bus if the car doesn't start one morning. The bank account you pay a monthly fee for that includes a number of perks that you never use? Or it includes travel insurance but you've also purchased a separate policy? Or paying for Sky and BT and Disney and Netflix and Prime... do you really use them all? What about contents insurance for £250k cover but you only have £50k of items that would need to be replaced in the event of damage? Or paying car insurance based on travelling 10000 miles per year when you only do about 6000? Or paying a fee for an account with an overdraft facility but you never use it? Or extended warranties but actually you could buy a new one for practically the same cost (or look after the item properly and it should actually work that long anyway).

And that's just a few examples I can think of off the top of my head. 

Try an annual audit on the business of you. A re-evaluation on your costs and overheads. You want to be profitable and cost efficient don't you? No one likes a slacker in their team at work, they are little to no benefit and mean everyone else has to work harder. They are a cost that could be spent on a more effective colleague or added to your annual bonus or pay for a Christmas party. Look at what you are paying for that you are not getting any direct benefit from and adjust accordingly.

Keeping a good handle on the services you buy and making sure you're only paying for what you use / need will cut down the costs of running the business of you (and your family). It may not save you hundreds of £s but if you did save even just £100 per year, that's still reduced your expenses giving you more money to spend or save making your 'business' more profitable and efficient. And you've not lost anything because you weren't using the thing you were paying for anyway. 

£100 may not be a lot these days to a lot of people but if you won a competition to win £100 worth of shopping I'm fairly certain you'd be pleased about it, so why not see this as the same? And, don't forget, it may only be a £100 saving this year, but it'll be a saving to you every year moving forward too.

Running the business of you doesn't have to operate like a court, with significant operating overheads, we all have the ability to review our personal circumstances and check we are operating as efficiently as possible. 

LFx