friend asked for a small collage for her new place. I quoted €80 because it felt like a fair "mates" price, not too much. Took me nine hours across a week. That's €8.88 an hour. She said it was "a lovely gesture" and I just smiled and said thanks.

I don't blame her. I set the price. But "lovely gesture" is doing a lot of work and it's sitting in my head now. The worst part is if she'd have been happy paying €150 I'd have felt guilty even asking. So instead I did eight euros an hour and told myself it was worth it for the friendship.

It wasn't the money. It's that I keep treating my own time like it costs nothing and I'm the only one surprised when that's exactly what people assume. Anyway. New rule trying to stick: quote before I start, not after I'm already embarrassed about how long it took.