Comments on: How Much is Your Time Worth?

By: Smart Money

Smart Money — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:43:06 +0000

Those ride on mowers looks fun. My uncle can’t help but mow his side and everyone around him because he enjoys riding the mower around. Now if he had to push one…he’d rather be inside drinking a chilled beer…

Commonly outsourced tasks are gardening/yard maintenance, tax returns, cleaning and tutoring… it’s definitely a tradeoff with your relaxation time to be doing those tasks because professionals can do those tasks a lot faster rather than you spending your time and stressing over it.

Travel time… people often don’t understand the cost of time spent travelling. The further out you live from the CBD/work, the more you have to travel, but in general, rent is cheaper. The closer you live to the CBD, the more expensive everything is from rent to food. My point is, people with lower incomes mistakenly choose to live close to the CBD and struggle financially when their time isn’t as valued by their earnings.

EG: If rent in the CBD is $300/week and if you rent out of the city CBD and the rent is $200/wk but you need to travel an extra 5 hours/week.

Then that 5 hours of extra travel time equates to a saving of $100/week… so is your time worth more than $20/hour? If you earn $10/hr for example, then you are better off living out of the CBD. And if you earn $30/hour, then it may be more valuable to you to live closer to the CBD and cut your travelling time.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:02:06 +0000

Nice post! Sometimes you really do have to break it down like your riding mower example to see the value.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:08:26 +0000

I’m just back to work after a week on jury duty, so I’m catching up. This is the exact reason why we pay someone to clean our house twice a month. Both my husband and I work full-time jobs, plus he has a part-time job and I freelance. It’s such a help to have some help. Our housecleaner does a fabulous job. She cleans the floors on her hands and knees. She even cleans little things like the coffee pot and the inside of our toothbrush holder. I still sweep and spot clean clean in between her visits, but it saves me the big cleaning time. It’s worth every penny.

By: Curious Cat Investing Blog

Curious Cat Investing Blog — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:18:56 +0000

I do think about what my time is worth when looking at options but also other considerations come into play. And one thing you have to think of is the time it takes to find a good option. I don’t mind working in my yard and figure it is good to spend some time outside. But I don’t like cleaning up And it is nice to pay someone to clean the house.

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:58:29 +0000

Funny…I recently went through the same exact same exercise with my wife after our riding mower broke. I was convinced I could just use the push mower and save our emergency fund. She convinced me I would be spending much more time in the yard than doing things like writing my blog, spending time with the kids, etc. When put that way, it was a no brainer – got the riding mower fixed.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:42:42 +0000

frugalscholar, The “do it yourself” approach is a great example for children. But not at the expense of not spending time with them.

I don’t think it is necessary to outsource everything, or pay for every possible convenience. And that’s not what I recommend. I think it’s best to take a balanced approach.

By: frugalscholar

frugalscholar — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:31:57 +0000

I’m somewhat ambivalent about the concept. Plus, I think do it yourself provides good role-modeling for children. And, these tasks are often family tasks.

You can also reverse the concept: doing things yourself provides a tax-free hourly wage. Once you add the taxes back, you might find it’s more “worth” doing things.

By: Rajeev Singh

Rajeev Singh — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:07:56 +0000

I truly agree that if the time saved by outsourcing fe wof our daily chores is worth more than the money spent on outsourcing we must do so… it makes both economic and social sense. Saves you money and time both while giving work to someone who needs it.