Concept of valuing your time and nuances

[jesuslover999]

@marriedwoman Not everything in life boils down to a math formula. I would pay 1000 per hr to hand out with rhianna. Is that crazy? Maybe.maybe not. Its just 1h and wont repeat.

 

[jnpl1185]

@jesuslover999 Expensive handjob..

 

[jesuslover999]

@jnpl1185 What will i do with the remaining 59 mins?

 

[bgarret]

@marriedwoman When you're busy with kids, it becomes more of a convenience thing to get someone in to do the odd clean or DIY. For example, I bought an Oven Pride before Christmas and I still haven't got around to cleaning my oven! Something is alway a hugger priority.

 

[steve337]

@bgarret Had the same dilemma with my oven this week - pay someone to do it for £70 or buy some oven pride for £4 and do it myself. Went for the latter as it should only take 90 mins and I can listen to some music and just mooch along without thinking too hard or swearing as I don’t have the right tools or have made some daft DIY related error.

 

[jnicole]

@marriedwoman

The theory goes - if you earn £/$20 per hour (after tax), you should pay
someone to do a job that costs less than £20 p/h.

This only makes sense if you are actually paying an £xx per hour opportunity cost.

I can only work so many hours in a day. But I can still go home and cook and then clean even though I am tired because these activities are orthogonal to my work. If I hire a cook and a cleaner the alternative isn't me working more hours and earning more money. The alternative is probably me watching Netflix, or wasting more time on Reddit.

 

[depressednobody]

@marriedwoman are you suggesting I need to look for a cheaper dentist (or DIY on that)?

 

[marriedwoman]

@depressednobody Definitely. I worked out I should do my own root canal until my per-hour salary matches the cost of getting it done at the dentist.. XD

 

[daiphucka]

@marriedwoman As /@angie826 says it's a useful construct of how to think about things - would I rather lose a weekend of my free time re-decorating a room or would I rather pay someone to do it and have a weekend doing something I enjoy, even if that's just sitting on the sofa watching TV?

I've got friends who will spend all weekend sweating swearing and labouring over something to save less than £50 - sure, sometimes in life you're skint and that's the only option, but when it's not it's worth sitting back and thinking about it.

I've been on contracts and I've been salaried and I still find it useful - I do not have infinite free time, or energy, or mental bandwidth, for stuff either way round - an evening or weekend spent doing more work is eating into my hobbies, relaxation, family time, time with friends, etc.

Also I've found some stuff really adds up surprisingly quickly - cutting the hedge doesn't take long but clearing it all up, loading a big heap of clippings & spiders into my car, driving to the tip, queueing up, unloading, driving back, cleaning all the debris & spiders out of the car really DOES add up to most of a day lost to being sweaty, itchy, and covered in spiders. Whereas for £50 some chap will come and do the lot for me while I do something else that doesn't involve being covered in spiders.

 

[sarah41]

@marriedwoman For me it has nothing to do with how much I earn. It’s how much do I hate the task vs how much do I want the other things I’d spend that money on.

 

[tigist]

@marriedwoman There's 8760 hours in a year.You'd need to earn £199,410 per year to make it worth paying someone £20p/h.

 

[livegently]

@marriedwoman A lot of good answers on here.
I can only tell you what I do on this exact topic and see if it fits you and your life.

I look at the cost benefit of a job, and if it’s less than minimum wage for me to do it, I’m not going to do it unless I enjoy it.
I.e I enjoy mowing the lawn, making a wooden garden toy for my kids then I’m doing it.
Boarding out the loft, mucking about with all that itchy insulation, I did not do. It would have taken me about 3 weekends of missed time with family to do it. That was my opportunity cost.

 

[marriedwoman]

@livegently It's so important to factor in opportunity cost and the time value of money into decisions but I feel like it's not a thing most people do