{"id":916,"date":"2009-07-21T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=916"},"modified":"2013-08-20T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T19:40:00","slug":"what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Your Time Really Worth to You?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of Doshiamit<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

How much is an hour of your time worth to you?<\/p>\n

That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.<\/p>\n

There are different ways to calculate your hourly value: you might choose to work out your true hourly wage<\/a> (in-depth, accurate calculation from Trent Hammond at The Simple Dollar). If you bill by the hour, you might go with your post-tax hourly rate. You might place a premium value on your \u201cspare time\u201d: in this case, consider how much you\u2019d want to be paid per hour to give up a Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

(It\u2019s also worth taking a look at Charlie Gilkey\u2019s thought-provoking post on the\u00a0 Productive Flourishing blog<\/a> about how your peak creative time is worth more than the other parts of your week.)<\/p>\n

Another method is to think how much you\u2019d consider paying for an hour of completely free time.<\/p>\n

Once you have a rough figure in mind; say $20 for the sake of this example, you can use this as a rule of thumb to decide what\u2019s worth your time and what isn\u2019t. This can be valuable for:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Figuring out whether you should hire someone to help with your small business admin
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Deciding whether to work overtime \u2013 or even switch to another job
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Determining whether your frugal behaviours are really worth it<\/p>\n

Hiring Business Help<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you own a small business, or if you freelance, chances are that there\u2019s some tasks you do which do make the best use of your time. Perhaps you do all the administration yourself, from running errands to doing your accounts and taxes. Maybe some of the activities you\u2019re engaged in take you ages because you\u2019re not skilled in that area: I\u2019m a writer, and anything involving graphics not only takes me hours but causes me endless frustration!<\/p>\n

If you can free up an hour of your time, valued at $20, for the sake of paying someone else $15, then it\u2019s a no-brainer: you\u2019ll be $5 up.<\/p>\n

This could mean:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Hiring a virtual assistant (you can generally find rates at $10-$15 for native English speakers)
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Hiring an accountant (who will charge considerably more than $20\/hour: but who might get everything done in a couple of hours when it would take you ten.)
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Paying your teen to take packages to the post office, checks to the bank, etc.<\/p>\n

Household and Garden Chores<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a good chance that you spend several hours a week (probably more if you have kids) on cleaning, tidying and maintaining the house. If you\u2019ve got a garden, you\u2019ll have tasks like mowing the lawn, watering, weeding, planting, digging… Some people love to garden as a hobby, but many others simply do it because they like having a nice-looking garden to relax in.<\/p>\n

Have you ever considered hiring help? If having someone else do the cleaning means you can spend an extra hour a day on paying work, it\u2019s almost certainly worth your while to hire them. As with business assistance, you might also find that they can finish a job quicker than you can.<\/p>\n

Even if you work a 9-5 job and can\u2019t take on extra hours, you could get a cleaner (or gardener) in order to \u201cbuy\u201d yourself an extra hour of free time a day.<\/p>\n

The same goes for gardening: if you always end up spending a couple of hours mowing the lawn at the weekend, you might want to \u201cbuy back\u201d that time by hiring someone. These could become the hours you use to start your novel, research your business idea, start a correspondence course…<\/p>\n

Frugal Behavior<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m definitely in favour of spending money wisely, and of avoiding unnecessary costs \u2013 but frugality can easily go too far. If you end up investing an hour of your time for the sake of saving $2, it\u2019s almost certainly not worth it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re getting obsessive about coupon-clipping, or if you spend hours trawling the shops to get the best bargains, you\u2019re probably getting a very low return on your time.<\/p>\n

You might want to think about:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Buying some convenience foods to save time in the kitchen
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Just shopping at one store \u2013 even if you know a few items are on offer elsewhere
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Focusing on frugality that doesn\u2019t take extra time: eg. using energy-saving lightbulbs
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Limiting your research for new purchases to a certain length of time (eg. fifteen minutes)<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t feel guilty if you opt for convenience, even when it costs a little more: if it\u2019s going to take you twenty minutes to drive to the store and back, and you can get what you need at a small local shop for a few extra cents on each item, for a two minute round trip, go local.<\/p>\n

What value would you place on one hour of your time? How does this impact your day to day choices \u2013 particularly those relating to your goals?<\/em><\/p>\n

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n


\nLearn How To Start Managing Your Time Now!<\/a>
\n\"\"
\n<\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Only Time Management Tip You Really Need<\/a><\/p>\n

A Smarter Approach To Time Management<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How much is an hour of your time worth to you?<\/p>\n

That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":12780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[30,6],"tags":[4645,169,119,283,4634,54,4629,4647],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Your Time Really Worth To You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How much is an hour of your time worth to you? That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Your Time Really Worth To You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How much is an hour of your time worth to you? That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-21T16:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-08-20T19:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/255407531_4064f6ec581.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"374\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Falconer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/255407531_4064f6ec581.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/255407531_4064f6ec581.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":374,\"caption\":\"Time\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/\",\"name\":\"What is Your Time Really Worth To You\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-21T16:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-20T19:40:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\"},\"description\":\"How much is an hour of your time worth to you? That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is Your Time Really Worth to You?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\",\"name\":\"Erin Falconer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Erin Falconer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/erin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Your Time Really Worth To You","description":"How much is an hour of your time worth to you? That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is Your Time Really Worth To You","og_description":"How much is an hour of your time worth to you? That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2009-07-21T16:24:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-08-20T19:40:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":374,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/255407531_4064f6ec581.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erin Falconer","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/255407531_4064f6ec581.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/255407531_4064f6ec581.jpg","width":500,"height":374,"caption":"Time"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/","name":"What is Your Time Really Worth To You","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2009-07-21T16:24:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-20T19:40:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5"},"description":"How much is an hour of your time worth to you? That might seem like a strange question to ask \u2013 but your answer to it has a big impact on many areas of your life, especially when you\u2019re trying to make improvements.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/what-is-your-time-really-worth-to-you\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is Your Time Really Worth to You?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5","name":"Erin Falconer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Erin Falconer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/erin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}