Is It Worth My Time?

Time is very valuable. It seems we never have enough time for all the things that we want to do. When something requires our time, we should consider whether it is worthwhile or not. Frugality does require an investment of time to reap the rewards of saving money. Is it worth it?

When evaluating if something is worth our time, we tend to break it down in terms of dollars per hour. That is a reasonable way to compare activities, but use caution when you compare. If an activity is broken down that way, we naturally want to compare it to other things measured in terms of dollars per hour, most likely employment. Is it fair to compare the hourly rate you would earn at a job to what you save when you engage in a frugal activity?

I don't think so, not unless you are engaging in a frugal activity instead of earning whatever hourly rate you consider reasonable, and you have considered all the costs associated with earning that hourly rate. Assume I have a job that pays me $15 an hour. I want to be frugal and make all my meals from scratch. Let's say I want to make my family breakfast from scratch, saving $3 in about an hour. If I am an hour late for work because I was preparing breakfast from scratch, then it might be fair to compare my $3 per hour savings to my $15 per hour wage.
If I am a stay at home mom, or a working mom who got up extra early to cook breakfast from scratch the comparison of $15 per hour to $3 really isn't fair. I didn't give up $15 an hour to save $3. Maybe I gave up an hour of sleep, an hour sitting in office furniture reading blogs, an hour of housework, or time to do my hair. It is more fair to compare the worth of what you gave up to the $3 savings than to what you might earn at a job.

If my employer is paying me $15 an hour is that what I am actually earning? No. There are taxes and many other expenses, depending on your job and circumstances. You may have child care, transportation, education, clothing, dining, and many more things that cut into the amount of profit you actually receive from a job. If you are going to compare how much you save per hour to an hourly wage be sure to count all the expenses that come with employment.

There are so many other things to consider that are hard to put a dollar figure on when you are considering whether something is worth your time. Let's take gardening for example. I really can't begin to figure how many hours I've put into the garden this year. I do know it takes me the better part of an afternoon to get 7 quarts of beans processed in between dealing with other responsibilities. Let's just say four hours. I could buy about a quart of beans at Aldi for about $1.00. So in four hours I get about $7 worth of beans, or I save $1.75 per hour. That is very simplified, but the point is it really is a poor hourly rate, no matter how you compare it. Yet, I do it, and plan to do it again next year. How do I account, in dollars and cents, the benefits of working in the garden, getting exercise, eating organic produce, being independent, working with my children, and so many other things?

Just so you don't think that frugality is all work with small or intangible profits, here is an example that is more profitable in terms of dollars per hour. My trips to the bread thrift store are very profitable in hourly terms. The store is very near the Aldi I shop at. I spend about 15 minutes extra and virtually no gas to stop at the bread store. Most trips I buy bread for $0.33 a loaf. It retails for $1.99 a loaf; $1.66 savings per loaf. I normally buy around 12 loaves; $19.92 savings per trip. A trip that takes me about 15 minutes. That all figures to almost $80 per hour! Now that is good money, no matter how you compare it.

Another thing to consider is motivation. Right now I am very motivated to save money. Even if something only saves me a little money, I'm likely to do it with the attitude of every little bit helps. If we didn't have debt, and a tight budget would I be as motivated? I'd like to think I'd do a lot of the same things I do now. Most of my frugal activities I enjoy, and at worst don't mind. But I could see, if money weren't so tight and debt reduction such a priority, that I may not do all the things all the time. For instance, I enjoy cooking from scratch, but those weeks that are crazy busy, I would enjoy picking up take out here and there just as much, if there were room in the budget for it.

Your time is very valuable. It is wise to consider if an activity is worth trading your time for. When you consider, be sure to make a fair comparison by counting all the costs and considering what you would be doing instead of the frugal activity. When all the costs are counted, and the intangibles are considered, only you can decide if something is worth your time.