Your time is not free

[rjkobbeman]

Economist can twist this however they want, but at the end of the the day, if you are not getting paid cold hard cash (not literally cash, but a monetary payment, check, etc.) for your "time" that you are placing a value on, you are losing money by paying someone else to do it.

If I can do a job myself I am saving $$$ by not paying someone else to do it. It does not matter how much "value" I place on my time.

Yes your time has value and some do not want to miss out on family time which is important. But if it costs $300 to pay someone to do a job that costs you $100 to do yourself, you are saving $200. Even if your time is worth $500 per hour, you are still saving $200 unless you COULD have actually earned $500 per hour instead of doing the job yourself.

 

[o2batsea]

I can't beleive someone needs to pay them self to do the things that need to be done around the house that they like doing.If thats the case why do we buy lawn mowers,tractors ,shovels etc to get the things done.We may as well just keep orking for somebody else to pay somebody else to do the things we like doing.Does that make any sense,90.00 an hour.Wow this world is gone to sh.t....sorry just my .02 cents:confused2:

Really? Then I guess where you live there are no plumbers, carpenters, maids, restaurants, car washes, laundries farmers or any other service related jobs.

Puttering is one thing, building a backhoe quite another.

 

[LD1]

Same thing as Mr Fab Shop: overhead.

since your time is worth $90 per hour because of overhead,

When you decide to buy a finished product or hire out because your time involved @ $90 would cost more,

How far in the red are you going by still having all that overhead and yet not putting it to good use by always hiring things done????

 

[Marveltone]

Joe,

Didn't you have to take at least one economics course? But you may have been like some of my former students who used my lectures to catch up on their sleep.

Steve

Come to think of it, no. I somehow dodged that bullet. Maybe that's why I'm so clueless...?

That being said, I've been doing a fair amount of work on my house. The major jobs, excavation, cement work, general framing, were all hired out for the sake of expediency,expertise and the fact that I lack certain pieces of equipment. I recognize the value in paying the experts to do these jobs and I gladly pay them for their services. There are, however, certain jobs I am doing myself. Wiring, dry-wall, finish carpentry, even fixed a few existing foundation issues. Because I am doing a fair amount of work myself, the project will cost approximately two-thirds of what it would have if I paid the contractor to do the whole thing. Big deal.... Big deal indeed! That's at least $6000.00 I'm not paying out of my pocket for labor.

Now you want to talk about opportunity cost? When I work on the house, I'm at home with my family. My wife and I get to talk during breaks and even while I'm working. I get to see my kids after school. I'd miss out on both of those opportunities if I was spending my extra time at another job, which brings up another point: I'm not missing out on all the wonderful extra employment opportunities out there during these tough economic times, as there are literally no extra jobs to be had in my neck of the woods. I'm still fully employed but business is slow, so there's no overtime to be had. I may as well do something useful at home.

I seriously don't think I'm missing any opportunities.

Joe

Oh yeah, any idea how I can pay myself that extra $6000.00?

 

[jgrreed]

Wow, this went to h@ll in a hurry,now didn't it??!!

It was just put out there as food for thought..... It wasn't mean't to incite rage over the current state of society, or time vs. cash.

The economists are right, whether you choose to believe it or not. Furthermore, carry on and do EVERYTHING you possibly can on your own, in fact, take days off work to do it!! That's all well & good, unless you work for yourself, then it's pretty bloody expensive.

90$ an hour is not absurd in 2010. It's not absurd for a journeyman, its not absurd for a lawyer, and it's not absurd for a surgeon. The relaxing, fun day that i spent installing the lights on my tractor cost me a lot more than a roll of wire and some shrink wrap.... but it was fun, so I did it. Kinda like the days i take off to spend with my family.

I'm out.

-Jer.

 

[Renze]

mostly the people that express pleasure in money, just dont grasp the concept and are usually the ones that dont get any true fun.
Payd hobby time is like payd ***: You got what you needed, but it doesnt really make you happy.

 

[HiTechTed]

I see so many threads where the poster claims they only have a few bucks worth of materials in a project. I always calculate my own "shop hourly rate" into my projects to see whether I am actually saving money by doing some of these things myself. My personal rate is $90/hr.
My current wind powered pond aerator project is rapidly nearing the cost of the commercially available ones using this calc, but I'm in too deep to stop now so I will just go on and see it through.
It's an old habit and hard to break as the urge to do it myself is very strong. I am learning slowly that everything you bring home takes a little piece of your life away from you, whether it is a dozen eggs, a TV or a tractor. Spend your time wisely.

Why not make your rate $300/hour? Then nothing will be worth doing yourself and you can stop worrying about having pieces of your life taken away from you. Just hire everything out...surely somebody out there can mow your lawn for less than your own self-imposed rate.

Sorry but this is just ridiculous. You have set some arbitrary hourly pay scale for yourself, to count against yourself while you do projects for yourself. You end by saying "spend your time wisely." From what I'm reading, you have not spent yours wisely because you claim "I'm in too deep to stop" and you even complain about bringing eggs home because it "takes a little piece of your life away."

I would guess that many people have far greater problems than the guy who's making his own wind-powered pond aerator in his own shop with his own tools and skills. I'm honestly finding it difficult to pity you.

 

[W7XYZ]

Wow, this went to h@ll in a hurry,now didn't it??!!

Yes, and it's costing me a fortune to read it all.

 

[/pine]

Same thing as Mr Fab Shop: overhead.

what is your monthly outlay (overhead) ?

 

[smstonypoint]

Yes, and it's costing me a fortune to read it all.

Good one!!:laughing:

Steve

 

[greasemonkeyok]

There is no bright line marker between "work" activities and "entertainment" activities. Some "work" activities are enjoyable.

On the one hand, I enjoy mowing the pasture. I don't enjoy having to call around to find someone to mow, and having to wait on them to show up.

On the other hand, I don't enjoy cleaning the septic tank.

 

[Marveltone]

Wow, this went to h@ll in a hurry,now didn't it??!!

It was just put out there as food for thought..... It wasn't mean't to incite rage over the current state of society, or time vs. cash.

No rage. This is all in good fun.

90$ an hour is not absurd in 2010. It's not absurd for a journeyman, its not absurd for a lawyer, and it's not absurd for a surgeon.

But it is absurd for a factory worker.

Joe

 

[tungularafishcamp]

It is for a lawyer too, U can't get one here for less than 250 an hour and the good one in town charges 450.
Rick

 

[Travelover]

I'm glad my rate isn't $90 an hour - I could not afford to sleep or go to the bathroom. :laughing:

 

[Zick]

I don't agree with that of course, and it's not really based on money in the strictest sense anyway. It's more a way for me to figure out whether it is better to build or buy. The time I would not spend building would be spent on my wife and friends, pursuing other interests and probably napping. Napping trumps welding every time as far as I am concerned. So does boating.

let's say i see a piece of tractor equipment on Craigslist and I think, "hey that's super cheap for a (fill in the blank)" If I have to put in 8 or 10 hours cleaning it up, installing new parts and getting it to work, have I really saved any money? Well, sure I guess but it's likely still not worth more than what I paid and if I bought a new one I'd be out more cash for sure but at least the thing would work and if it didn't i could take it back or get it fixed under warranty. Plus it would have more resale value so if I sold it I wouldn't be out more than the cost of the piece of junk one I might have brought home.

In that case then, you should have made the title say; "My time is not free".

 

[PutnamVictor]

My hourly rate is $1000 an hour for the jobs I don't want to do and $1 an hour for what I do want to do.

Even at that rate, I have happly lost money doing projects. Like my $5K garden tractor loader project. :laughing:

 

[silvertramp]

A couple of winters ago I made a low buck cafe racer outa a '79 Goldwing. Even with used parts & $0 labor costs, I'm upside down on it. Somethings you can't put a price tag on. Getting thru a winter with your sanity is one.

 

[MaJYk]

I think it's safe to say most of the people here are the type who work to live, not those who work for the magic green paper the OP holds so dear. They'll gladly slip on their boots that need replaced in order to save that $90 so maybe their children won't have hands as calloused as theirs. And when they come in at night they're greeted by the wife an kids that love and respect them, I doubt they have time to consider what they could have paid to have that job done. After all, it would take a cold soul to think about $ before pride in a job well done or their family that knows true value. Because we do these things because of and for our family, not instead of family time.

 

[Marveltone]

I think it's safe to say most of the people here are the type who work to live, not those who work for the magic green paper the OP holds so dear. They'll gladly slip on their boots that need replaced in order to save that $90 so maybe their children won't have hands as calloused as theirs. And when they come in at night they're greeted by the wife an kids that love and respect them, I doubt they have time to consider what they could have paid to have that job done. After all, it would take a cold soul to think about $ before pride in a job well done or their family that knows true value. Because we do these things because of and for our family, not instead of family time.

Well said! :thumbsup:

 

[LD1]

Personal satification is also something not taken into account here. At times it can be priceless. Knowing it is something you built from start to finish instead of buying at a box store can go a long way.

Another reason people tend to build rather than buy is because what is on the market may not be exactally what they want. So instead of spending big $$$ and then having to modify it to suit their needs, sometimes it just makes sense to start from scratch regardless of cost.

And not to mention all this talk about taking time away from spending with the family etc. etc. etc. Most times in my case, it is time WELL SPENT with the family. Nothing like letting a 12 year old practice welding for the first time, or letting him steer the tractor while you are mowing for the first time. Moments like that can be priceless. Much more meaningfull than sitting on the couch watching TV.

And all this talk about $90 per hour:confused2: I bet 90% of the member here dont even come close to that. So yeah, it is obsurd. If I need a laeyer or a doctor, I will hire one. But if I need something done that I can do, I will refuse to hire it done. Being self sufficent on a lot of things is a great feeling.