WEBVTT - What is your time worth?

0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.400
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:13.560
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.239
<v Speaker 1>This week, we're gonna be talking about money and how

0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.599
<v Speaker 1>it intersects with the topic of time. Time and money

0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:24.279
<v Speaker 1>are both limited resources. They can often be exchanged for

0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.040
<v Speaker 1>each other. When you work, you're generally exchanging time for money.

0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.200
<v Speaker 1>You can also pay money to free up time, both

0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.960
<v Speaker 1>at work and at home. Because time and money can

0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.159
<v Speaker 1>be exchanged for each other, I think it's helpful to

0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>have a reasonable sense of what your time is worth,

0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.920
<v Speaker 1>though this isn't as straightforward a calculation as it might seem.

0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.640
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to think about the value

0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.600
<v Speaker 1>of time holistically. When you ask people what their time

0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.560
<v Speaker 1>is worth, they probably calculate about what they earn per hour.

0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.160
<v Speaker 1>Someone who earns eighty tho dollars a year working about

0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.760
<v Speaker 1>two thousand hours a year so standard full time job

0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.720
<v Speaker 1>is therefore earning forty an hour. So that person might

0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.640
<v Speaker 1>say that his or her time is worth forty an hour.

0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.959
<v Speaker 1>If something costs less than forty an hour to chuck,

0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.920
<v Speaker 1>it might be wise to outsource more than that. Probably not,

0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:19.240
<v Speaker 1>but it's not really that simple. For instance, much work

0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:20.959
<v Speaker 1>that people do is hard to put a price on.

0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.679
<v Speaker 1>Let's say that a family features one way journal and

0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:26.800
<v Speaker 1>one partner who stays home to raise the kids and

0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.000
<v Speaker 1>take care of the home. By the normal calculation, the

0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:34.559
<v Speaker 1>non wage earning parties time is worth nothing. But most

0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.440
<v Speaker 1>people don't actually believe that. If that were the case,

0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.000
<v Speaker 1>it wouldn't make sense to pay money for anything that

0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.560
<v Speaker 1>the non wage earning party could do by him or herself.

0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.320
<v Speaker 1>But in such families, to stay at home parent usually

0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.040
<v Speaker 1>doesn't sew all the families clothes or turn their own

0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.120
<v Speaker 1>butter or things like that. We recognize that this person

0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.320
<v Speaker 1>has other valuable things that he or she is doing.

0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:58.240
<v Speaker 1>Time is still worth something in the absence of wages. Now,

0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.920
<v Speaker 1>my turn your own butter example is for specious. But

0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.000
<v Speaker 1>what I'm getting at here is that the question of

0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.200
<v Speaker 1>time and money and outsourcing is often as much about

0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.200
<v Speaker 1>what we perceive as normal as it is about what

0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:12.120
<v Speaker 1>people could earn per hour. A lot of people view

0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:16.280
<v Speaker 1>hiring a cleaning service as indulgent, but we all outsource something.

0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.760
<v Speaker 1>We don't grow our own wheat, we don't drive our

0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.280
<v Speaker 1>own letters to Wisconsin or wherever it is they're going

0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.800
<v Speaker 1>we outsource that to the post office. Really what we

0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:27.640
<v Speaker 1>choose to pay to get off our plates as a

0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.200
<v Speaker 1>matter of degree, norms and preferences, and what seems efficient.

0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.080
<v Speaker 1>So if that in mind, I think the question of

0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.960
<v Speaker 1>when to exchange money for time should be less about

0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.919
<v Speaker 1>exact income per hour and more about what we enjoy

0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.840
<v Speaker 1>and what we don't, and what we can uniquely do

0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.280
<v Speaker 1>and what others can do just as well or sometimes better.

0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.840
<v Speaker 1>Money is a tool, and like any other tool, it

0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.720
<v Speaker 1>can be used within reason to do useful things. Given

0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.800
<v Speaker 1>that time is ultimately limited, it might be worth paying

0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.079
<v Speaker 1>more than forty dollars an hour to offload something in

0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.360
<v Speaker 1>our eighty thou dollars a year worker truly hates. On

0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.160
<v Speaker 1>the other hand, if she loves doing something, it doesn't

0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.000
<v Speaker 1>matter if you could pay a mere five dollars an

0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.200
<v Speaker 1>hour to get rid of it. We should generally try

0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.000
<v Speaker 1>to boost the amount of happiness in our hours, even

0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.280
<v Speaker 1>if the economic calculation doesn't support it in a most

0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.200
<v Speaker 1>straightforward way. I see this all the time and the

0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.919
<v Speaker 1>choices people make. For instance, when I've looked at the

0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.920
<v Speaker 1>schedules of incredibly busy people, I've often suggested freeing up

0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.040
<v Speaker 1>space by getting groceries delivered. If you live in an

0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.280
<v Speaker 1>area served by the major grocery delivery services, this is

0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.960
<v Speaker 1>often incredibly cheap. I mean, you might pay less than

0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.880
<v Speaker 1>ten dollars for the delivery plus a tip. Given that

0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:40.920
<v Speaker 1>it takes time to drive to the store, produce the aisles,

0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.080
<v Speaker 1>pay for your groceries, load them in the car, and

0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.680
<v Speaker 1>transport them home. Almost everyone's time is worth more than that. Indeed,

0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.160
<v Speaker 1>if you're like me, you might save money with delivery,

0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.080
<v Speaker 1>since I know I'm less prone to impulse purchases online

0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.880
<v Speaker 1>than I am when I'm smelling those lovely bakery items.

0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.480
<v Speaker 1>But a lot of people really resist this suggestion. And

0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:04.080
<v Speaker 1>when I explore this, I realized that many people truly

0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.640
<v Speaker 1>love grocery shopping. They love seeing the cool foods displayed,

0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.920
<v Speaker 1>they love smelling those bakery items. They love feeling guilt

0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.920
<v Speaker 1>free about spending money because hey, everyone has to eat.

0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:17.760
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes it's a chance to get one on one time

0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:19.440
<v Speaker 1>with a kid that you take to the store, or

0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.960
<v Speaker 1>it's something that a couple does together fantasizing about great

0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.559
<v Speaker 1>meals to come. Maybe in its excuse for one party

0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:28.520
<v Speaker 1>to get a little solo time on the weekend while

0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.760
<v Speaker 1>still doing something productive. If this is the case, then

0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.159
<v Speaker 1>this can be a great way to spend time. On

0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.520
<v Speaker 1>the other hand, I often hear from people, and probably

0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.400
<v Speaker 1>not the same people as the grocery lovers, but still

0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.440
<v Speaker 1>plenty of people that making dinner on weekday nights is

0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.760
<v Speaker 1>incredibly stressful for them. I mean, you're tired after work,

0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.919
<v Speaker 1>and everyone's cranky because they're hungry. You just want it done.

0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:52.440
<v Speaker 1>There are lots of ways to solve this problem with cash,

0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.760
<v Speaker 1>from having a standing order for delivery from reasonably healthy

0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.400
<v Speaker 1>restaurants to a meal delivery service, or even hiring someone

0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.320
<v Speaker 1>to come make inner twice a week with enough for

0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.760
<v Speaker 1>leftovers on the other nights. But people kind of resist

0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.640
<v Speaker 1>that suggestion to particularly the last one, I think, because

0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.560
<v Speaker 1>they assume you'd need to be a billionaire or something

0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.960
<v Speaker 1>to hire a chef. The economics are far more reasonable

0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.880
<v Speaker 1>than that, But even if it is pricier than doing

0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.800
<v Speaker 1>it yourself, it might be worth it if the result

0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.000
<v Speaker 1>is more peace after work, fewer fights about whose turn

0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.120
<v Speaker 1>it is to make dinner, and better dinner table discussions

0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.960
<v Speaker 1>because no one is seething with resentment. In any case,

0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.000
<v Speaker 1>if you are truly hard up life involves very tough choices.

0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.440
<v Speaker 1>I get that. But if you've gotten to the point

0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.120
<v Speaker 1>where you have some disposable cash, then thinking of money

0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.559
<v Speaker 1>as a tool can help with seeing the value of time.

0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:43.560
<v Speaker 1>If you are to devote a little bit of money

0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.200
<v Speaker 1>to solving some particular pain point in your schedule, what

0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.720
<v Speaker 1>would that be? How could you make that work? What

0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.560
<v Speaker 1>would you do with the time instead? If you've got

0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:57.080
<v Speaker 1>an answer to that question, this could be smart. Whether

0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.440
<v Speaker 1>the straight up calculation happens to be or not. What

0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.080
<v Speaker 1>have you paid to get off your plate? Please let

0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.120
<v Speaker 1>me know it. Before Breakfast podcast at I heeart media

0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:10.680
<v Speaker 1>dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:20.400
<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.719
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.400
<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.840
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:35.880
<v Speaker 1>that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.

0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.560
<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.200
<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is

0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.000
<v Speaker 1>spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:54.120
<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:57.360
<v Speaker 1>production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my

0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.279
<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.440
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.