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When I was studying, I used to turn my round neck shirts into V neck by cutting the middle and stitching. Just for fun and it thought me how to stitch, at least

When I was studying, I used to turn my round neck shirts into V neck by cutting the middle and stitching. Just for fun and it thought me how to stitch, at least to a point. Today it is not about knowing, it is about time. I can't spend 30 minutes fixing my clothes because my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost. Or I don't want to deal with ordering glue for my shoe and work on fixing it, I take it to a shoe repair and get it fixed for $10. Things got more convenient than war times. We don't need to turn potato sack burlap into clothing anymore. Although, I also believe a man should know how to stitch a button if they need to. I want people to repair electronics rather than clothing.

charliesome 8y ago
>I can't spend 30 minutes fixing my clothes because my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost. I think it's a mistake that we value our own time like this. There's satisfaction that can be derived from spending time mending some of your own clothing, and that contributes to wellbeing. That wellbeing is not something that you can put a dollar value on.
- jplayer01 8y ago
  What if there are other activities that OP considers more valuable and rewarding? Spending time with friends or family? Starting a new business? Working on that programming project? Learning how to play an instrument? Exercising? Meditating? Cooking? I'm not sure such a blanket statement is helpful. This isn't just about money, it's about opportunity cost. The time that he sinks into mending that Tshirt is time he could have put into any other potentially more worthy endeavor.
- laumars 8y ago
  Platitudes like that often don't work out in practice. Take my life for example; what do you suggest I substitute in return for time spent mending clothes? * Time spent with the family / kids? That contributes far more to my wellbeing (and theirs). Sure I could mend my clothes with the kids but that isn't something they'd enjoy (nor me to be quite honest) and there are already enough chores I make them do as a family. * How about time spent cooking and cleaning? But unfortunately I already pay different people to wash the windows, clean the house, mow the lawn... there isn't much less responsibility I can hand off there. * I guess I could spend less time tinkering with my own hobby projects - but that amounts to very few hours a week and given it's my own personal time, I think I should do what I find more rewarding and relaxing and that isn't mending old clothes. I barely get time in the week to do fun things as it is. I mean stuff like going on bike rides with my eldest son (who's 5) and I certainly don't get any time to look after my own personal health (I used to run 5k several times a week - it's not much but it made a difference. These days I'm lucky if I get one 5k run in a week). So if I can outsource stuff I don't enjoy to someone else for a reasonable fee then my time is most certainly worth it.
  - varjag 8y ago
    Time on social media? That's what we adults really do most of the time anyway.
    - laumars 8y ago
      Speak for yourself. I'm rarely on Facebook, don't do Twitter / Reddit / Instagram / whatever else. HN is my one social media vice and even that isn't something I generally visit on a weekend (usually just during the week if I need to take a mental break from coding). However today is the exception but my family are out of town and I'm in bed with a head cold so don't feel much up to being productive anyway. This is also true for most adults I'm friends with - in that a couple might occasionally go on Facebook but most of them aren't heavy users of social media. For context: on average we're late 30s and most of us have young kids. We didn't grow up with social media and we've have better things to fill our adult time with since social media become a "thing". So it's not something we spend a great amount of time on. I'm sure yours (and a many other peoples) experience will differ but my point is you shouldn't generalise that adults spend a lot of time on social media because that isn't always true.
      - varjag 8y ago
        Well I'm 41 and have kids, so your age card is poorly played. Most people of my generation spend their life on social media, I know that for a fact. Speaking of the milage, I took the liberty to glance at your HN account stats. You appear to be a more prolific poster than I am, even though my account is couple years older. Not judging mind you. I have my hobbies too, including a nice metalworking shop. But the proportion of time I stand at the lathe to me watching YouTube videos of people machining is tiny. People in 21st century first world have a lot of disposable time. They also complain most about lack of it.
        laumars 8y ago
        > Well I'm 41 and have kids, so your age card is poorly played. Most people of my generation spend their life on social media, I know that for a fact. I wasn't playing an "age card" - I was adding context to why I don't use social media. Also I think you missed the part where I said: I'm sure yours (and a many other peoples) experience will differ but my point is you shouldn't generalise that adults spend a lot of time on social media because that isn't always true. > Speaking of the milage, I took the liberty to glance at your HN account stats. You appear to be a more prolific poster than I am, even though my account is couple years older. I'd already addressed that point in my post: Yes I do spend a lot of time on HN. But only 5 minutes here and there during the week when I need a proverbial cigarette break. I don't generally use HN during the weekend. The fact I post a lot is really more a symptom of how opinionated I am rather than how much time I spend on HN. > People in 21st century first world have a lot of disposable time. They also complain most about lack of it. You cannot generalise like that. Some people need to work multiple jobs just to keep their family fed and housed. Others - like me - have long commutes and busy homes to manage. You want to know my weekly schedule? 06:00 get up and showered for work 06:45 drive to train station 07:00 catch train 08:15 arrive in office 16:15 leave for the evening 18:45 get home, bath kids, read them a story then put them to bed 20:00 do house work 20:30 cook dinner 21:00 eat while chatting to wife or watching some crap on TV 21:30 down time 22:00 bed Granted that 30 minute downtime can be longer and shorter some days depending on how late I go to bed or how much housework we need to do. But I still wouldn't call that "lots of disposable time". The train to work is my disposable time and that's limited by what I can do on the train - which is usually sleeping because my youngest still wakes up multiple times a night (aghhh!) I wouldn't say I'm unique either nor that I don't have a lucky life (I have a family who love me, a good job, nice house in a good area and enough disposable income to afford a few luxuries). However I don't take kindly to people who assume that I have lots of disposable time. My kids or catching up on sleep is my disposable time and I get very little left after that. So I suggest you don't make assumptions about other peoples lifestyles based off your own. It's a diverse world out there ;)
- MandieD 8y ago
  Being able to turn 30 minutes into longer-wearing clothes means you don’t have to be able to get paid the way you currently are for those 30 minutes forever. Along with various clothing repair activities and normal cooking, I bake bread and can jam from seasonal fruit surplus. If I just look at my hourly take-home, that is some expensive bread and jam. However, if I think about when I won’t be earning like that anymore, it shifts a bit. That “when” is hopefully 20 years from now (when I’d like to retire), but could be next year and for awhile if the economy goes south. It also helps that I enjoy those things enough to consider them hobbbies. We also remodeled our own kitchen, doing everything but electricals ourselves (including knocking through a new entrance and closing the old one). From an immediate cost perspective, I should have hired someone to lay the tiles instead of doing it myself. That experience, though, means that I can now easily do my own tile repairs and can better assess the quality of work I might pay others to do. It ended up being fun enough that I’m looking for another tiling project!
- system2 8y ago
  I rather use my free 30 minutes playing with my 3d printer or laser engraver. As others stated, we only have limited free time and I really don't want to use it to fix my ripped tshirt or shirt and make it look barely okay. I agree with you, but I also think there are more satisfying and educational things than fixing cheap stuff. (Also clothing is not as expensive as 100 years ago, we don't buy tailored anymore so no need fixing as much.)
- Arnt 8y ago
  There's that, and there's mistaking. GP assumes three things: 1) that it takes 30 minutes to mend, which is high in my experience. 2) That a t-shirt costs less than a half-hour's income. Less than a half-hour's after-tax income, even. Some t-shirts do: The t-shirts I got for free at conferences cost less. But my favourites, the ones I might wear out, aren't the cheap ones. 3) That purchasing new clothes takes no time. Valuing our own time is okay, but it has to be done correctly. Not bent to produce a particular outcome. (Yes, I mend. Not t-shirts, because I hardly ever wear those. But I mend shirts.)
  - hopler 8y ago
    I buy $12 synthetic fabric shirts that last for 100+ wear/wash cycles without needing mending.
  - system2 8y ago
    How are you planning to fix a ripped t-shirt without making it look terrible? This era, we are wearing very simple clothing which is disposable, also very durable (jeans). I mostly wear shirts/tshirt and jeans. I don't even remember needing to fix any and still have my old jeans for over 15 years.
    - giardini 8y ago
      What brand of jeans lasts 15 years? My Levis' jeans don't seem to last more than about 5 years. After that I have to patch them.
      - war1025 8y ago
        I don't think I've ever had a pair of Levis last even a year.
    - Arnt 8y ago
      I don't wear t-shirts often, and don't think any of mine have needed mending. I do wear thin long-sleeved sweaters, so if you don't mind I'll answer for those: The most common problem starts with a small hole somewhere, frequently just next to a seam, and is mended in a minute or two if caught early. Disastrous tears are a different matter, but happily also a rare one.
- hopler 8y ago
  I think it's a mistake for you to value your own mending time over my particular hobby, which contributes to a sense of well-being.
- dagw 8y ago
  satisfaction that can be derived from spending time mending some of your own clothing Perhaps for some people. I've tried mending my own clothes, but it always ends up looking kind of crap and so I don't end up wearing it anyway.
Yetanfou 8y ago
Those 30 minutes of your time are only more 'valuable' if the only thing of value which counts is monetary value. This is, of course, not the case. Money is nothing but a means to an end, it should never be the end itself. Assuming the end to be a sense of personal satisfaction over a task well accomplished - whether that task be feeding yourself and possibly your family, raising any children to be a boon instead of a burden to society or just enabling you to be lazing on a beach somewhere - it is not inconceivable for time spent mending something to have more total value than time spent earning money so you can buy a new something.
- laumars 8y ago
  When people talk about how much their time is worth; they're not talking about it from a strictly financial point of view but from a personal satisfaction point of view. ie if I spend an hour fixing this; this is an hour less I spend with my kids or an hour I miss chatting to my wife. So it's not about counting pennies but about justifying outsourcing jobs you don't enjoy so you can spend more time on the stuff that really matters. This point of view is particularly important to those of us who have really busy lives and thus are often juggling our time between different responsibilities (family, work, household chores, etc).
  - ced 8y ago
    if I spend an hour fixing this; this is an hour less I spend with my kids or an hour I miss chatting to my wife. Doing chores and fixing stuff can be an interesting activity for a kid, depending on the age. Granted, I'm not good at mending either.
    - laumars 8y ago
      I discussed this in my other post but to expand on that, we do a lot of household chores together (tidying, cleaning, washing car, gardening, etc). However I wouldn't trust a a toddler and 5 year old with a sewing needle.
      - 8y ago
your-nanny 8y ago
I think looking at opportunity costs is important. still, different chores make different demands. the value of my time at, say 10pm after a long day at work is less than at 10am. mrend at night, code during the day.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
> I can't spend 30 minutes fixing my clothes because my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost. I've got a dollar that says you watch TV while looking at a social network or something on your phone. You could fix a shirt instead.
- scotty79 8y ago
  Still, he paid (in lost profits) for his tv watching and social browsing. He's t-shirt mending would cost the same but he would additionally lost pleasure and gained t-shirt which value is neglible when compared to all other vslues involved.
jameshart 8y ago
"my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost" Of course, I know what you mean. But consider, at least for a moment, that the cost of that t-shirt to you includes the wages paid to the cotton pickers, thread makers, cloth makers, cutters, stitchers, packers, transport and warehouse workers, and the amazon delivery driver, who will contribute to making that t-shirt and getting it to your door. So in a way, you're saying your 30 minutes is more valuable than however many minutes of all those people's lives that would have to be spent to get you a new t-shirt. There's some profound insight into how economics works to be had when you truly consider what it means to trade off your time and the value of your labor output, against the time and labor of countless people, all put into supplying you with stuff.

charliesome 8y ago

>I can't spend 30 minutes fixing my clothes because my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost. I think it's a mistake that we value our own time like this. There's satisfaction that can be derived from spending time mending some of your own clothing, and that contributes to wellbeing. That wellbeing is not something that you can put a dollar value on.

jplayer01 8y ago
What if there are other activities that OP considers more valuable and rewarding? Spending time with friends or family? Starting a new business? Working on that programming project? Learning how to play an instrument? Exercising? Meditating? Cooking? I'm not sure such a blanket statement is helpful. This isn't just about money, it's about opportunity cost. The time that he sinks into mending that Tshirt is time he could have put into any other potentially more worthy endeavor.
laumars 8y ago
Platitudes like that often don't work out in practice. Take my life for example; what do you suggest I substitute in return for time spent mending clothes? * Time spent with the family / kids? That contributes far more to my wellbeing (and theirs). Sure I could mend my clothes with the kids but that isn't something they'd enjoy (nor me to be quite honest) and there are already enough chores I make them do as a family. * How about time spent cooking and cleaning? But unfortunately I already pay different people to wash the windows, clean the house, mow the lawn... there isn't much less responsibility I can hand off there. * I guess I could spend less time tinkering with my own hobby projects - but that amounts to very few hours a week and given it's my own personal time, I think I should do what I find more rewarding and relaxing and that isn't mending old clothes. I barely get time in the week to do fun things as it is. I mean stuff like going on bike rides with my eldest son (who's 5) and I certainly don't get any time to look after my own personal health (I used to run 5k several times a week - it's not much but it made a difference. These days I'm lucky if I get one 5k run in a week). So if I can outsource stuff I don't enjoy to someone else for a reasonable fee then my time is most certainly worth it.
- varjag 8y ago
  Time on social media? That's what we adults really do most of the time anyway.
  - laumars 8y ago
    Speak for yourself. I'm rarely on Facebook, don't do Twitter / Reddit / Instagram / whatever else. HN is my one social media vice and even that isn't something I generally visit on a weekend (usually just during the week if I need to take a mental break from coding). However today is the exception but my family are out of town and I'm in bed with a head cold so don't feel much up to being productive anyway. This is also true for most adults I'm friends with - in that a couple might occasionally go on Facebook but most of them aren't heavy users of social media. For context: on average we're late 30s and most of us have young kids. We didn't grow up with social media and we've have better things to fill our adult time with since social media become a "thing". So it's not something we spend a great amount of time on. I'm sure yours (and a many other peoples) experience will differ but my point is you shouldn't generalise that adults spend a lot of time on social media because that isn't always true.
    - varjag 8y ago
      Well I'm 41 and have kids, so your age card is poorly played. Most people of my generation spend their life on social media, I know that for a fact. Speaking of the milage, I took the liberty to glance at your HN account stats. You appear to be a more prolific poster than I am, even though my account is couple years older. Not judging mind you. I have my hobbies too, including a nice metalworking shop. But the proportion of time I stand at the lathe to me watching YouTube videos of people machining is tiny. People in 21st century first world have a lot of disposable time. They also complain most about lack of it.
      - laumars 8y ago
        > Well I'm 41 and have kids, so your age card is poorly played. Most people of my generation spend their life on social media, I know that for a fact. I wasn't playing an "age card" - I was adding context to why I don't use social media. Also I think you missed the part where I said: I'm sure yours (and a many other peoples) experience will differ but my point is you shouldn't generalise that adults spend a lot of time on social media because that isn't always true. > Speaking of the milage, I took the liberty to glance at your HN account stats. You appear to be a more prolific poster than I am, even though my account is couple years older. I'd already addressed that point in my post: Yes I do spend a lot of time on HN. But only 5 minutes here and there during the week when I need a proverbial cigarette break. I don't generally use HN during the weekend. The fact I post a lot is really more a symptom of how opinionated I am rather than how much time I spend on HN. > People in 21st century first world have a lot of disposable time. They also complain most about lack of it. You cannot generalise like that. Some people need to work multiple jobs just to keep their family fed and housed. Others - like me - have long commutes and busy homes to manage. You want to know my weekly schedule? 06:00 get up and showered for work 06:45 drive to train station 07:00 catch train 08:15 arrive in office 16:15 leave for the evening 18:45 get home, bath kids, read them a story then put them to bed 20:00 do house work 20:30 cook dinner 21:00 eat while chatting to wife or watching some crap on TV 21:30 down time 22:00 bed Granted that 30 minute downtime can be longer and shorter some days depending on how late I go to bed or how much housework we need to do. But I still wouldn't call that "lots of disposable time". The train to work is my disposable time and that's limited by what I can do on the train - which is usually sleeping because my youngest still wakes up multiple times a night (aghhh!) I wouldn't say I'm unique either nor that I don't have a lucky life (I have a family who love me, a good job, nice house in a good area and enough disposable income to afford a few luxuries). However I don't take kindly to people who assume that I have lots of disposable time. My kids or catching up on sleep is my disposable time and I get very little left after that. So I suggest you don't make assumptions about other peoples lifestyles based off your own. It's a diverse world out there ;)
MandieD 8y ago
Being able to turn 30 minutes into longer-wearing clothes means you don’t have to be able to get paid the way you currently are for those 30 minutes forever. Along with various clothing repair activities and normal cooking, I bake bread and can jam from seasonal fruit surplus. If I just look at my hourly take-home, that is some expensive bread and jam. However, if I think about when I won’t be earning like that anymore, it shifts a bit. That “when” is hopefully 20 years from now (when I’d like to retire), but could be next year and for awhile if the economy goes south. It also helps that I enjoy those things enough to consider them hobbbies. We also remodeled our own kitchen, doing everything but electricals ourselves (including knocking through a new entrance and closing the old one). From an immediate cost perspective, I should have hired someone to lay the tiles instead of doing it myself. That experience, though, means that I can now easily do my own tile repairs and can better assess the quality of work I might pay others to do. It ended up being fun enough that I’m looking for another tiling project!
system2 8y ago
I rather use my free 30 minutes playing with my 3d printer or laser engraver. As others stated, we only have limited free time and I really don't want to use it to fix my ripped tshirt or shirt and make it look barely okay. I agree with you, but I also think there are more satisfying and educational things than fixing cheap stuff. (Also clothing is not as expensive as 100 years ago, we don't buy tailored anymore so no need fixing as much.)
Arnt 8y ago
There's that, and there's mistaking. GP assumes three things: 1) that it takes 30 minutes to mend, which is high in my experience. 2) That a t-shirt costs less than a half-hour's income. Less than a half-hour's after-tax income, even. Some t-shirts do: The t-shirts I got for free at conferences cost less. But my favourites, the ones I might wear out, aren't the cheap ones. 3) That purchasing new clothes takes no time. Valuing our own time is okay, but it has to be done correctly. Not bent to produce a particular outcome. (Yes, I mend. Not t-shirts, because I hardly ever wear those. But I mend shirts.)
- hopler 8y ago
  I buy $12 synthetic fabric shirts that last for 100+ wear/wash cycles without needing mending.
- system2 8y ago
  How are you planning to fix a ripped t-shirt without making it look terrible? This era, we are wearing very simple clothing which is disposable, also very durable (jeans). I mostly wear shirts/tshirt and jeans. I don't even remember needing to fix any and still have my old jeans for over 15 years.
  - giardini 8y ago
    What brand of jeans lasts 15 years? My Levis' jeans don't seem to last more than about 5 years. After that I have to patch them.
    - war1025 8y ago
      I don't think I've ever had a pair of Levis last even a year.
  - Arnt 8y ago
    I don't wear t-shirts often, and don't think any of mine have needed mending. I do wear thin long-sleeved sweaters, so if you don't mind I'll answer for those: The most common problem starts with a small hole somewhere, frequently just next to a seam, and is mended in a minute or two if caught early. Disastrous tears are a different matter, but happily also a rare one.
hopler 8y ago
I think it's a mistake for you to value your own mending time over my particular hobby, which contributes to a sense of well-being.
dagw 8y ago
satisfaction that can be derived from spending time mending some of your own clothing Perhaps for some people. I've tried mending my own clothes, but it always ends up looking kind of crap and so I don't end up wearing it anyway.

Yetanfou 8y ago

Those 30 minutes of your time are only more 'valuable' if the only thing of value which counts is monetary value. This is, of course, not the case. Money is nothing but a means to an end, it should never be the end itself. Assuming the end to be a sense of personal satisfaction over a task well accomplished - whether that task be feeding yourself and possibly your family, raising any children to be a boon instead of a burden to society or just enabling you to be lazing on a beach somewhere - it is not inconceivable for time spent mending something to have more total value than time spent earning money so you can buy a new something.

laumars 8y ago
When people talk about how much their time is worth; they're not talking about it from a strictly financial point of view but from a personal satisfaction point of view. ie if I spend an hour fixing this; this is an hour less I spend with my kids or an hour I miss chatting to my wife. So it's not about counting pennies but about justifying outsourcing jobs you don't enjoy so you can spend more time on the stuff that really matters. This point of view is particularly important to those of us who have really busy lives and thus are often juggling our time between different responsibilities (family, work, household chores, etc).
- ced 8y ago
  if I spend an hour fixing this; this is an hour less I spend with my kids or an hour I miss chatting to my wife. Doing chores and fixing stuff can be an interesting activity for a kid, depending on the age. Granted, I'm not good at mending either.
  - laumars 8y ago
    I discussed this in my other post but to expand on that, we do a lot of household chores together (tidying, cleaning, washing car, gardening, etc). However I wouldn't trust a a toddler and 5 year old with a sewing needle.
    - 8y ago

your-nanny 8y ago

I think looking at opportunity costs is important. still, different chores make different demands. the value of my time at, say 10pm after a long day at work is less than at 10am. mrend at night, code during the day.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago

> I can't spend 30 minutes fixing my clothes because my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost. I've got a dollar that says you watch TV while looking at a social network or something on your phone. You could fix a shirt instead.

scotty79 8y ago
Still, he paid (in lost profits) for his tv watching and social browsing. He's t-shirt mending would cost the same but he would additionally lost pleasure and gained t-shirt which value is neglible when compared to all other vslues involved.

jameshart 8y ago

"my 30 minutes is more valuable than a tshirt's cost" Of course, I know what you mean. But consider, at least for a moment, that the cost of that t-shirt to you includes the wages paid to the cotton pickers, thread makers, cloth makers, cutters, stitchers, packers, transport and warehouse workers, and the amazon delivery driver, who will contribute to making that t-shirt and getting it to your door. So in a way, you're saying your 30 minutes is more valuable than however many minutes of all those people's lives that would have to be spent to get you a new t-shirt. There's some profound insight into how economics works to be had when you truly consider what it means to trade off your time and the value of your labor output, against the time and labor of countless people, all put into supplying you with stuff.