6 ms·

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 not

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.
    - Yetanfou 8y ago
      A 5yo can certainly be trusted with a blunt sewing needle, the type used to mend holes in socks etc ('stopnaald' in Dutch, darning-needle in English). A toddler can not but might find it interesting to toddle around while you show the 5yo to mend that hole in that sock - or something similar.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - laumars 8y ago
        He can't. We have actually tried before with a sowing-craft set he got for Christmas (which my wife ended up making with him watching). To be honest I shouldn't have to defend what chores I choose to spend time doing with the kids. I'd be interested to know how many on here have kids, do all of the aforementioned chores and still find time to teach 5 year olds to mend socks, shirts and jumpers? There seems to be an inordinate amount of "high-roading" happening today.
        scarejunba 8y ago
        Dude. Everyone acts like this. For the guy teaching his kid robotics, you're missing out by not teaching your kid robotics. But he isn't teaching his kid chemistry. And the chem guy isn't teaching his kid carpentry. Each of them doesn't realize what they aren't doing. Only that they're very busy and somehow manage to fit in this one thing. So why can't you? Don't take advice on parenting from HN. It's the essential oil mommy blog of the programmer community.
        laumars 8y ago
        It's a pity you're getting downvoted because I think this is the most sensible comment made in this entire thread. :-/
        Yetanfou 8y ago
        I do. We live on a farm where they also get to do other interesting things, e.g. two days ago I was splitting firewood with my 7yo daughter - that is she did the splitting with a hydraulic press, I watched and helped where necessary while showing her where danger lies and how to avoid problems. Both daughters (7yo and 14yo) know how to sew - the 14yo got a sewing machine when she was 11. They can do many other practical things as well since we involve them in many tasks around the house and farm. ...and that is the 'secret' to raising self-reliant children: involve them in common tasks when those tasks are performed anyway. This does not take any "high-roading" as you imply, it just takes a little bit of forethought and might make things go a bit slower than they normally would.
your-nanny 8y ago
it's only of more value if that 30mins is doing something that earns money. or you could just Netflix and chill
scotty79 8y ago
If you can have as much work as you want then your free time is worth exactly as much per hour as your hourly work rate. The point is, you shouldn't be alarmed. You can afford your free time. Just know how pointless it is to suffer through some of your time to save a bit of money that is much less than the value of the time you spent suffering. I'm still fixing things, but not because I want to save anything. I just like to tinker and figure stuff out so I'm geeting my money's worth out of every attempted repair. Also I hate shoping so shopping time saved is often worth for me more then time used for repairs.

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.
  - Yetanfou 8y ago
    A 5yo can certainly be trusted with a blunt sewing needle, the type used to mend holes in socks etc ('stopnaald' in Dutch, darning-needle in English). A toddler can not but might find it interesting to toddle around while you show the 5yo to mend that hole in that sock - or something similar.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - laumars 8y ago
      He can't. We have actually tried before with a sowing-craft set he got for Christmas (which my wife ended up making with him watching). To be honest I shouldn't have to defend what chores I choose to spend time doing with the kids. I'd be interested to know how many on here have kids, do all of the aforementioned chores and still find time to teach 5 year olds to mend socks, shirts and jumpers? There seems to be an inordinate amount of "high-roading" happening today.
      - scarejunba 8y ago
        Dude. Everyone acts like this. For the guy teaching his kid robotics, you're missing out by not teaching your kid robotics. But he isn't teaching his kid chemistry. And the chem guy isn't teaching his kid carpentry. Each of them doesn't realize what they aren't doing. Only that they're very busy and somehow manage to fit in this one thing. So why can't you? Don't take advice on parenting from HN. It's the essential oil mommy blog of the programmer community.
        laumars 8y ago
        It's a pity you're getting downvoted because I think this is the most sensible comment made in this entire thread. :-/
      - Yetanfou 8y ago
        I do. We live on a farm where they also get to do other interesting things, e.g. two days ago I was splitting firewood with my 7yo daughter - that is she did the splitting with a hydraulic press, I watched and helped where necessary while showing her where danger lies and how to avoid problems. Both daughters (7yo and 14yo) know how to sew - the 14yo got a sewing machine when she was 11. They can do many other practical things as well since we involve them in many tasks around the house and farm. ...and that is the 'secret' to raising self-reliant children: involve them in common tasks when those tasks are performed anyway. This does not take any "high-roading" as you imply, it just takes a little bit of forethought and might make things go a bit slower than they normally would.

your-nanny 8y ago

it's only of more value if that 30mins is doing something that earns money. or you could just Netflix and chill

scotty79 8y ago

If you can have as much work as you want then your free time is worth exactly as much per hour as your hourly work rate. The point is, you shouldn't be alarmed. You can afford your free time. Just know how pointless it is to suffer through some of your time to save a bit of money that is much less than the value of the time you spent suffering. I'm still fixing things, but not because I want to save anything. I just like to tinker and figure stuff out so I'm geeting my money's worth out of every attempted repair. Also I hate shoping so shopping time saved is often worth for me more then time used for repairs.