3 ms·

When figuring out build vs buy decisions, it helps anyone to put dollar amounts on their time. “Should I buy a lawn mower or pay someone to cut my lawn?” You

When figuring out build vs buy decisions, it helps anyone to put dollar amounts on their time. “Should I buy a lawn mower or pay someone to cut my lawn?” You factor in the cost of equipment, maintenance, and your time for both options, then figure out which works for your budget. If your budget is zero, that also helps make the decisions easier.

ubercow13 6y ago
It's a bit of an alien way of thinking to me because I don't know how to put a value on my free time, as it is not fungible. That time cannot be always be freely exchanged for time doing something else specific, or more productive. I certainly can't monetise that time easily, and if I could its value would probably not be related to my professional salary. If I always spent money to save myself time in line with how much I am professionaly worth (eg. paying for a lawn mower, never cooking for myself etc.) I think I would quickly be broke.
- jedberg 6y ago
  The way I used to value my free time was by figuring out how many hours I would have to work to pay for something. A two hour movie would be one hour of work. Probably worth it. A trip to Disneyland was about 10 hours of work, but if I got there when the park opened I could do 16 hours of entertainment, so it was probably worth it. Paying someone to mow the lawn was a few hours of work, but I could mow the lawn myself in an hour. So not worth it. And so on.
- imtringued 6y ago
  I personally think the entire calculation of how much your free time is worth is pretty stupid. There are things that I am willing to pay for even if it was cheaper to do it myself. There are also things that I'm willing to do myself even if it is cheaper to buy it. You only do this calculation because you don't have any free time left so either you put it off until you can or you pay.
bserge 6y ago
You should probably factor in the enjoyment and experience gained - doing repairs or building something yourself, for example, could be more rewarding than the dollar amount.

ubercow13 6y ago

It's a bit of an alien way of thinking to me because I don't know how to put a value on my free time, as it is not fungible. That time cannot be always be freely exchanged for time doing something else specific, or more productive. I certainly can't monetise that time easily, and if I could its value would probably not be related to my professional salary. If I always spent money to save myself time in line with how much I am professionaly worth (eg. paying for a lawn mower, never cooking for myself etc.) I think I would quickly be broke.

jedberg 6y ago
The way I used to value my free time was by figuring out how many hours I would have to work to pay for something. A two hour movie would be one hour of work. Probably worth it. A trip to Disneyland was about 10 hours of work, but if I got there when the park opened I could do 16 hours of entertainment, so it was probably worth it. Paying someone to mow the lawn was a few hours of work, but I could mow the lawn myself in an hour. So not worth it. And so on.
imtringued 6y ago
I personally think the entire calculation of how much your free time is worth is pretty stupid. There are things that I am willing to pay for even if it was cheaper to do it myself. There are also things that I'm willing to do myself even if it is cheaper to buy it. You only do this calculation because you don't have any free time left so either you put it off until you can or you pay.

bserge 6y ago

You should probably factor in the enjoyment and experience gained - doing repairs or building something yourself, for example, could be more rewarding than the dollar amount.