One of the arguments for hiring help around the house (usually house cleaners and folks to mow the lawn) is that your time is worth more than what it would cost to hire help.
The argument goes like this: If you currently make $25 per hour, and you can pay someone $15 per hour to mow the lawn, you’re actually either saving money or making more money by hiring someone. The same sort of thing can apply to hiring outsourcing companies too.
This certainly can be the case if you have a limited number of hours to work. For example, if I pay someone $60 to clean the house, and I spend that time working when I would have otherwise been cleaning, I could conceivably earn more than I spent.
But what if I have the cleaner come while I go out to the movies? Or what if I just avoided cleaning until the dust bunnies began breeding in the hallway? Then money doesn’t enter into the equation, except as an expense.
Which might be fine. I hate cleaning, and so I would like to hire a cleaner. It’s not a money-saving or a money-making endeavor though. It’s a convenience or a luxury. My sanity and potential free time are what I find worthwhile, and I’m OK with just saying that instead of trying to argue about the monetary value of time.
Posted in Spending Money on 03.01.10 with 13 comments.
There are several time value of money type calculators on the internet that you should use to make this determination. It is not simply making $25 per hour vs. paying $15 per hour. Another factor that must be taken into consideration is how many hours of free you have in a week. Most of these calculators take into account the hours worked, time commuted, time at work but not paid (lunch), etc. For salaried people who make a decent salary but work many, many hours, each individual free hour skyrockets in value. This is a more realistic view of the value of an hour.
Dirac, I agree, there are many factors to take into account when figuring up the value of an hour. I like the Your Money or Your Life method myself.
I love having a housekeeper, but I’m not going to lie to myself.
Jacquie takes 3 hours every two weeks to clean the bottom floor of our house for $45 a pop. Are we spending those 3 hours doing anything profitable? Nope…my husband gets to game more and I get to hang out with friends and watch tv.
We’d work the same amount either way, so I know it’s just an extra $45 expense every two weeks. That’s okay. We hate chores and $1170 a year to keep our guest areas clean works for us.
Great post! I always wondered if anybody actually works more to make up for the expense…
The more I read about people hiring housekeepers, the more I want to hire one
Cleaning help is the primary reason I am grateful to have a better handle on my finances (and a larger income). I know it should be “financial security” and “values-based spending” but forthelove, I frakkin’ HATE cleaning. When I was able to afford it, it was the first luxury I allowed myself. Pure bliss.
CF, apparently I’ve put massages first, but cleaning is so next on the list.
We have a housecleaner that comes on an irregular basis to clean our house. Maybe once every 6 weeks or so. The funny thing is we spend a lot of time cleaining the house the day before she comes anyway!
Partly because she will be able to more efficiently “clean” and sanitize the house, but also because we are ashamed of how the house may look to her!
Benjamin, I used to do that too. Then I got over it and embraced my shame and sloth. Thankfully, they are miracle workers (and I have a very tolerant husband!). I suspect the cleaning gals have choice words about me when I’m not paying attention.
Benjamin, I suspect you aren’t the only one who does that. Probably there’s no need to feel ashamed though!
The day I can “Afford it”, I will hire someone to get groceries and cook me a meal 3x a week (healthy).
We have bad arguments and feelings over groceries and it is one chore that I absolutely hate. Absolutely despise about 99% of the time.
You make a great point. If you’re going to sit on your butt anyway, then you might in fact be losing money; however, is there a price on your relaxation and sanity?
Too many factors to decide but for me, it’d be worth it, given I could spare the money to hire someone.
Moon, it sounds like that would be a great area for you to hire someone in. Why do things you absolutely despise if there are other options? Hopefully you’ll be able to soon.
Hey Jackie, I’ve been having the same thought myself, with slight variations. Your time might not be worth more than the money. It depends really on what you do with your time. I sometimes find myself doing unproductive things such as checking emails (cutting it down now) and I think I’d be better off using the time to do some household chores. Unless of course, I could have used the time to earn my hourly rate, but I couldn’t do it consistently.
Having said that, it’s really difficult to put a price tag on time. Some people think it’s well worth the money to pay someone to do the cleaning, yet some would argue they would save $25 if they did themselves (pretty good hourly rate).
I outsource some of my research work to VAs, but I do my own house cleaning and stuffs. It’s great to be able to take some time off from whatever I’m doing (blogging mostly), and just do some light physical tasks instead of hitting the gym.
Btw, I totally love your thought provoking posts!
Ken, thanks! I agree, it’s difficult to put a price tag on time. It depends on the individual situation as to whether it’s “worth it” or not to someone. That’s a good idea about housework possibly replacing some gym time, but what if I’m not a fan of either one?