Value of time

[Walt34]

But do you have life insurance?

What's the saying, something about not wanting death to be a financial incentive

I still have a little bit of life insurance from my former employer. It declines to zero when I hit 70, which is two years away.

There was a joke about the life insurance at work. For a line-of-duty death the beneficiary would get 10x your annual salary. For a line-of-duty death outside the county, they would get 20x pay. For a line-of-duty death outside the county on public transportation they'd get 30x. So if you were going on a flight somewhere for training or such, you made sure to pack your own suitcase.

I have no idea how or why that payout schedule was determined.

 

[FreeBear]

Sold the SFH with the big yard and moved into a townhome with the often dreaded HOA. We love it! Most of the exterior stuff is handled by their contractors, often better than I would do or manage on my own. No more grass cutting!! I take our vehicles to the dealership since they do decent w*rk without any drama.



I still most annoying minor repairs around the house, including light plumbing and electrical. We do all our own painting since we've been painting commercial properties since we were kids. Thankfully, no more serious ladder w*rk since that's what the HOA is for.

 

[FIREd]

I try to do as much as I can myself, but I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I will soon be moving into a small condo and enjoy a nearly maintenance-free lifestyle once again.

 

[spncity]

Ha ha.

Here's an easy one. Cleaning and refinishing the stain on a deck. It takes a lot of simple labor. Incredible cost savings if you DYI. Of course if a retired person does it, I guess it is just free.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to get in line for one of those free deck refinishing jobs you do. Mostly to be sure that you feel incredibly valued.

 

[audreyh1]

I really do find it funny that some people believe that their time is free or has no value because they are retired.

 

[Music Lover]

I really do find it funny that some people believe that their time is free or has no value because they are retired.

I've never understood that either. When considering whether or not to take on a project myself, I always weigh the cost savings vs. my time vs. my comfort level and ability to do a good job.

 

[MichaelB]

I really do find it funny that some people believe that their time is free or has no value because they are retired.

I agree, and wish others valued my time as highly as I do.

 

[JoeWras]

There's a lot of smilies and sarcasm going around here that may not be getting absorbed by some readers...

 

[ls99]

I do pretty much all electrical, electronics, mechanical and jobs requiring strong back and weak mind, around the house and my mancave. Including dropping tall recently dead trees so long as they don't have the "widowmaker" attributes. And splitting wood with a maul. 3 cords so far this fall. Mancave has woodstoves for heat, and solar/wind power installed by yours truly, only for electrics.



OTOH I do not paint. Anything. Late DW promised to break my hads if she saw a painbrush in it. Nowdays a rare paint job gets done by hired hands.


BTW, had a great uncle who was, to borrow a joke, a sports repairman. He fixed games, races, etc.

 

[SecondCor521]

I stay away from chainsaws and electrical. I'm very very careful on ladders but will still do them for now. I have no big trees.

One thing that motivates me to do things myself is that I know that it is done the way I want it done. Closely related to this is that it can be done on my schedule.

Competing with this is that some jobs I can't do as well as the pros because there is often a learning curve that I finish about the same time I finish the job. But over time I've learned that if I ask a lot of stupid questions at Home Depot or of my friends with more experience, and think things through pretty carefully before hand, and go slowly, and watch videos on YouTube, I can avoid most of the big mistakes.

Right now I have 19 projects in my "House" folder that I want to get done eventually. Probably only the top half are important, the rest are either nice to have improvements or low priority items. Two of them I might hire out (attic insulation and recarpeting) but may do myself if the price is too high.

I'm in the process of repainting the outside of my house. I've spent several weeks actual and over a year elapsed time on it so far and still have some trim work left. But it's done well and it's cost me about $500 vs. $5000 to have someone else do it.

 

[Winemaker]

I really do find it funny that some people believe that their time is free or has no value because they are retired.

Some of us have paid gym memberships, attend/monitor classes, volunteer in order to exercise our muscles and brains. I do not mind performing maintenance duties that are well within my skill/fitness level, as they are also exercising my brain and muscles. While I do value my time, and it is expensive, I do hate to get ripped off. The only time I ever let someone change my oil in my auto, in 72 hours, the car blew a head gasket. It cost me $4500 to replace the engine. Did they fill to the proper level with the proper viscosity? Did they check coolant while waiting for drain? To pay someone $25.00 (sale price) to unscrew a drain plug/an oil filter/ and replace, drain and refill with fresh oil, is outrageous. And I have to make an appointment. When I had given my drain snake to someone to use for at their weekend home, I was charged $600 to have the same service done by a specialist because it was a Saturday. I am not paying someone $100 to cut my grass, nor am I paying $100 for someone to spray my lawn for weeds when I can do it myself. I fired my mom's lawn service because the lawn is worse now than it ever was when my parents bought the place in '79. I worked at a hardware store and taught my dad when and what to spread/spray/trim. YMMV

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have saved a ton of money by doing it ourselves. At 53 DH totally remodeled the inside of our house. Next 2 summers painted the outside, put up a fence and redid all the landscaping. Next summer stained and sealed our wooden front porch. Last few summers nothing to do but routine maintenance.

 

[foxfirev5]

Fully retired and my time is worth nothing. DW and I babysit the GK's and GM for the pure satisfaction of helping out. We do all our landscaping as part of our wellness program. As a former licensed builder and construction vendor employee I have a fair skillset. However, the climbing, tree felling, replace the HVAC days are no longer of interest.

I am confident I have enough knowledge to engage the service provider in a productive transaction. There again my time is worth nothing so I can sort the wheat from the chaff. There is no need to risk my safety over saving a few bucks. Common sense.

Anyway we can usually save more than that with a little internet research. DW just saved hundreds on our next vacation by regularly checking the latest rates on hotels and rental cars. And nobody got hurt.

 

[foxfirev5]

I really do find it funny that some people believe that their time is free or has no value because they are retired.

I have struggled with this issue. However IMHO your time only has value if your were going to do something else. For example, my time on this and other forums has no real value.

 

[street]

^ I look at value of time as time I have left on this earth. To me, my time is priceless. As far as work/maintenance that needs done I do everything I feel I can do. From cutting tree, vehicle repair if I can, to any home repair and as long as it doesn't require a major repair or equipment to do the job. As for the value of my time doing those type things I don't use a value as in dollars but would look what I saved doing it myself and the satisfaction.

 

[audreyh1]

I have struggled with this issue. However IMHO your time only has value if your were going to do something else. For example, my time on this and other forums has no real value.

Sure it does. You don’t have to be “productive” for your time to be valuable. If you are enjoying yourself or learning something or even just resting, that has value.

I agree with street - my time is extremely valuable, even if I spend plenty of it just goofing off.

 

[foxfirev5]

Sure it does. You don’t have to be “productive” for your time to be valuable. If you are enjoying yourself or learning something or even just resting, that has value.

I agree with street - my time is extremely valuable, even if I spend plenty of it just goofing off.

Goofing off is great. Partying is great. As a retiree I have plenty of time for both. However it really is not a value added proposition. Semantics aside, it really doesn't matter as long as you're doing what you want.

 

[ls99]

Sure it does. You don’t have to be “productive” for your time to be valuable. If you are enjoying yourself or learning something or even just resting, that has value.

I agree with street - my time is extremely valuable, even if I spend plenty of it just goofing off.

I value my time. Greatly. And the value increases exponentially when tasks start to cut into my dancing, skating, kayaking or navel grazing activities.

 

[audreyh1]

I value my time. Greatly. And the value increases exponentially when tasks start to cut into my dancing, skating, kayaking or navel grazing activities.

Exactly!

 

[athena53]

I value my time. Greatly. And the value increases exponentially when tasks start to cut into my dancing, skating, kayaking or navel gazing activities.

I agree- I've gotten very protective of my time, even when I just want to goof off rather than sit in a meeting or wait in a line. Two weeks ago I was asked to attend a "short" committee meeting after church. One hour and 20 minutes later it was still dragging on. I announced that I had to get going and I did. If you don't have a timed agenda or you have one but let the meeting get out of control, I'm outta there.

 

[Dtail]

We will not wait for any extended time in eating out at a restaurant.
The only time we wait is at doctors' offices, but if it is extensive, they will hear from me.

 

[youbet]

^ I look at value of time as time I have left on this earth. To me, my time is priceless.

+1. Nicely said street.

Spending my time doing those things which make me happy and satisfied with life is important to me.

I might chose to spend an hour doing a chore I find satisfying and enjoyable but could have hired out to have done for $10. Or I might hire out for $50 some chore I could have done in an hour but which I don't enjoy doing. The value of my time is dependent on how much I enjoy spending it.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

Here's a simple rule, just in case someone absolutely feels they must deal with trees.

If you are using a ladder, you are doing it wrong and you may die. Period.

Did somebody mention trees? I took this tree down in 8' sections. Was too close to the house to safely drop. I'm too cheap to pay somebody to do this, and was thrilling! Of course had all tree climbing gear and experience needed.

 

[JoeWras]

Did somebody mention trees? I took this tree down in 8' sections. Was too close to the house to safely drop. I'm too cheap to pay somebody to do this, and was thrilling! Of course had all tree climbing gear and experience needed.

You are doing it right! No ladder in sight.

 

[Music Lover]

I have struggled with this issue. However IMHO your time only has value if your were going to do something else. For example, my time on this and other forums has no real value.

Or, suppose a person has a modest retirement income. For example:

Retiree A paints the interior of their home in 2 or 3 days and saves the equivalent of a month of income.

Retiree B paints the interior of their larger home in 3 or 4 days and saves the equivalent of a week of income.

Even if Retiree A was doing nothing, painting their house has value, but the value for Retiree B is limited.