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free4now · 01-26-2007, 01:35 PM

It's well known that once you are FIRE'd, you no longer have to pay for time saving services and devices as much as you do when working. But there are still times that FIRE'd people pay money to save time. Some examples: I pay for washing machines and dryers instead of cleaning my clothes manually. There are still times I pay to park my car close instead of walking a longer distance. I buy some books rather than waiting to get them from the library. I pay for some cleaning products that make the job go quicker even though I could do it with just elbow grease.

Implicit in making these decisions is some kind of knowledge of what is your "hourly rate"... what you are willing to pay to save an hour of time. Obviously this will vary depending on how onerous the task is, so everyone will have different answers for different situations. Hence for the purposes of this poll I'm asking what is the most you usually pay to save an hour.

lazygood4nothinbum · 01-26-2007, 03:32 PM

interesting question. i've discussed this phenomenon with my brother not just in my er but as we had more money while working as well. i've noted here how it sometimes bugs us that my sil is such a shopper, but she really takes excruciating effort to save a buck which to us isn't worth the time. and that to me could just mean sitting down & clipping coupons. no thank you.

once she decided to have that going out of business sale at my mom's house, there was no stopping her. i'd rather have given everything we didn't want to charity. but she had to have all these strangers rummaging through my mother's things. i'm not even sure we made enough to pay for the gas money of driving back and forth to help her set up, never mind all the time it took. not my style. no thank you.

but i take the time to do stuff other people think crazy, like when i wanted to trim the 50 ft tall sandbox tree. i don't trust anyone to work in my garden so i brought in a cherry picker and hoisted myself to the top of the canopy. just me, a chainsaw and a whole lot of air. to this day my neighbors still think i'm nutz.

anyway, i don't know how to answer your polling question because it totally depends on what i'd be saving or using the time for.

here is sandbox tree after i reduced the canopy by at least 50%. view from over neighbor's house.

sgeeeee · 01-26-2007, 03:41 PM

Can't answer this one. It's less than a dollar or more than a thousand. It depends on the hour and what my other possibilities are for using it.

Nords · 01-26-2007, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgeeeee

Can't answer this one. It's less than a dollar or more than a thousand. It depends on the hour and what my other possibilities are for using it.

So George Bernard Shaw's not debating our occupations, just trying to decide on a price?

The fallacy lies in deciding "Well, I'm worth $75/hour so let's spend a little money." No, you're an ER, and in ER your time is worth zero. With time, motivation, tutoring, & practice you can probably learn to tackle the vast majority of life's daily skills-- pretty much like our great-grandparents had to do on the farm. It's just a question of time pressure, laziness, or indulgence.

There are some jobs that we'd prefer not to hire out because we're control freaks highly detail-oriented and achievement-focused. So we buy & sell our own real estate, paint our own houses, do our own housecleaning, and take care of our own yardwork.

I generally hire out the things that I'm not willing to learn how to do for myself or that would cost more in special tools (let alone the time) than to pay a specialist. If it's a skill that I'd like to learn or something that I'll be doing more than once then I'll probably try to learn to do for myself-- like soldering or electrical work.

We carpeted two of our bedrooms but when it came to a master bedroom (with a seam) and steps, the experts did a much better job with their special tools and years of experience. Same for recarpting an 1800-sq-ft rental home (more seams) while we work on the landscaping and a sheet-vinyl floor. We can remove a popcorn ceiling but we aren't good at plaster. I was going to hire a U-Haul to pick up a fridge but the seller offered to deliver it for half the cost. I was going to have a mechanic fix our car but the tow bill was more than the cost of the valve-cover gasket. We're going to pay contractors to fix the concrete steps, replace the wrought-iron gates, and re-do the familyroom ceiling/roof. Depending on where we go with the rest of our projects we may hire a contractor to build a pergola, but there are also pretty decent DIY kits out there. Most car maintenance & repair is going the way of esoteric equipment and highly technical training... no one wants to hear how I used to tweak carburetors or adjust distributors, either.

I hate washing cars but our kid enjoys doing it for cash.

I usually buy the book from Amazon if it's not at the library within six months and if I really really think I should have it around for multiple reads. I probably only buy four or five out of a hundred now.