The Dollars And Cents Of Your Time: How To Calculate Its Real Worth

One of the most popular sayings in our current times is this – “time is money.” However, when determining the actual worth of your time, it’s worth understanding just how much you stand to gain (or lose) when you’re not necessarily doing anything.

At all times, numerous things compete for our attention, vying to capture our focus. And, when you’re faced with having to make a decision, understanding the relative worth of each will help you to better maximize your time. So, how do you understand the value of each decision you make with your time?

First, Determine The Value Of Your Working Hours

In many cases, the first thing you need to do is to consider all of the hours you spend chasing money – from the commute to and from work to daycare drop-off time and much more. Then, divide your income by this number of hours. 

This calculation gives you a baseline for “earnings.” If you do the math and find that you earn $25 per hour, then you’d know that any activity that pays you less than this is essentially a waste of time. 

This calculation can prove useful when it comes to evaluating and comparing job opportunities based on their respective pay rates. However, it is also worth factoring in things like money spent on time savings. At the end of the day, you have pockets of free time to use as you see fit. So, putting that into the math also helps. 

Compare the Value Of Free vs. Earning Time

You could also consider this valuation based on the amount of free time you earn and how much you could earn by working. This holds particularly true for freelancers, as they have the flexibility to work at any given time, considering their unique work arrangements.

However, while this can be clear-cut, you also want to consider the fact that you don’t want to be working every time. If you have to choose between spending money or spending time on a chore, then you probably would spend the money instead. 

Sometimes, it’s not about the job you’d like to be handling at a particular time; it’s more about the sacrifice you’re willing to pay not to work. 

Everything’s Getting More Expensive – So Should You 

Finally, you need to consider the palace of surge pricing. At the end of the day, a person who works so much during the day will really only have a few hours to spare. And, if they don’t get enough money to pay for those hours, then nothing seems worth it to them. When you apply this to yourself, you will discover the genuine worth of your time.