How important is saving time to you?

[segmond]

I see a lot of threads on here talking about saving money, but how about time? After all time is money, and we can make up for lost money but never for lost time. So how important is saving time to you and how to you balance it when it comes to saving money? What creative things do you do to save time, even if it may cost a little more money?

[momof1in150]

Time is critical for me. I have 2 jobs, 2 children (1 with Autism and 1 busy teenager), a parent support group, a house, a husband and I volunteer at our church a lot. Being highly organized saves me a ton of time so that I can focus on the the things I want to do instead of have to do. Sometimes I think that if I wasn't so organized I wouldn't have the time to do everything that I do and that might slow my life down but I doubt it.

[Broken Arrow]

Although it's not often mentioned, this subject has been brought up before. My belief still stands that time is more important than money, and therefore, time management is more important than money management.

[jIM_Ohio]

The issue is whether you can manage your time and do the little things which save you money.

Examples- I do my own taxes and it costs me 5 hours, maybe 10 hours a year. That time costs me around $75 and saves me around $200-300. It costs me $75 for turbo tax, but would cost me $200 for another to do it for me.

I could add managing investments to that list- takes me around 100-200 hours per year. It would probably cost me around $400-500 for someone to do it for me.

On an hourly basis each of those things would cost me around $5 per hour. If I pay someone to those things I would have more time, but less money. But that only matters if I could actually make money in the time I saved. More often than not making more money is not a choice, so doing things in my spare time which saves us money is a good financial decision.

[segmond]

The issue is whether you can manage your time and do the little things which save you money.

Examples- I do my own taxes and it costs me 5 hours, maybe 10 hours a year. That time costs me around $75 and saves me around $200-300. It costs me $75 for turbo tax, but would cost me $200 for another to do it for me.

I could add managing investments to that list- takes me around 100-200 hours per year. It would probably cost me around $400-500 for someone to do it for me.

On an hourly basis each of those things would cost me around $5 per hour. If I pay someone to those things I would have more time, but less money. But that only matters if I could actually make money in the time I saved. More often than not making more money is not a choice, so doing things in my spare time which saves us money is a good financial decision.

Right, but some people would drive 5miles one way, to save $1. Forgetting that the additional 5 miles takes time, cost gas, adds mileage/wear to car, incurs slight risk of accident, traffic ticket while on the road. For big items like doing your own tax, I can see how it benefits you. But for little items such as $1, do you always calculate the benefit of time vs money?

Sometimes, it also pays to pay a professional if you are not that good. I have seen friends who don't know much about repairs embark on doing projects to their house, only to waste so much money plus time and end up having to call in a professional to finish the job too.

[jIM_Ohio]

Right, but some people would drive 5miles one way, to save $1. Forgetting that the additional 5 miles takes time, cost gas, adds mileage/wear to car, incurs slight risk of accident, traffic ticket while on the road. For big items like doing your own tax, I can see how it benefits you. But for little items such as $1, do you always calculate the benefit of time vs money?

Sometimes, it also pays to pay a professional if you are not that good. I have seen friends who don't know much about repairs embark on doing projects to their house, only to waste so much money plus time and end up having to call in a professional to finish the job too.

If something is going to save me a dollar, I bet my budget really does not feel that or see that- we don't track every dollar. Even a $10 purchase is probably not felt. If something were to cost $50, my wife and I might discuss it, $100 probably, and by the time something costs $200 we'll be looking for a way to cut the expense.

[jamiefic]

I guess I usually lean toward doing stuff ourselves to save money, but I understand what you're saying about driving further to "save". Like another person said, I work to be organized and that saves me time and money in the end.

One example of choosing time over money (kind of): We've been using cloth diapers for over a year. We recently moved and have to pay to do wash. I calculated the amount of time and money it would take to do cloth verses buying disposables. In the end, I decided to spend a bit of extra money to do disposables (for now at least).

[Caoineag]

I see time as the more critical resource to preserve. I actually only go to one grocery store because the amount of time it takes to go to 2 (to hit the loss leaders at both) is more valuable than the money I would save. I think the math is that it would cost me an extra hour per week to save $5-10. Definitely not worth it, especially since I would just spend that savings on eating out that night instead of staying in to cook.

[jIM_Ohio]

I see time as the more critical resource to preserve. I actually only go to one grocery store because the amount of time it takes to go to 2 (to hit the loss leaders at both) is more valuable than the money I would save. I think the math is that it would cost me an extra hour per week to save $5-10. Definitely not worth it, especially since I would just spend that savings on eating out that night instead of staying in to cook.

Good post.

I agree. Preserve time is a good way to phrase what you are explaining.

[MonkeyMama]

I consider time in any cost vs. benefit analysis.

I think the 2 go rather hand in hand though. Good money management skills often leads to good time management skills. What comes to mind for me is that my spouse stays home. Which means we have the opportunity to save a lot of money (home cooked meals every day) and that he spends a lot of time doing things (chores/errands) that most our friends do on nights and weekends. Saves us considerable time, and allows us much more time to enjoy, BUT we need fierce money management skills to make this work.

I may be the first one around here to pay for convenience. A lot of doing well financially for me is "buying" more time for myself. Outsourcing more of the things I do not enjoy doing, etc.

I am also way too "big picture" to drive out of the way to save a few pennies on gas. All I could see is the added expenses and wear and tear on the car. I'd argue the same for my health and well being. Sure, my spouse could work and we could make oodles more money. But no doubt this would add significant stress to our lives. We value time more, but in that end I think it improves our health, etc. In the end, not sure we come out very behind, financially.

But yeah, to me, money management is largely a way to buy more time in my life. It could be the number one motivating factor if I really think about it.

[boosami]

This is a subject where I disagree with many frugal people. I have a frugal friend who spent an hour on the phone trying to resolve a 15 cent discrepency on a receipt (yes, this actually happened). To me, that's like getting paid 15 cents for an hour of work. If the "payment" for my "work" is worth it to me, I'll do it myself. If not, I'm willing to eat that cost.

Is it worth paying my maid to clean what I could do myself? Absolutely. Do I order pizza delivery instead of pick-up at a cost of the tip/surcharge? Yes. Is it worth having my groceries delivered or picked up? You bet. If you add it up, I'm probably buying my time back at a cost less than minimum wage, and to me that's well worth it.

[GREENBACK]

I try to first determine if I'm going to actually be doing something to earn money in the time spent on whatever project. Besides my regular job, I don't typically have other sources of income so if it takes me a couple of hours to complete a home project that a pro could do in minutes I figure I'm ahead of the game because it's usually time I have to spare and I don't give myself an hourly wage.

The bonus is that the more you do these things the better and more efficient you'll become and you start to save time and money.

If you're in a situation where you could be earning good money instead of saving a few dollars by DIY then I think you should focus on that. I'm, unfortunately, not in that position so I just spend the time it takes.

I have to say time is less of an issue for me than money(saved).

[disneysteve]

When I was younger and less financially secure, I did more things myself and went more out of my way to save money, as money was a more limited resource. As I've gotten older and more financially secure, I've gravitated more toward convenience and time-saving. For example, I used to mow my own lawn. Now I pay someone else to do it. I used to keep a price book and go to 3 or 4 different stores each week to shop the sales. Now I mostly go to one store.

The result is that I do spend more than absolutely necessary in various areas, but I value my free time, family time, sleep, etc.

[tripods68]

Do I buy the argument time is money, not really. When i'm at work yes I agree. Bit after work no.

If you are not at home your likely using your vehicle spending money indirectly the 'wear and tear' and gas. I do things a normal couple do clean our house regulary, no maids and mow our the lawn myself. We exercise regularly. We go eat out twice a week. We make our groceries list biweekly to save money but not necessarily time. We cook at home most of the time and even wash the dishes by hand. We walk to the park twice a week and sometimes on the way meet and greet our neighbors on the way weather permit. Time we spend as a family together priceless.

[MaskedMarvel]

For me time is not money but for some reason I HATE wasting time. In the morning I get up at 7h15 AM and I'm at work at 7h45. When I do grocery shopping I need to get in and get out. I don't like shopping.