How much is your time worth?

[boosami]

Some people will argue for an hour over 13 cents, or spend half an hour driving across town to save $1.50. If there was a erroneous charge on one of your accounts, how high (or low) would it have to be for you to argue an hour for its removal?

I'd say an hour of my time in general is worth about $200 to me, which some of you I'm sure will think is ridiculously high... But to each his own. What about you?

[simpleyme]

If I am not at work drawing a wage my time is worth little, nobody is paying me to sit on the couch on the weekend so I may as well mow my own lawn and paint my own house

I rarely hire anyone to do anything for me from menial tasks to major me and DH do it ourselves ,we figure one day we will have to hire help so we are saving money for that day

usually a error on an account would just require one phone call so I would do that
recently our insurance screwed us out of 6 bucks but i gave up on it after several calls and letters;-) just what they hoped for is my guess;-)(regence blue cross sucks they cheat us every time by a few bucks)

[MonkeyMama]

I haven't put a dollar amount on my time but $200/hour sounds good to me. Something in the $50 - $100/hour range most likely.

My time has become infinitely more invaluable to me since I have had kids. Since having kids we are willing to spend more on convenience and hire more people than we ever would have before kids. But we also had considerably more free time before kids. I think it's because time with the kids is so important, because I am paid so well (compared to days past), AND because time for myself is SO rare that I just value it more whenever I can get it. I don't want to spend my rare free time doing chores that I despise.

Since my spouse does not work and has far more free time I would say neither of us values his time quite so much. HE does all the phone calls and errands that I wouldn't bother with. I can't tell you how long he spent on the phone removing $1 & $20 in fraudulent credit card charges, respectively. I would have given up long ago. NOT worth MY time!!! He just had a lot more time and feels like it is his job to save money where he can. Just how it goes. On principle it peeved me to no end, but I wasn't going to neglect my job or my kids over $1, for sure!

I love my job and get paid overtime so I am always willing to work more if I can hire someone to do something I don't want to do, for less than I am paid. Also, always more likely to hire someone who can do a better job. I come from a DIY family and they did a lot of crappy jobs that cost them more in the end to fix. I am not sold on DIY. THough I will do anything if I don't have extreme distaste for it. House keeping and cooking I don't mind. Yard work is left for hired help since everyone in my house hates yardwork with a passion. IT just depends what it is. If I am not extremely adverse to something I don't mind taking the time.

I valued hired help for the yard when the kids were infants and it took my time away from them. These days we have discussed canning the gardener since we can all pitch in and do yard work as a family activity. If I have a little help and I can do it with the kids, I don't mind nearly as much! So it just depends; changes with time.

I know a lot of other SAHPs don't understand why we sent our kids to part-time daycare. All I can say is sanity is priceless! I only have to work 2 hours a week to pay for it and dh is so much easier to live with. Phew.

[GREENBACK]

I only wish my time was worth 200/hr.. I don't put a price on it if I wouldn't be earning otherwise

[Snodog]

Unfortunately I value my time alot more than someone is willing to pay me.

[wincrasher]

My time becomes more valuable the angrier I get.

If it was just a mistake, then I'll let it go for free. If they lie to me, or obviously try to rip me off, I want to extract pain.

[disneysteve]

I think it really depends on the situation and the account involved. If we're talking about my bank account, an investment account or credit card account, I want any and all errors corrected. Last year, a check I wrote was cashed for the wrong amount, off by 50 cents. I absolutely called the bank as soon as I discovered the error and got it corrected. Was it a worthwhile use of my time? Probably not when you look at it from a financial point of view, but it wasn't about the money. It was about the principle and getting the account corrected (and having the correct amount sent to the check recipient).

Also, I'm often able to multitask. If I'm sitting on hold, I can be doing other things at the same time. The actual call might take just a few minutes.

[m3racer]

I think ~$2000/hr is about right.

[TBH]

I can be sort of irrationally tenacious about this kind of stuff, and forget to ask reasonable questions, like, is this really worth the time and headache?

[Goldy1]

$200 an hour? Geez, so this means if one bought a widget and got home 5 miles away and realized he Was overcharged $30, it would be a waste of time to spend 30 mins going back to get it corrected?

Problem is you never know how long resolving an issue will take. I let some small stuff go, but my time per hour is worth less than $200 an hour. If it was not, no one would employ me for more so I'd be be out of work for life! lol

[srblanco7]

I figure between $50 and $100 per hour.

And someday I'd like to send a bill to a doctor for my time spent in a waiting room.

[Goldy1]

I hate it when I try to resolve an issue which takes more phone calls and being on hold than I thought, and if I realize it's not worth it, I may keep going just b/c I have already wasted time on it.

I have insurance and expecting a child, and the darn hospital bills for lab tests etc. have caused me many phone calls getting some things paid that should have been. For instance, I get a bill saying I am not insured yet I am and just last week for the 5th time I gave them that information. My insurance rejected a claim for my husband who went in for a routine physical and lab work. It took me about 6 phone calls, one short letter, and an hour to get it fixed. IT did save me about $90 though.


Generally, it's the insurance comapanies that get me. I just feel grateful I need little care being healthy or it would be a real constant headache.

[Phenomenal Woman]

I do not put a dollar amount on what my time is worth, but rather I am choosier with what I do with my time.
If something needs to be done that will benefit me or someone else in need and/or enrich my future, then it is worth it. I will not drive in crazy traffic for an hour to use a single coupon at the grocery store. I will mow my own lawn to keep the house looking nice. I also choose to spend time with friends who are positive and stay away from those who are negative or manipulative.

[Exile]

Time is valuable to me, but so is principle. A few weeks ago, my local drugstore of a well known chain here charged me P142.75 (Philippine Currency) for a bottle of mouthwash that the shelf price showed as P142.00. The clerk claimed that the latter is an incorrect amount due to "markup". I wouldn't have made a big deal out of it but for the fact that a sign near the cash register states that the shelf price prevails even if it's a mistake. Also this was not the first time I encountered the same price discrepancy for this item, but I didn't speak up the other time. Then there's the factor of other customers also being overcharged for this product.

Considering the amount involved, all this may seem petty including the space that I've given this complaint, but my point is that it's easy to get cheated in nickles and dimes when you're shopping if you don't pay attention. And it does add up.

A few days later when I went to that store, I noticed that the shelf price of the mouthwash had been changed to P142.75.

[cicy33]

I do not care if it is 1 penny or $1000. If I am charged wrong I want it corrected. Don't care how long it takes either! Lets say for example you are charged $5 on your bank statement, by your theory it isn't worth your time. But over the course of the year you have now been charged $60. Is it now worth your time? Well, too bad, cuz the bank won't usually go back that far and fix it. As said above it is the principal. and it can add up to easily hundreds of dollars if you don't fix the little things as they happen. Also as said above, I tend to do multiple things while on the phone.

On the pricing issue, I will not drive 10 miles extra because the cereal is $1 cheaper. Unless, I know that I can buy more there. But I won't do it for the one box because I know that I would lose more in gas alone. But I will drive 30 extra miles to go to a triple coupon sale because I know I will make it worthwhile.