Cost per Hour

Something that I sometimes consider before spending money is a cost per hour. For example a $30 ticket to a three hour concert means you are paying $10 per hour. I use this to rationalize frivolous expenses. For example, when I am buying an expensive piece of outdoor clothing sometimes I think about the hundreds of hours I will wear it before it wears out. Of course, I have to inevitably spend the time outside wearing that clothing or using that equipment. That's part of the motivation to get out, even if the weather is not the greatest. Another example is a latte. It costs three or four dollars, but I usually have a good time sitting in the coffee shop working or reading for an hour or more.

The same concept applies to free time and work. How valuable is your time? Or more specifically, what is not worth your time? What can you get someone else to do for less money. Whoever, invented management was pretty smart. Someone figured out that they would make more money if they hired one or two people or even four thousand people to do whatever. This post was originally about recreation, clothing, and just how we spend our money but thinking about how you make your money is important too. Perhaps you can figure out how to be more efficient by delegating or hiring someone to do part of your work.

The new area of Virtual Assistants is one way that many average people can hire someone to do their monotonous work such as sift through emails, pay bills, build a schedule, and even write emails and letters.  Time is our limiting factor. Money can easily be a limiting factor, but a question worth asking yourself is do you live for your money or does your money exist for you?