How much is your time worth? It is a cost that needs considered.

It seems to me that in the quest to pay off debt and spend less than you earn, something important gets forgotten by a lot of people. In fact, it is something that I overlooked until a few months ago.

How much is your time worth?

This is something that is important to consider.  And it directly relates to paying down debt, being frugal and so on. You see, in the not too distant past we decided against renting a washer and dryer for our apartment. The cost when I had check on it was 30-something dollars plus tax each month. Then there was also the cost of using more water. After discussing it we decided that it would be cheaper to go every so often to the ‘wash and wait’ or try to do our laundry at family member’s homes for free. So, for the entire duration of that apartment lease that is exactly what we did.

We forgot to consider the cost of that decision. Sure, it saved $30-plus dollars a month on the rental fee as well as the higher water bill. Most months we did laundry only once a month and typically at the home of a family member that we were visiting. The months that we did not do our laundry for free, we spent an average of $15.00. There is no denying that we saved money on paper.

But what we saved on paper we lost in time. You see, those trips to the ‘wash and wait’ ended up being an average of about three hours each time.  That was three hours that could only be spent waiting in a dingy chair. Sure, it allowed us to catch up on some reading; but that was only when it was not incredibly loud in there or when someone did not try to engage you in conversation. And those times that we did laundry at the home of a family member - well, that meant less time spent with them and more time doing laundry.

When we moved into our new apartment a while back, we were presented with the option of renting a washer and dryer again. Like an idiot, I hesitated at first. Then I had the epiphany above and realized our time was definitely worth $30-something a month.