How do you value your spare time?

[Shojin]

My question is in regard to making decisions as to whether to do something yourself or to pay someone else to do it for you.

At what rate ($/hr or % of your hourly wage) would you prefer to do something (like cut the lawn, file taxes, paint the house) yourself vs hiring a professional?

I understand you have to consider the before-tax cost to pay for services, but then again, do you value your spare time the same way you'd value your work time?

At what point does it become worthwhile?

[cadave]

Right now, I've still got relatively enough time to do stuff myself.

The only time I'd ever contract out for someone to do something is if I didn't know how to do it myself.

That might change in the future though as I get older, busier at work, or busier with life, etc...

[ynot]

Personally, I prefer to do everything myself, but realize that some things are just out of my capabilities. I find doing most things myself relaxing and a stress reliever, that is, until it (if that is) goes horribly wrong.

[Shadow Rider]

With the exception of filing taxes, I don't mind mowing the lawn or painting the house, if its my house then its kind of fun. But if someone were to hire me to do those things for them? I'd say maybe $100/hr, $80 base plus another $20 to compensate for being seen doing chores for other people.

[qster]

Personally, I prefer to do everything myself, but realize that some things are just out of my capabilities. I find doing most things myself relaxing and a stress reliever, that is, until it (if that is) goes horribly wrong.

+1

I take my currently salary...divide it by 1950 hrs (thats 37.5 hrs X 52 weeks) to get my hour rate...then devide by 3 (since I'm not doing work work and subtracting for taxes)..that is the rate I'm willing to pay someone to do remedial work like mowing the lawn, snow shovelling, etc... house reno, if I can't do it, then it goes to a compotent professional.

[runningdog]

I will do just about any task within my capability. It is when I am doing these kinds of jobs that I have time to think, decompress, etc. That has a lot of "value" to me; I can't put a dollar value on it.

[bobmans]

I look at the amount of time it will take me vs. the cost of having someone else do the job vs. do I really want to do this anyway. If I can go to work on the weekend and make enough in overtime (minus deductions) to cover the cost of paying someone else to do it professionally then it's a no brainer for me. Right now I need to replace a few shingles and know someone who will go up on my roof for $100 and make the repairs. I will gladly go into work for a few hours to pay him to jump on a ladder (a very steep roof 30' feet above ground) and do the repairs. I probaly could do it myself if I wanted to but since I dislike heights and am more comfortable sitting at my desk at work....I'll let him have the job even if I have to work 4 hours to pay him to work 1. Win/Win.
As far as valuing spare time I guess it depends on how much free time you have. Many people do not have much of it for whatever reason and are happy to pay for anything that gives them a little more. I would never consider paying anyone to put up my Christmas lights since I enjoy doing it but I still see the flyers advertising it so I guess the demand is there.

[stunner5000pt]

there are a few tings i'm willing to do myself if i get free time... which almost never happens. but i would liek to learn how to fi cars so i dont have to take it to the mechanic. it seems nearly every time i go i pay >200

[Bullseye]

I've never really understood the logic behind this type of thing. For most people, they can't just pay someone to cut their lawn, then pick up an extra hour of paid work every week for a net monetary gain. Instead, that hour will just be spent watching TV or some other activity that is not financially productive.

By all means, if you are a busy person with more time than money, pay someone to do the chores so you can spend more time with the family or whatnot, but don't try to assign an actual financial 'cost' to your leisure time.

[brunes]

I've never really understood the logic behind this type of thing. For most people, they can't just pay someone to cut their lawn, then pick up an extra hour of paid work every week for a net monetary gain. Instead, that hour will just be spent watching TV or some other activity that is not financially productive.

By all means, if you are a busy person with more time than money, pay someone to do the chores so you can spend more time with the family or whatnot, but don't try to assign an actual financial 'cost' to your leisure time.

An hour of time does not have to be financially productive to be valuable. You only have X amount of free time to live in your life, if you spend Y amount of time doing crap you don't want to instead of things you do want to, that is Y less time you have, so your leisure time is now X-Y, a loss.

Everything has a value.

[gerbil]

I value my time very seriously.
I woun't want to waste it for anything - time for my family, my wife and kids.

On my spare time, I like educating myself in Finance.
Reading books that would help me understand what most wouldn't learn.

Why finance? well, it's considered one of the most regulated industry in Canada. Besides, when was the last time a day that pass that you didn't spend $$?

[darren22]

This kind of thing is extremely hard to quantify. Is it really that easy to put a dollar value on time spent relaxing and reducing stress? Different activities do this is differing amounts, and of course it varies wildly from person to person. Personally, when I have free time I just do things that I like to do. Sometimes it's productive and saves money, other times it doesn't. One thing I'll never do is consistently slog my way through tasks I hate doing just to save a few bucks. I'm pretty sure I'll be happier with my life this way.

[Bullseye]

Here's an real example for you that better describes what I mean...I voluntarily work part time hours, so that I can have maximum family time with my wife and kids. I am able to manage this financially because I do everything I can myself instead of paying someone to do it.

If I worked more hours, I could then afford to pay someone to do it, of course. Even at $40/hour, though, I'd lose $16 of that to taxes right away, and for many tasks, the end result would be an hour of my work would supplant an hour of chores that I have to pay someone to do. Looked at that way, I'd rather spend 20 hours building a deck or painting the house than 20 more hours working at my profession. At least when I'm doing tasks around the house, I can have my kids with me and involve them in the job.