Is your mantra “If I only had more time”?

It seems, in our world of 50-hour (at least) work weeks and a long list of personal and domestic tasks to get done, “time” is a dwindling commodity.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Let’s figure this out… How much is it actually costing you in time and money to do those routine tasks you’d rather not be doing anyway?

Ask yourself, “What is my time worth versus outsourcing?”

Let’s say you make $200K a year, work an average of 50 hours a week, and get two weeks of vacation a year (which hopefully you take!) Your time is worth $80 an hour. ($200,000/50 weeks/50 = $80)

Now consider the value of your time versus what it would cost to outsource some of those tasks on your “to do” list.

Here are a couple of examples that eat away your precious time:

Take Housekeeping… Each week you spend about two hours cleaning your house. That’s $160 in the value of your time. Then let’s say you hire someone to clean your house for $100 a week. Now you’ve saved $160 worth of your time, while spending only $100. A $60 savings plus an additional two hours of time to use however you like.

Then there’s bookkeeping: Let’s say you spend four hours a month doing your personal bookkeeping. You don’t like doing it and it’s not a strength, so it ends up taking you a lot longer than it should. In the value of your time your personal bookkeeping is costing you $320 a month. Now let’s say you find a bookkeeper for $45 an hour. Since bookkeeping is their specialty, they may be able to do yours in only two hours a month. That’s a $90 investment compared to $320 in the value of your time. Not to mention the frustration of spending four hours a month doing something you don’t like and you’re not good at!

Think of other tasks that are eating away at your time. Apply the time-value vs. cost approach to them.

If the value of your time is more than the cost of the service, it’s worth considering outsourcing it.

Make an investment in yourself! Buy some time, reduce stress, and increase your overall happiness, well-being and creativity. And, if you need more convincing, a recent study said that people who spend their money to buy time instead of things are happier!

Call us to help you plan for the lifestyle you want.