And Daniel Tay from Freegan/SG Food Rescue commented to say I should do a version for time as well.
I thought this was an interesting perspective so...
I'll cover the 6 points which I mentioned in my previous post and also other factors of working and earning money to "buy" convenience.
Stuff I did for my previous post...
1) Cashflow management to optimize bank interest (Savings/Earnings : $2,400)
2) Credit card spend to get rebates (Savings/Earnings : $800)
3) $3 handphone bills (Savings/Earnings : $240)
4) Making effort to get Petrol savings (Savings/Earnings : $240)
5) AIA Vitality App (Savings/Earnings : $520)
6) Free vegetables and groceries (Savings/Earnings : $1,040)
Ok I'll compare against someone earning $5,000 per month working from 9am to 6pm.
It's highly likely that this person gets a total of 15 months salary (12 months base +AWS +2 mth bonus)
Working hours is expected to be realistically 9am-7pm and adding 1 hour in front and back for waking up early, washing up, and travel.
So we're likely looking at waking up at 8am, getting to work by 9am, lunch hours is considered "not free time" cos most people eat around the area they work and they won't be around that area if they weren't working, then they work til 6pm, then slowly finish up and leave by 7pm, make it home, eat and wash up by 8pm. A total of 12 hours from waking to relaxing before having their own time.
Sleeping hours is around 12 midnight to 8am.
So we're likely looking at 4 hours of free time on a work day.
This is without kids.
We have 52 weeks a year, 104 weekend days, 11 public holidays, 14 days annual leave, 5 days of MC taken.
So out of 365 days in a year, 231 are working days.
Each of these working days, people spend an estimated 12 hours from waking up early to getting home and relaxing. That's 2,772 hours.
Total pay = $5,000 x 15 = $75,000
Per hour = $27.056 ($27)
I go back to my list of stuff I do to "earn" money...
1) Cashflow management to optimize bank interest (Savings/Earnings : $2,400)
2) Credit card spend to get rebates (Savings/Earnings : $800)
Time taken: Around 15 minutes every month = 3 hours
Since the cashflow management is done at the same time, that's $3,200 for 3 hours of "work".
And being mindful of which card to use on a regular basis.
Amount of hours wasted for not doing this : $3,200 / $27 = 118 hours
This is to calculate that for the convenience of NOT doing this activity, how much time is wasted out of the working hours of a full time job.
3) $3 handphone bills (Savings/Earnings : $240)
Time taken : Around 5 minutes every 4-6 months, it's about the time taken to make an online purchase to top up my card.
So it's at max 30 minutes a year.
Amount of hours wasted for not doing this : $240 / $27 = 8.9 hours
4) Making effort to get Petrol savings (Savings/Earnings : $240)
Time taken : 1 hour every 4 months, total of 4 hours for around $240 worth of savings.
Amount of hours wasted for not doing this : $240 / $27 = 8.9 hours
5) AIA Vitality App (Savings/Earnings : $520)
Time taken : Usually 3 hours per week but done simultaneously with other activities.
So I could count this as 0 additional hours, or count it as 3 hours per week for 52 weeks.
I'll take it as 1.5 hours as an average, so thats... 78 hours
Amount of hours wasted for not doing this : $520/ $27 = 19.3 hours
6) Free vegetables and groceries (Savings/Earnings : $1,040)
Time taken : I've managed to cut my collection timing to around 2 hours per week including traveling time.
So that's 104 hours per year, this results in only $10 per hour.
Amount of hours wasted for not doing this : $1,040 / $27 = 38.5 hours
Ok so I've quantified a number of things...
And maybe some people would say, "Ah-HAH! It's obviously not worth it." (Especially the free vege/fruits)
Now, there's no right or wrong about this. Everyone has different wants and desires and circumstances.
The problem with calculating everything like this is that it makes everything "Yes" or "No".
But work is usually full time, it won't be easy to get a $27/hr paying job on a part time basis.
Part time jobs usually pay $7-$10 per hour, unless it's a special skill and that's closer to freelancing.
To me, part time jobs or freelancing is a great idea. It allows time flexibility with some income.
Anyway...
A full time job sacrifices 2,772 hours annually for around $75,000.
If a person does NOT do money saving activities due to being "lazy" or "inconvenient"
He could be "wasting" precious money which he sacrificed his hours for.
Just out of the 6 activities above, it totals up to 193.6 hours wasted. This is around 7% of his annual pay.
Whereas I take in total, 189.5 hours to do all the above which is similar as compared to the returns of a full time worker. And I'm very happy to do so cos I have a lot of time to do it.
Now, of course someone who works could do all the above money earning/saving tips. That's great, but I think that many people don't cos... it's inconvenient.
And when someone is working, they like to "buy" convenience. Cos they are already so bothered by work and rushing for time.
But convenience is expensive, and many people are sacrificing a lot of their time and health for it.
Work also has it's costs...
Many people buy breakfast, lunch and dinner cos it's more convenient.
They have to buy nicer clothes and replace them cos you have to look nice at work.
There's a higher chance that someone working would want to treat themselves nicer with better food, items, holidays. All of these are working hours traded off.
There are many people who would easily blow $5,000 on a trip, shopping and everything inclusive.
That itself is 185 hours or 6.7% of the total working hours in a year.
Some people may hire a domestic helper, that's a different stress entirely, the cost may be a few hundred every month, but managing another person in the same household is not an easy task. I'm sure those with helpers can relate to this. Sure, they help out with the chores and cooking and cleaning up, but they come with their whole set of other issues.
It's like another management job AFTER coming back from work.
(I literally know someone who doesn't do any of the 6 items that I listed above, they happily go on $10k Europe trips and have a domestic helper and a big car.
But I believe that most people fall in between somewhere between convenience and effort.)
The thing about full time work, is that it is usually, all or nothing.
There's usually very little time for yourself. Only 4 hours of free time after work. That's very little. Convenience is important due to this. People are very happy to pay others for convenience, like hiring a helper, subscribing for Netflix, ordering food delivery, etc. A lot of people really can't be bothered to "pick up pennies" after work. And it's understandable.
For me, I like having the 2,772 working hours free to do whatever I want.
Around 190 hours (around 3.65 hours per week) are spent "working" by "picking up pennies".
Leaving me the 2,582 hours free to type my blog, which earns me a couple more pennies, and do other stuff, like chores, cooking, relaxing, etc.
Now, IF we calculate it PER HOUR for EVERY hour, then working is probably worth more per hour.
The problem is that working is usually full time. Which leaves very little time for self.
For me, I prefer to have more time for self, and earn a little bit here and there without the related stress.
Which is why I really like the idea of part time, freelance or ad-hoc work.
Although it doesn't pay as much per hour, it allows someone to have a lot more free time without the full time commitment.
I believe that we are on this Earth for around 80+ years, or around 30,000 days and time is all that really matters, cos once time runs out then... bye bye.
So I think for me, the balance between money, work and time is very important. I'm contented living a simple life, so for me, I worked in my younger years, pretty much paid up my HDB, now my main cash expenses are my utility and insurance bills. (The amount I give my parents are bleeding me quite a bit.)
The rest of my time, I would like to enjoy myself and take it easy and chill.
I don't discount the idea that in future I may take up some part time/freelance/ad-hoc work to earn a couple of bucks when I feel like it.
Of course, this is my own views of what life should be about. Other people want their lives to be full of other experiences, that's their own choice. Like for my wife, she loves her job, so who am I to tell her what she should do or not? Since she's so happy to work, and happy to pay for certain conveniences, like the car, why not right?
But for those people who aren't happy with their work, then begs the question...
Are all these conveniences worth it? Cos convenience has a dollar value and that also means it has a cost in terms of hours and the number of hours in our life is extremely limited.
Cos I know there are quite a number of people who are working just for the weekends and public holidays. And that's terrible, cos even in their free time on weekdays, they aren't happy cos there's work tomorrow. Can you imagine 5/7 (71.4%) of most people's prime adult life is spent on work?
Many people work between 25 years old and 60 years old, that's around 35 working years.
Assuming that conveniences cost around 7%, this means that by doing some inconvenient things, one could potentially retire 2.45 years earlier. Some people may think that being inconvenient for 30+ years isn't worth it to retire 2.45 years earlier. Others might be willing to make the sacrifice.
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