Early this morning, my mum excitedly called me to the living room to show me something. She had spent days crocheting this cute little Chinese Cabbage (白菜). Along with the mini carrots she had crocheted before, it was the perfect fit for a basket of vegetables.
I told her I wanted to learn as well so I could sell it on Etsy as a side business. She turned to me and said, it’s not easy and it will take a lot of your time. Even minimum wage would pay more than the amount you sell the vegetable crochet for.
This made me think, how much is my time worth?
The easiest way to know is probably by comparing it with our current salary. If our time is worth our salary, then why is it that we try to “save money” in our personal life by “spending more time” on things we might not even enjoy doing.
Take eating healthy as an example.
Most restaurants that serve healthy food are much more expensive than typical family restaurants. Although the price is quite affordable, given your decent salary, you might decide to cook at home instead. Simply because it’s cheaper to buy vegetables from the supermarket and you can follow healthier recipes.
But here’s the catch, you absolutely dislike cooking. To “save money”, you decide to spend more of your precious time buying groceries, cooking, and washing the dishes when you don’t even enjoy these extra chores.
If this was business, you would easily calculate the most efficient and effective way to get a healthy meal. Even if it means spending a little more money, you end up saving a lot of your time and energy. It also makes you happier because you don’t have to do something you dislike.
So why is it that, in our personal lives, we would spend our time doing something we don’t entirely enjoy, in hopes that we could save money when in the business world, our time is worth much more? Food for thought!
Conclusion
The next time you decide to do something yourself because it can “save money”, try to ask yourself these questions:
1. Do I enjoy doing it?
2. Is it worth my time?
If you absolute love doing it and it’s definitely worth your time, go for it! But if you don’t enjoy it at all and your time is much more valuable than the amount that you’re trying to save, don’t hesitate to pay someone else to do it for you!