Comments on: Professional Time, Leisure Time, and Wasted Time

By: Nikki

Nikki — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:57:24 +0000

I consider this everytime I drop my clothes off to be washed and folded. I’ve been doing this for about 4 months now. I really hate doing laundry, I rarely actually get everything folded, hung up, and put away when I do it, and I feel like I’m wasting time while I’m doing it – I live in an apartment complex, I do not have a washer and dryer in my apartment (it would cost over $500 to have one installed) and I don’t feel comfortable leaving my laundry in the machines while I go off and do something else, so I’m stuck there for at least an hour and a half. Then, I have to spend at least 20 minutes folding and putting clothes on hangers, or I spend 15 minutes every morning digging through the piles of clean laundry for something to wear, and then ironing it (yes, I AM whining about it!). And, it costs between $6.75 and $9 to do, every two weeks.

When I drop my clothes off, it costs me between $20 and $35 every two weeks. I drop them off (takes about 15 minutes to drive there, have everything weighed, and get my ticket), go run my errands (grocery shopping, library, vet, etc.), have lunch with a friend, get a call to pick up, and take 10 minutes to pay, pick up, and drive home. Everything is clean, folded, on hangers, ready to put away (five minutes tops).

So, yes, I WILL exchange 2-3 hours of my salary, and 20-30 minutes of my time, every two weeks to get my laundry done. Better that than 30 minutes to an hour of my salary, and 2 hours or more of my time.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:55:01 +0000

Good post — I wrestle with this concept when I consider hiring a house cleaner. I have arrived at a similar place. Sometimes I miss out on fun activities because I work all week, have five kids under ten and then on the weekends I need to clean and organize. However, I am forced to focus and hone my time. When I have hired a house cleaner I’ve found that I didn’t better use my time. To constrast, when I have a lot to do it becomes about priorities. When I prioritize my kids, and then teach them to clean with me then things work the best. If I can’t get done everything on my list, I begin to question priorities and think about simplifying.

By: Todd

Todd — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:25:43 +0000

If you do hire help, please treat those providing this work fairly. I hired a lawn service a few years ago, always dealing with the business office. One day, in speaking with one of the two workers mowing and trimming my grass, they told me they were being paid $6 an hour and were expected to finish two yards per hour. I was paying $30 for their 30 minutes a week of work on my yard–and they were getting $3 each for that half hour. I asked them if they would come and take care of my yard themselves (using my mower and trimmer) in the evenings for $25. They were very excited for the chance. I encouraged my neighbors to do the same.

These guys eventually started their own lawn business, and they make a lot more than minimum wage. I hate the thought that someone might be mowing my yard or scrubbing my floors for minimum wage, while someone else pockets the profits. Get to know the people who are doing work for you and help make sure they are treated fairly.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:45:21 +0000

I choose to get my oil changed at the most expensive place in town. Why? Because I can sit in my car while they do it, and I don’t have to get my 3 kids out, try and keep them calm in a waiting room, then load them back up. If I were to try and do it at home, I’d have to hire a sitter to come watch the 3 kids while I did it! Not to mention the fee charged for recycling old oil. So, I have 3 choices, 1) Hire a sitter, change my own oil, and pay the recycling fee 2) Take my kids to a cheap oil change place and fight with them for an hour or 3) Go to the more expensive place, sit in the car with everyone strapped in car seats, and pay for the privilege. I’ll go with option 3. To me, it’s something worth paying for.

By: marta

marta — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:00:19 +0000

I was thinking exactly the same thing, Steffie.

We don’t have to do *everything* ourselves. Otherwise even more people would be unemployed! When I go to a hairdresser to have my hair cut, when I hire professionals to paint my walls, etc, I am contributing to the economy. Other people hire *me* to do specific jobs they can’t (or won’t) do themselves.

I have also said before that I don’t particularly care for having every minute of my time accounted for. Today I took a couple of buses to run a few errands. During the trips, I looked at the views, checked my e-mail on my phone, and so on. Waste of time? Nope. I needed those few minutes of downtime today.

By: Russ Smith

Russ Smith — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:52:05 +0000

Amazing Trent, great article again. I’m always pleasantly surprised when i visit your site. Thanks for another great and applicable article.

By: Steffie

Steffie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:02:05 +0000

As for hiring someone to do stuff you can do for yourself, if everyone did everything for themselves where would all of these debt-ridden people find those part-time jobs that are always mentioned as a way to get out of debt ? Sometimes it is just nice to sit and do nothing while the guy is changing my oil etc.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:29:27 +0000

We have a biweekly housekeeper, a biweekly lawn guy, and a mechanic. I could technically do all of this myself, but I don’t want to. I want to save for my future and live in my present…my ideal life just doesn’t include hours of chores, lawn care, or car services.

I’m not sure if the time I save is used for anything special, but I guess it would be considered “leisure time”…time with friends, hubby, family, and my blog. Of course, your definition of “wasted time” seems just a little silly…how often does anybody just sit around and really do nothing? I’m guessing from past posts that watching tv is “wasted time”, but I’ve already disagreed with that, so I’ll move on. I think paying for services is awesome if you have your financial life in order already. It’s not like I can take all of my “saved” money to the grave with me…

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:30:00 +0000

It’s well worth the money to me to have a housekeeper come twice a month rather than spend my weekend time scrubbing toilets and vacuuming. I like a clean house but hate having my weekends devoted to chores. Yes we have teenagers now and we all share the chores, but I long for the days when I could just write a check instead.

By: KC

KC — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:24:48 +0000

It’s funny cause I just had my oil changed today. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to do it and I don’t like to get dirty. It’s well worth it for me to drive 10 mins to the oil change place and spend 20 mins letting them do it while I read a book or check on email via my phone. I can only imagine how much time it would take me to change my oil – more than 30 mins I suspect when you log in the time to drive to the auto parts place for filter, oil, etc. I also think I’d probably hurt something eventually – cut my hand, tear a nail, etc.

My point is some activities are productive uses of our time and some are not. Changing oil is not worth it to me. However I will replace wiper blades or the air filter – it’s safer and cheaper than having jiffy lube do it. I don’t do yard work and neither does my husband – we’ve both mildly injured ourselves in the past fiddling with blades, weedeater twine, hedgetrimmers, etc. And we dont’ enjoy it – so much so that we put it off til the job is twice as hard as it should be. But I do clean the house – I don’t mind it, I do a good job and I know I won’t hurt myself. Plus you do housework year round – yard work just in the summer for the most part – so if you have to choose one it’s cheaper to have a lawn worker than a maid. We all choose tasks we enjoy and are capable at – we do those ourselves to save money. Other jobs we hire out due to our lack of ability to do them and do them well.

By: Dottie

Dottie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:48:42 +0000

I think it’s funny you used the example of an “Jiffy Lube”oil change as a waste of time. In my life I consider it a time saver. I have to make a bank deposit for work about 3 times a week and drive by a “Jiffy Lube” to get to the bank. When I start to notice it’s time for an oil change I start to pay attention to the line of cars. In the past 6 years I have never waited in line. When I notice it is empty I pull right in.. I don’t even get out of the car when they change the oil, usually clean out my purse and straighten up the truck while I wait. I have never spent more than 10-15 min. max each visit and leave with new oil and a clean purse! Yes, it costs more to have someone else do it, but hey I guess this is one life’s luxuries for me..I am not about to crawl under an SUV and do it myself.

By: iamellis

iamellis — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:42:51 +0000

I think the need to always be productive is a terrible lie… with that said I presume Trent is over-stating his case. A little bit of wasted time can be good for the soul.

By: littlepitcher

littlepitcher — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:22:04 +0000

1-Apartment dwellers with limited tool storage probably will pay for the oil change.
2-Anyone not absolutely destitute can afford a book and reading is not a time-waster unless you read pure junk. Smartphones have e-readers and budgeting or other apps which can be updated during the wait time.
This also applies to the cost and time trade-offs on mass transit.
3-The law of diminishing returns applies here. Can you make enough in your freed-up time to cover the fees/wages plus the hassle–a substantial hassle in the case of domestic taxes and paperwork?
4-Do you enjoy the routine work? Some utilize grunt work for mindfulness meditation, or find it otherwise relaxing.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:57:30 +0000

I’m not even changing my own wiperblades anymore- by the time I went and bought the blades, figured out how to put them on, blah blah, not worth the $2 savings. Plus that you can toss in the garbage, unlike oil.

Bonus points, though, for not using the TV is a waste of time example for once.

By: chacha1

chacha1 — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:20:52 +0000

Trent: getting an oil change isn’t a cost of living in an apartment. It’s a cost of owning a car.

From the number of people who agree with me (though for other reasons), I think this is just one of those things that you see differently because your lifestyle is pretty much opposite a lot of ours.

By: Diana @ frontyardfoodie

Diana @ frontyardfoodie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:03:06 +0000

I always struggle with a balance in life. Leisure time is hard for me since once I get home from work I have so much to do!

I’m hoping that after I have my baby in September and become a stay at home mom that I’ll be able to enjoy leisure time aside from the work that needs to be done. Fortunately I really enjoy house work!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:28:48 +0000

If I were to drop my car off for an oil change, I’d need my wife to pick me up and then take me back to retrieve the car. To me, it’s often better to wait rather than inconvenience her and take away her productive or leisure time. I’m happy to read my book (or knit) wherever. If I’m getting something done by having my oil changed at the same time, it seems to me that I’m spending that time in both kinds of activities at once — being productive by getting the oil changed and having leisure time by reading or knitting.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:43:39 +0000

I can’t even conceive of wasted time. If I’m not actively enjoying myself/relaxing, I switch to something else during my ‘down time’. I actually hire somebody both to clean my house *and* to do yard work – it fits within my budget and I hate both those tasks so much that it’s more than worth it to me. Not only can they do it better/faster than I can, I don’t have to stress out about when I’m not doing it but should and then actively be bored/annoyed when I’m doing it.

And being able to spend those extra hours relaxing/reading/with friends&family/watchingTV/whatever is far superior – it’s not just about what my time is worth, in some sort of earnings-per-hour formula, but what my quality of life and happiness is worth to me.

If I couldn’t afford it, obviously the stress of debt/depriving myself would counteract the relief of not having to do those things, and that would negatively impact my quality of life. But as long as I can, I am absolutely thrilled to be able to hire somebody to do the stuff I hate.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:13:54 +0000

Regarding the oil change: not only may it be difficult to change the oil itself, in my state it must be properly recycled. Not easy to do if you are an individual and have to hunt a disposal site.

By: zoranian

zoranian — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:57:14 +0000

I do have a lot of wasted time, but I do get my oil changed at the “quick change” place so it takes less time than it would if I did it myself. Is it cheap, no, but it saves a ton of time and probably wouldn’t get done otherwise. Most of my wased time is time spent avoiding household or work activities.