Find Out How Much Your Time Is Really Worth With This Calculator

As the old adage goes, time is money. But how much is an hour of your time worth to you? When is it worth it to hire help? Is it better to scale down your hours or take on additional work? This tool from Clearer Thinking reveals all that and more.

Picture: Lel4nd/Flickr

It’s not just a simple calculator based on your income. Instead, it’s a very in-depth survey to figure out how much you value your time, in dollar amounts. The tool asks you questions including “if you were offered a free $100 gift certificate, how long would you wait in line for it?” and “if you were offered a part time job that didn’t conflict with your current work, how much would that person have to pay you for it to be worth it to you?”

At the end of the long survey (don’t worry, it’s worth it!), you’ll be presented with lots of interesting analysis. In addition to the estimated monetary value of your free time, you’ll learn things like how much time you should debate purchasing an item (spend more time than that and you’re better off just buying the thing!) and the minimum amount you should get from an extra part-time job.

I learnt, for example, that it’s only worth waiting on line for 20 minutes for some freebie if I’d be willing to pay $29 for that thing, and that I should always take a taxi instead of the bus if it would save me 30 minutes and the cab costs less than $44.

It’s fascinating stuff.

What is your time really worth to you? [Clearer Thinking]