Frugal with money, yes...but what about time?

[robothuman]

And I don't mean the magazine

I once read an article in The New Yorker about how making more money or having more space (say in a suburban house) wasn't always "worth" the time basically wasted in a really long commute, and that got me thinking about how much money our time's worth. Here's a link to the article if you're interested.

Of course, that's a personal decision and everyone has different desires and limits, but I'd like to know what tiny things (or not-so-tiny) you've done of late to save time as opposed to money. After all, time may well be the most precious resource of all.

For example, the other day I chose to use my cell to call free411 for a listing instead of my landline, because when checking listings on cell you can ask it to send a text with driving directions. It's weird and seems to save an infinitesimal amount of time, but I didn't have to walk back to my office to check google maps to print that stuff out.

The other day I decided that I'd be putting my recyclable trash into old paper grocery bags instead of plastic trash bags (for the wet trash), allowing me to just toss the whole paper bag in instead of having to empty the bag (plastic bags are banned from the blue bin). It also had the added benefit of reducing all the paper bags I had lying around.

Very small things, I know, but once they become habits, you end up having more and more time you can spend at play or in meditation or whatever. Perfect for the hippie lifestyle

Or am I just being crazy-obsessive?

[Xin Lu]

I definitely know what you mean. I vowed that I will never live more than 10 miles away from work after working at an internship that required me to cross a crazyass bridge everyday and driver 45 minutes. Having time at home is important because that's when you get to enjoy life. That's why when there's a good deal I don't really go out of my way to get it. For example, the Ben & Jerry's free icecream day was great, but usually it has a crazy line and the nearest shop was 20 miles away from me. So I didn't go because it wasn't worth my time.

[Lisa23]

When I was younger, all I wanted was money. Now, all I want is time!

[xshopr]

I took a huge pay-cut a couple of months ago to work closer to home and ditch a 2 1/2 hour a day commute!! I would do it again in a minute.

[Julie Rains]

I am in the time is more valuable than money camp but I have seen how spending money can sometimes save time (pay someone to do your lawn, fix your washing machine, deliver dinner). It's a constant trade-off, to me at least. But there is a learning curve, if you can surmount it (learn to fix things, cook, etc.) then you can save time and money.

[mcnerd]

Originally Posted by robothuman

Very small things, I know, but once they become habits, you end up having more and more time you can spend at play or in meditation or whatever. Perfect for the hippie lifestyle

Probably not so crazy when you realize our solar system is moving rapidly towards the end of the Age of Pisces and in to the Age of Aquarius. Yup, the age of the hippies, the peace sign, Woodstock, an attempt to be in commune with Mother Nature, and all that other good stuff. But apparently its not going to be so easy to transcend into because of our preoccupation with technology and material things (i.e, our Blackberry's), but the shift will occur with some of us kicking and screaming out objections.

[jdp]

Once I stopped chasing money and realized I just need enough to take care of my responsibilities I quit committing to more and more responsibilities and simplifying my life so I could have more time. I think that happened right around age 30. You can fool yourself up till then that time is unlimited LOL.

The best gift I ever gave myself was moving to eliminate my 1 hour-1 way commute 5 days per week. 8 miles now is nothing.

[gt0163c]

For me, it depends on my own cost/benefit analysis.
I generally won't pay someone to mow my lawn (with the exception of if I'm out of town for more than two weeks). I can do it myself in about an hour and don't want to pay $20-$30+ for that. Similarly, I won't pay someone to clean my house. I do some of my own home repair and improvement tasks, getting help from friends if I need an extra pair of hands or if I feel I'm a bit over my head (but not completely). I rarely grab take-out or fast food as I almost always have something at home that I can quickly microwave for a meal. Even when I'm traveling, instead of restaurant food I usually prefer to stop by a grocery store with a bakery and a deli, get a roll and just enough meat and cheese for a sandwich, pick up a piece of fruit from the produce section and enjoy a meal that way. Although that is more due to health and taste concerns rather than money and time.

But, there are supermarket deals that I pass on because I don't want to take the time and effort to run to multiple stores during a week. I will buy things online, especially for gifts for friends out of town, even if they're a bit more expensive, so that I don't have actually go to the store and, in the case of gifts, don't have to package and ship the items.

And, while it's not the complete reason I live where I do, I love that my house is only 1/3rd of a mile from my church. I'm at church an average of twice a week (not including Sunday mornings) and living that close has greatly simplied my life. I can leave five minutes before a meeting starts and be on time. Or, if I know I'm going to be home before dark, I can walk in about five minutes. My house is a bit more expensive than some others that I looked at when I was house hunting, but the combination of the proximity to church and the neighborhood that I'm in made it worth the extra cost.

[khorrell]

I struggle with this question every day. It seems that time vs. money is at the heart of most of the choices I make each day, and I'm a terrible decision maker. I end up spending time figuring out whether or not to spend the money, which is doubly inefficient.

[Gootsy]

Been said before and will be said again.

Do you spend money to save time, or spend time to save money?!

For me, a little bit of both. I will take a lower paying job or higher rent, if it means my travel time is very low to work.

But I will not pay someone to do something, if I can easily do it myself. Or buy a product that'll save me a little bit of time. --- These things are generally quite enjoyable anyways so that's time well spent hehe,