A Facet of Frugality

A common worldview out there calls for one to decide what their time is worth, and never do anything that you could hire someone else for less than the hourly rate you’ve decided on for your time. I don’t subscribe to this line of thinking. It is impossible to capitalize on every waking hour at the rate you might earn from your job or jobs. It is also unreasonable to think you could work extra hours at your best paying job enough to capitalize on that earning potential. Yes, it is a good thing to attempt to find a way to invest your time and money to create income sources that are passive, but there still exists time outside of your work. If you use this extra time, where you wouldn’t be earning anyway, to cultivate skills and learn how to do things for yourself, then you would essentially be saving the money you would have otherwise had to pay a professional to do these things. Since there is usually no income made during this time you have spent, there is nothing to offset the cost of paying a professional, so anything paid would be a loss, no matter what your hourly number is.

There is a beauty, fulfillment, and sense of pride in learning how to do things yourself.  Whether it be designing and building my own instruments, cabinetry, tools, jigs, preamps and other electronics, etc ad infinitum, or learning to fix the washer, or add electricity to parts of the house, or code, or use technology in a new and helpful way, etc. I love "taking things apart learning how they work, and putting it back together".  I also tend to expect design features that don't exist, so hacking or building my own things is often the way to go.  

   My worldview allows my use of my unstructured time to think, imagine, and design/build/fix.  I would rather spend the time doing this, than simply buying something, or hiring someone to do things for me.  This is not "wasting my time that costs $*.** an hour" but using my unpaid time to maximize my earnings: not wasting my earned $ by buying things or paying for services that I could fulfill myself during my unpaid time.  This expands my earnings by leaving more for the other things I need $ for, as well as investment. As a bonus, it is often an enjoyable way to spend my leisure, and in doing so I feel better all around!