How many hours of work a spend really costs you
A ₹1,500 subscription feels small in rupees. In hours of your life, it can look very different.
Your numbers
Common answers are filled in. Change the ones you know.
Typical: ₹1,500. Put in yours.
Travel, food at work, clothes for work.
It only changes the order on your statement.
What waiting costs you
8.3 hours a month
This spend uses about 8.3 hours of your work each month
Once work costs and travel time count, your real pay is about ₹181 an hour. In the 6 months it has waited, it used 50 hours, or ₹9,000.
Your small stepWrite its name on a note today and ask yourself: is this worth 8.3 hours of my work each month?
How we worked this out
- Hours work takes in a month: (48 at work + 8 travel) × 52 weeks ÷ 12 = 243 hours.
- Real hourly pay: (₹50,000 minus ₹6,000 work costs) ÷ 243 hours = ₹181 an hour.
- Hours this spend uses: ₹1,500 ÷ ₹181 = 8.3 hours a month, 99 a year.
- How much it matters to you: 7 out of 10. It only changes the order on your statement.
Sources
- Robin & Dominguez, Your Money or Your Life (2018): Your real hourly pay is what you take home minus what work costs you, divided by all the hours work takes, travel included. It's usually far lower than you think.
How it works
Your real hourly pay is what you take home, minus what work costs you (travel, food at work, clothes for work), divided by every hour work takes, travel included.
Divide the spend by that hourly pay and you get the hours of work it uses each month. The idea comes from the book Your Money or Your Life.
Sources
Questions people ask
Does this mean I have to cut it?
Only if it isn't worth those hours to you. Plenty of spends are. This just shows the trade, so you can decide.
Why count travel time?
Because those hours are part of the price of earning your pay, even though nobody pays you for them.
Putting off more than one thing?
Pick up to five and get your Delay Statement: what to do first, what can wait, and one small step for today.
Want a nudge to act on it?
The app turns what you're putting off into a short list for each day: your Top 3 and one small step at a time. It's free.
We show what waiting costs on your own plans. We never tell you what to buy or invest in. Rules and averages change, so check the official pages before you plan anything.