Hourly Wage Vs. Hourly Value
Hourly wage vs hourly value
So Silvia and I went to Ikea over the weekend to get a dresser for the baby’s room. We wanted one that would function as a dresser, and also as a changing table. We found a nice model called a ‘Malm’ and decided to pull the trigger and buy it. In typical Ikea fashion, the 4′x2′x5′ large dresser came in a small, very heavy box – 5’x2’x7”. As anyone who has shopped at Ikea before already knows, the items there are pretty affordable, yet they come unassembled. You take them home in very heavy boxes, and the so-called ‘savings’ are passed on to you the consumer, by way of assembling the item yourself.
Silvia and I actually enjoyed the time putting the piece together. It was a nice time of bonding, spending time together, doing something for the baby. And in fact, something I will probably remember for a long time. We took pictures, talked, watched the Oscars, and generally enjoyed the time together.
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The next day I started to wonder – how many hours did I actually spend assembling the dresser? Then I thought, was it really worth it? Did I actually save any money? If the dresser costs $99, but takes 3.5 hours to put together (3.5 hours that I could be working at $35/hr) then the actual cost of the dresser becomes $221.5. If I could have found and bought a pre-assembled dresser for say $179, I could have netted $42.50. Did I lose out? Did I make a bad decision? I don’t think so.
The question is hourly wage versus hourly value. What was the hourly value of the dresser? Well, that’s hard to put a number on, but I can tell you, it was much more valuable than $221.00. The time I invest with my family, and spending time with Silvia is never something I regret – although I have often regretted working too much. I think observing the value of something over the actual cost of something, is a valuable lesson. When I question how I should spend my time, I need to always remember to asses the value of that time, and not necessarily the cost.
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nice looking dresser, bro. $99? What a steal. They were going to open an Ikea here in Auckland but they determined that too many people would shop there and traffic would be a problem. I thought that was a novel approach to solving the problem. Keep those posts coming – and make a link to my blog – you will be guaranteed instant fame.
Positive experiences are always more valuable than money. Having the freedom to spend our time how we want to, not how we have to is ultimate wealth.
From a purely financial perspective I believe the hourly wage a company is willing to pay you is vastly different and not comparable to the how much your time is worth.
In the end you don’t work for what you make, you only work for what you can keep. As a result every dollar is much more precious than most would consider.