Convert any price into the currency you actually spend: hours of your working life. Enter a price and your real hourly wage — see what it costs in time.
The most honest price tag
Dollars are abstract; your hours are not. You have a limited number of them, and you sell a fixed slice to your employer. Dividing a price by your real hourly wage converts it into the currency you actually spend: hours of your life at work.
The formula
- Time cost = price ÷ your real hourly wage
- Divide by 8 for workdays, by 40 for working weeks.
How to use the result
Use it at the moment of decision. "$400" and "two and a half days at my desk" are the same fact, but only one of them triggers the right question: is this thing worth that much of my life? For many purchases the answer is a clear yes — and those become more enjoyable, not less, once they've passed an honest test. For the rest, you just saved yourself some hours.
Frequently asked questions
- Which wage should I divide by?
- Your real hourly wage — take-home pay divided by all the hours your job consumes, commute and prep included. Using your gross rate makes purchases look cheaper in hours than they truly are. Our real hourly wage calculator computes the honest denominator.
- Where does this way of thinking come from?
- It's the central exercise of the personal-finance classic 'Your Money or Your Life' by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez: express every expense in hours of life energy, then ask whether the purchase returns that much fulfillment.
- Does this mean expensive things are bad?
- No — it means expensive things should clear a bar. Something that costs a week of your working life and delights you for years clears it easily. The calculator only makes sure you see the bar before jumping.
- Should I count taxes and ongoing costs?
- For big-ticket items, yes: add sales tax, delivery, accessories, and a realistic estimate of upkeep to the price before converting. Our cost per use calculator handles the ownership-cost side of the same question.