Should I Buy It? Calculator
Formula
Hours = Item Price ÷ Hourly Wage
This calculator shows the real cost of any purchase in terms of your time. When you see a $100 item and earn $25/hour, it costs you 4 hours of work. This perspective helps you decide if something is truly worth it.
How to use
- Enter the cost in the Item Price field.
- Enter your take-home pay in the Hourly Wage field.
- Read how many work hours and days the purchase costs.
Example
A $100 item at $25/hour: $100 ÷ $25 = 4 hours of work, or half a standard 8-hour workday.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use pre-tax or after-tax hourly wage?
Use your after-tax (take-home) hourly rate for a more accurate picture. Your actual purchasing power is what you take home, not your gross wage.
How does this help with spending decisions?
If a $200 pair of shoes costs 10 hours of your work, ask yourself: 'Would I work 10 hours specifically to buy these shoes?' If yes, buy them. If not, skip.
What about salaried workers?
Divide your annual salary by 2,080 (40 hrs × 52 weeks) to get your hourly rate. For $60K salary: $60,000 ÷ 2,080 = $28.85/hour.
How do I figure the work cost of a subscription?
Convert the recurring charge into work hours and multiply by how often it bills over a year. A $15/month streaming service at a $25/hour wage costs about 0.6 hours each month, or roughly 7.2 hours of work per year. Seeing the annual time cost often reveals that small recurring charges add up to more labor than a single bigger purchase.
Why use work hours instead of just looking at the price?
A dollar figure is abstract, but hours of your life are concrete and limited, which makes the trade-off feel real. Framing a $300 gadget as 12 hours of work at $25/hour forces the honest question of whether the item is worth a day and a half on the clock. It is a psychological tool to slow down impulse buys, not a strict accounting rule.