Buzz
Whenever the urge strikes to grab takeout for lunch or run out for a quick coffee during the workweek, I often pause and think about the time it will cost me—not just the time away from my desk, but the hours I’ve worked to earn the amount I’m about to spend. While it doesn’t always stop me from giving in to the impulse, it does make me realize that this sandwich/drink/ice cream cone is costing me a slice of my paid time that I’m actually willing to part with.
It’s a habit I’ve had since my college days when I worked at a mall store. Buying a slice of pizza and a soda in the food court during my lunch break would cost me at least half an hour of my pay. I’d think of it as losing 30 minutes of pay, like working 7.5 hours instead of a full 8. More often than not, the next day I’d bring lunch from home.
If you're someone who finds themselves wishing they thought twice about their purchases, there’s a tool online to help you do just that. The Time Well Spent extension converts the prices of items you're browsing online into time equivalents, based on your salary information.
I installed the extension, set it to reflect my location in Florida and my hourly wage of $19, then began browsing. Here's what I encountered:
As soon as the product page loaded, the price tags shifted to time. Now, I had to confront reality. Do I want to spend 52 minutes of my work life on a Triceratops taco holder? Is the T. Rex taco holder worth a whole hour of my labor? Why is the Triceratops holder the budget option? Some questions in life may remain unanswered.
This extension was created by Aaron Z. Lewis, who credits the Time Well Spent movement as the driving force behind its development. In a blog post from 2018 announcing the launch, he explained why viewing money as time is so impactful.
Each week, you exchange your time and mental effort for money from an employer. Your paycheck is a tangible reflection of your time—the most limited resource available. Typically, you spend this time (in the form of money) to purchase things, but it can also be used to buy freedom. The more money you accumulate, the more time you can keep for yourself.
From my own tests and feedback from other users, the extension doesn’t work on every website and only converts U.S. dollars into time. However, if you often find packages arriving at your doorstep and can’t remember what you ordered while multitasking during your Netflix sessions, it’s worth a try. You can easily toggle the extension on and off with just one click, perfect for when you want to stick to traditional dollar-for-dollar shopping.
This extension won’t make you stop shopping altogether, but it could help you cut down on those unnecessary impulse buys. Now, if only someone would create a version that tracks me into coffee shops and converts the prices on all the pastries into time.
