[ryandrake]

This is a way to think about free time that I've never considered before. Thank you. Curious as to how you arrived at that $100/hr figure. Is it based on any measurable aspect of your life? If I were to adopt your way of thinking, I would have a hard time putting a dollar value to my own because I have nothing but my current job to measure it against.

Would I give up another hour with my family for $100? How often would that opportunity come along? If I had the opportunity to make $100/hr whenever I wanted, I'd first quit my job and fill up that time with this new $100/hr activity, before eating into my free time. But that's a lot of money--it would be very tempting to let it eat into my free time and I'd probably just apply it to as much time as possible in order to maximize the opportunity. That's probably true for any dollar value over what I currently make.

But reality is, whether or not I would give up an hour of free time for $100 is a pointless question to ask because I'm not aware of a way to convert free hours into $100 bills. If I had the opportunity to do such a thing, I'd simply be doing it instead of what I'm currently doing.

[Nadya]

The figure is simply how much I feel is motivating enough to give up my free time. That's the minimum amount and often times it can be quite higher (see my other post). The opportunities largely don't exist and mostly because people don't want to pay that much for my time. Cash is not a priority for me and I'm not really needing of more of it. [0, tangent]

For some people it could be $5 because they need some money to buy some food to eat. For others it might be $30 to spend at the bar on Friday night. Others charge more - I know a contractor who won't settle for any less than $10,000 for 40 hours of their time (comes out to $250/hr). Some people value their time above all else, refusing any monetary incentive. You simply can't buy their time.

If you think $40/hr is worth your time, do it. If you think $2/hr is worth your time, do it. The value is yours to set - it can fluctuate and change. But learning to value your time is worthwhile. You only get so much of it, so be sure you're happy with how you're spending it.

[0] I've been told that's terrible future planning, because I may need more cash in the future. I prefer to live in the now and worry about possible futures when it becomes the now. There are just so many futures to worry about and plan for. What if I worked harder to store away more money just to die of a heart attack without ever being able to enjoy my life? To avoid stress and simplify my life I don't worry about possible futures.