[kemitche]

If it takes 1 hour of effort to save 5%:

- Doing 1 hour of effort to save 5% on your $20 lunch is foolhardy for most people. $1/hr is well below US minimum wage. - Doing 1 hour of effort to save 5% on your $50k car is wise. $2500/hr is well above what most people are making at work.

It's not about whether the $2500 affects my ability to buy the car. It's about whether the time it takes me to save that 5% ends up being worthwhile to me given the actual amount saved.

The question is really "given the person-hours it takes to apply the savings, and the real value of the savings, is the savings worth the person-hours spent?"

[jay_kyburz]

This is something we often do in our house. We talk about things in terms of hours worked rather than price. I think more people should do it.

[dgfitz]

By that logic I waste time reading books instead of paying someone else to read them for me.

[jay_kyburz]

Paying somebody else to read the book means you don't get the benefit of the book.

Also, this is exactly what you company is doing, paying you to "read the book" so they don't have to.

[viceroyalbean]

If you can get the exact same result for less cost (time and money), why not? Things like enjoyment don't factor in since they can't be directly converted into money.