Evaluating your life in terms of $$ / hr

[teddyFBI]

I've just recently begun to do something rather peculiar:

I was always raised to be very cost-conscious >> clip coupons whenever possible, haggle for a better price, return an item and buy it elsewhere if you can find it for $10 less.

Which is why my newfound poker wealth is really F'ing with my head -- I was waiting for the bus in the rain the other day, when it dawned on me that I could really just take a taxi for $4 more...I was only going around 15 blocks, so something inside me told me that just hopping in a cab would be wasteful, but then I thought to myself: "hold on, since my poker earn rate is roughly $200 / hr, even if this taxi only saves me 10 minutes, the extra $4 will have been MORE than worth it, if it allows me to get in an extra 10 minutes (~$35) at the tables."

As much time as I spend playing, it's made me even more conscious of how valuable our very short time on this planet is. Paradoxical, of course, because I really don't want to spend the majority of it sitting in front of a computer screen. (I don't know where I was going with this post...I swear I had a point to make when I started it...oh well, guess i'll end it here, since it's already 'cost' me $35.)

[Klepton]

this is good thinking, just don't let it get out of hand.

recently i thought "i don't care about 30 bucks, so i'm not gonna mail in that rebate, i already got the item."

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...my poker earn rate is roughly $200 / hr...

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And you worry about $4 for a friggin' cab? Gimme a break.

[lehighguy]

I pay $1,300/month for an apartment in the city just to save two hours a day.

Seriously, buying time on this earth is one of the best investments you can make. It is a scarce resource.

P.S. I do the same analysis no matter what my job. When I was playing poker in college I spent somewhat freely, now that I work at a really tough job for less money I won't even pay $4 for those cookies I want.

Over time, this will keep you from doing anything but earn money.

"I can't go to that movie/ballgame/orgy/school play; it'll cost me $100/$1000/$12.65 in lost income!"

[teddyFBI]

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Over time, this will keep you from doing anything but earn money.

"I can't go to that movie/ballgame/orgy/school play; it'll cost me $100/$1000/$12.65 in lost income!"

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yeah, i think that was the essence of the point i was driving to in my original post that i somehow lost sight of.

It's really a mindf'uck. It's like a balancing act trying to decide which of your life pursuits are worth evaluating on a purely financial scale (i.e. do i fill out and mail in this rebate for $30, which will take me 20 mins?) and others that are 'non-negotiable'; i.e. seeing Walk the Line is technically -EV, but in the grander scheme will probably pay greater dividends to my well-rounded nature.

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Over time, this will keep you from doing anything but earn money.

"I can't go to that movie/ballgame/orgy/school play; it'll cost me $100/$1000/$12.65 in lost income!"

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Awright, dammit! You got 4 choices of activity and only 3 prices!

Which one's tha' orgy?

[Pog0]

Despite rambling and not really making any conclusions in your post, I still feel inclined to say "well put."

It'll become very dangerous if we start thinking of all our time in terms of how much money we could have made instead. We don't want to go out because by staying home and working we can make $xx.xx instead. Well we can't work all day, so we shouldn't think of our fun time as money wasted.

As for the converse, the cab vs the bus... I just can't think up any good arguments for one or the other right now.

Only thing I can think of right now is that there are more factors than just money involved in this scenario. Quality of ride, waiting time... pensive time, potential to see something humorous or worthwhile on the bus.. I don't know, I've rambled more in this response than you did in your OP, probably because I'm procrastinating right now.

[soko]

This may seem profound to you but every person on this earth quantifies their extance in "blocks", not so many use hours but many of us use things like weeks, this week ill make $500 at my job and spend $120 on food, etc.; months, your bills, rent is due, subtract subtract; years, ill graduate from college in 2 years; decades, in 30 years my house will be paid off. you can just as easily go they other way around and figure out how much money you make between breaths. it's all very logical and i think about this stuff alot.

[Nietzsche]

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...my poker earn rate is roughly $200 / hr...

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And you worry about $4 for a friggin' cab? Gimme a break.

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Maybe that's why he got there.