The 'is this worth it?' rule
Before you buy anything, do a 30-second math check. It changes EVERYTHING.
You see a $60 hoodie. Cool, but is it worth $60? Try this: divide the price by what you earn per hour. If you make $12/hour mowing lawns, that hoodie costs you 5 hours of work. Now decide.
5 hours
Of work for a $60 item at $12/hr
Suddenly the hoodie isn't '$60.' It's a whole afternoon of mowing.
Time is what you really spend. Money is just how we measure it. Always convert big purchases into hours of YOUR life.
If something costs more than a few hours of your time, wait a week. If you still want it, you probably actually want it.
Try it yourself
How many hours of YOUR work does that purchase actually cost?
Hours of work
4.0h
Or 8-hour days
0.50
That $60 item isn't really $60 — it's 4.0 hours of your life. Now decide if it's worth it.
Real life: meet Mia's $90 sneakers
Mia (16) babysits for $14/hour. The sneakers cost $90 — almost 6.5 hours of work. She decided 6.5 hours of running after a 3-year-old was way more than the sneakers were worth. Saved.
$90 ÷ $14/hr = 6.4 hours
Takeaway
Convert any big purchase into hours of your work. Then decide. Some things will still be worth it — but you'll skip the ones that aren't.
What's the point of converting a price into 'hours of work'?
Takeaway: Reframing price as time makes the trade-off concrete.
Try together: Pick the next 'I want it' purchase and run it through the Hours-of-Work Converter together. Decide before checking out.