Oh, yeah, I do that too, ever since I entered private practice and exchanged a salary for an hourly rate. I find that it helps me clarify what I want to do and where I want to direct my energy, though. For example, when there’s something to be done around the house (repainting the porch) I estimate the time it would take to do that, multiply it by my hourly rate, and if I can hire someone to do it for less than it would “cost” me, in my mind it makes sense to do that. The way I see it, it’s driven home the point to me that my time IS money, and I should budget it accordingly.

I was taught to actually think of my time this way, even though I’m not a freelancer (and wasn’t raised by one. I do, however, have “billable” hours at work, so I actually tend think of it even more than I used to when I had unbillable jobs.) I was told growing up that whatever I was doing had to be worth my time. For example, if I am fighting a $5 overcharge on my energy bill, but I’m worth the said $100/hr, I probably shouldn’t take very long before it’s really not “worth” my time. However, I should take longer to fight the overage of $50 on my internet bill because it’s more worth my time.

Of course, those hours aren’t paid hours (as I’m obviously not doing that on my work time), but I was always taught to take it into consideration when doing something that would supposedly save me some money in the end. I could take the bus to work, but that would mean over almost 120 minutes (2 hours) out of my day between riding the bus and then waiting before work after the bus has dropped me off and after work before the bus picks me up. I have very little I can do in that area of town as far as errands, etc., so that time is essentially “lost” time for me — other than I can read on the bus, but there is no where in the area to wait before/after work, so then I’m on lost time just standing around. Technically, taking the bus costs me more real money per week anyway (bus fair, in the end, costs more than driving each day, unfortunately), so if it’s also costing me more time as well, I’m really losing. (Getting to work/home via car costs me 30-35 minutes per day total.)

However! (Of course there is a further discussion here. How could I be succinct for once? *winks*) I don’t really think like this when it comes to running errands that I would have to do no matter what. I don’t consider my time-worth when I’m grocery shopping or when I’m just spending time with my husband. Certain things are worth all the time and money in the world (not grocery shopping, obviously) but others are necessary evils of maintaining a household. I certainly WISH someone would pay me to clean my own house, pay my own bills, and cook my own meals; however, I’m not that lucky. *sniffs* Those are just a part of life. But definitely those things that are supposed to “save” me money? I have to take into account the cost of my own time when I work on that. (And trying to get that $5 off my energy bill? Yeah, that would’ve taken me several hours worth of work, and I know for several reasons it won’t happen month after month. If it were a long-term issue that would happen again and again, it would definitely be more worth my time to figure out. For example, I would’ve been overcharged each month on that internet bill, so in the long-term view it was definitely worth my time.)

I think you are doing it because you are driven, and because your writing skills are giving you a taste of the notion that when you are your own boss the sky is limit on how much you want to put it and get out. I think you could train yourself to stop it. You likely have a set target of how many billable hours to do per week. You must already track how many billable hours you have done each day. When you find yourself evaluating things on an hourly basis, try to just refer mentally to the fact that you know you are on target for the week.

I am just a lowly employee, but I try to tell myself that if I am not on the clock don’t worry about it. I have earned the mental health break and can’t solve a work problem at home anyway. I know you don’t have that luxury in such a grand fashion as boss, but as far as calculating everything in an hourly rate I think you deserve a break.

In my previous job, my hourly rate was about $800. OK, we gave some folks a discount so they were only paying $700 or so per hour. (No, I wasn’t getting most of it!!) It took some time to get used to the idea that correcting my own formula mistake for 20 minutes could cost my client $200 or so. But then I figured, I was bringing them value and nobody could do it better than me. Their bottom line was going up despite paying my fees, so at least there was justification from their side. From my side, I had the comfort of knowing that it wasn’t making me rich, it was just offsetting my bosses’ bad hiring decisions and such.

So anyway, now in my partnership, my billing rate is a lot less. But still not small change. I am glad that I got used to thinking about my work as having hourly value. Because to the extent that my work is valuable and billable, I don’t have to work as many hours to justify the guaranteed payment I receive. If I do four hours of billable work and only get paid the equivalent of two hours of client fees, then I can relax a little about the rest of the day.

I don’t really care much about earning money. I have enough saved up from my very frugal, childless, workaholic days. Ideally, I make enough to pay my nanny, meet my kids’ basic needs, and put a little in the bank each month. Beyond that, money does not motivate me. Hence I prioritize based on what I really want to do. I could get out of some grocery shopping trips, but I really like going to the organic food store 30 miles away. It’s an experience that I value with my girls. I actually asked my partners to reduce my pay so I could do things I care about without guilt. Honestly, if the business could tolerate my working fewer hours, I’d take even less pay.

I am pretty frugal, yet I don’t waste a lot of time trying to save pennies here and there. I try to do things right so I don’t have the cost of doing them over. But, my opportunity cost may not be money as much as relaxation or sleep.