Is it worth the time?

A quick visualisation for how much to spend on something that saves you time. For example, saving 5 minutes daily works out to be over 1 hour per month, and is worth up to \$87/month on a \$100k salary.

isitworththetime.com is based on the much loved xkcd #1205: Is It Worth the Time?

How It Works

Every task you automate has a break-even point—the maximum you should spend before the cost exceeds the savings. This calculator finds that point.

The Formula

The value of automating a task is:

$$\text{Value} = \frac{\text{Salary}}{2000} \times \text{Frequency} \times \text{Time Saved}$$

Where $\frac{\text{Salary}}{2000}$ gives your hourly rate based on a standard work year.

Assumptions

| Parameter | Value | Rationale | |:---------------------|:------|:------------------------------| | Work days/year | 250 | 5 days/week, ~2 weeks holiday | | Daily working hours | 8 | Standard workday | | Yearly working hours | 2,000 | How we compute hourly rate |

Example

Earning $100k/year and saving 5 minutes daily:

$$\frac{\$100{,}000}{2000} \times 250 \times \frac{5}{60} = \$1{,}042$$

You could spend up to \$1,042/year (or ~\$87/month) on a tool that saves you 5 minutes every workday.

Dev Commands

| Command | Action | |:-------------------|:---------------------------------------------| | pnpm install | Installs dependencies | | pnpm run dev | Starts local dev server at localhost:4321 | | pnpm run build | Build your production site to ./dist/ | | pnpm run preview | Preview your build locally, before deploying |