If Time is Money, Is that Good?

Some say that Dutch people are cheap. Yes, that is a stereotype. Since I married a Walinga, which is a Dutch name, I hope it’s not too offensive to bring up the idea. For the record, my husband is not cheap. (Occasionally conservative, but not cheap.) But we have some friends of Dutch heritage who may be contributing to the persistence of the stereotype.

Our friends, we’ll call them the Mr. and Mrs. Vander Sma, purchased a boat and RV for vacationing. We met them and went boating and camping with them a couple times, and it was fun. But they went camping almost every weekend. Rain or shine. Invitations to other events or not. They were almost frantic about getting their camping in. When I inquired about this, they explained that because there were only a limited number of warm-weather weekends when they could use the boat, they were not getting their money out of their recreation vehicles if they didn’t use them every possible warm-weather weekend.

OK, I could understand the predicament of living in an area of the country that didn’t allow for year-round boating, but to me that didn’t seem like a good enough reason to miss other fun activities with friends. Then they sold the RV and leased a place at a popular lake. After that, they really did go to the lake every single weekend. Mr. Vander Sma had calculated the exact dollar amount they were “losing” if they did not go to the lake each day. Multiply that by two for every weekend missed. Mrs. Vander Sma took to driving to the lake on Friday afternoon to maximize their ROI.

Obviously, to them time was money. Even though going to the lake sort of lost its fun, becoming more of a requirement or even burden, they continued to do it as life and other fun activities passed them by. But they were getting their money out of the investment!

Time May Equal Money, but What About Happiness?

We’ve all heard the saying that time is money and money is time. But according to a 2012 study, people who put a price on time are more likely to have difficulty enjoying their time if they’re not using it to make money.

“Treating time as money can actually undermine your well-being,” says Sanford DeVoe, one of the two researchers at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management who conducted the study.

Prof. DeVoe and PhD student Julian House based their conclusions on three experiments. In each, a sub-group of participants was encouraged to consider their time in terms of money. This group subsequently showed more impatience and less satisfaction during leisure activities introduced during the experiments. However, when paid to do a leisure activity (in this instance, listen to music) the sub-group reported more enjoyment and less impatience.

So what is the takeaway from this study? Maybe it’s to pursue your passion — and find a way to get paid to do what you love! Perhaps a healthier (and more realistic) approach might be put down the calculator and find ways to make your free time truly free.

Learn How to “Go With the Slow”
Here are four suggestions to help you slow down and stop counting the minutes.

1. Re-think what you value.
While time is one of the most valuable resources we have, free time isn’t necessarily wasted time. Consider adopting a different attitude: Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

2. Do more, think less.
Whether you’re out riding a bike or curled up on the couch with a good book, focus on what you are doing and don’t obsess about what you’re not doing. More time is wasted with “should’s” and “could’s” than simply doing what you enjoy.

3. Take the long way home.
In a world that delivers pizza in “30 minutes or less,” “instant” oatmeal, and overnight deliveries, find opportunities to slow things down, avoid the shortcuts, and appreciate what the “long way home” has to offer.

4. Stop the clock.
Neither man nor woman is made to work around the clock. Everyone needs time away from work. In fact one survey reports that people who take vacations for at least one week, experience an 82% increase in job performance after time off.
My husband would tell you that I qualify as a workaholic, but I do value my down time. I can waste a day along with the best of couch potatoes. And I live for vacations (where my husband doesn’t allow me to turn on my smartphone!). I can personally vouch for the idea of working hard and playing hard, too. So my advice is to make sure you value the right things, and don’t let the good things in life pass you by while you’re making another buck. In other words: take time to stop and smell the Dutch tulips.

What say you? Do you have other thoughts about the relationship between time and money? We’d love to hear them! Please let us know at our 123Print Facebook page, tweet us @123Print or leave a comment below.