What’s your time worth?

Like you, I have a thousand things to do every day. Work, family, errands, responsibilities.

They all need to get done. But too often, I do them the hard way. Much of the time, it’s not really worth my time to do it that way.

There are things in my life that I now outsource. Things that may cost a little money to do so, but let me make far better use of my limited time.

For example, I have an older, diabetic cat. She needs special diabetic dry cat food, which is only available at one of two vet clinics in the area. In the past, to get a new bag of cat food, I’ve had to make a special trip to one of these clinics.

What if I could get that food, and not have to make the trip? Don’t I have something better, more productive, more efficient to do with that 30-40 minutes?

I’m not talking about paying someone else to run that errand for me. There are far cheaper ways to get that bag of food than that. Instead of 40 minutes to get that food, I spent five:

• PetFoodDirect.com sells the food I need, at the same price as I get it from the vet clinic.
• My diabetic cat food requires a prescription, which I had faxed over from our vet.
• Five minutes later, I’ve ordered my cat food. It’ll arrive at my doorstep in a few days

That’s 30 minutes I have back – to spend more time with my family, squeeze in a quick workout, or crank out another quick project at work. It’s my choice what I do with that time, but I guarantee it’s better spent than sitting in my car (burning gas, sending more emissions into the atmosphere, etc.) And that cat food is one of several things I can automate to get more time back in my personal and professional life.

What’s your time worth? What would you rather be doing?