In simple living terms, what do you place more value on: your time or your money?

Is it worth spending loads of time to get the best deals?
Is it wrong to use a service, such as a cleaning service or grocery service, to free up your time for doing things that you enjoy more or making your life easier?

I have no answers. I think different things are worth more of my time than others. Overall, I would, I think, pay more for services in order to give me time to spend with my family. OTOH, I would not be financially irresponsible just to have a maid in once a week.

I do already spend quite a bit of time with my family, but in the background there is always that mental "to do" list that nags at me. I can't tackle some of the larger items and get them done without either outside help or letting the kids watch more TV to free up my time.

It's always a question in my mind- which is worth more: time or money?

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In general, I'd say the older I get and the busier I get with life, I'd say my time is worth more. I feel guilty wasting any of it!

I think that the real answer is finding a balance that works for you. Certain things are worth paying to have it done for you, other things are worth investing the time to save money. For example, I am considering hiring a service to clean the windows in our house. Otherwise, dh and I will spend an entire day doing the jobs ourselves. I'm not sure if I'm willing to give up a Saturday to do that!

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There are certainly some jobs that are worth paying other people to do. They can do it faster than I would. They have the proper tools and a bit more experience. For instance, a little over a year ago I started to paint the exterior of our house. Hubby helped a little but his efforts put me more behind than ahead. I eventually gave up the job because, for reasons unknown, the paint was making my arthritis flare up and I was getting sick from doing it. I hired some contractors to paint the house and they got it done in 3 or 4 days! Plus, I don't have a bunch of leftover materials that I would feel guilty throwing away - masking tape, drop clothes, etc. They took their supplies and went home.

The same goes for changing the oil on my car. I can do it, that's not the problem. But the crew at the garage are already dirty (they even have the special clothes) plus they have better ways to recycle the oil than I do. It is worth it to me to pay them to do it.

I knew a guy (a co-worker) who made a commitment to hiring contractors to do everything around the house. His garage was EMPTY of any tools. All he had stored was his golf clubs. I often think about that guy and wonder if I can ever get to that point. However, I know having to call around and find a contractor is a rather labor intensive job, too, so I don't know if that would exactly simply my life.

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Money for me right now. I can spend TIME with my kids while doing things that some people pay for. I can mop my kitchen floor and still study spelling words with my youngest. I can mow the lawn and still keep an eye on them swimming in the pool rather than pay a lawn guy. I can iron dh's dress shirts myself while having a chat with my oldest about school. However, I couldn't do any of those things with my kids if I was working ( and paying for a maid, lawn guy and drycleaner)

So I suppose I'm not giving my kids 100% undevided attention each and every minute- but ironing and mopping arent the sorts of things that requires any intense concentration- like working at a real job would require so to chat and iron at the same time- works for me.

Money for me now too, but I have a feeling that while change as I get older and our family grows. Right now though it's worth it to me to clip coupons and plan my menu and do things online to make a bit of extra money.

right now id say my money too! i have all the time staying at home, but the money you just need more of.

There's a show that comes on some channel that deals with this and explains how hiring, for example, a weekly cleaning service is costwise becasue it frees up your time to do other things.

As our lives get busier, I think about this a lot and would love to be able to hire someone to come in and clean my house once a week or to mow our lawn but moneywise we can't afford to right now. So I guess I have to say that money is more important for us right now. But maybe one day . . .

Again, I am so glad I found this forum. We've been worrying about what to get our two year old for his birthday AND for the upcoming holiday. The title of your post put it all back into perspective for me. Instead of a million cluttering gifts (well, more like 10), we're going to invest in something fun (a membership) to a play center that we love spending time at. That way, it's less money and more time.

As our lives get busier, I think about this a lot and would love to be able to hire someone to come in and clean my house once a week or to mow our lawn but moneywise we can't afford to right now. So I guess I have to say that money is more important for us right now. But maybe one day . . .

I second that! I have been wanting just 1 good cleaning in my house bc I just can't get to it. But then I just want more, like my carpets cleaned, my heating ducts cleaned, my house organized, etc. However, we really can't afford it. For me, money and time go hand in hand right now. I don't have time to clean my house (I work full time) but I don't have enough money to hire someone either! We have to pay off debt first! So, if I had just a little more of either, I would be in good shape!

However, to answer the question more directly, TIME for me is more important. Creating memories and doing things even if it is just playing with toys with my son or having a conversation with my husband, is much more important to me than having money.

I think you hit it on the head when you said different things have different values.

I look at this way: My husband works M-F, 6 - 4. Anything before 6 am, after 3 pm, and Sat is time and a half. Sun is doubletime. If we are in a position to need extra money, like having our roof replaced right now, he accepts overtime jobs. When finances are normal and well, he routinely turns down overtime because our time together is worth so much more than any extra money. Our relationship is precious, and as long as we remember that and treasure each other, the material things his overtime pay could buy are completely worthless.