Ask HN: How much do you value your time when it comes to making vs. buying?

[bookofjoe]

The recent discussion here about CO2 monitors and the virtues of making your own v buying one led me to wonder, how much is a person's time worth? $10/hour? $20? $50? $100? $200? More?

If it takes 3 hours to make a CO2 monitor, including obtaining $50-$100 worth of parts/soldering etc./calibrating etc. — and your time is worth $50/hour — then the Aranet4, perfectly calibrated and ready to use out of the box for $250, is a wash.

[pettycashstash2]

For some learning how to do something will translate into other projects in the long term. I can use those skills and tools for further experiments and learning whereas I can also elect to pay for completely functional gadgets. Another quality is that tinkering around is actually relaxing vs just purchasing something and plugging it in. So it’s not just monetary value for me particularly.

[simonblack]

My rule of thumb is that my time is valued at $100 per hour.

Many years ago I used to make all of my computer cables. That entailed getting the cable and connectors and then soldering maybe up to 100 connections, depending on the type of cable. As time went by I found that it was easier, faster, and seemed cheaper to just buy them off-the-shelf.

[h2odragon]

How much time is education worth? Doesn't matter what you make per hour, if you wish to learn something, it will take you as long as it takes.