Like it or not, and despite the proclamations of self-professed “experts”, YOU are the cheapest labor you can hire. Whether the task is mowing your lawn, changing the oil in your car, painting your house, designing a website, or many other projects, if you’re relatively competent, I believe you should do it yourself.

^[2] I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth already. The argument for outsourcing your life usually takes the following tack: “I make $60,000/yr which translates to $30/hour so anything that costs less than that should be outsourced.” Hogwash.

How much per hour do you REALLY make?

That $60,000 is pre-tax dollars but you can’t spend pre-tax dollars. In reality, after federal, FICA, Medicare, state, and sometimes even local taxes, you’re likely to bring in about $40,000. Divide that by 40 hours over 52 weeks and you’re actually making a little more than $19/hr while you’re at work. Are you earning anything the other 70+ hours you’re awake during the week? Not unless you make extra money ^[3] on the side, but even then, you’re probably not working more than an additional 20 hours per week.

Include every hour you’re awake and that number dwindles to about $6.99/hour. Include the time you’re asleep and you’re looking at only $4.57/hour. Even someone who makes that “magical” $250,000 per year averages only $43.71/hour awake and $28.62/hour in total. When I ran these calculations for myself, it made the services I was paying for look really expensive.