Is it worth the time?

A quick visualisation for how much to spend on something that saves you time. For example, saving 5 minutes daily works out to be over 1 hour per month, and is worth up to $87/month on a $100k salary.

isitworththetime.com is based on the much loved xkcd #1205: Is It Worth the Time?

How It Works

Every task you automate has a break-even point—the maximum you should spend before the cost exceeds the savings. This calculator finds that point.

The Formula

The value of automating a task is:

$$\text{Value} = \frac{\text{Salary}}{2000} \times \text{Frequency} \times \text{Time Saved}$$

Where $\frac{\text{Salary}}{2000}$ gives your hourly rate based on a standard work year.

Assumptions

Parameter	Value	Rationale
Work days/year	250	5 days/week, ~2 weeks holiday
Daily working hours	8	Standard workday
Yearly working hours	2,000	How we compute hourly rate

Example

Earning $100k/year and saving 5 minutes daily:

$$\frac{$100{,}000}{2000} \times 250 \times \frac{5}{60} = $1{,}042$$

You could spend up to $1,042/year (or ~$87/month) on a tool that saves you 5 minutes every workday.

Dev Commands

Command	Action
pnpm install	Installs dependencies
pnpm run dev	Starts local dev server at localhost:4321
pnpm run build	Build your production site to ./dist/
pnpm run preview	Preview your build locally, before deploying