The reason I'm including this on my blog actually relates more to scarcity vs. abundance mindset than anything else. See, I know I'm currently in a position where the scarcity mindset is dictating at least some of my actions. Since I'm a salaried employee (or, as John Sonmez would put it I only have one client) I am not currently earning income doing "other things." This means that instead of hiring a mechanic at $60 an hour, give or take, it's a better ROI for me to actually do the repair work myself. Until such time as I'm actively earning at least $60 an hour for anything I do - it makes sense for me personally to repair the car myself - at least when I can do so easily.
So, for me right now the calculation is pretty easy. Assuming (as a best guess) it would have cost $300 parts and labor to repair the blower motor in my car, and also knowing I spent $80 on parts and then the time for installing the part, I can figure out how much value I got out of my time. $220 saved, 2 hours used up. So, effectively my hourly rate during this time was $110 per hour. Until such time as I have a "side gig" or additional client where I can earn more than $110 per hour (yes, this is entirely possible and absolutely a goal of mine) it still makes sense for me to fix my own car. And while this example has practical application since I just did this car fixing today - it also applies metaphorically, too. Before you decide to do anything related to your checking account balance or slapping a charge on your credit card - decide if it's worth it to seek a financial alternative.
Clogged toilet? Should you call a plumber or go buy the right kind of auger to clear it? Ultimately that's your call, but if you go buy the auger then you have an auger the next time you need one. Unless of course you're happy to lay out a hundred bucks because your kid flushed his toy <thing> down the toilet.
Get a barber/stylist to cut your hair or do it at home? Again, it depends on how much value you put on your haircut and how good you are at cutting your own hair.
Stop working, or hire a nanny? There's more than economic impact to consider on this one, the social and psychological implications have a non-monetary benefit that's pretty hard to put a dollar value on. But if you look at it simply from an opportunity cost standpoint, if your ONLY using dollars to measure what you should do, then hiring a nanny is a better choice if you're making big bucks at work. Again, I'm not suggesting everyone in the world should just drop their kid with a nanny and go get a job. I'm just saying that if you think of it in terms of financial net gain, all other variables being a non-issue, you have to weigh the cost of doing a thing with the revenue you're losing by doing it yourself instead of having someone else do it.
Every service in the world has an opportunity cost. If you're installing a blower fan in your car, you're not working on an app, or a blog, or a bug-fix, or an open source project. Nobody but you can decide what the most valuable way to spend money is for you. Just remember the next time you're considering rolling up your sleeves to do it yourself, make sure it's really the right way to spend that time doing it. Otherwise, hire an expert and go spend time doing expert things you really love doing.
