How much is your time worth?

     Most people don't pay attention to most things they buy on a regular basis, but instead tend to shop at the same places for convenience or to "save time".   A little research and a little planning can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars and I am not just talking groceries.  Saving time sounds reasonable, until you figure out how many hours of work your time saving cost.    Many people will calculate how much they make per hour and  consider that as how long it would be to pay for an item. While that is motivating for many, it is also unrealistic. From your hourly wage, you need to also subtract the money required to live, pay your mortgage/rent, food, gas, etc. In fact  the part of your wage you can put towards bills or any costs other than costs to survive and hold your job another month is quite a bit smaller than most people realize.  That is the amount you have to consider when thinking about how much time you are saving when spending money on "time savers".   So if you make $20 an hour, but 50 percent goes to your mortgage and 40 more percent goes to food, gas, car payments, utilities and savings, then realistically you only have 10%  or $2 an hour to put towards other items.   A $10 with tip lunch is really costing you five hours of work. You can insert your own wage and budget numbers into the formula to find out how much of your time at work a nonessential item actually cost.                                      

     We don't ever go to an emergency room unless there is no choice, we are literally on death's door or a bone is sticking through the skin.  Life threatening emergencies include inability to breathe, heart attacks and profuse bleeding that can't be stopped. Rabies treatments are only available at the emergency room in our town as well.   Other than that, we call the doctor's office and hope for an appointment that week. If the doctor is too busy to see us in a week or so after hearing the symptoms, we go to an urgent care facility and start looking for a new doctor.

     As a young mother, I foolishly took my child to the emergency room when she wasn't on the verge of death, but had a "fracture" or so I was told.  I was directed to make an appointment with a specialist orthopedic doctor, which I did.   At the appointment, more X-rays and I am told the fractured arm is more like a "dent" in the bone and it required no treatment. The cost for the visit was around $600.   I was rather appalled at the price for a single visit with a few (apparently unnecessary X-rays as we had the ones from the ER). But was told they have a "set price per diagnosis" and number of visits or even treatment didn't effect the price.  After I left, knowing the exact name of the fracture, medical codes, etc. I called around to other offices, some in nearby towns.  The price difference from office to office was significant, sometimes hundreds of dollars different.  Later I made similar comparisons with a few other fractures to see if one place was overall less expensive.  This was before healthcare costs were a popular national issue.

     Now that I am older and wiser, I tend to research  everything I spend money on, but especially anything with hidden high costs like healthcare.  Calling around to each pharmacy in your town and asking the price on each drug you take regularly or is over a certain amount can save you lots of money rather than just calling it into your conveniently located favorite pharmacy.

   Healthy living  is the best investment you can make, but even so many still have environmental and genetic factors that require health maintenance or intervention.   In the last few years, outpatient clinics that perform  screening tests and even surgeries have popped up all over the country.  It is generally known that they offer a better price than getting it done in a hospital. But the cost difference can be staggering.   Recently I investigated the cost of a routine colonoscopy. The price at the hospital was estimated at $2500- $3500 for use of the facility. The cost at the clinic was $550.  That is a huge cost difference and well worth a little time spent calling several facilities in driving distance of your home.

    Anesthesia cost was not given from the hospital, at the clinic it would be another $350.    Some doctors and facilities won't even discuss doing the procedure without anesthesia, this clinic not only allows it, but it saves you $350!  It isn't any more uncomfortable than a bad gas pain, and that is only for a few seconds at a time. There is still the doctor's fee which for this office was $850, hospital or clinic.

    Back to our time vs money argument  if you earned an extra $10 a day to put towards your health care bills, then it would take you 120 days to afford the clinic colonoscopy. It would take you 331 days to 431 days to pay the bill at a hospital.  Either way would take most people longer, as most do not make an extra $10 a day. I would guess for many even coming up with $5 a day, along with all their other expenses would be a struggle.

    Now if you skip the screenings because you don't feel you can afford it and end up with colon cancer, here are the financial consequences.    The cost of treatment for colon cancer ranged from $30,000 to $120,000 in 2007 depending on the stage it was found.  That is 13 years to 70 years of working 365 days a year at our $5 a day savings. If you have health insurance, the costs may be considerably less out of pocket, but still it is a better deal financially to avoid cancer with early screening and prevention with a colonoscopy. They actually painlessly remove any polyps that may be growing in your colon. Most are benign anyway, but no polyps means no cancer can even start, so it is well worth it.

    Breast and prostate cancer screenings are also important. The screenings themselves won't prevent it like with colon cancer, but like any cancer, the sooner you find it, the less it cost and the better your chances of survival and quality of life.   In the case of heart attacks, which happen ever 36 seconds in this country, CPR training and an AED machine can save or improve the quality of life, but you need access to an AED within a very few minutes, probably before emergency personal can get to you.  It is most likely worth the investment to have family members trained in CPR and an AED at home, even though they are several hundred dollars, if someone in the house has a heart condition.  Shop, compare and plan are the best ways to save your money and time whether it is groceries, cancer or even heart attacks.   ;)

1 Minute breakfast burritos for the lazy cook with secret DIY egg mold

My recipes are for the cook who doesn't mind finding new way to do things if the end result is less mess and cleanup but good or even superior results. One of the reasons bulk cooking is so great is that you dirty up the preparation dishes one time and make many meals.  Another reason is that you can go gangbusters when you feel like it and slack off the days you don't want to cook at all.  This is particular useful for those with illnesses that give them "good days" and not so good days.  

This Breakfast Burrito recipe could be made fresh daily, or make up a bunch at one time and freeze them.  If you are going to make them fresh daily, I would at least pre-make the cheese and meat strips so you aren't dragging out knives and cutting boards to clean.  

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients per burrito

1 tortilla (I used flour, the corn tend to be smaller so may not fit )

1 egg 

1 slice bacon (I used precooked.) 

and/or

1 slice ham, cut into 1-2" inch strip

1 slice cheddar cheese (cut long side of 8oz block, fits well) 

1 ziplock sandwich bag for freezing

Here is the left to right assembly line for the breakfast burritos. The ice cream container is repurposed to collect the egg shells to be ground  for the worm bin or chicken food.

1 egg, spoonful of water, premeasuring salt dispenser (invaluable tool), is scambled into a 1c. measuring cup.

Then poured into a breakfast burrito egg mold. This is made by cutting down a cereal box or find a properly sized box in your pantry to fit your tortillas, leaving folding room on one end.  Then line it with a non-stick baking sheet. This one was a circular shape that fits a layer cake pan.  I taped it to the box so it would stay put.  Make sure it completely covers the ends with some overlap so egg can't leak out to the cardboard. (Though if it does, no big deal, just toss it and make a new one for next time.)

Microwave 1 minute or so depending on your microwave.  You could just scramble up a huge pan of eggs,   but like strips of cheese vs shredded, I find this to be less mess to clean up and conveniently ready to use in the burrito if cooked this way instead.  Pour, cook, dump.

Layer cheese, bacon and/or ham on one side of a tortilla shell. I precut an 8oz block of cheese into strips long ways. They perfectly fit my tortillas so assembly went faster.

Dump egg out on top, folding in the bottom of the tortilla and rolling up.

Package in ziplock sandwich baggies, rolling up bag to minimize air.
Store in freezer inside a larger freezer bag or clear shoe box as they fit nicely.

To eat, heat in microwave about 1 minute or so.