It Needed To Get Done

You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time*

I am a believer in comparative advantage.

That's where, despite knowing how to do something and doing it yourself is cheaper than hiring someone, the opportunity cost of doing it is higher than hiring someone to do it.

In other words, you make more while someone else does it than it costs to pay them.

The AC project really did save money, even if you count buying some of the parts twice.

I bought the parts to rebuild the HVAC box for $170.

I bought a new HVAC box for $815.

I bought another $150 in sundries.  I don't count buying tools because they're reusable.

$1,145 is still less than $3,000.

I spent almost 50 hours doing the job.

To make spending $3,000 on the job with the parts I bought worth it, I need to make more than $37.10 an hour, or $77,168 a year.  I do not make, and have never made, that much a year.

So it's worth my time to do this job because it doesn't cost me more than my time is worth. 

*"I hate the Eagles man!" J. Lebowski