True, some of these require a time investment to learn the skills required (hair cutting, home repair, homebrewing), some require constant maintenance (homebrewing, keeping plants), and some take a bit more time per action (breadmaking), so you should probably discount those. Most of them are purely monetary tradeoffs though.
For some of the original actions (gym, haircuts, coffee, laundromat, going to buy cigarettes/diapers/razors), you should also keep in mind the saved commute time that you are cutting out.
Most of them are purely monetary tradeoffs though.
I disagree. A few are purely monetary trade-offs (e.g. buying your cable modem) but the great majority involve some trade-offs which typically involve time and/or quality of experience.
For example, sleeping on an electric mattress pad and having the room be 10 degrees colder is a rather different experience—one that some people will be fine with, and others won’t. A low-flow shower nozzle saves you a bit on the water bill, but the experience of the shower is different.
I am not saying the experience will be necessarily worse—it might turn out to be better—but I think it’s misleading to think of these changes as “purely monetary trade-offs”.
A low-flow shower nozzle saves you a bit on the water bill, but the experience of the shower is different.
In my experience, this isn’t really true. When changing to a shower with a different water pressure, I will initially notice the difference, but after a few days the feeling of showering with the new pressure is the same as the feeling of showering with the old pressure.
Some of these assume your time is worth zero.
True, some of these require a time investment to learn the skills required (hair cutting, home repair, homebrewing), some require constant maintenance (homebrewing, keeping plants), and some take a bit more time per action (breadmaking), so you should probably discount those. Most of them are purely monetary tradeoffs though.
For some of the original actions (gym, haircuts, coffee, laundromat, going to buy cigarettes/diapers/razors), you should also keep in mind the saved commute time that you are cutting out.
I disagree. A few are purely monetary trade-offs (e.g. buying your cable modem) but the great majority involve some trade-offs which typically involve time and/or quality of experience.
For example, sleeping on an electric mattress pad and having the room be 10 degrees colder is a rather different experience—one that some people will be fine with, and others won’t. A low-flow shower nozzle saves you a bit on the water bill, but the experience of the shower is different.
I am not saying the experience will be necessarily worse—it might turn out to be better—but I think it’s misleading to think of these changes as “purely monetary trade-offs”.
In my experience, this isn’t really true. When changing to a shower with a different water pressure, I will initially notice the difference, but after a few days the feeling of showering with the new pressure is the same as the feeling of showering with the old pressure.
In my experience it is. I feel the difference and like high pressure much more.