Stop Impulse Buying by Converting Prices During
Whenever I think about taking a take-out or running out for a latte lunch during the work week, I often stop to think about how much time it will cost me – not time away from my desk, but about time spent at work to add to the amount I am going to spend. It doesn’t always stop me from making an impulse purchase, but it forces me to admit that yes, this sandwich / drink / ice cream cone is worth a certain amount of my paid time, which I am willing to part with.
I’ve been doing this since I was a college student working in a mall. If I grab a slice of pizza and soda at the food court during lunchtime, I have to pay for at least half an hour of work. I would have thought it was as if I was only paid for 7.5 hours of work instead of 8, and the next day I would often bring lunch from home.
If you want to make sure you revisit your purchases more often, there is a web-based tool that might remind you. The Time Well Spent extension changes the prices of the items you browse online based on the amount of time based on the salary information you provide.
I installed the extension and said I live in Florida and make $ 19 an hour. Then I went shopping. This is how it looks:
The moment the product page loads, the dollar signs change to minutes. I have to face time. Do I want to spend 52 minutes of my income on a Triceratops taco stand? Should you switch to a T. Rex taco stand for a full hour? Why is Triceratops the cheapest taco holder? For some life questions, we may never find the answers we are looking for.
The extension was developed by Aaron Z. Lewis, who cites the Time Well Spent movement as the inspiration for the expansion. This is how he explained why the money as the time can be seen in his statement in the blog, which was announced the expansion of its launch in 2018:
Each week, you sell your time and mental energy to an employer who gives you some money in return. Your salary literally represents your time – the world’s most scarce resource. You usually spend your time (in the form of money) to buy things, but you can also use it to buy freedom. The more dollars you have in your bank account, the more time you can spend for yourself.
Based on my experiments and user feedback, the extension does not work on all websites and only converts USD on time. But if boxes occasionally arrive at your door and you can’t remember what the hell you ordered when you double-watch during your Netflix binge, you’re going to want to try this. You can turn the extension on and off with one click when you just want to do some old-fashioned purchases to compare the value of the dollar to the dollar.
This extension won’t scare you or make you stop shopping altogether, but it can help curb impulsive purchases that you don’t really need. If only they could create one that will follow me to coffee shops and translate prices for all baked goods in time.