[kemitche]

If it takes 1 hour of effort to save 5%:

- Doing 1 hour of effort to save 5% on your $20 lunch is foolhardy for most people. $1/hr is well below US minimum wage. - Doing 1 hour of effort to save 5% on your $50k car is wise. $2500/hr is well above what most people are making at work.

It's not about whether the $2500 affects my ability to buy the car. It's about whether the time it takes me to save that 5% ends up being worthwhile to me given the actual amount saved.

The question is really "given the person-hours it takes to apply the savings, and the real value of the savings, is the savings worth the person-hours spent?"

[jay_kyburz]

This is something we often do in our house. We talk about things in terms of hours worked rather than price. I think more people should do it.

[dgfitz]

By that logic I waste time reading books instead of paying someone else to read them for me.