Time Saving or Money Saving

Sometimes we all have to make the decision as to what is more important: Our time or our money. A lot of times these two don’t exactly go hand-in-hand. As a matter of fact, the examples I will give will only talk about choosing one or the other.

Saving money has gotten extremely important to those who have lost their jobs or who have suffered through a reduction in income since the beginning of the recession. One of the best examples I can give as to a trade off between time and money is supper time in most households.

Cooking supper at home will typically save you money in opposition to going out to eat, however going and picking something up will always be more of a time saver. Say you’re on your way home from work and you call your local [insert restaurant name here] and pick it up; you’re going to spend more money than if you would have cooked all the food at home, but you now just get to pick up the food and take it home to your hungry, waiting family. After they finish eating, the garbage gets recycled or thrown away and there isn’t any mess to clean up (or if there is, it is usually minimal if your kids didn’t get into a huge food fight or something during dinner time).

Time and money also come into play when you’re thinking about things such as thrifty shopping. Many shoppers who are out there shopping to save money will visit many different stores and spend a lot of time clipping coupons just to save money. Time conscious shoppers are more willing to shop at the same store for everything, or just venture to a couple of grocery stores.

For anyone the answer will likely be different. Some will feel as though their time is more valuable than the savings they will get from shopping at different stores and spending time clipping coupons while others will feel as though their money is more valuable than the time they spend doing all the things that save them money.

As for me, I find myself in the middle (as I imagine most would). I won’t go out of my way to save $1 on groceries, but I will shop at different stores if it means I can use my favorite coupons. I also try not to go out to eat too often, not for the cost but simply for the nutritional value or lack there of. I really enjoy saving money, but I also value my time.

What do you do? Are you a time saver or a money saver? Or do you fall somewhere in the middle?