Spend too much time here? Spend too little?

[marty998]

So the profile stats page shows that I've spent ~23 days on the MMM forum in a little over 2 years.

Works out to be about 44 minutes a day.

Too much? Too little?

Could I be 3% more productive each day by not being here? Or by coming here I learn to be more productive, efficient and frugal?

What else would you do with the time? Much of the time I spend here is actually trying make some good use of my very long train commute to work each day.

[riverffashion]

Probably the number one website I visit :)

[deborah]

So Arabelspy spends 288 minutes per day on average? 4 hours a day is a part time job!

[EK]

Apparently I've spent about 23.5 days since I joined in April 2013. I have A LOT of down time at work where I'm not really able to do anything productive other than try to read something that's not completely mind-numbing. I think I could do much worse than hanging out on these forums. When I'm away from the forums for too long, my spending habits tend to regress, so I know my forum habit saves me money by reminding me to keep my finances as a daily priority in my life.

[lizzzi]

Per the statistics, I'm on here a little less than 29 minutes per day. I don't think that's too much, as this site gives me my financial coaches and nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle coaches all rolled into one. What I try very hard to do is hit the highlights on the site, and then get off the computer and go live my life. Today is typical: I just came in from a 45" walk in the woods, and now I'm going to go do a half hour of French CD's, play my harp for awhile, and then watch some Marguerite Volant episodes to see how much more of the French I can understand. I put a bag of "clutter" into the back of my vehicle earlier today, to be dropped off at the Goodwill on Monday when I do all my consolidated car errands. Instead of going grocery shopping today, wasting gas, money, and food, I've made lunch and will make supper out of odds and ends in the cupboard and refrigerator.  One of my Monday errands will be to deposit $400 that I forgot I had, and had stashed in a side compartment of my purse. It will then e-transfer to Vanguard. (Facepunch for forgetting about it, but Score for accumulating it instead of frittering it away.) I had dinner (bought food at Aldi's, cooked at home from scratch) with three family members last night, and will be touching base by phone tomorrow with two isolated, elderly relatives who are at some geographical distance. This website helps keep me in touch, if only virtually, with people who think the way I do, and who are extraordinarily helpful in sharing good ideas. It is beyond useful to me.

[thecornercat]

22 hours and 10 minutes since July 31... I feel like a newborn!

[arebelspy]

So Arabelspy spends 288 minutes per day on average? 4 hours a day is a part time job!

Interesting.  I wonder how it counts that.  What if you open a tab and walk away for 10 minutes, and walk back and post, is that 1 minute or 10?

[deborah]

So Arabelspy spends 288 minutes per day on average? 4 hours a day is a part time job!

Interesting.  I wonder how it counts that.  What if you open a tab and walk away for 10 minutes, and walk back and post, is that 1 minute or 10?

It isn't how long you have been connected, so it must be the amount of time you are active!

I was extrapolating. You get told your own number of hours, but not someone else's. However, I noticed that it works out to be almost exactly the same amount of *time on* per post, so I worked out how many posts you had done and how many days you had been around, and got 288 minutes per day!

[Beric01]

13.5 hours since joining July 7 - about 4.5 months ago. Works to about 30 minutes a day. I can definitely say it's been time well spent.

[marty998]

So Arabelspy spends 288 minutes per day on average? 4 hours a day is a part time job!

Interesting.  I wonder how it counts that.  What if you open a tab and walk away for 10 minutes, and walk back and post, is that 1 minute or 10?

It isn't how long you have been connected, so it must be the amount of time you are active!

I was extrapolating. You get told your own number of hours, but not someone else's. However, I noticed that it works out to be almost exactly the same amount of *time on* per post, so I worked out how many posts you had done and how many days you had been around, and got 288 minutes per day!

Nope you can see everyones:

(sorry to indulge, ARS)

Total Time Spent Online:74 days, 23 hours and 20 minutes.
Total Posts:11633 posts
Total Topics Started:200 topics
Number of Polls Created:10 polls
Number of Votes Cast:125 votes


(74D + 23H + 20M) / 1008 days = 107 minutes per day

Or 0.108 posts per minute, which is an even more interesting stat!

[arebelspy]

That's a lot more believable, but I'm still wondering how they count it. 0.1 posts/minute means a post every 10 minutes, which seems low.  I feel like it may be overcounting idle times.

[deborah]

That's a lot more believable, but I'm still wondering how they count it. 0.1 posts/minute means a post every 10 minutes, which seems low.  I feel like it may be overcounting idle times.

You still need to read them to comment!

[Gone Fishing]

I've saved more than 8.5 days of income from things I've learned in my 8.5 days on the forum.

[arebelspy]

That's a lot more believable, but I'm still wondering how they count it. 0.1 posts/minute means a post every 10 minutes, which seems low.  I feel like it may be overcounting idle times.

You still need to read them to comment!

Whoops. Noted!

[surfhb]

I've been asking myself the same question. 

I've already brought my spending down to the lowest I'm ok with.....so why do I still come here?   

*Shrugs*

[arebelspy]

I've been asking myself the same question. 

I've already brought my spending down to the lowest I'm ok with.....so why do I still come here?   

*Shrugs*

If that's your sole goal, I don't have an answer for you.

My spending is unchanged since I joined the forums.  But I don't come here for tips and tricks on how to save a buck, so I'm good with that.

[Jon_Snow]

It's the Journals.... I'm addicted to the Journals. There is a bit of voyeur in all of us, and that itch can really be satisfied there.

That said, I need to step away from this place a bit - when you find yourself checking for new posts while in between sets of lifting at the gym....  yes, time to step back.

[deborah]

I suspect that the time is active time - moving about from one post to another, going down through a post, typing a reply. It certainly doesn't include all the time you are on (I sometimes leave myself attached overnight, and my figures definitely don't include that).

[1967mama]

when you find yourself checking for new posts while in between sets of lifting at the gym....  yes, time to step back.

This made me actually laugh out loud!

[pdxbator]

I have a bit of downtime at work and this is the perfect outlet. Even though I'm already maxing my Roth, have no debt, doing great with trying to control expenditures I still love to come here and read what other people are saying. I'm particularly obsessed with the anti-mustachian hilarity of other people. I don't know why but I love to read about what other people say/do that puts them in such bad ways financially. I can't explain it but I guess I'm sort of sick in that regard.

[Daisy]

Jealousy is a great motivator for me. Reading tales of the recently and not-so-recently FIRE’d folks lights a FIRE in me to make it through the last few years of my FIRE marathon.

Keep those stories coming!