Research validates our quests, but draws a short sighted conclusion

[rugorak]

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/28/545839192/need-a-happiness-boost-spend-your-money-to-buy-time-not-more-stuff?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

So basically as most of us know, we are pursuing FIRE to reduce the amount of time we need to work for a living. And this article points to research that backs up that this will make us happier. But instead they come to the conclusion that you should pay for services, etc. While not necessarily wrong I think most of us find that doing things ourselves is satisfying and makes us happy. The daily grind of working for a living is what takes away from things.

My take anyway.

[zolotiyeruki]

I've run into the (perhaps unfortunate) realization that although I love DIYing stuff, the projects keep piling up faster than I can complete them.  I guess that's one way of (eventually) filtering out what's important...

[Plugra]

I've run into the (perhaps unfortunate) realization that although I love DIYing stuff, the projects keep piling up faster than I can complete them.

So true.  I have so many DIY tasks that there just isn't enough time to do them.   So I try to rank them by (un)pleasantness and not feel guilty about paying someone to do the bad ones.  I rather enjoy changing the oil on my car, but I happily paid some dudes to pressure-wash my driveway in the hot sun, as that is a super nasty job in this climate.

[charis]

I know my husband derives satisfaction from projects/creating things (and I greatly appreciate his work).  But I will say that paying for house cleaning once a month is up there with the best money I spend.  With two little child, I get zero pleasure in spending all Saturday or Sunday trying to clean a house that will take someone else 3 hours while we do something else (go for a hike, go to the gym, etc).

[rugorak]

I'm not saying to never pay for services. But keep the big picture in mind. Using the house cleaning example, I can clean my entire house in 3 hours when it gets filthy. If I just clean as I go it only takes a 5-10 minutes here and there. So for me paying for a cleaning service is idiotic. It undermines my goal of trying to get to FIRE. Same thing with mowing my own lawn. If we do it together (one of us mows, the other does the edging work) we are done in 45 minutes. Once a week when it grows fast, less later on. Again dumb to pay someone for us. However I do pay someone to change my oil. For me the cost is just barely more than the parts plus they get it done much faster.

Basically my point was the article doesn't look at how if you literally buy time by investing in FIRE you can potentially get more bang for your buck. Which given where this forum is I would think would be pretty well accepted.