How do I calculate how many hours of work a purchase costs?

Divide the price of the item by your take-home hourly wage. For example, a $180 pair of sneakers divided by a $25/hr net wage equals 7.2 hours of work.

What is a True Hourly Wage?

Your True Hourly Wage is your actual net earnings after income taxes and work expenses (gas, parking, clothes) divided by your total time commitment (paid hours plus unpaid commute time).

Why is nominal salary different from true take-home pay?

Taxes (Federal, State, FICA) take 15% to 35% off the top, while commuting adds unpaid hours and daily transit costs, reducing your real hourly purchasing power by 25% to 40%.

How many hours of your life is that?

Enter wage + price → see the hours. Free · on this device.

Your take-home hourly wage ($)

Thing you’re tempted to buy ($)

More details

Curiosity first: see the hours in black and white. If you’re still happy after the number — buy with confidence. If not, you just saved yourself a regret.

That purchase costs you

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of your life at work

Work days

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If invested 10 yrs*

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A note on “hourly wage”: Rent, food, insurance, and other bills come out of your pay first. What’s left for fun purchases is usually less than your full hourly rate — so this number is a best-case. In real life it can take more hours of work than we show.

🧮 What is your TRUE take-home hourly wage?

Your sticker pay isn't what lands in your pocket. Taxes, unpaid commute time, fuel, parking, and work expenses quietly chip away at your real hourly purchasing power.

Pay type & gross amount

Estimated tax rate (Fed + State + FICA %)

Daily round-trip commute (minutes)

Weekly work costs (gas, transit, parking, food, clothes)

Your True Net Hourly Rate

$19.82/hr

Gross $30.00/hr drops by 34% after $264/wk taxes, $60/wk work costs, and 3.8 hrs/wk unpaid commute.

Ego check: what if you invested that money instead?

Same dollars. Different story. Simple compound-growth illustration — not a forecast, not advice. Past market returns don’t guarantee the future.

Amount to grow ($)

Assumed annual return (%)

Years

Rough future value

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Not financial advice. This is compound interest with a steady rate you choose (default 8% is a rough long-run stock-market-style example, not a promise). Real investments bounce year to year; you can lose money. For rates & markets context (not recommendations), see Yoyosup Finance. *The “10 yrs” teaser above uses the same default rate.