Leverage Your Time

Most people understand that time has value. Maybe that’s why we often use the expression, “spending time.” What a lot of folks don’t realize is just how valuable time really is, because If they did, it just might change the way they spend money.

In their book,“Leverage: Using Temporal Wealth for Eternal Gain,” Ken Boa and Russ Crosson emphasize the importance of making the most of all our assets, including time. It’s a blueprint for putting the Bible’s financial principles into practice for God’s Kingdom. In other words, taking something that’stemporary and making it eternal.

It’s important to point out that God values our time. Like all the other resources He provides, He’s given each of us only a certain amount of it. He wants us to be faithful stewards of the days and hours we have.

Psalm 90:12 reads, “Teach us to number our days …that we may get a heart of wisdom.” And James 4:14 admonishes us to make the best use of our time today. It reads, “You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

And of course, since most of us have to work to provide for ourselves and our families, it’s important to understand what our time on the job is really worth so we can be faithful stewards of it.

To figure what you really earn per hour, jot down the total or gross amount you put down on your last tax return. Then subtract anything you paid in taxes including Social Security and Medicare taxes, plus the income tax you paid. You’re left with your net earnings.

Let’s say you earned a total of $52,000 and you paid $10,000 in Social Security, Medicare and income taxes, leaving you with $42,000.

Next, you divide that $42,000 by 52 weeks and you get roughly $800. That’s what you’re netting in a week. Assuming you work a 40-hour week, divide 800 by that number, 40, and you get $20 an hour. That’s your real hourly wage.

Of course, if you typically work more than 40 hours a week, it means you’re earning even less than $20 an hour after taxes. Now, all this might seem a little disheartening, especially if you’ve always thought you earn more like $25 an hour, which you do, but that’s before** taxes.

That’s why it’s important to understand what your time is worth in real dollars that you can actually spend because then you begin to see how long you have to work to buy something.

Let’s say one night you’re tired and don’t feel like cooking, so you pick up fast food for the family. That costs you $50. When you realize that you had to work two and a half hours to pay for that meal, you’re much more inclined to spend one hour making dinner at home and cleaning up after.

When you know what things really cost, it can change your spending habits. You’re less likely to give in to impulse spending. Look at the last several months of your checking account statements. You’ll probably see a purchase here for $10, another one there for $20, maybe another for $50 and so on.

Did they really add value to your life? Especially knowing how long you had to work for them? Probably not, because you realize that you can never get those hours back. You’ll probably want to make some changes.

Just cutting out impulse spending is a huge step forward. As your time becomes more important to you, you’ll free up money that you can spend in areas that have more value and one of those, we hope, will be increased giving of both your time and money to the Kingdom, which has eternal value.

Start by memorizing Proverbs 21:20, ““Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.” That will help you cut impulse spending right away.

You can also listen to the related podcast on this topic.