One of our Members has their upcoming move completely dialed in.
- Thursday: A TaskRabbit is coming to neatly pack their stuff, attach labels, and sort the “need ASAP” boxes from the “need eventually” boxes.
- Friday: A Lugg is coming to pick up all the stuff they’re purging and haul it to Goodwill.
- Saturday: Professional movers are coming to wrap their furniture, load the appliances, and actually get them into the new place.
To be clear, they’re moving from an 800 sq. ft. apartment. I’m sure they really don’t have a TON of stuff.
So, could they just move themselves? 100%.
But at what cost?
Renting a U-Haul for the day would be about $75. Between the TaskRabbit, the Lugg, and the movers, they’ll spend about $2,000.
So the “DIY Decision” is $75 vs. $2,000, right?
WRONG.
We need to factor in the time they’d have to take off. Between packing, hauling, driving, and unloading, that’s easily two full days of work for both of them.
- 2 people x 16 hours = 32 hours of their time.
- $2,000 / 32 hours = $62.50 / hour.
If they make more than $62.50 an hour, then the math maths. (And the bonus is they eliminate all of the dealing, which is priceless).
Therefore, they will happily pay professionals to do the heavy lifting without an ounce of guilt. Ba dum tss!
The Takeaway
Take your gross annual income. Divide it by 2,000. That’s your baseline “hourly rate.”
The next time you are trying to decide whether to hire someone or DIY a miserable weekend project to “save money,” use that number as your line in the sand.