The True Cost of Working Minimum Wage

As an hourly worker, I recently decided to do my some math. If I use the living wage of fifteen dollars an hour as a benchmark, how many hours of work are my household items and trinkets worth? How many days? What is the true value of a possession when measured, not in dollars, but in time? After answering these questions, I represented a year of bills as days worked. The results were both surprising and saddening.

An Introductory Case Study

At first, I simply calculated the value of my laptop. It is a mid-tier machine capable of running most current video games. With tax, I spent nearly $1,100 dollars. That is 73.33 hours. However, I have to account for taxes. Approximating for a 20% cut to all my revenue, this causes an inverse increase to my hours spent. Therefore, I really spent 92.66 hours paying for my laptop.

Before continuing, I should point out I am quite frugal. I tend to hoard money like a dragon and hate spending it. If you do this conversion, your mileage will vary.

Now that I have analyzed my PC, lets see the hours spent paying for my many PC games. Being an on and off WoW player for the last 13 years, I estimated that 1 out of every 4 months was spent subscribed to the game. This would mean I have paid for 39 months of game time, at 15 dollars per month. I also paid for each expansion, totaling 360 dollars. In all, including the in-game services I have mistakenly paid for over the years, I have given Blizzard another 90 hours of my life in payment.

Not too bad, considering the entertainment I have derived. Skipping the calculations of all other games (LOTRO, ESO, Rift, SWTOR, my steam library) I have arrived at another 61.25 hours spent.

To summarize, my gaming over the last 13 years has costed me around 11 days. This is even accounting for the two other laptops I have had over that same period. That's a good return on investment, but it does not capture the entire picture.

I compiled a very short and incomplete list including my book collection, my gaming purchases (above), and medical bills.

1. 2.08 days per year in Veterinary bills
2. 4.166 days for my car
3. 8.33 days per year for groceries
4. 9.28 days for books
5. 1.04 days per year for gas
6. 10.41 days for orthodontia
7. 12.84 days per year for rent
8. 69.44 days for a 4-year education

Total = 129.15 days

That is over a third of a year. If I only calculate my yearly bills, excluding all amenities and entertainment, I have to spend about 15% of my life paying for necessities. This is a surprisingly low percentage, but I am quite frugal. I did not attend a costly university. I am young and have few medical bills. I have no children. My debt is low. I am an outlier.

A Mathematical Representation of the Protestant Work Ethic

To emphasize this point, let me address the calculation for my rent. I have a very generous landlord and roommates. If I had to pay the full rent alone, I would have spent over 64 days paying for a living space. That is 1/6 of my entire year. In certain parts of the western world, one may need to work 100 days to pay their rent. Each year.

Consider a more representative scenario.

I pay the average national rent of $19,452 for a one bedroom apartment. I pay $12,980 each year to raise my one child. I went to a decent college and now pay $4,716 a year paying off my student loans. Each year, I spend $4,643 on groceries. Me and my child never eat out. I also spend the average $5,193 a year on medical bills, $2,094 on gas. I try to stay frugal, but my house costs me $4,434 a year to maintain. I have all but given up on entertainment and my child plays with sticks in the woods. We do not groom ourselves. Nevertheless, to support my child and myself while still paying my taxes, I pay 185.8 days.

In this scenario, based on national averages from the bureau of labor statistics, I spend over half of my life to live.

In closing, one last bit of math. To work this amount while still getting the recommended sleep and exercise of eight hours per night and 150 minutes per week respectively, you will need 127.08 days.

That leaves you with just shy of 53 days a year for yourself. I hope you don't have too many errands.