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Your Money or Your Life

Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

For people who earn a decent living but can't say where it goes, and want to know whether their spending is worth the hours they trade for it. It's about noticing and deciding, not about what to invest in.

A week with this book

A short summary today, then one small action a day for six days. Free for your first book.

Your Money or Your Life Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

Free for your first book. No card. One click to stop.

Day 1

The ideas the week uses

Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez argue that money is something you trade your life energy for, the limited hours you have. Once you see each purchase as hours of your life, you can decide what is worth it and what is enough.

  1. Money is life energy. Robin and Dominguez define money as the hours of your life you trade to get it. That framing turns every price into a question about time, which is harder to ignore than a number on a receipt.
  2. Find your real hourly wage. Your paycheck overstates what you earn. Subtract the costs you only have because of work, like commuting and work clothes, and add the hours spent getting ready, getting there, and recovering. The result is usually much lower.
  3. Track every cent. The authors ask you to record every bit of money that comes in or goes out, then total it by category each month. They don't ask you to cut anything first. Seeing the pattern does much of the work.
  4. Enough is a peak, not a ceiling. Their fulfillment curve shows spending adding satisfaction up to a point, then adding clutter and stress instead. Enough is the top of that curve. Past it, more spending costs life energy and returns less.
  5. The crossover point. Charting monthly income and spending on one wall chart makes progress visible. The long goal is the crossover point, where income from savings covers your spending and paid work becomes a choice rather than a need.

Where it overreachesThe original investing chapter is the most dated part, and the method assumes you have some income above essentials to work with. Tracking every cent also takes more patience than the book admits.

Days 2 to 7

How to apply Your Money or Your Life

10 to 20 minutes each, with a two-minute version for a bad day.

Printable week card (one page)

  1. 2Track every cent for one dayWrite down every amount of money that comes in or goes out today, however small.
  2. 3Find your real hourly wageWork out your real hourly wage: what you keep from work divided by all the hours work really takes.
  3. 4Ask the three questionsTake five recent purchases and ask the book's three questions of each one.
  4. 5Put up your wall chartDraw a simple chart for the year and plot last month's total income and total spending on it.
  5. 6Talk through one minusPick one purchase you marked minus earlier this week (or any purchase that felt off) and talk it over with someone you share money or life with.
  6. 7Book your monthly tallyPut a recurring monthly event in your calendar to total your spending by category and update the wall chart.

Sample

Day 3, in full

This is what lands in your inbox that morning.

AfterpageDay 3 of 7 · Action

Find your real hourly wage

Today’s action · 10 to 20 minutes

Work out your real hourly wage: what you keep from work divided by all the hours work really takes.

How

Start with weekly take-home pay. Subtract costs you have only because of work, like commuting, work clothes, and meals you buy because you're tired. Add the weekly hours spent commuting, getting ready, and winding down to your paid hours. Divide the money by the hours and write the number down.

Why this one

The authors argue this number is the true price of your time, and it's the one to use when weighing purchases.

If today is a bad day

Add your weekly commute hours to your paid hours and write the new total.

In short

Questions about this book

Who is Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez for?

For people who earn a decent living but can't say where it goes, and want to know whether their spending is worth the hours they trade for it. It's about noticing and deciding, not about what to invest in.

What are the main ideas in Your Money or Your Life?

Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez argue that money is something you trade your life energy for, the limited hours you have. Once you see each purchase as hours of your life, you can decide what is worth it and what is enough. Money is life energy; Find your real hourly wage; Track every cent; Enough is a peak, not a ceiling; The crossover point.

What do you do in the Afterpage week for Your Money or Your Life?

Day 1 is a short summary. Then one action a day, each 10 to 20 minutes: Track every cent for one day; Find your real hourly wage; Ask the three questions; Put up your wall chart; Talk through one minus; Book your monthly tally. Day 7 also has a recap.

Where does Your Money or Your Life overreach?

The original investing chapter is the most dated part, and the method assumes you have some income above essentials to work with. Tracking every cent also takes more patience than the book admits.

What is the first action in the Your Money or Your Life week?

Track every cent for one day. Write down every amount of money that comes in or goes out today, however small. If you only have two minutes: Write down the last three things you paid for and what each cost.

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