Let’s explore how many actual hours — with your take home pay of $15 per hour — it would take to buy things that can make life so much more enjoyable. While prices vary across the country, these prices are based on the suggested retail price: 

Movie Night— 2 hours of work — According to AMC, $12 for a movie ticket, $4 for a box of candy, $8 for a large popcorn and $6 for a large drink adds up to $30. 

Digital Phone — 80 hours of work — Depending on the model and storage capacity, higher-end phones easily cost $1,200 according to Apple, without insurance or accessories. 

Mountain Bike — 67 hours of work — While there are a bunch of options, according to Bicycle Universe, a sturdy mountain bike costs at least $1,000.  

Leather Bag — 200 hours of work — If you’re all about style and brand names, then strutting around with a high-end Louis Vuitton handbag costs $3,000. 

Designer Sneakers — 33 hours of work — A pair of women’s Italian leather sneakers with suede trim handcrafted by Ssense go for $495. 

Paris Trip — 97 hours — With roundtrip airfare, accommodations and food, a week-long trip to the City of Lights could come out to $1,450 for a single traveler, according to Champion Traveler.  

Coffee — 20 minutes — Depending on what you order and from where, a Venti White Chocolate Mocha is about $5, according to Starbucks. 

But life isn’t all about what we want – we have to consider our “needs,” the daily expenses that we can’t go without like housing, food, and transportation.  

Car — 22 hours of work per month — According to the Cars.comaffordability calculator, a $330 monthly car payment over 48 months could get you a car valued at $15,840 with no down payment and no trade-in.  

Apartment — 66 hours of work per month — According to the Zillow affordability calculator, with a monthly net of income of $2,400 (that $15-per-hour take home in a month), you could afford approximately $990 in monthly rent. Depending on where you live, you might be in a comfy place or sharing it with roommates.  

Mortgage — 80 hours of work per month — Using a maximum of 50% of your take-home pay, paying $1,200 per month for a mortgage could get you a house valued at approximately $190,000, not including taxes and insurance, according to Chase.  

Using this thinking, are those sneakers worth the better part of your work week...is that LV bag worth five weeks of work? Maybe. But either way, it’s both fun and revealing to start thinking in terms of time rather than money. “Cheap” and “expensive” will take on whole new meanings.