When to Spend Your Time Versus When to Spend Your Money Work-life balance is about managing the way you use both.

"Time is money, and money is time." That's the central lesson of Your Money or Your Life, the personal-finance classic by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. "Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for," they write.

The authors argue that because you spend time in order to earn money, you're also spending time whenever you buy something. If you're a consultant earning $50 per hour, a new iPad doesn't cost you $500; it actually costs you 10 hours of work. And if you make $25 per hour, that iPad is twice as expensive.

This has some powerful implications. When you spend less, you can work less: Frugality buys you more time.