Wastime
Converter
The converter measures a price in the hours of work it takes, counted from what you actually earn. A purchase seen as a piece of your week is easier to weigh than a number on a receipt, and what to make of that time stays entirely up to you.
These guides start with setting up a rate and go on to what the converter makes of a price, taxes included.
Guides
Create your first rate
Tell the Wastime converter what you earn and over what working time, so that every price can read as the hours of work behind it.
Turn a price into hours of work
Type a price into the Wastime converter and see how many hours of your work it takes, how much of that is tax, and keep the purchase in your history.
Account for taxes in the converter
Tell the Wastime converter what is taken from your pay and what is added to prices, and see how much of each purchase is really tax.
Review and edit your history
Go through the purchases you saved in the Wastime converter, fix an amount or a date, delete the ones you no longer need, and filter the list by period and rate.
Work with several rates
Keep more than one rate in the Wastime converter, see the time your purchases took across all of them, copy a rate as a starting point and put the list in order.
Change or delete a rate
Update the pay or taxes of a rate in the Wastime converter, decide what happens to the purchases you already saved, and clear or delete a rate you no longer use.
Questions and answers
Why does a price take more time than my hourly pay suggests?
When your rate is set before tax, the converter counts from what actually reaches your account after Income tax and contributions, so an hour of work buys less than the gross figure suggests. The line "never reached you" under the result shows how much of the time went to that difference.
Why does the tax line show 19% for something that was taxed less?
A rate holds one tax rate for everything you buy, so the line names that rate even for things taxed less or not taxed at all. It is best read as a rough guide to where the time went, rather than as a receipt.
What happens to the purchases I saved when I change my rate?
If the change affects the numbers, the app asks what should happen to them. Recalculate at the new rate counts them again, and Keep the rates they were logged at leaves each one as it was when you saved it. A new name, new notes or another currency asks nothing. Change or delete a rate walks through it.
Where does the tax rate of my country come from?
The app holds the standard rates of 34 countries as of 2026 and fills in the one for the country you choose under Where do you usually shop?. Nothing updates them later, so if your rate differs, change the number in your rate.
Do I need to know my tax rates at all?
No. Both rates are optional when your pay is entered after tax. Without them the result is simply the time behind the price, and the split under it appears once you add them.
Can I keep more than one rate?
Yes. Tap the rate under Rate to open Your rates, where the + button adds another one and a tap on a rate makes it the one the converter counts with. Work with several rates shows the rest.
Get the app
Everything in these guides happens in the Wastime app, which keeps your calendars and diary on your phone and works offline.
