It's unclear what's better — spending $20 on a tool that frees up 3 hours of your time once, or spending those 3 hours yourself but not spending the money.
You may have never thought about this. That's fine. I thought about it for you.
The quick answer: of course, get the tool, your 3 hours are worth more. That's true. But only if you actually spend those three hours on something useful that creates additional value and pays back the investment.
But what if, say, you're an indie developer and you're not earning money yet? You only have potential income that can't be calculated. Or you do earn money, but instead of working you now spend those free three hours scrolling TikTok? Then that $20 just becomes an extra burden on your wallet and a reason to feed a brainrot video addiction :)
Add uncertainty on top of that. For example, potential losses if you invested your effort and time into setting up the tool, and it turned out not to be as useful and convenient as expected. Add constraints on both time and money — this is usually relevant for anyone doing things on their own.
It gets complicated.
For myself, I concluded this. The decision comes down to answering the question — do I feel better and am I getting closer to my goal? If the tool makes me more productive and I enjoy that, if it makes work more comfortable and life more pleasant — that's already reason enough to buy it.
