WageGauge

Meet WageGauge — the Chrome extension that turns every price you see online into the most human metric of all: time. Instead of asking “Can I afford £100?”, you’ll instinctively see “£100 ≈ 2 hours 45 minutes of your life (based on your wage).” WageGauge overlays time-based price tags right on the web pages you already use, adding a subtle, accessible tooltip when you hover over currency values. It’s a tiny shift in perspective that creates a huge boost in clarity, helping you make smarter decisions about spending, saving, and prioritizing what truly matters.

WageGauge is designed for anyone who cares about personal finance, budgeting, and productivity — students stretching a loan, freelancers juggling invoices, full-time employees tracking salary against spending, and savvy shoppers who want to measure opportunity cost in a natural, intuitive way. If you’ve ever wondered “How many hours of work is this worth?” while browsing an online shop, compared subscription prices, or weighed a big-ticket purchase, WageGauge puts the answer a hover away.

# Why time-based prices?

Money is abstract. Time is personal. When you convert the cost of goods and services into “hours and minutes of your life,” priorities snap into focus. £12 a month might not feel like much until you see that it’s 18 minutes of your working day — every month, indefinitely. A £799 laptop becomes “a week and a bit of work.” A one-off £35 fee turns into “about an hour.” With WageGauge on your side, you replace guesswork with a consistent measure tied to your real wage, salary, or day rate.

# How it works

1. Set your wage: Enter your hourly wage, salary, day rate, or contract rate in the extension’s options. Prefer to think annually? Just provide your yearly salary — WageGauge converts it to an hourly figure using your chosen assumptions (working days per week, hours per day, holidays).