How it works

The idea: a price measured in life

In money, a price is abstract — and that is exactly why it holds no one back in the middle of an impulse. Converted into working time, the same number becomes concrete: a price of 1,500 does not hurt, 300 hours do.

The maths is simple: Reprograme divides your monthly income by 220 working hours in the month to find what one hour of your time is worth, then divides the price of the item by that value. The result is how many hours of your life that purchase costs.

The five questions

One question per screen, in the order below. You can go back and change any answer before seeing the result.

1. What are you thinking of buying? In your own words. It does not have to be the exact product name.

2. Why do you want to buy it right now? This is where the trigger shows up: a sale, social media, a stressful day, something that broke, a friend who bought one or an old plan. Recognising the trigger is already half the decision.

3. How much does the item cost? The price of the product, without shipping and without interest.

4. Shall we put that price in context? An estimate of your monthly income and how you would pay: in full or in instalments. Rounding is fine — and there is no judgement about the amount.

5. How do you want to follow this decision? An e-mail address to receive the reminder when the waiting period ends, your consent to use that address and, if you like, the product link so Reprograme can watch the price while you wait.

The result

Once the five questions are answered, Reprograme shows how much the purchase costs in hours of work and how heavily it weighs on your income for the month. The panel changes colour with that weight: blue when it fits the month, amber when it presses, red when it takes half your income or more. The colour conveys weight, never blame.

An example: for someone earning 1,100 a month, an item priced at 1,500 costs 300 hours of work — more than a full month of income, with 80 hours to spare.

The waiting period

Along with the number comes a suggested wait: 1, 7, 15, 30, 90, 180 or 365 days. The step starts from the weight of the purchase on your income and is adjusted by the rest of your answers.

• An impulse trigger — a sale, social media, stress — adds one step.
• A necessity trigger — something that broke, an old plan — removes one step, as long as no impulse trigger was ticked.
• Paying in instalments adds one step.

The adjustments together never move more than one step, and light purchases have a ceiling: below 5% of your monthly income the wait never passes 7 days; below 15%, never past 15. A disproportionate suggestion would feel like punishment — and punishment reprograms nothing.

The technique behind it is old and simple: sleep on it. The wish stays put away until the rush passes, and only then is it looked at again.

The decision: wait, buy or let go

With the number on screen, the choice is yours. There are three paths, and none of them is wrong.

• Wait. Reprograme schedules an e-mail reminder for the end of the period. If you gave the product link, it also watches the price while you wait and tells you if it changes.
• Buy now. The purchase is recorded, and both the reminder and the price watch are cancelled.
• Let go. The reflection is archived and the amount goes into your total saved — the scoreboard of what you did not buy on impulse.

When the period ends, you come back to the same reflection and decide again, with a cool head. Someone who sat through the wait and still wants the item decided clearly: that purchase is a win for Reprograme, not a failure. There is only one rule — buy out of need, not out of impulse.

What Reprograme knows about you

There is no account, no password and no advertising. To start, just open the first question. On the last step, before the result, Reprograme asks for an e-mail address and your consent: that is how the reminder reaches you when the period ends.

Your income and your e-mail are encrypted in the database. Nothing is sold, shared or used for advertising, and you can delete everything at any time, in one click. What is kept, for how long and how to delete it is in the privacy policy.

Read the privacy policy

What Reprograme is not

It is not financial advice, it is not an investment and it is not a purchase blocker. It does not know whether that item is good or whether you should buy it. What it does is show the price in a currency nobody usually adds up — your time — and give back the interval you need to decide without hurry.