- Tools
- Time Audit
See where your 168 hours really go
Paint last week in half-hour blocks, one colour for each kind of time. The audit adds it up, shows the whole week as one bar, and finds the one recurring hour that is easiest to win back.
- 336 half-hour cells
- PNG and CSV export
- Free, nothing sent
How it works
Ten minutes from memory, or a few minutes a day while the week happens.
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Paint the week
Pick a category and drag down a day to fill the time it took, or across the days for a routine. Copy Monday to every weekday in one move, then repaint what was different.
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Mark what you would trade
Each category is Keep, Grow or Trade. Give the ones you want more of an aim in hours, and mark the time you would gladly give up as Trade.
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Take back one hour
The audit finds the hour of the day where Trade time comes back most often, and the Grow category it could go to. Try it on the grid, then put it in your calendar.
What the audit tells you
The panel beside the grid redraws with every cell you paint.
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The week as one bar
All 168 hours side by side, with each category's share and anything you have not logged yet.
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The hours after sleep and work
What is left once the two biggest blocks are counted, and the three categories that took most of it.
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The hour to reclaim
The one-hour slot where Trade time recurs on the most days. One hour that comes back every night is easier to win than minutes scattered through the week.
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Real week against your aims
Each category with an aim, shown against it: Grow aims as floors you want to reach, Trade aims as ceilings you want to stay under.
- Keep
Time you need and are content with: sleep, work, meals, the commute.
- Grow
Time you want more of, such as people, exercise or reading. These receive the hour you reclaim.
- Trade
Time you would gladly give up. Hatched on the grid, and the only time the audit suggests taking.
Logging every half hour of a week is the method Laura Vanderkam has long used and taught, starting with her book 168 Hours. Her advice is to log a real week rather than an ideal one, and to note it down a few times a day rather than from memory at the end, because memory tidies the week up. The Time Audit guide walks through the whole method.
Start from a week like yours
Each one opens the grid with a typical week already painted. Repaint what is different about yours. If you already have a week in the audit, Undo brings it back.
- A desk job Nine to five-thirty with a commute, evenings on the sofa and a late hour on the phone. 40h work, 59h sleep, hour to reclaim 22:00 every day Open this week
- A parent of small children Early starts, the school run, bedtime at eight, and the evening that is left after it. 37.5h work, 52.5h sleep, hour to reclaim 21:00 Monday to Friday Open this week
- A student Classes and study in the day, a Saturday shift, and the phone in bed past midnight. 31h work, 56.5h sleep, hour to reclaim 00:00 every day Open this week
- Night shifts Three twelve-hour nights from Sunday, sleep by day, then four days off to recover in. 37.5h work, 63.5h sleep, hour to reclaim 18:00 Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri and Sat Open this week
Learn the full time-audit method
The tool holds the data. The companion guide covers the rest: how to log the week, how to read the totals, and how to choose what to protect, delegate or drop.
Spend the reclaimed hour on purpose
When the hour comes round, run it as a timed block with the Focus Sprint Timer, so it goes to the thing you chose instead of drifting back.
Questions
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How does the Time Audit work?
The week is a grid of 336 half-hour cells, seven days across and 48 half hours down. Pick a category and drag to paint the time it took. The panel beside the grid adds up the hours, shows them as one bar of 168, and names the hour to reclaim.
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What is "the hour to reclaim"?
Mark the categories you would gladly give up as Trade (phone and social is marked to start with). The tool looks for the one-hour slot of the day where Trade time comes back on the most days, such as 22:00 to 23:00 every night, and suggests giving it to the Grow category that is furthest below its aim. One recurring hour is easier to win back than scattered minutes.
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Should I log a real week or a typical one?
A real one, if you can. Laura Vanderkam, who popularised tracking all 168 hours, logs in half-hour blocks and fills in her sheet a few times a day, because memory edits the week. If you are filling it from memory, start from a starting week close to yours and repaint what is different.
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Can I change the categories?
Yes. Rename any of them, set each one to Keep, Grow or Trade, give it a weekly aim in hours, or delete it. You can have up to 12. Deleting a category clears its cells, and Undo brings them back.
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Where is my week saved?
In this browser, after every change, so a reload keeps it. If you are signed in, it is also saved to your HourLife account, so it opens on your other devices, and you can delete it there in Settings. Signed out, nothing is sent to HourLife or anyone else. Clearing your browser's site data removes it, so download the PNG or CSV if you want a record.
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What can I export?
A PNG image of the grid with your totals and the hour to reclaim, a CSV with one row per half hour (day, start, end, category), a CSV of the totals against your aims, and a plain-text summary to paste anywhere.
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Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Tap or drag to paint, and scroll by dragging the hour column on the left, or switch to the Scroll tool in the top bar. A larger screen shows the grid, your categories and the totals side by side.
One week, honestly painted
The audit is saved in this browser as you go. Signed in, it is also kept in your account, so it opens on your other devices; signed out, nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
Keep this going in the app.
HourLife turns these ideas into a daily system — goals, habits, focus, and reflection in one private place.
