NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Like a lot of people, you give 8-plus hours of your day to an employer in exchange for money.

That money is intended not only to fund your everyday life, but to build financial security. Technically you may be working for the Man, but really, long-term, you're working for yourself.

So the question is: Are you paying yourself enough?

That is, for all the time you put in, how many hours of pay do you actually get to keep compared to the hours you log to pay Uncle Sam, his state and local cousins, your landlord, your car dealer and your credit card provider? How about the grocery clerk, the utility guy and the owners of all those restaurants you frequent?

Chances are the comparison isn't pretty.

In fact, if you use net savings as a measure, Americans work only 15 minutes a day for themselves, according to the Tax Foundation. The group arrived at that fleeting figure using 2003 tax rates and data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, based on an 8-hour workday.

By comparison, U.S. workers toil just over 2.5 hours to pay for rent, home maintenance, food and transportation; almost 2.5 hours to pay their federal, state and local taxes; nearly an hour for medical care; and an hour and 47 minutes for clothing, recreation and all other expenses.

Since these numbers are based on what the U.S. working population earns and spends as a group, your circumstance is likely to be somewhat different, depending on several factors, including how much you earn, what your expenses are and how much debt you have.

Still, your savings regimen is more likely to resemble a coffee break than a two-hour siesta.

David Bach, author of "The Automatic Millionaire," argues that at a minimum, you should be working one hour a day in the service of your retirement savings. That's 12.5 percent of your income, figuring an 8-hour day.

But since retirement isn't your only savings goal, you might want to earmark another half-hour or hour for your other goals, such as college, a vacation or a down payment.

Making that happen will take some doing. Unless you're due for a big raise, your best route to greater savings is curbing costs over which you have some control.

When considering a purchase, you might ask what purpose it will serve. Is it a need, a comfort, a luxury or just excess? In other words, said Vicki Robin, coauthor of "Your Money or Your Life," "Is it one more luxury that won't add to the quality of your life?"

Then calculate how many hours, days or months of work it will take to pay for something in full.

To do this, figure out what you make on an hourly, pretax basis. So, for the examples below, let's assume you gross $75,000 a year. That means you make about $36 an hour, assuming you're paid for a 40-hour week, 52 weeks a year, including paid vacation.

Now, let's say you want to buy a car such as the Toyota Camry.

A 2004 Toyota Camry XLE V6 typically sells for $24,050, according to the Kelley Blue Book Web site. But if you're financing the purchase, you'll pay $26,764, assuming a 60-month loan at 4.29 percent from Capital One Auto Finance. Translation: Nearly 93 days of your time serving the Man (that's 18.6 weeks of work or 37 percent of one year at the office) will be dedicated exclusively to paying for all four wheels. And that doesn't include what you'll need to spend on gas, repairs and insurance.

By contrast, if you opt for a used 2001 Toyota Camry XLE V6, you'll only pay $16,826, assuming a 60-month loan at 4.85 percent. That will cost you 58.4 days, which means you've freed up 34.5 days of your labor to pay yourself instead of someone else.

You'll save even more if you take out a 36-month loan.

Or you might think twice about your next credit card purchase. U.S. households with at least one credit card carried an average balance of $9,340 in 2003, according to CardWeb.com. The average interest rate, meanwhile, is 16.44 percent.

Just paying off that balance would cost you 51 days of work assuming fixed monthly payments of $200. Adding to that balance just means you spend more work hours lining the pockets of your Visa provider. Good times.

Then there's the infamous quick bite. If you're lazy like me, you buy your lunch at work. (Yes, I know. As a personal finance writer, I should be ashamed.) If that lunch costs you $7 a day for 50 weeks, that means that 1 week plus 1 day of your time every year will be devoted exclusively to paying for noontime chow.

Now, if you buy breakfast and snacks on top of that – well, I'll be happy to pick up a book for you on chronic workaholism when I step out for a sandwich.

Jeanne Sahadi writes about personal finance for CNN/Money. She also appears regularly on CNNfn's "Your Money," which airs weeknights at 5 p.m. ET. Please let her know what you think about the issues raised in this column by e-mailing her at everydaymoney@cnnmoney.com.