Are there any tasks that take up time and offer you very little in return? Of course! We all feel that way about different daily tasks. They are just part of life, right? While you want all these types of jobs and chores to be taken care of, sometimes it is more beneficial to have them outsourced, especially if (and a BIG IF) you have the resources and, more importantly, more resources than time. Especially time with your family.
Household chores often fall to a single person in the home – usually, but not always, mom. This can be a large source of stress and take time away from other projects. So if you are looking to be your most productive and reduce the amount of time you spend on things that don’t give you any joy, here are a couple of things to “hire” someone else to do.
Cleaning
Undeniably in some households, cleaning takes up a large number of hours. It’s more than a general tidying up; most often, only one person will handle it all. Unless you love cleaning (I know people that do!) and it relaxes you after a day of work, then consider hiring a cleaner.
Even once a month can make a dramatic difference to how much time you need to spend the rest of the time. You can usually find discount coupons and even a free first clean online with a little research. Or consider looking for a family in your community that needs extra income. Or trade services with another family. If you love to cook, maybe you can offer meals in exchange for cleaning.
Basic Household Tasks and Cooking
Outsource these tasks TO YOUR KIDS! You won’t have to pay nearly as much. Or ANYTHING. It is a disservice to everyone, but most especially your children, if you do not teach them how to do basic household tasks, like feeding animals, taking out trash, cleaning up after meals and more. And most kids can definitely contribute some basic help in the kitchen, from chopping veggies, setting the table, putting away leftovers and even preparing a side or main dish, even a simple one. YOU benefit greatly with more time, as well, when you raise good roommates!
Lawn care
Gardening can be relaxing and is shown to have a positive impact on us – but lawn care? Not really. Planting, trimming bushes, pulling weeds? All of those have therapeutic aspects for most people. But when it comes to mowing the lawn every few weeks and checking its health, that is usually better left to a local lawn care company.
Groceries
While you might not be able to outsource this one completely, if you are buying things on a list and with a meal plan, you could be wasting time and money getting this right every day. We often overspend on groceries when we don’t have a meal plan and hours we need to spend thinking about what to cook. That’s why I love Plan to Eat, which I combine with Misfits grocery ordering.
You can also try to ditch the mental load here and see if it would be more beneficial (time and money) to choose a meal plan from one of the meal delivery companies like Hello Fresh, EveryPlate, or Dinnerly.
Pantry Items
Buying in bulk usually works out cheaper and is more effective for most households. Amazon Prime Pantry can deliver things like toilet paper, rice, cleaning products, and other non-perishable items simultaneously each month. If you have a large family, I also like Boxed.com for staples.
You can change your order if you need to so that you can get everything from toothpaste and tampons to dog food and paper towels. While it doesn’t take long to head out and get what you need, it is a few hours that you’ll need to take out of your day that could be better spent elsewhere.
Of course, I love the idea of being STRATEGIC with your pantry purchases and storage. You can see my strategies in Prepped Pantry, my eBook and bonus collection.
When it comes to making the most of your time, creating a schedule that works for you is a must. Here are tons of tips (and then some) to get you started: time-saving Archives – Productive Mama.
One comment