Do you have more to do than time to do it? Here are 10 ways to outsource your household tasks.
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I am a wife, mother and business owner. Over the last 20 years, I have juggled those three commitments in various ways. And what I’ve come to understand is that no one person can do everything.
I have tried all of the ideas where you have your kids and your husband help you with the household tasks in order to free up some of your time. And I do many of those, but what do you do when there’s not enough of you and your children and your husband to get everything done?
In order to grow my business over the last 20 years, I have always hired help. Sometimes that is in the form of help to actually help my business…as in a personal assistant or an editor. But more and more, I find that the tasks I need to outsource most are household related.
And, really, at the end of the day, the majority of the clients that the Organize 365 Team organizes fit the profile of a super busy, career-oriented woman who has let the household tasks go in order to focus on what is more important in her own world…be it a spouse, children or career.
Here are 10 household tasks that you can outsource to someone else to free up your time for what is most important to you.
#1 Dry Cleaning & Laundry
Many people know that you can outsource dry-cleaning; you can even have someone come pick that up from your house. But did you know that you can also outsource your laundry? I love to do our laundry, and it really is a therapeutic chore for me… as crazy as THAT sounds. But it does take about five hours a week for me to do all of our laundry, when you add up all the different minutes I walk into that room.
Last month for the first time, I took my laundry over to the laundromat and had them do it for me. I did all of the towels and jeans at my house to save money. All of the laundry came back completely folded and on hangers just as if I had done it myself…for about $25.
#2 Housecleaning
This probably should have been number one! There have been various seasons over the years where I’ve had someone clean my house regularly, and it is so awesome! I am not a fastidious cleaner; I prefer things to be straightened and organized. So, having someone really deep clean my house every other week is a luxury that our whole family enjoys.
Knowing that everything has been cleaned really well every two weeks allows me to not worry or stress out when messes happen in between cleanings.
#3 School Transportation
Both of my children attend private schools that are 30 minutes from our house… in opposite directions from one another. For one of those schools, the parents were able to go together and get a private bus chartered for the students. That saves me five hours of driving a day!
Last year, I also ran into the problem where both children needed to be picked up at the same exact time. My solution was to hire a local high school student to pick up my daughter who was dropped off at the bus close to home, get her a snack, take her to the library, get her homework done and bring her back one hour later.
Not only did I solve my transportation problem, but I also had a child who had a snack and her homework done by the time I saw her. Worth every penny.
#4 Lawn Maintenance
There are a number of repetitive, yard-related tasks that a homeowner needs to accomplish. Just like getting a house cleaner for your home, having lawn maintenance done can save a lot of time.
Three services that I can think of that would help with lawn care are snow removal, fertilizing your yard and the actual grass cutting.
#5 Outsourcing Shopping
Years ago, I was a personal shopper for one of our clients. But now Amazon does the same job for no fee and offers superior service. I have mentioned before how Amazon is now my go-to store for all my shopping needs. Instead of putting something on a list to buy later, I just open up my Amazon app, order it right away and it’s delivered to my doorstep within two days. You can’t beat that.
#6 Projects
I LOVE to do projects. But as I am aging and the demands on my time – especially DRIVING time – increase, I have less and less time to do household projects.
I have a repair list for my handyman and call him when I have a whole day’s worth of work for him. As professional organizers, this is where Organize 365 can be your go-to outsourcing source for digital photo scanning, photo album creation and making binders of your kiddos’ artwork.
I love the feeling of checking a big project off my list and always wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.
#7 Meals
I HATE to cook. Image may be NSFW.
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But we must eat. So I take ONE day a month and make 10 freezer meals in 2 hours. Bulk food prep saves me TONS of time. You can completely outsource this task to another mother or to a service like Dream Dinners.
#8 Grocery Shopping
In Cincinnati, Ohio, the local Kroger has started ONLINE shopping for pickup at the store. {Insert singing angels…} I haven’t tried it yet, but I am excited to test this out soon with hubby. I am pretty sure he will still need to go inside to get deli meats, but other than that, it can all be done online.
This is an AMAZING gift for anyone who works full time or has little kiddos!
#9 Bookkeeping – Bill Paying – Paper Filing
Did you know you are your family’s CEO? Well, you are! And if you are short on time, you might just want to hire a bookkeeper for your family finances, bill payments and monthly filing. Seems decadent, I know, but definitely a possibility.
Time is time, and you may want someone else to pay those bills so you can spend another hour a week playing with your kids or talking with your hubby.
#10 Hiring a Personal Assistant
Keep reading… it’s not as scary or ostentatious as you think.
Have you ever wanted to clone yourself? I think you know where I am going here. The role of home owner today is NOT the same as even 10 years ago. We need out of the box thinking to arrange our days so that they meet OUR needs and we are not just cramming everything that “needs” to get done into the day until we collapse into a coma at night.
Stop. Think.
What can you outsource? What is your budget? What do you HATE doing? What do you want to do more of?
This won’t happen overnight, but you can slowly start replacing one disliked or time consuming task with another high value time investment.
Over the past 15 years, I have diligently made these choices and not been afraid to outsource many tasks, both business and home-related, to others. I know it is why I am so productive and so happy with my life.
Are there any tasks you can think of that I can add to my household outsourcing list?
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