I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone THAT into doing the washing or cooking (every. single. night). Me either. A very strong ME EITHER. And that’s why we outsource household chores. I’m not sure if you know but I especially hate the fact that when you do your dishes, almost immediately, there’s something else to wash up. It just pushes my buttons. Washing is a bit like that too. Cleaning the shower…!! (deep breath, anyway). Over the years more and more we choose to buy our time back by paying other people to do the things we don’t want to do.

Or don’t have time to do.

I know. Before you even say it, this is a privileged position to be in. It takes a certain amount of disposable income to outsource your chores. But let me tell you, it’s not as much as you would think. Don’t shut that listening part of your brain off just yet, hang in with me. There might be a solution in here for you. Maybe.

I like to think of outsourcing household chores as a type of self-care. Instead of having to clean on a Saturday morning, the cleaner ($50 p.w.) comes Friday and Saturday morning, we get coffee or I catch up on my current YouTube favourites. Instead of grocery shopping, picking up and putting away, preparing and monitoring, we have all our meals delivered 5 to 7 days a week ($250+ p.w. for 2 people). Sure, that’s might not make sense for you; but for us, the cost of takeaway at something like $20 per person, per meal… It makes total sense.

As women, a large amount of these ‘chores’ fall to us. Even with great partners, it’s the way the world goes (change world, change). So, why shouldn’t you invest a portion of the household budget into buying YOUR time back? Worried about a partner who expects a certain level of household effort from you? (firstly, gosh, we should chat, but secondly…) Kel and I have never disagreed about the money we spend on outsourcing. He knows very well, he doesn’t want to do it either.

Though, to be fair, he’s a legend when it comes to keeping us in clean clothes.

We function well as a team, but we also know what works for us and what doesn’t. Having someone come in once a week, and recently ordering meals to be delivered, that works for us. There is less pressure, fewer arguments, and everything just works more efficiently. Including us. Which matters to us, we each run a business that takes a CHUNK of our time and even without kids, we like to stay involved with our family and friends. Taking some of those chores off our plate gives us space and time to do the things that are important to us and our businesses.

This is a lesson I learned from my parents from a very young age. Mum would leave early in the mornings to open her shop (at the time, later it was real estate offices, then a transport depot) and someone would come in to get us off to school. My parents also had someone who came to the house up to three times a week to cook, clean and care for us after school until Dad came back to the house (off the farm, which we lived on). There was never any shame about the help they paid for because, with everything they had on, the day-to-day of life would have been in a shambles without it.

It sounds like a pitch for cleaning or meal delivery services, right?

You’re probably waiting for me to launch into a pitch for this new app or service provider that has paid for this space on the blog. Well, it’s not; Hashtag Not Sponsored. This post was a chance for me to impress upon you how many things you are doing that might just be better off done by someone else. The $25 an hour you pay to a cleaner, or the $100 a week for meals, it only costs you money. What does it cost you otherwise? I know that I could never be as efficient as my cleaner, book-keeper or meal service. I know, I’ve tried. A lot of the time, the time spent DOES NOT equal the reward. For me.

So, I stopped doing it all. I challenge you to really look, I know the sums don’t add up for me when I look at it. Maybe for you, it’s someone to look after the kids or do the ironing? Someone to maintain your lawn and gardens or clean the windows where you can’t seem to reach. Whatever it is, there’s someone, for a more than reasonable price, who will take that job off your hands AND off your mind. Look around you, how do you spend your time? Do you want some of that back? Great, outsourcing your household chores will change your life. Not that interested in ‘more’ time, then maybe this post isn’t for you after all. Haha.

Can’t please ’em all.

I’m sure that for some people this post will bring up a range of emotions and internal conversations around money, worth and value. Great! That’s exactly what I wanted to do. If you’re reading this and I think that maybe I should just get on with the washing, grocery shopping and meal prep, then ask yourself some questions. Get to the bottom of why you think I HAVE to do all those things. Or better yet, why we are perfectly okay with saying that, but most people would never say it to Kel. It’s part of pulling apart the fabric of WHY we do the things we do. Why do we need to do it all? Who told us that having time out for ourselves was something that selfish people do?

So, there you go, team. My little look behind the scenes into the running of our household. I’m a little worried about sounding like a bit of a brat on this one, spoiled to the core just like those kids in primary school always said. (flashback! Haha) But please know that I would never want to you spend money you don’t have on outsourcing your household chores or anything else. But, for less money than you think, you could be making a HUGE difference in your quality of life. Take a look, have the conversations and let me know how you go. Want some tips or advice, let me know, I’ve outsourced pretty much everything at this point, I’m happy to share the insider info.

Melissa Walker Horn

Hi! I’m Melissa Walker Horn. Around here, they call me Suger. I’m the Chief Blogger and doer of all the things here at Suger Coat It. Blogging since 1901; I love a casual ootd, taking photos, and writing about things that irk or inspire me. I love wine and cheese, long days at the beach and spending time with my family. I make stuff for the internet over at Chalkboard Digital. You know, living the sweet life.