Feeling Overwhelmed?
Outsource your way to peace and productivity. By Sarah Friesen, Gig Harbor Home Management.
Like many of Gig Harbor’s local residents, Annie and Sam work busy full-time jobs, leaving the house early in the morning to drop off young kids at daycare before heading to work. Struggling to solidify their career paths while also trying to fully enjoy parenthood, they often feel guilty, overwhelmed and simply tired. “I feel like time is literally slipping through my fingers; like I’m trying to hold a cup of sand in my hands,” confesses Annie.
This year they vowed to take a few simple steps in order to gain some sanity around the house. By taking some simple steps, their lives became more manageable. Some of these steps include:
· Wake up earlier than the kids in order to have a peaceful, smooth start to your day.
· Make your bed every morning so that your room feels manageable and presentable.
· Plan ahead for meals using simple, quick ingredients and plan for only one shopping trip.
· Do a 10-minute tidy every night so you can keep ahead of the clutter.
But Annie and Sam knew they had to take it even further. Sam’s career was at a critical turning point, and working extra hours could result in a rewarding promotion down the road. Annie wasn’t sure she could handle her own job responsibilities and still care for the kids in the evenings, on top of keeping up with household tasks. Something had to give.
Susan Athey, an economist at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, says “You have to start from a point where you say: What is necessary for me to be happy with my decision to be a working mother?” Athey believes, “A lot of working mothers end up throwing up their hands in exasperation saying, ‘I can’t live this way!’ and quit their jobs.”
Enter the home management outsourcing solution that is sweeping the nation.
“If parents who want to work abandon their careers before trying outsourcing, quitting may be shortsighted,” writes NY Times author Catherine Kampell.
Even if you’re faster and more effective than everyone else at a given task, you still might be better off paying someone else to do it for you. Why?
Experts agree that there is a huge opportunity cost for every hour spent on tedious household tasks, and in most cases, there is a higher-value activity waiting for you instead.
For some, outsourcing their house cleaning at a rate of $30/hour makes financial sense when they could use that time to earn $100/hour by going to work. In other situations, the cleaning service might be more of a financial sacrifice, however in the long term it allows them to get the job promotion that increases their income potential for a lifetime.
For household outsourcing to make sense, it must provide value that is higher than the cost of the service. For some families, the added value is simply time with their kids. Those items are the intangibles, and often what a family needs most in the middle of chaotic schedules.
Home management solutions that offer full-scale services like house cleaning, professional organization and coordination are growing in popularity. And with increasing financial responsibilities, workloads and leisure activities, you might find it’s the perfect solution for your family too!
