Regain Time by Hiring Household Help

By Rachael Bender

Sometimes the greatest gift we can give ourselves is the luxury of time. And luckily in today's world of personal assistants of every kind you can buy that luxury. Consider doing something for yourself to make a big impact in the one area you struggle with the most. Bring in a professional service to help you with your greatest challenge. Not the best with laundry? Consider using a service periodically to keep you on top of the pile. Not the best at managing your desk? A professional organizer will teach you how to sort and file in no time at all. Enlisting a partner to tackle your weakest link is not only smart but a tremendous stress reducer it can also be a timesaver.

It may sound like a fantasy to have someone to pick up your dry cleaning, clean your closets or cook homecooked meals, but for services like these can save a busy mom's sanity. Here are a couple of ideas on how you can save time by outsourcing household chores:

Get Organized with a Professional Organizer
We waste hours a week searching the house for baseball uniforms, school papers, unpaid bills, car keys, sunglasses not to mention all the stuffed closets that make it hard to find that perfect handbag you just know was in that hallway closet. Save yourself time and stress by hiring a professional organizer to de-clutter your house, organize your stuff and teach you how to stay that way. Visit The National Association of Professional Organizers to find an organizer in your area.

Homemade Dinners all Week
Sixty-percent of working mothers don’t know what they are cooking for dinner at 4 p.m. Hire a personal chef to help free up your after-work hours by staying out of the kitchen. They are far less expensive than you think. Find out more about personal chefs.

Hire a Housekeeper
After a long day at work or taking care of the kids the last thing you want to do is scrub down the bathrooms or dust the bookshelves. Whether it’s a one-time luxury or weekly treat, a housekeeper or cleaning service can keep the dust bunnies at bay and help you rediscover that weekends and evenings are best spent with the family not the vacuum cleaner. Depending on where you live a cleaning service can be as cheap as $50 a week.

Home Delivery
Pizza isn't the only thing that can be brought to your doorstep. You can avoid the lines at the pharmacy, grocery store, postal office, dry cleaner and office supply store. Many local and national stores offer their goods with at home delivery through both the mail and through store delivery trucks. You can even avoid the video store by having DVDs arrive in the mail from Blockbuster or NetFlix.

What other chores can you outsource?
Grocery shopping, shopping for clothes, washing clothes, waiting for the cable repairman, yard work, car detailing. Choose your least favorite chore and hire someone else to take are of it for you.

The True Cost of Convenience
When it comes to hiring household help you have to weigh the cost of the service against what your time is worth. The saying "time is money" holds a lot of truth. What's your hourly rate? If you save five hours a week you might find that you save money in other areas like buying pre-packaged meals, take out or less time de-stressing at a spa. So what are you going to do with that extra free hour a day?

Rachael Bender is the co-founder of BlueSuitMom.com and the mother of a beautiful baby girl.