Sunday, January 10, 2016

Should you hire a housekeeper?

If you're so busy that you run out of clean socks, or find yourself spending more time scrubbing floors than playing with your kids, it might be time to at least consider hiring a bit of help around the house.

We all know how stressful and time-consuming everyday life can be when you have a home, a family, and a full-time job. With only 24 hours in the day, keeping the house clean, the groceries stocked, and the laundry moving can feel like an impossible feat.

And if you're frugal, hiring some help might seem out of the question. After all, why should you pay someone to do a task you can easily do yourself?

Firstly, if you have someone come clean your home on a regular basis you can focus on the daily stuff - wiping down counters, picking up toys, laundry, and dishes. And instead of feeling overwhelmed because you have so much more to do you can relax because no matter how busy life gets, your housekeepers visit is never more than  few weeks away.

Here are some signs you might need to hire a housekeeper:

You're planning your life around avoiding chores

Working part-time or full-time can take a toll on your body and your mental health, and that's especially true if you're also running a household and taking care of kids. And sometimes the "extra," mundane stuff is enough to make you downright miserable.

If you find yourself wearing the same clothes for days in order to avoid laundry, or stopping by McDonalds for dinner to avoid dirtying up more dishes or your kitchen, it might be time to hire some help.

Your husband is down to his last pair of underwear

This has happened to me more than once. After working several 8-hour days in  row, I realized that no one in the house had any clean dress socks or underwear for work the next day. So instead of coming home from a long day to relax, I had to spend some late night hours doing laundry instead.

This is a telltale sign that it might be time to outsource something - anything. When you don't have enough hours in the day to keep basic laundry items clean, something has to give.

Your weekly pay is 4x or more than what you would pay someone

When you aren't earning a lot, paying $100-$400 for a housekeeper can be out of the question. But, what if you earn considerably more than what you would pay someone else?

This is an important question to ponder if you're thinking about hiring help. Lets say you pay $130 every other week for a house cleaner to clean your house from top to bottom for four hours. If you invested that time into overtime at your job or your side job, could you make that much or more? If the answer is yes, then it definitely makes sense to hire some help.

You're missing out on quality time with your partner, spouse, or children

When you work full-time and have a family, sometimes the weekends are all you've got left. But, would you rather spend your Saturday afternoon doing something fun with your family - or watching life go by while you deep clean your kitchen and lint roll your couch?

The fact that there are only 940 Saturdays from the time your child is born and they day they turn 18 means you should spend that time making memories. If you spend that time cleaning instead, you could live to regret it.

The bottom line

While it's important to save money for the future, it's equally important to have a happy life today. And some times, that means figuring out what you can and cant do - and hiring help when you can't be everywhere at once.

So if you're struggling to keep up with your to-do list, give yourself permission to at least explore the idea of hiring help. And remember, if always running on empty, it might actually make sense to hire someone to mow the lawn, clean your house, or deliver your groceries.

There's only 24 hours in a day, and its up to us to make the most of them. And sometimes, that means being smart enough to realize we need time for ourselves and our families more than anything else.

Katie's Peachy Clean
Eco-friendly green house cleaning in Tulsa, Oklahoma
918-640-3019
Katie @ peachycleantulsa.com
peachycleantulsa.com