Outsourcing

[Anonymous]

I have three young kids and work full time.

There is so much "administrative" stuff to do and so many errands.

Scheduling carpool/getting gifts for birthday parties/grocery shopping/signing kids up for classes and camps/planning birthday parties/PTA... The list goes on.

What tasks would you add to the list? What do you outsource?

Things you would be comfortable having someone else do, that take up your time now.

Looking to be able to stress less, and spend more time with my kids when I am not at work.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny does all that. Once the kids started school, she became our house manager and is always available for back up care. She also does all grocery shopping and ordering as well as laundry.

[Anonymous]

Amy Poehler says every working mom needs a wife (to handle all the mental load/admin stuff). I wholeheartedly agree but never found a good way to outsource that outside of DH.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP- I run a local domestic staffing agency. Happy to tell you about the market for household managers if that's something you are interested in. Typical duties include everything you mentioned plus managing family/school calendars, planning booking and packing for travel, routine car maintenance, scheduling and taking pets to vet or groomer, organization, laundry, groceries, errands (dry cleaning, returns, etc), keeping household stocked, researching and scheduling home maintenance or contractors, sorting email or regular mail, seasonal tasks (gift shopping and wrapping, researching and booking camps), sorting and donating old clothes and toys, etc.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny of ten years handles everything.

[Anonymous]

Working mom here. There are things I outsource but the things on your list are part of the fun of being a mom so nothing. Grocery shopping is the only not fun thing but I’m so picky no one would make me happy so I’d be buying a perpetual headache.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny handles a lot of this stuff. Today she had the kids make father's day cards and decorate the box the gift they're getting for him will go in.

[Anonymous]

I bet the responses saying “nanny does this” are not going to be helpful for OP. You think she hasn’t thought about this? More likely she just doesn’t have an extra 60-80k sitting around so someone can do admin tasks for her.

- HHI 1.2mm so have no skin in the game but know when to not make suggestions that are nothing more than a humblebrag disguised as advice.