Funny that husbands in this area are incompetent and can't do handyman stuff. Hope you like getting ripped off.

Anonymous wrote:Okay...I need to know more about this laundry outsourcing you all speak of!

I have a "housekeeper" instead of a "cleaner". I hired a person who would do both, and she comes several times a week for a few hours. It's amazing. I'm from another country where cleaners all do laundry as part of their job, so I was surprised to find that's not the case here. Then I discovered there are people who do this but their title is "housekeeper". Found her on care.com and she's great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My free time falls through the cracks. I can't imagine the last time I watched TV.

We don't outsource anything other than childcare. We both work 8-4:30, work 7 and 15 minutes away. We eat dinner as a family with our toddlers every single night and we always cook. I do laundry on my telework day. House is pretty spotless and we've trained the kids to help clean. Even the 3 year old knows where her toys go.

That's the ONE thing you shouldn't be outsourcing! Jeez

Get a life.

We get a deep clean for the house once a month. That's all we "outsource." Nothing falls through the cracks. Nothing is that hard. It's nothing to throw a load of laundry in the washer, move it later, fold it while watching "Real Housewives" and the kids are in bed. Not seeing why anything would fall through the cracks, honestly.

Two kids in elementary school.
We have:
a nanny
house-cleaning Mondays and Thursdays
Landscaping once a month

Nothing falls through the cracks.

Two FT WOH parents. One 4yo DD, another on the way. DD is in daycare. DH has a very long commute (his choice to do so). We outsource nothing. I dream of hiring a cleaner, even just once a month, but we had some large, totally unexpected expenses this year, so we are saving everywhere we can.
I cook several dinners on the weekend and one or two during the week. Leftovers are used for lunches and/or additional dinners. Takeout maybe once a week.

Our relationship suffers. We tried to prioritize getting out together for a date night once a month, but now that has stopped, too.

Anonymous wrote:This is a really weird thread. Most of the stuff y'all say you "outsource" because you both work you'd still outsource if only one of you worked so long as you could afford it. A cleaning service? Yard work? Handyman work? Who with money does any of that stuff themselves? I don't work and we still outsource all of that.

I don't outsource any of that. You must make more money than me then. We make about 200k, but can't afford cleaning ladies, yard service or handymen. I like gardening and mowing. I also haven't found a cleaning lady who cleans as well as me.

Not really an answer to the question but I have found a really helpful way of not getting overwhelmed.

If you have enough vacation days, take a day off when the kids are in school/ preschool. You can accomplish an amazing amount with no one else at home. Doing it once a quarter has really been great for my sanity.

Beyond that, both of us work FT and we don't really outsource anything other than twice monthly cleaners. As long as I never sit down when I'm home I can do it all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My free time falls through the cracks. I can't imagine the last time I watched TV.

We don't outsource anything other than childcare. We both work 8-4:30, work 7 and 15 minutes away. We eat dinner as a family with our toddlers every single night and we always cook. I do laundry on my telework day. House is pretty spotless and we've trained the kids to help clean. Even the 3 year old knows where her toys go.

That's the ONE thing you shouldn't be outsourcing! Jeez

wtf. the title was asking two parents working FT. Who do you think should care for my kids while I work?!

Anonymous wrote:I'm a single parent and nothing falls through the cracks that is important. Having clean clothing trumps cleaning the house (since nobody comes over often anyway and my friends/family don't care about a perfectly clean home). I don't understand how two parents cannot get laundry done.

I don't think anyone is saying they wear dirty clothes. Instead, laundry doesn't get done as often as we would like. Clothing builds up. We all still wear clean clothes.

This is a really weird thread. Most of the stuff y'all say you "outsource" because you both work you'd still outsource if only one of you worked so long as you could afford it. A cleaning service? Yard work? Handyman work? Who with money does any of that stuff themselves? I don't work and we still outsource all of that.

I'm a single parent and nothing falls through the cracks that is important. Having clean clothing trumps cleaning the house (since nobody comes over often anyway and my friends/family don't care about a perfectly clean home). I don't understand how two parents cannot get laundry done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My free time falls through the cracks. I can't imagine the last time I watched TV.

We don't outsource anything other than childcare. We both work 8-4:30, work 7 and 15 minutes away. We eat dinner as a family with our toddlers every single night and we always cook. I do laundry on my telework day. House is pretty spotless and we've trained the kids to help clean. Even the 3 year old knows where her toys go.

That's the ONE thing you shouldn't be outsourcing! Jeez

? Are you one of these crazy anti-preschool people?

Anonymous wrote:My free time falls through the cracks. I can't imagine the last time I watched TV.

We don't outsource anything other than childcare. We both work 8-4:30, work 7 and 15 minutes away. We eat dinner as a family with our toddlers every single night and we always cook. I do laundry on my telework day. House is pretty spotless and we've trained the kids to help clean. Even the 3 year old knows where her toys go.

That's the ONE thing you shouldn't be outsourcing! Jeez

Anonymous wrote:Okay...I need to know more about this laundry outsourcing you all speak of!

You can pay for a laundry service. I don't know how much it costs. We've never done it because we paid for a new washer/dryer recently so it seemed like a waste, but I can imagine it would be really convenient.