It takes less time to sew on a button than it does to arrange for someone else to sew a button / drop off items.

I worked somewhere where we had teens who grew up in 'outsourced' homes. Handed them sheets to make the beds and they looked at me with confusion. Same thing when asked to go do laundry - many had never worked a washer/dryer. Even dishes for some was a stretch. A few were great cooks, other couldn't even boil water. It was pretty obvious that most grew up in homes where these types of 'lifeskills' were deemed very unimportant, with families likely assuming their own kids would also have sufficient money that they would not have to do their own domestic work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mentor at work has three children and I really look up to her because (as far as i can tell) she does a good job of finding a work/life balance. I got a chance to casually ask her if she has any tips for working moms and she bluntly said "I throw money at every single problem I can. House cleaning, grocery & dry clean delivery, landscape contract, i don't make cookies i buy them, i don't go to class parties but i get pizzas delivered to them, i pay a concierge fee at the doctors to have preference, i pay 7.99 to have a button sewed on my jacket instead of taking 20 minutes to do it, I pay anyone anything to save time." It was so direct and matter of fact I was kind of stunned but Ive been thinking about it for a few hours and I can't help but thing she's right. How much of my life am I willing to outsource to make it so I have two things to do in life 1.) work 2.) raise my kids. Interesting food for thought. I personally think I am going to add a housecleaner (already have a landscaper).

she does not know what she is talking about. it takes less than 5 minutes to get the sewing kit, thread the needle, tie a knot, sew on button, tie another knot, snip, and put away the sewing kit. would not trust a thing out of her mouth.

If you are pressed for time, start at :29. It takes one minute to sew on a button, but the lesson is less than 4 minutes.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdu65MYhOP4

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mentor at work has three children and I really look up to her because (as far as i can tell) she does a good job of finding a work/life balance. I got a chance to casually ask her if she has any tips for working moms and she bluntly said "I throw money at every single problem I can. House cleaning, grocery & dry clean delivery, landscape contract, i don't make cookies i buy them, i don't go to class parties but i get pizzas delivered to them, i pay a concierge fee at the doctors to have preference, i pay 7.99 to have a button sewed on my jacket instead of taking 20 minutes to do it, I pay anyone anything to save time." It was so direct and matter of fact I was kind of stunned but Ive been thinking about it for a few hours and I can't help but thing she's right. How much of my life am I willing to outsource to make it so I have two things to do in life 1.) work 2.) raise my kids. Interesting food for thought. I personally think I am going to add a housecleaner (already have a landscaper).

she does not know what she is talking about. it takes less than 5 minutes to get the sewing kit, thread the needle, tie a knot, sew on button, tie another knot, snip, and put away the sewing kit. would not trust a thing out of her mouth.

I am not proficient at sewing, so it would take me 20 mins and not 5 as you suggested. And, you assume she has a sewing kit somewhere in her house which very well may not be the case. I am like the mentor and will gladly pay someone to sew on a button. My housekeeper was a seamstress before she came to the US, so it's much easier to ask her to do it and she happily accepts the extra money I pay her to do it. Win-win.

wow. this is so very sad.

EVERY FRIGGING THING I CAN.

The only thing you can't outsource of course is time with the kids. SO hell yeah, whatever else I need to do, I hire or outsource for. I also have 3 nannies (who have in turn worked at one time or another with either of my 2 kids as a childcare provider) who I can choose from to babysit. I don't use babysitters - just one of my 3 nannies for overnight sitting if needed - the 2 kids stay at their house with their families and once a year when my husband and I go on a 3 or 4 day vaca on our own. We definitely spend all our time we have with the kids but when we need a break which we really do, I have people I can hire to help there. I am a big believer in outsourcing. Time = money. Of course you need a lot of money to be able to outsource everything so it's a matter of your priorities. DH and I work FT. We can afford to outsource but then again we have to outsource because we work Personally I enjoy working and outsourcing when needed but I can appreciate people who may differ and feel that they want to take care of everything personally. But time is valuable so I can't believe you can do everything and still have time to earn $$

I have a cleaning lady 1x/wk, at least 2/x week my nanny helps in the evenings to feed/bathe/put to sleep my 2 little ones. I am an amazon prime nut Groceries, meals and everything else - all delivered or brought as much as possible. If I had the money I would hire an au pair/housekeeper that lived in to cook, clean, help with the kids. I do think that if we only had once child it would be less outsourcing taking place. I also look forward to a time when the kids are not age 2 and 4. I imagine that by age 5 and 7, life is much more even keel with kids being able to manage more on their own and keeping each other company

We spend loads on all the service but without doing so, I could not function.

How do you outsource groceries? Do they pick good pieces meat , vegetables and fruit?

I/we outsource what we can reasonably afford, what helps to keep our life in balance, and the tasks we really dislike doing. So we have a twice monthly house cleaner, and we have all DH's work clothes dry-cleaned. We pay the kid next door to mow our lawn, pay people to do minor landscaping stuff a few times/year, and pay for labor for both major and minor home-improvement projects (painting, renovating). Amazon prime has been awesome for diapers, wipes and other basic baby supplies this first year of DS's life.

Everything else, though, we do. All the errands, all the grocery and other shopping (excepting the diapers, etc.), all the cooking, all the laundry, the dishes, the trash and recycling, the pet care, the car maintenance, the minor upkeep cleaning, etc. I don't feel like DS will end up missing out on learning about much, and I think we have the right balance for our life. DH and I both work FT, and I'm also FT in a PhD program, so the time I save by not doing the heavy cleaning and ironing feels totally worth the money even though we are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

I see no problem outsourcing if it gets you more of something else you want. We outsource grocery shopping and lawn mowing. I go back and forth between having a house cleaner or not. I only work 4 days a week, but kids are in school and daycare so I do much of the cleaning on my weekday off. I can see us doing more outsourcing once the kids are a a bit older because like another poster said, it is clear they like when we do pick up/drop off, get in late or leave early every once in a while, and when we attend school functions.

My heart SANG when I saw this thread title and the number of pages I'm never going to be one of those companies who parades as a happy customer on DCurbanmom to lure in clients but I had to pipe up with a huge Hire Me Please!!


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My parents are retired and are in town a few months a year, so of course that's one HUGE outsourcing. I find the unexpected care needs are some of the hardest to manage if you work a non-flexible job. How we do it:

(1) swap with a neighbor (we live in an apartment building) when school is closed, which it always seems to be these days. None of us can afford to miss this much work so we trade off during the day--take two hours at a time so we can get some work cleaning done while kids are at the other apt. Since we're indoors it's easy to get the kids back and forth, they don't even have to put on shoes

(2) Use LifeCare. If you work for a federal agency, in particular, see if your agency offers it. They can do emergency child or elder care, my agency covers 5 days a year. Doesn't work when everyone has a problem, like snow days, but it is helpful for one sick kid or teacher development day when DH is out of town and I have to work.