I Hired A Housekeeper | & Other Things You Can Outsource

I’ve talked about this on Instastories recently, but it’s making such a big difference in my life, I felt the need to give it a blog post as well.

When I was pregnant with Mason, my husband hired a housekeeper to do a deep cleaning of our apartment right before my due date. It was amazing walking into a fresh clean apartment after she was done. I remember it feeling like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. After that, we’ve had several one-time cleanings done over the years by various people.

For the last year or so specifically, I’ve felt very overwhelmed and stressed in my own home. I feel surrounded by belongings and clutter, and with work and parenting I’ve never been able to keep a consistently clean house.

A couple of weeks ago, I received my quarterly bonus at work and decided to treat myself to a house cleaning. I’m still on a budget, and most house cleaners in my area charge between $25-35 an hour, but I found a girl on Kijiji who charges $20 an hour. I messaged her, and immediately knew she was going to be amazing. She asked me about what type of floors and appliances we have, what type of cleaners I preferred, etc. She brought all of her own cleaning supplies, which is amazing for the price she charges. Once I talked to her more, I learned that she’s a college student who does this on the side before and after class to make money.

I hired her for two hours, and she was able to clean my kitchen and entryway from top to bottom in that time frame. She swept, mopped, cleaned the oven, scrubbed everything, and even offered to clean out our fridge. My oven has never ever been this clean. I was hooked.

I hired her again for 2 weeks later, and as I type this, she’s coming over this evening to do the kitchen and upstairs bathroom. While she cleans one area of the house, I usually work on another, get some writing done, or play with Mason. Hiring a housekeeper is giving yourself the gift of time! A lot of people choose to have their housekeeper come when they’re at work, but I’m not fully comfortable with that yet. My ultimate goals are to continue to hire her biweekly for the next few months at least, until I get a handle on things. After that, I will probably just hire her for one time cleanings before company comes, or before Christmas. I’m in the process of decluttering our entire house (it’s a never ending process), so the more I get rid of, the easier I think it will be for me to take control of the cleaning myself.

After hiring her, I started wondering what other things could be outsourced to make my life easier. I made a list of my biggest struggles currently, and tried to figure out where I can improve things.

Ordering Groceries Online

After cleaning, my next biggest struggle is grocery shopping and meal prep. Last year, Superstore rolled out their grocery pick up program that allows you to order your groceries online and pick them up at the store. I’ve heard amazing things about this program from other moms! You can choose what time you need to pick things up, and just call them when you arrive so they can bring it to your car. Walmart also just recently came out with the same option! I’m planning on trying this service very soon.

Grocery shopping used to be SO easy for me, but now that my husband is working a new job, he’s rarely home to be with our son when I want to get groceries- and taking a busy 5 year old to the store is never an easy task. I would prefer to just roll up, get my groceries brought out, and go home to start my meal prep.

Amazon Prime is another great resource for ordering household products! You can order dry foods, toilet paper, household cleaning products, etc.

Meal Delivery Services & Catering

I recently came across a service in my city called Comfort Catering. When I hear of a business like that, my initial reaction is to assume it’s a service for elderly people, or people who are unable to cook for themselves. After checking out the page, I was pleasantly surprised to see that moms were utilizing this service too! You place your order before the cut off date, and pick it up once it’s done. She offers casseroles, different meat meals (ribs, pineapple chicken, etc), sides, soups, chilli, etc. It’s home style comfort food available at decent prices, that you don’t have to cook yourself! She also offers various crock pot meals for those who want to cook from home.

Meal delivery services like Hello Fresh are another option. We’ve tried Hello Fresh before and I loved it, however it’s not a feasible option for my family of picky eaters.

You Can Essentially Outsource Anything

As a working mom, I hire a preschool to take care of my son because I am unable to while I work, so why are other things any different? Do you have a garden that needs taken care of? Hire a gardener. A room that needs painted? Hire a painter. If you can work it into your budget, there is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t outsource things once in a while. I REFUSE to feel any guilt for outsourcing anything, if it helps our lives in any way. I’ve also heard people say that moms who order their groceries online are lazy, which simply is not the case. It’s smart, it’s a time saver, and it’s a necessity if you have children. I’m usually exhausted at the end of a work day. Actually I’m exhausted all day every day, and we all deserve to get a little help once in a while.

How Do You Afford It?

The grocery services and ordering food online are just part of your every day grocery budget, but how do you afford housekeeping and other services?

Whenever I see someone online mention that they have a housekeeper, a common reaction from others is “must be nice”. I’m here to tell you that hiring a housekeeper is NOT a “rich person” thing. Based on what I’ve read on mom groups in my city, it’s actually really common to hire someone for bi-weekly cleanings.

To put it simply, you have to just budget it in. We haven’t always been able to afford this type of service, and to be honest we were really struggling earlier this year to make ends meet. We are still digging ourselves out of some debt, and trying to educate ourselves on fiancés and budgeting. Now that we are catching up on bills, I am budgeting and prioritizing things, making housekeeping a priority right now. Honestly, having a clean house is really important to me. It’s important for my mental health, but also because I have a son, and I want him to enjoy a clean and healthy environment. $40 biweekly is a cost I’m willing to budget for right now.

We don’t drink or smoke, I don’t get my nails or lashes done, and I’m trying to limit my weekly Tim Hortons trips to make room for this service. I also never buy anything if it’s not on sale or I have a gift card for it, so that helps save money too. I think if most of us took a look at our budgets, we would be able to find the wiggle room to outsource. From monthly beauty subscription boxes, to Rae Dunn addictions (read my last post HERE if you don’t know what I’m talking about), there is usually room somewhere to cut back. I also work side jobs on top of my day job to be able to afford it. I write and provide social media management services. We also do odd jobs sometimes like helping people move furniture with our truck, etc. Also, now that our son is going to school this Fall, we no longer have to pay for full time preschool (yay!). The point is, if you take a deep dive into your budget, you might be surprised with what you can afford.

Would you guys consider hiring a housekeeper? Do you take advantage of any of the services mentioned in this post, or something I didn’t mention?