[amoral lemur]

I am crap at outsourcing because I feel guilty. I also feel guilty and overwelmed by the state of our house. I know we need help.

What do you outsource and how much difference does it make?

Cleaning?
Ironing?
Gardening?
Car cleaning?
Pool cleaning?
Childcare?
Clothing repairs?
Do you cook most things from scratch or buy more prepared food?
Other?

[hoohoobump]

Cleaning
Mowing

[ubermum]

I only use childcare for my kinder child two days per week. The other child is at school and that way my baby gets some one on one attention if the teenager is demanding of my time.

I don't outsource anything. I re-jigged our household systems.

[*LiMa*]

At the moment (7 weeks pregnant) I wish I could outsource pretty much everything so I can sleep all day long.

Normally though we outsource nothing.

[JRA]

A lot less than I have in the past.

While I am typing I have gardeners out in the garden, but that is about all now.

[Ehill]

Cleaning
Gardening and mowing (this is part of our rental lease but it is awesome). Mowing I wouldnt normally worry about as my DH does it no argument.
Car cleaning, I use car washes and wouldn't really do it myself. Inside my cars are just filthy.
Clothing repairs, hmmm mostly as I cant sew except for a button here and there. But I dont have many.

Tried ironing, found I spent more time on picking up, shirts not ready, lost shirt etc than if I had done it myself so gave up on that one. That was only when DS was a newborn though. I actually dont mind ironing so will do it.

I am a great fan of outsourcing of things I hate doing or am not good at! Luckily I like looking after kids!

This post has been edited by Ehill: 07/12/2012, 12:05 PM

[dolcengabbana]

Cleaning
Mowing is Outsourced I do the general gardening fertilising , trim, wedding etc
Car cleaning I pay my son an allowance for cleaning both cars fortnightly.
Clothing repairs
We cook from scratch 85% of all things. Pasta, pasta sauces all home cooked. I couldn't believe a quick from our local deli/patisserie was 21 dollars for a large deep dish with caramelised onion, bacon and potatoe. So I made it myself last night for the cost of a small carton of cream, 2 large potatoes and a carton of eggs I had the rest in the fridge and pantry! I cna also make 4 large deep dish quiches fromt he left over goods probably need more cream and potatoe though.

[Old Grey Mare]

Nothing, but am considering getting my oven cleaned as this is number one on my list of worst household tasks.

[megalula]

Everything except preparing food and looking after the boys (when not at work). I don't really regard childcare as outsourcing but a necessity. I can't bring my child into work with me.....it's not really like I have a choice in the same way as I have a choice to use an iron or take my shirts to the cleaner.

[~Nic~]

We have DS3 in day care if that counts, but that's it. We used to have one of those mobile dog wash things to come around and wash our husky once a month or so, but now we have access to a DIY hyrdobath place, so we just do that.

My big problem area is washing... if I could get someone to come in, pick up the dirty clothes, wash them, hange them out to dry, bring them back in folded and put them away, I reckon the rest of my house would be spotless. I seem to spend so much time washing that everything else gets forgotten about. I am going to be working an extra day a week next year, so I am very seriously considering paying someone to at least do my ironing once a week, and I will probably wind up getting a cleaner one day a fortnight, just to do things like wash the windows / shower screens etc and clean the oven..