As a working mom with two little kids, I often think about what to outsource and take off my plate- or at least the idea of it.  It took me a long time to realize that it’s OK if I don’t do everything myself and handing it off to someone else would make me more productive.  My thought is: why spend time doing things that we don’t love instead of doing things we enjoy with people we love?

Outsourcing is an art and before we take things off our plates, I want you to think about the following 5 things:

Budget

When you outsource, it can cost money.  Do you have the cash for things like babysitting, cleaning, laundry, or meal delivery?

If you don’t have the money for them, is there something else that you can cut out if outsourcing this task is important to you?

Trade

If you don’t have the budget, that doesn’t mean outsourcing is not in the cards for you.

See if you can trade off for date nights with a close friend.  You can also work with your partner to see if you can have some “time off” during the week where you can head to the gym for a night and they can play basketball with friends another.  It doesn’t always have to cost money but may require time to be creative.

Time

Does giving this task to someone else actually save you time? When I think about hiring someone to clean my house, I know I’ll spend hours cleaning for them by picking up things.

Sure, my house will be cleaner but does it actually save time if I’m picking up for them.  The idea of outsourcing is to save yourself time to do other things.

Importance

Think about what’s most important to you.  Would you rather bring your child to a sports event or cook dinner for the family?  NO JUDGEMENT-friends! It’s really up to you to decide what’s most important to you and how you want to spend your time.

Saying “No” Before You Need to Outsource

So this might not be actually outsourcing, since you wouldn’t be doing it in the first place but it’s important to make sure your “to do” lists are actually things you want to do.  This will then free up your budget and time to do things or outsource items that you want to.  Instead of saying “yes” to a lot of things, think “no” and then really convince yourself as to why you need to do that thing in the first place.  Are you interested in doing it now?  If not, really think about it before you commit!

When you think about taking something off your plate and shifting it somewhere else, what are things you think about?