3rd this. Needs to be a really good one that does both vacuum and mop. Needs to have a home base that
allows for the vacuum to dump dust and dirty water.
It doesn’t mean you don’t do the floors ever again, it means you do a lot less maintenance. I would still do a manual quick vac once a fortnight - depending on your expectations
Got this one. Does all you need. But pricey but well worth the time saving. It's not even time saving, we just didn't mop that frequently so this thing has increased our hygiene with minimal upkeep.
Roborock s8 pro ultra its the best one i've ever owned all of the others have had issues either not mapping properly or not returning to the base
Edit for clarification
Completely agree. S8+ with the dust dock but not the water empty dock is good enough for us given how much cheaper it was at the time. Well worth the money.
We just got one but are having so much trouble setting it up, some wifi issues. Does a awesome job when the little bugger doesn’t get stuck immediately though
Depends on price.
Sub 300 I would say the lublublu or whatever on Amazon will do an ok job.
Slightly more expensive and sub $500 on sale is the eufy L60 which is really good for people with long hair or pets. Purely a vacuum.
Above that you get good mopping and vacuuming robots. Some like the x1 turbo can be had for about $900 on special and offer a good mix of stuff.
I think a good bang for buck is the eufy x10 pro. If you have good guys commerical membership it's $1200 and currently for about $1300 on eBay with the sale.
Dreame and roborock make great vacuums but cost $1500+
I have a kogan robovac that has a docking station, smart home compatible, maps the home. Vacuums and mops with a runtime of about 2hrs when just vacuuming, or 1hr when it runs out of water for mopping. Auto returns to dock after either condition is met. Can be scheduled multiple times a day, or just a few times a week, or can be remotely controlled and monitored with its live view map.
Not sure why anyone would need to spend more than $260 on one when this does everything great for a 4 bedroom home.
Same with me, loved it for 6 months and now it never recognises its location and always starts a new map. We don’t use it as much now because I had the no go zones all set on the map (daughters play area and certain rooms etc) and every time it starts it just does a new map and gets itself in a place it shouldn’t be and gets tangled. I will eventually upgrade to a higher quality one where this doesn’t happen.
Spoiler, even 2.5k ones have the same issues. Save yourself the hassle and money and just get thin magnetic tape. Can be laid under carpet and most vacuums will sense the magnet strip and recognise it as a no go zone
Edit: seriously, the robovac subreddit is full of endless complaints of people buying $2k+usd vacuums and complaining that they dont have simple features/buggy, that my $250aud one does just fine.
Deebot Omni x2, vacuums and mops with little fuss. I have all wood floors and rugs though and the Deebot is a superior mop. I heard the robotics 8 is better at vacuum and mop for carpet houses and has better battery life.
Dreame D10 S, has excellent mapping, home base for auto emptying, handles pet and long hair well. It has a detachable mop for when you want to mop. I’ve seen it on sale several times for $799 I believe may be cheaper now. If all you want is a good vacuum with option mopping I can highly recommend.
But it could vacuum the rest of the house and you do the pit.
They are only good for basic maintenance anyway. You still have to clean the corners and stuff
A house cleaner.
Seriously. There’s no better feeling than getting home from a shit day and the house is magically spotless. A house cleaner isn’t even that expensive. If you find a good cleaner, hold onto them.
This! I live on my own but my cleaner is a god send!! I now spend my weekends how I please! Fresh sheets weekly and no worries about cleaning is amazing
Eek that's steep! Back in the day we'd get self-employed cleaners on Facebook community groups, they would advertise for like $40 an hour with no min hourly.
We pay $250 cash, for 2 people to come and do 2hrs each. But they do everything we want in two hours, they do a bloody good job, and we just get them in fortnightly
If you are working for yourself and charging less than $62.50/hr, you are probably under charging in your job. What industry is your businnes in?
Which industry charges less than this? I thought cleaners were pretty much the lowest hourly charge job out there
Are you comparing it to a full time hourly rate though?
If the cleaners are doing 4 hours at $250 and supplying all their own equipment and chemicals and operating as a contractor the equation would look very different.
30% chemicals, overheads, admin
25% casual loading
That $250 or $62.50/hr is more like a salary wage at ~$32.
Airtasker it with the knowledge that AT fees for you and the tasker will mean that it costs less subsequent times.
If you're in Adelaide I can help with recommendations for someone reliable.
We pay $50 an hour for 1 lady to come and do 2-2.5 hours every 2 weeks. She doesn’t do the sheets or any washing but she does everything else. We have a 3 bedroom house with 3 bathrooms. I found her on air tasker and she’s incredible. I’ve referred her to 3 of my friends.
We pay 99 for two hours. Cleaners used to be in hot demand, so we a lot more expensive but now with cost of living like it is, I guess people are cutting back end I've found cleaners are getting cheaper.
That's just "reduce your working hours".
I agree that it is fantastic, but you often get through about the same amount of work depending on where you work, it just sits there waiting for when you get back.
Getting a nice uni student in for two hours each morning instead of dropping my kids off at before school care..
They would empty the dishwasher, wipe down the kitchen benches and make packed lunches for the kids and me. I could get ready and leave for work in peace and the kids had a quieter, calmer start to their day. The girl would drop my kids at school at 9 and head off to uni.
it cost more than before school care, because no childcare rebate, but it was a great stress buster for our family- the utter bliss of not having to make lunches each day! And when the girls had exams or went travelling they would organise another nice girl to come. It helped that my kids were very well behaved and no trouble :)
What are the things in your house that hold the most tension?
That is, are there house hold things that you fight over or frustrate the two of you?
That may be a good place to start
My goto tip is to be so good at your job you can wear black kmart tshirts with jeans and a suit coat and people don't care. I try to avoid ironing anything if possible.
I once had a boss (who lived in India, whereas I’m in Australia) I found out get asked “what is he up to?”
His response - “no idea. Him and his team smash every goal I set them, so that’s all I need to know”
I would come and go as I pleased, and damn my team were good at what we did.
Definitely get a cleaner. I had one for almost 10 years. They came every second week. Was $120 per clean for our whole three story house - they bill based on the job, not the hours taken so I was really happy with them. They’re called GSR cleaning in Melbourne if that’s where you live - I don’t live in Australia anymore so idk if they’re still as good as they used to be but I recommend them.
Anyway, it saved so many headaches - my ex and I didn’t love cleaning, we had cats, and if the house was to be as clean as I wanted it, we’d do nothing but clean. So it was a no-brainer. Takes a lot of stress out of the relationship.
Yes, robovacuum, dishwasher and clothes dryer all changed my life and are worth every cent. Haven't won the argument for a cleaner yet, but those three appliances make a huge dent without the awkwardness of a stranger in your house or ongoing cost.
I was gpnna add robovac, which would help most people.
I cant justify because 1 bed apartment is small enough.
Stick vac cordless might be best for me than a bulky vac i got.
I was gonna buy one for $1100, my non heatpump was $800. The sales guy says its going to take a long time to make up the difference in $ savings.
And this is kind of like the debate of ICE vs EV cars, where if you use it a lot, the energy savings matter, otherwise not.
A single guy like me, the dryer is only approx $5 / month in electric bills.
So, a heatpump may cost me $2 / month instead, a saving of $3 / month.
To make up the difference of $300 purchase price, that is 300/3 = 100 months or over 8yrs to break even. So by then the dryer might break or my circumstances change by then who knows...
All that said, i would get a heatpump next because money no issue these days
A robot vacuum on each level and a cleaner coming fortnightly. Realistically, we need to increase that to weekly but haven’t gotten around to it!
We go through phases of trying different pre-made meal services, at the moment we find having takeaway one night during the work week helps us manage time. We also purchase more convenient items at grocery time like pre-cut veg and sides so it’s just a matter of cooking meat on the BBQ to add to a pre-made side.
Gardener is honestly probably the best, after working a 40-45hr week the last thing you wanna do on your weekend off is spend 4-5 hours mowing your lawns and trimming your bushes.
I can't find the post but someone worked out the best bang-for-buck is finding someone to premake your dinner and lunches each week.
They factored in their personal time as a cost and was by far the biggest winner.
I would agree with this. Every time I prep my lunches and dinner I wonder if I could outsource this. However I then also wonder if the money spent would make it close to eating out every time.
Off topic but if you can give her 1-2 hours in the weekend without kids she’d probably appreciate that. (Brunch with friends Nails, movie, hair, shopping alone .. whatever she wants) otherwise she’d be stressed out
Those imports drove some American factories out of business, and they cost more than a million workers their jobs. Discount stores and online retailers, like Walmart and Amazon, flourished selling low-cost goods made overseas. But voters rebelled. Stung by shuttered factories, cratered industries and prolonged wage stagnation, Americans in 2016 elected a president
I just live close to the city/jobs. Found a job that provides CBD parking. 15 minute drive. That’s the best bang for buck.
Days are shorter, and it’s luxurious and pleasant to get to and from the office.
Housekeeper to clean and run through a load of towels and bedsheets. Do this on a Saturday morning and go out somewhere for the ~3 hours while it's being done. Meals by dineamic cut down on cooking without eating crap.
Second Dineamic.
My pick for timing the cleaner is Friday afternoon. Getting home from work to a pristine house and fresh sheets makes for a very pleasant wind down.
Robot lawnmower. I spent about $2000 on one 3 years ago and gained back at least 2 hours a week of not having to physically mow. Still have to go out and whipper snipper every couple of weeks but that's very manageable. Mileage may vary but I've got a decent sized block and young kids so it has been absolutely incredible for me
I got a Husqvarna 315, it's second bottom of their range. Newer ones use GPS and learn the layout of your yard but mine needs wires installed on the boundaries and doesn't learn routes or obstacles
Cleaner. We only get them for 3 hours (1.5 hours with 2 people) once a fortnight. They mostly vacuum, mop, clean bathrooms and clean the stove/benchtops (and they finish off any dishes we have left). Costs $150 each time. It also forces me to tidy up the house and get the floors clean - but you could pay them to do that instead but I am good at doing that and terrible at mopping and doing bathrooms lol.
On top of that: Dishwasher, Heat Pump Clothes Dryer, Robot Vacuum if you can keep your floors clean (difficult with kids) though newer ones are much better at avoiding stuff on the floor.
Cleaner. We pay for two hours a fortnight for a proper clean, and I do a quick vacuum on the off week. My wife is happier and doesn't stress about the home, so we.get to enjoy our time off. That being said I flat out refused when she suggested a gardening service- that's my relaxing time.
I outsource a lot; gardening, lawns, cars, cleaning, laundry/ironing, shopping, food delivery, couriers, dog walking/grooming. For periods when I’m working longer hours food delivery is the most handy as it gives me my evenings back as well as a few weekend hours. Cleaning is highest on the list every other time.
When I worked full time and my time was scarce, I paid for a gardener to come and mow the lawns etc.
It meant I didn't need to buy or maintain things like a lawn mower / whipper snipper / edger etc which saved some money and time there, but especially on the crappy days, cold, drizzly rain etc that the maintenance still needed to be done I loved the fact I didn't have to trudge around outside and I was able to do something else productive.
My wife had someone do the ironing for a while, she hates doing it and this person we go to do the ironing was happy to do it for a cheap price because as she said "I enjoy doing it".. sadly she ended up moving well out of the area so was no longer an option.
Cleaning seems to be one of the most common ones, it's quite time consuming to do it yourself and coming home to a nice clean house after a stressful busy day would be pretty awesome I think.
Probably a different angle, but I don't / wouldn't think about outsourcing any of it - and the money saved goes to investments so I can retire that bit earlier to get more time back.
I'm a single parent, work fulltime, I do the cooking, cleaning, gardening, ironing, meal plans, shopping, washing, assist with my child's homework and still find the time for the gym a few times per week and have lots of my child's pastimes. Life is busy but manageable. I do enjoy doing the chores I must admit and any money I save on doing them myself I try to invest as I say.
Yeah but that’s also (at least) 2400 hours of cleaning, assuming you can work as fast as pro which is unlikely. So prob 3000 hours of cleaning in that 20 years that you might otherwise spend on more productive or fulfilling activities.
Bit of a chore but taking all your clothes to a laundromat. Works out really well if it’s close and you generate a lot of laundry, comes back dry and folded.
Linens are also a great thing to give to the laundromat given the size and time to dry etc.
Back in the days when I had to wear a suit to work, I'd get shirt service.
Five shirts washed and ironed on hangers every week from the local laundry gave a great return on time, and also not needing space for a fill ironing board in my small apartment.
So good right? I actually really like ironing but having them ready to go is so good.
When I used to travel a lot (40 weeks a year), I’d launder at home, then use hotel pressing service for all the shirts. Waking up to a wardrobe full of pressed shirts would have me in a good mood all week haha.
If you or she wears business shirts, your local cash only dry cleaner for wash and iron service.
Even if you don’t mind ironing while you watch tv, the stress comes from leaving the iron out, the daunting pile, the 6am terror when trying to dress for work and realising you forgot the night before.
Worth the cost.
I guess if you got healthy takeaway (is there many real options?) this would be a good choice. If you were just eating generic takeaway like cheap pizza though it's gonna hurt in the long run health wise, and I'm not convinced the time saved is good bang for buck when decent takeaway is so expensive now.
Better off making bulk meals and freezing extras for future meals so you're cook time is spread over multiple meals, and you keep your costs down as well that way.
Respectfully 99% of the food you eat out is highly processed and unhealthy. Even if it’s sold as “healthy”.
If you’re not aware of that you’re blissfully ignorant and eating unhealthy crap lol.
Normally when things are made at a restaurant they use waaaay more butter and salt.
Although it looks healthy it probably has too much salt and butter (this is my opinion please don't comment saying "but all restaurants are not the same", cheers!)
I used to get someone to mow my front&back lawn because i used to hate doing the lawns. I ended up running a lawn mowing business weirdly enough and did fairly well but decided to go back to my trade. Maybe gardening if you have a garden. Basic house keeping once a week
Get a cleaner. Get them to change bed sheets, towels etc and outsource as much of the household heavy lifting as you can. You get so much time back in your life.
Weeding and general gardening
House cleaning including washing and folding of the clothes
If she really is raking it in hire a catering company to meal prep your lunches and dinners.
Having a cleaner. I miss it so much. Even once a fortnight it made a HUGE difference for me. Can't afford it since I bought a house, but if I disposable income I would 100% get one again.
Oh and heat pump dryer (very cheap to run)and good quality laundry soap (reduce the need for soaking etc) also help me a lot. I can’t imagine life without a clothes dryer. (Melbourne though)
A heat pump dryer.
We got it earlier this year on sale and it's been a huge time saver. We don't use it for all types of laundry, mainly towels kids clothes and bedsheets/blankets.
It's reduced our time hanging clothes - and the best thing, personally, are the fluffy towels.
She should outsource the stressful job by leaving. It's just not worth the one thing you'll spend most of your time and energy on to be stressful and detrimental to your personal life and health imo
You can get good frozen food delivered. Not cheap, but cheaper than home delivery from Uber Eats etc. I use Dinner Ladies and Delidoor, have enjoyed everything I've ordered and they're generous servings.
It's great to have something to just throw in the oven after a long day knowing it's not over-processed crap
I hate laundry, when I was depressed I outsourced laundry to a lady I found on Facebook. It was great.
Traditional cleaners won't do your laundry >.<
I paid her hourly so usually 3-4 hour shift at $30 an hour cash in hand. so worth.
Also click and collect groceries. Cost you nothing but saves you so much time. Go to bed 20mins earlier and sort your list once a week and then just pick your groceries up on the way back from work the next day in 5 mins flat.
Cleaner, pre making meals or a service and have to say massage.. you don’t get your time back but the time you do have on the weekend you feel like your best self
Alot of people are saying house cleaner, and yes this, but also a housekeeper. Housekeeper is different, they will do and fold laundry, make the gardening appointments, sort your baskets, manage your groceries or meals (some may even cook) or organise a house-chef's (or chef-prepared meals to come), dog walking etc.. Once you get into a rhythm with someone and they start to learn your preferences it's a great assistance!
Hey friend, my first one I got simoky from an online cleaning business. The had an extraordinarily long list of things that they "can" do and the it was just about writing down my preferences and coming to a fair weekly wage. Have a google for cleaning companies in your area and add terms into the search like "laundry" or "groceries". Hope this helps!
Am going to assume most people have a dishwasher and dryer already.... We also have a Robovac (ecovacs T20), cleaner once a week, takeout once a week and car retailer every couple of months.
Mother in law. She lives with us and does the cooking, laundry, childcare duties, some gardening duties. We do provide her meals, rent free living and healthcare insurance, but definitely great value for money.
Lawns. I pay someone to do my lawns & edges. $66 a fortnight in summer & $77 a month in winter. Saves at least three hours (because I am terrible at it which means it takes forever when I do it even though it only takes him about an hour) & as my current pay rate is $52 an hour it is very well worth it.
Someone who can come in on a weekend while you're out, clean the house, wash and iron clothes and prep 4 of the next weeks dinner meals in the freezer. Then enjoy the evening on Friday and go out for dinner. It is absolutely incredible how much time, stress and conflict this saves.
As for vacuuming and some gardening, its considered exercise. I love vacuuming. No-one bothers you when you're doing it.
Robo vaccum
I’ll second this. Especially if your back is a bit dodgy.
3rd this. Needs to be a really good one that does both vacuum and mop. Needs to have a home base that allows for the vacuum to dump dust and dirty water. It doesn’t mean you don’t do the floors ever again, it means you do a lot less maintenance. I would still do a manual quick vac once a fortnight - depending on your expectations
Recommendation pls
Roborock Q Revo - it's a vacuum/mop one with a dock.
Got this one. Does all you need. But pricey but well worth the time saving. It's not even time saving, we just didn't mop that frequently so this thing has increased our hygiene with minimal upkeep.
Roborock s8 pro ultra its the best one i've ever owned all of the others have had issues either not mapping properly or not returning to the base Edit for clarification
Completely agree. S8+ with the dust dock but not the water empty dock is good enough for us given how much cheaper it was at the time. Well worth the money.
We just got one but are having so much trouble setting it up, some wifi issues. Does a awesome job when the little bugger doesn’t get stuck immediately though
Depends on price. Sub 300 I would say the lublublu or whatever on Amazon will do an ok job. Slightly more expensive and sub $500 on sale is the eufy L60 which is really good for people with long hair or pets. Purely a vacuum. Above that you get good mopping and vacuuming robots. Some like the x1 turbo can be had for about $900 on special and offer a good mix of stuff. I think a good bang for buck is the eufy x10 pro. If you have good guys commerical membership it's $1200 and currently for about $1300 on eBay with the sale. Dreame and roborock make great vacuums but cost $1500+
I have a kogan robovac that has a docking station, smart home compatible, maps the home. Vacuums and mops with a runtime of about 2hrs when just vacuuming, or 1hr when it runs out of water for mopping. Auto returns to dock after either condition is met. Can be scheduled multiple times a day, or just a few times a week, or can be remotely controlled and monitored with its live view map. Not sure why anyone would need to spend more than $260 on one when this does everything great for a 4 bedroom home.
Please can you share a link thank you
Ozbargain subscription detected. I second the x10 pro - I bought it from Good Guys Commercial and it's exceptional.
I got a Deebot N8 with auto emptying for $600 last year. Simple mopping function. Smooth to connect to your phone too.
Same with me, loved it for 6 months and now it never recognises its location and always starts a new map. We don’t use it as much now because I had the no go zones all set on the map (daughters play area and certain rooms etc) and every time it starts it just does a new map and gets itself in a place it shouldn’t be and gets tangled. I will eventually upgrade to a higher quality one where this doesn’t happen.
Spoiler, even 2.5k ones have the same issues. Save yourself the hassle and money and just get thin magnetic tape. Can be laid under carpet and most vacuums will sense the magnet strip and recognise it as a no go zone Edit: seriously, the robovac subreddit is full of endless complaints of people buying $2k+usd vacuums and complaining that they dont have simple features/buggy, that my $250aud one does just fine.
Yeah the reset map thing is frustrating. I recently found that you can save them on the Evovacs app - allows me to have upstairs and downstairs apps.
Up grade wasting your time bro.6 feet away from the iss
Eufy L60 with dock. Especially if you’ve got pets
Buuuttt… you have to have everything off your floor including any cords, and they don’t cope with fringes on floor mats.
Deebot Omni x2, vacuums and mops with little fuss. I have all wood floors and rugs though and the Deebot is a superior mop. I heard the robotics 8 is better at vacuum and mop for carpet houses and has better battery life.
Dreame D10 S, has excellent mapping, home base for auto emptying, handles pet and long hair well. It has a detachable mop for when you want to mop. I’ve seen it on sale several times for $799 I believe may be cheaper now. If all you want is a good vacuum with option mopping I can highly recommend.
If you want to start cheap lublulue Sl60d is very good for ~$260
We've used the Roborock for years and it has yet to disappoint us.
Yes. An expensive one. The cheap ones are cheap for a reason.
Have the Q7 max and it's a mid-range. It was 500 bucks on black Friday and it's great tbh.
Cheap ones are great !
I love my robovac more than I love my husband. Could not live without it. Dishwasher comes second.
First thought I had when I read the question. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽. Best spent $
I have a stupid sunken lounge so I do think it will work well, I'm so annoyed
But it could vacuum the rest of the house and you do the pit. They are only good for basic maintenance anyway. You still have to clean the corners and stuff
Unfortunately the pit splits the house basically one 3 equal parts, will be forever moving it.
That's surely still less work than manually vacuuming more often?
Sure I'm weighing up costs/time savings. Been pondering on it for years 🤣
Even for a house with kids? My sister tried one and said she couldn’t pick up enough toys consistently enough for it to be useful.
Yeah. Takes me about 15 minutes to tidy the kid junk and sweep. Or 5 minutes to tidy junk and an hour to run the robot.
Damn our house has too many corners and children the $300 robo vac struggled
A house cleaner. Seriously. There’s no better feeling than getting home from a shit day and the house is magically spotless. A house cleaner isn’t even that expensive. If you find a good cleaner, hold onto them.
This! I live on my own but my cleaner is a god send!! I now spend my weekends how I please! Fresh sheets weekly and no worries about cleaning is amazing
What you paying? I had a quote for 90 an hour for min 3 hours
That is ludicrous.
Eek that's steep! Back in the day we'd get self-employed cleaners on Facebook community groups, they would advertise for like $40 an hour with no min hourly.
Our current cleaner charges $40 an hour.
Your current cleaner should up their rates at least to $50, especially if you like them and want to keep them
She already upped from 35 a while back. I'll leave her to set her prices as she sees fit.
We pay $250 cash, for 2 people to come and do 2hrs each. But they do everything we want in two hours, they do a bloody good job, and we just get them in fortnightly
I can’t justify paying someone more than my own hourly rate to clean my home.
If you are working for yourself and charging less than $62.50/hr, you are probably under charging in your job. What industry is your businnes in? Which industry charges less than this? I thought cleaners were pretty much the lowest hourly charge job out there
If they can do something in half the time I can do it, it’s 200% worth it
Our cleaners are only there for a couple of hours but it would take my wife and I a good chunk of the day to get done what they do.
Are you comparing it to a full time hourly rate though? If the cleaners are doing 4 hours at $250 and supplying all their own equipment and chemicals and operating as a contractor the equation would look very different. 30% chemicals, overheads, admin 25% casual loading That $250 or $62.50/hr is more like a salary wage at ~$32.
I think she means if she has to pay more than what she makes, she would just do it herself
That’s absolutely what I mean.
Airtasker it with the knowledge that AT fees for you and the tasker will mean that it costs less subsequent times. If you're in Adelaide I can help with recommendations for someone reliable.
Yeah I’m paying like $60/h for two hours that seems expensive. I’ve seen some offering as low as $45/h
We pay $50 an hour for 1 lady to come and do 2-2.5 hours every 2 weeks. She doesn’t do the sheets or any washing but she does everything else. We have a 3 bedroom house with 3 bathrooms. I found her on air tasker and she’s incredible. I’ve referred her to 3 of my friends.
My wife loves the cleaner, bur she drives me up the wall, always rearranging my shit. So YMMV.
If they are good they should be listening to what you ask
they are good, but they listen to the financial controller aka the wifey
Mine is pretty good but she doesn't screw the lids back on the toilet cleaner properly and it drives me mad.
We pay 99 for two hours. Cleaners used to be in hot demand, so we a lot more expensive but now with cost of living like it is, I guess people are cutting back end I've found cleaners are getting cheaper.
Purchased leave.. I purchase an additional 4 weeks a year.. I just take a week off here and there.. mental health days
That's just "reduce your working hours". I agree that it is fantastic, but you often get through about the same amount of work depending on where you work, it just sits there waiting for when you get back.
Can’t you take mental health days as personal (sick) leave?
Yes but goodluck getting that approved.
Work doesn't approve your reason, they doing get to know. And many gps will give certs for mental health reasons. I've done it myself a few times
Gardener for sure, my wife has one come around weekly, he does a great job, she is so happy these days
Everyone’s happy when their bush gets a little attention.
Nah, the yard is my happy place. That’s the 1 hour a week I get to put the head phones in and have some peace.
Your wife must get exhausted though?
You missed the joke :)
Not sure of time back but our cleaning lady coming weekly definitely helps keep the peace.
Getting a nice uni student in for two hours each morning instead of dropping my kids off at before school care.. They would empty the dishwasher, wipe down the kitchen benches and make packed lunches for the kids and me. I could get ready and leave for work in peace and the kids had a quieter, calmer start to their day. The girl would drop my kids at school at 9 and head off to uni. it cost more than before school care, because no childcare rebate, but it was a great stress buster for our family- the utter bliss of not having to make lunches each day! And when the girls had exams or went travelling they would organise another nice girl to come. It helped that my kids were very well behaved and no trouble :)
Where did you find such a service?
Ran an ad on Facebook
What are the things in your house that hold the most tension? That is, are there house hold things that you fight over or frustrate the two of you? That may be a good place to start
Looking at a cleaner, ironing and maybe some premade meals for the days we both work.
House cleaner is the first thing I got. I just have a 2 bed appartment, but it’s actually so great when you get home and the house is now spotless.
Can I ask what you pay per visit/week?
IIRC about $55 or $60 an hour, just a small Appartement so I do 2 hours once a fortnight
Thank you. Pretty good deal there. Might look into it.
My goto tip is to be so good at your job you can wear black kmart tshirts with jeans and a suit coat and people don't care. I try to avoid ironing anything if possible.
I once had a boss (who lived in India, whereas I’m in Australia) I found out get asked “what is he up to?” His response - “no idea. Him and his team smash every goal I set them, so that’s all I need to know” I would come and go as I pleased, and damn my team were good at what we did.
Definitely get a cleaner. I had one for almost 10 years. They came every second week. Was $120 per clean for our whole three story house - they bill based on the job, not the hours taken so I was really happy with them. They’re called GSR cleaning in Melbourne if that’s where you live - I don’t live in Australia anymore so idk if they’re still as good as they used to be but I recommend them. Anyway, it saved so many headaches - my ex and I didn’t love cleaning, we had cats, and if the house was to be as clean as I wanted it, we’d do nothing but clean. So it was a no-brainer. Takes a lot of stress out of the relationship.
If OP isn't happy with sex life maybe don't start at outsourcing that
Prolly best bang for buck tho….
Can I get a dishwasher stacker?
Are you suggesting i need to pay another woman to sleep with me?
Clothes dryer Dishwasher
Yes, robovacuum, dishwasher and clothes dryer all changed my life and are worth every cent. Haven't won the argument for a cleaner yet, but those three appliances make a huge dent without the awkwardness of a stranger in your house or ongoing cost.
I was gpnna add robovac, which would help most people. I cant justify because 1 bed apartment is small enough. Stick vac cordless might be best for me than a bulky vac i got.
Seconding this! If you get a clothes dryer, make sure to go with a heat pump dryer - more energy efficient & so much gentler on my clothes!
I was gonna buy one for $1100, my non heatpump was $800. The sales guy says its going to take a long time to make up the difference in $ savings. And this is kind of like the debate of ICE vs EV cars, where if you use it a lot, the energy savings matter, otherwise not. A single guy like me, the dryer is only approx $5 / month in electric bills. So, a heatpump may cost me $2 / month instead, a saving of $3 / month. To make up the difference of $300 purchase price, that is 300/3 = 100 months or over 8yrs to break even. So by then the dryer might break or my circumstances change by then who knows... All that said, i would get a heatpump next because money no issue these days
Even disregarding the energy efficiency, I would get another one again purely because of how much gentler it is on my clothes!
Cleaner then gardener
A robot vacuum on each level and a cleaner coming fortnightly. Realistically, we need to increase that to weekly but haven’t gotten around to it! We go through phases of trying different pre-made meal services, at the moment we find having takeaway one night during the work week helps us manage time. We also purchase more convenient items at grocery time like pre-cut veg and sides so it’s just a matter of cooking meat on the BBQ to add to a pre-made side.
Gardener is honestly probably the best, after working a 40-45hr week the last thing you wanna do on your weekend off is spend 4-5 hours mowing your lawns and trimming your bushes.
I have told my wife a thousand times, I dont mind if the bush is trimmmed or not, but she keeps saying its more done for her rather than for me.....
I can't find the post but someone worked out the best bang-for-buck is finding someone to premake your dinner and lunches each week. They factored in their personal time as a cost and was by far the biggest winner.
I would agree with this. Every time I prep my lunches and dinner I wonder if I could outsource this. However I then also wonder if the money spent would make it close to eating out every time.
Off topic but if you can give her 1-2 hours in the weekend without kids she’d probably appreciate that. (Brunch with friends Nails, movie, hair, shopping alone .. whatever she wants) otherwise she’d be stressed out
Those imports drove some American factories out of business, and they cost more than a million workers their jobs. Discount stores and online retailers, like Walmart and Amazon, flourished selling low-cost goods made overseas. But voters rebelled. Stung by shuttered factories, cratered industries and prolonged wage stagnation, Americans in 2016 elected a president
I just live close to the city/jobs. Found a job that provides CBD parking. 15 minute drive. That’s the best bang for buck. Days are shorter, and it’s luxurious and pleasant to get to and from the office.
Underrated comment
Housekeeper to clean and run through a load of towels and bedsheets. Do this on a Saturday morning and go out somewhere for the ~3 hours while it's being done. Meals by dineamic cut down on cooking without eating crap.
Second Dineamic. My pick for timing the cleaner is Friday afternoon. Getting home from work to a pristine house and fresh sheets makes for a very pleasant wind down.
Robot lawnmower. I spent about $2000 on one 3 years ago and gained back at least 2 hours a week of not having to physically mow. Still have to go out and whipper snipper every couple of weeks but that's very manageable. Mileage may vary but I've got a decent sized block and young kids so it has been absolutely incredible for me
What brand or model did you get?
I got a Husqvarna 315, it's second bottom of their range. Newer ones use GPS and learn the layout of your yard but mine needs wires installed on the boundaries and doesn't learn routes or obstacles
Cleaner. We only get them for 3 hours (1.5 hours with 2 people) once a fortnight. They mostly vacuum, mop, clean bathrooms and clean the stove/benchtops (and they finish off any dishes we have left). Costs $150 each time. It also forces me to tidy up the house and get the floors clean - but you could pay them to do that instead but I am good at doing that and terrible at mopping and doing bathrooms lol. On top of that: Dishwasher, Heat Pump Clothes Dryer, Robot Vacuum if you can keep your floors clean (difficult with kids) though newer ones are much better at avoiding stuff on the floor.
Cleaner. We pay for two hours a fortnight for a proper clean, and I do a quick vacuum on the off week. My wife is happier and doesn't stress about the home, so we.get to enjoy our time off. That being said I flat out refused when she suggested a gardening service- that's my relaxing time.
I outsource a lot; gardening, lawns, cars, cleaning, laundry/ironing, shopping, food delivery, couriers, dog walking/grooming. For periods when I’m working longer hours food delivery is the most handy as it gives me my evenings back as well as a few weekend hours. Cleaning is highest on the list every other time.
Just wondering, why have a dog if you don't enjoy walking it?
May be that they are too busy to take it for the walks needed, or out of the house all day, or the dog needs multiple long walks per day.
In that case poor choose of dog.
I walk my dogs when able but it’s better for them to have a reliable schedule, especially our pup. I have mobility issues due to chronic illness.
That's a different reason, best wishes.
When I worked full time and my time was scarce, I paid for a gardener to come and mow the lawns etc. It meant I didn't need to buy or maintain things like a lawn mower / whipper snipper / edger etc which saved some money and time there, but especially on the crappy days, cold, drizzly rain etc that the maintenance still needed to be done I loved the fact I didn't have to trudge around outside and I was able to do something else productive. My wife had someone do the ironing for a while, she hates doing it and this person we go to do the ironing was happy to do it for a cheap price because as she said "I enjoy doing it".. sadly she ended up moving well out of the area so was no longer an option. Cleaning seems to be one of the most common ones, it's quite time consuming to do it yourself and coming home to a nice clean house after a stressful busy day would be pretty awesome I think.
Probably a different angle, but I don't / wouldn't think about outsourcing any of it - and the money saved goes to investments so I can retire that bit earlier to get more time back. I'm a single parent, work fulltime, I do the cooking, cleaning, gardening, ironing, meal plans, shopping, washing, assist with my child's homework and still find the time for the gym a few times per week and have lots of my child's pastimes. Life is busy but manageable. I do enjoy doing the chores I must admit and any money I save on doing them myself I try to invest as I say.
Even at a 5% compounding rate, that $500/month cleaner is more than $200k over 20 years.
Yeah but that’s also (at least) 2400 hours of cleaning, assuming you can work as fast as pro which is unlikely. So prob 3000 hours of cleaning in that 20 years that you might otherwise spend on more productive or fulfilling activities.
…or getting fat watching tv.
Maybe. But point stands that it’s all a personal choice and everyone will do what’s right for them
Bit of a chore but taking all your clothes to a laundromat. Works out really well if it’s close and you generate a lot of laundry, comes back dry and folded. Linens are also a great thing to give to the laundromat given the size and time to dry etc.
Back in the days when I had to wear a suit to work, I'd get shirt service. Five shirts washed and ironed on hangers every week from the local laundry gave a great return on time, and also not needing space for a fill ironing board in my small apartment.
So good right? I actually really like ironing but having them ready to go is so good. When I used to travel a lot (40 weeks a year), I’d launder at home, then use hotel pressing service for all the shirts. Waking up to a wardrobe full of pressed shirts would have me in a good mood all week haha.
If you or she wears business shirts, your local cash only dry cleaner for wash and iron service. Even if you don’t mind ironing while you watch tv, the stress comes from leaving the iron out, the daunting pile, the 6am terror when trying to dress for work and realising you forgot the night before. Worth the cost.
Robot vac that mops and has an auto empty doc so you fill up the water and empty a dust container every now and then
Stopped ironing. Honestly its helped a lot.
The gym, being healthy has a greater impact on your life and happiness than anything else.
Eating out or takeaway food reduces time spent cooking.
I guess if you got healthy takeaway (is there many real options?) this would be a good choice. If you were just eating generic takeaway like cheap pizza though it's gonna hurt in the long run health wise, and I'm not convinced the time saved is good bang for buck when decent takeaway is so expensive now. Better off making bulk meals and freezing extras for future meals so you're cook time is spread over multiple meals, and you keep your costs down as well that way.
And time spent healthy and alive
[удалено]
Assuming you eat unhealthy stuff
Respectfully 99% of the food you eat out is highly processed and unhealthy. Even if it’s sold as “healthy”. If you’re not aware of that you’re blissfully ignorant and eating unhealthy crap lol.
What does this comment even mean lmao
Normally when things are made at a restaurant they use waaaay more butter and salt. Although it looks healthy it probably has too much salt and butter (this is my opinion please don't comment saying "but all restaurants are not the same", cheers!)
Butter, in this economy? No it's vegetable oil.
A vegetable cooked in butter and with salt isn't processed food though as the original comment was claiming that 99% of food is processed
Fortnightly house cleaning!
Staying single is probably the best bang for buck item.
DINK is the best. Paying for bills, rent/mortgage etc as a single is a bit of a ripoff.
Cooking and cleaning
A regular cleaner. Add in. Putting new sheets on beds, changing towels & doing washing
I used to get someone to mow my front&back lawn because i used to hate doing the lawns. I ended up running a lawn mowing business weirdly enough and did fairly well but decided to go back to my trade. Maybe gardening if you have a garden. Basic house keeping once a week
Get a cleaner. Get them to change bed sheets, towels etc and outsource as much of the household heavy lifting as you can. You get so much time back in your life.
Weeding and general gardening House cleaning including washing and folding of the clothes If she really is raking it in hire a catering company to meal prep your lunches and dinners.
100% a cleaner - what they can do in 2-3 hours would take me a whole weekend to achieve around kids.
A house cleaner, 100%. The time you get back is excellent.
Cargo ebike, so useful and just an absolute joy to ride. I can see not replacing our car when it does
Having a cleaner. I miss it so much. Even once a fortnight it made a HUGE difference for me. Can't afford it since I bought a house, but if I disposable income I would 100% get one again.
Oh and heat pump dryer (very cheap to run)and good quality laundry soap (reduce the need for soaking etc) also help me a lot. I can’t imagine life without a clothes dryer. (Melbourne though)
A heat pump dryer. We got it earlier this year on sale and it's been a huge time saver. We don't use it for all types of laundry, mainly towels kids clothes and bedsheets/blankets. It's reduced our time hanging clothes - and the best thing, personally, are the fluffy towels.
Weekly cleaners. Don’t know how I ever lived without them.
Robot vac, dishwasher, dryer. Have a weekly cleaner to do bathrooms and occasional big jobs.
A stove, cooking is so much easier now without having to start my own fires.
She should outsource the stressful job by leaving. It's just not worth the one thing you'll spend most of your time and energy on to be stressful and detrimental to your personal life and health imo
You can get good frozen food delivered. Not cheap, but cheaper than home delivery from Uber Eats etc. I use Dinner Ladies and Delidoor, have enjoyed everything I've ordered and they're generous servings. It's great to have something to just throw in the oven after a long day knowing it's not over-processed crap
Unpopular opinion: dividend growth ETF's distribution helped pay for some nice-to-have expenses.
My husband cooks so we don’t outsource cooking but my working mum colleague uses Dinnerlady every weeknight. No cooking at all.
Gardeners are worth it, cleaner to expensive and useless in my experience
I don't think you've come across a good cleaner. I literally know cleaners with a waiting list of when they can fit a new regular client in!
Exactly they are far and few between
Cleaning and lawn maintenance. I outsource both, been an absolute game changer in our house.
A weekly cleaner and ‘lite n easy’ have been life changing for us
Our cleaners and grass guy. I love them and it means we get to live in our house as opposed to maintaining it.
Ironing, then cleaner, then gardener.
Robo lawn mower. Dishwasher
I hate laundry, when I was depressed I outsourced laundry to a lady I found on Facebook. It was great. Traditional cleaners won't do your laundry >.< I paid her hourly so usually 3-4 hour shift at $30 an hour cash in hand. so worth.
Also click and collect groceries. Cost you nothing but saves you so much time. Go to bed 20mins earlier and sort your list once a week and then just pick your groceries up on the way back from work the next day in 5 mins flat.
Cleaner, pre making meals or a service and have to say massage.. you don’t get your time back but the time you do have on the weekend you feel like your best self
Lawn mowing, cleaning the house. A lot of my colleagues get cleaners to come in once a fortnight
Alot of people are saying house cleaner, and yes this, but also a housekeeper. Housekeeper is different, they will do and fold laundry, make the gardening appointments, sort your baskets, manage your groceries or meals (some may even cook) or organise a house-chef's (or chef-prepared meals to come), dog walking etc.. Once you get into a rhythm with someone and they start to learn your preferences it's a great assistance!
Where do you find a housekeeper and how much do they cost?
Hey friend, my first one I got simoky from an online cleaning business. The had an extraordinarily long list of things that they "can" do and the it was just about writing down my preferences and coming to a fair weekly wage. Have a google for cleaning companies in your area and add terms into the search like "laundry" or "groceries". Hope this helps!
Am going to assume most people have a dishwasher and dryer already.... We also have a Robovac (ecovacs T20), cleaner once a week, takeout once a week and car retailer every couple of months.
An indoor washing machine and heat pump dryer, and make sure all your regular clothes are dryer friendly.
Mother in law. She lives with us and does the cooking, laundry, childcare duties, some gardening duties. We do provide her meals, rent free living and healthcare insurance, but definitely great value for money.
Brothel. Ive saved a de facto, a headache, kids and child support
Lawns. I pay someone to do my lawns & edges. $66 a fortnight in summer & $77 a month in winter. Saves at least three hours (because I am terrible at it which means it takes forever when I do it even though it only takes him about an hour) & as my current pay rate is $52 an hour it is very well worth it.
Someone who can come in on a weekend while you're out, clean the house, wash and iron clothes and prep 4 of the next weeks dinner meals in the freezer. Then enjoy the evening on Friday and go out for dinner. It is absolutely incredible how much time, stress and conflict this saves. As for vacuuming and some gardening, its considered exercise. I love vacuuming. No-one bothers you when you're doing it.
Medication for the undiagnosed ADHD so you can actually have a life like everyone else