On the Fargo Forum’s online page this morning, there was a breaking news alert about a press conference at Bobcat. This press conference was being held to announce the closing of the Bismarck plant and the over 400 jobs that would be lost as a direct result.
On the front page of MSN this evening, one of their top news picks is “Hate Chores? Hire Some Help.” In light of what had been on the ticker of the Fargo Forum, the MSN ticker really caught my eye. How can people actually be thinking about hiring help for things like sweeping the floor, doing laundry, and going grocery shopping when hundreds of people are losing their jobs every day?
Being the type of person that I am, I had to read this article, even though I already had a good idea of who it was addressed to: the rich soccer moms that don’t hold down real jobs. I cannot tell you how surprised I was to find that the article addressed moms and dads from all levels of financial security. This article expounded on the increased amount of time you would have to spend with your children, your spouse, growing your business, or just having mental health time if you would only outsource your chores.
I had to find out more, so I Binged “outsourcing your chores” and over 67,000 results appeared. Obviously not all of them are relevant, but the first four or five pages are pretty damn relevant to what I was looking for. There were articles from both sides of the argument, and even some tidbits about outsourcing your chores to your children rather than a personal assistant.
One of the most interesting pieces on the flip side of what I’ve been talking about was a blog titled “The Personal Financier.” This blogger’s first sentence mirrors what my gut instinct was on this phenomenon: “…more often than not, laziness is the real reason while the spare time just generates more expenses.”
How many people hire a housekeeper so they can spend more time with their spouses or their children? My guess would be not nearly as many as those who hire the housekeeper so they can go out shopping for new Gucci handbags. In our economy, this fate-tempting is not something I would approach lightly. I would rather take a couple of organizational courses, get myself organized, complete all my own chores, and then enjoy the family time that I so richly deserve.
Sounds a lot better than writing a check for family time…
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I understand how it is really frustrating to have people out there that hire others to do their chores, so that they can go out and shop some more. At the same time though, if they were to stop hiring maids, nannys, housekeepers, or whatever you want to call them, then those jobs would disappear. The job market is small enough as is. Where are those individuals going to work when their rich soccer moms fire them? They will either become unemployed or take jobs away from others in our country. It is frustrating, but it also is beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand why people want to hire help to do something they can do themselves for free, but then again I know it would be so great to not have to worry about it. I am very neat and clean, and I clean my apartment everyday. Even though my apartment is smaller than most homes, it still takes time out of my day everyday. But I say, if you can afford it, go for it. On the other hand, I think the idea of parents hiring maids so they can spend more time with their children is a little out there. I think they could have the children help them with chores like doing the dishes. Then they could spend time with their children and teach them at an early age about work ethic. I remember having to do chores when I was younger. I did the dishes, vaccummed, raked the leaves...
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on finding your own time to do chores around the house instead of paying someone else to do it. You are right most people hire people to do their chores, so they can go run and do errands such as shopping instead of using that time to spend with their family. So, why not give everyone a task or chore and spend the time doing the household chores together. It may not be the way you want to spend time together, but you will be saving money and spending a little bit of time together. Also, by everyone chipping in, you will get things done faster and have more time to do other things. I guess if people that have the money to spend want to spend it on paying someone else to do their chores, more power to them.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to sound like a mimic of the comments above, but I agree that if "family time" is what people are looking for, then doing the chores together as a family is the answer.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on the other side of the coin, I read a Writer's Digest article a long time ago about how to make $100K a year freelance writing. (It's not realistic for a newbie, but the title got me to read it!) The author stated that if he could hire someone to do something for less than $20 an hour, then he would outsource because he could make more than $20 an hour writing. To make this work, however, he would have to be writing while the work was being done. So his theory was to hire someone to mow his lawn or clean his house or whatever so he could keep writing.
What I really wonder is what other things he found to do when he didn't want to write--mowing and laundry are what I do when I don't want to do my work!
Yeah, you have to be rich or lazy to outsource your chores. However, I think if you were a hired maid or whatever you may think that those soccer moms better keep wanting to go out shopping or you would lose your job. I can totally see whwere you are coming from though. I'm sure you were raised like me learning to do things for yourself. It is very interesting that the maid jobs are the last ones to go. Didn't see that coming.
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