I was recently joking with a friend about how I’d love to pay someone to do all the food preparing and cleanup for me everyday — seriously, do you know how many extra hours I would gain each day!
Between meal planning, grocery shopping, food prep, feeding kids, cleaning kids up, putting the food away, cleaning up the kitchen, cleaning out the dishwasher, washing dishes, sweeping up all the crumbs (we practically need a ShopVac these days!), packing lunches, baking goodies, and cleaning up again, I wouldn’t be surprised if I spend one third of my waking hours in the kitchen!
I do technically enjoy cooking and baking — but it’s not nearly as enjoyable when I have a super long list of other things to do each day, and several small “helpers” who really aren’t helping all that much!
Honestly, just think how much time you would have if you never had to think about buying food, preparing meals, or cleaning up your kitchen!
I realize paying a personal shopper, a personal chef, and a housekeeper probably don’t all fit into our budget, and even if they did, I know I really wouldn’t pay someone to do all of that for me. However, it sure is fun to dream about every it once in a while! (maybe this is why I enjoy my Blue Apron meal deliveries every month or two!)
I told Dave that before Nora turns 12, I want to go to an all-inclusive resort with our whole family (kids under 12 are often free). Then I’ll get at least one week of my life where I don’t need to shop for, plan, prepare, or clean up any food! 🙂
If you’re up for sharing, I’d love to know what chore YOU would most like to pay someone else to do for you???
Michele M. says
I don’t know if this would be considered a chore, but driving! I really dislike it and would love to hire someone to drive wherever I need to go. Also, washing windows and dusting.
Andrea says
yes! I would consider it a chore! before having kids, I would have chosen “driving” my least favorite “chore” 🙂
Trisha says
I will drive for you if you do my dishes! Lol I hate dishes! I don’t mind putting them away, but hate washing them!
Jennifer says
I think it’s so interesting how we all have such different dislikes/likes cleaning wise. I love the cooking and food prep, but I hate washing dishes so mine would be someone to wash dishes (we don’t have a dishwasher in our current rental) or someone to clean our bathrooms. I don’t mind cleaning the toilets and sinks, but both of our bathrooms are covered in 1960s tile and it’s such a chore to clean all that grout on the floors, shower walls, bathroom walls, bathroom floor, countertop ect.
Debbie says
Andrea, you should totally do the all-inclusive resort! We’ve done this a couple of times now and we always look back to it as the best vacations because we don’t have to decide what to cook, where to eat, how much we’ll end up spending. When I was growing up in the Manila our family always had a live-in house maid. It’s very common there because labor is cheap and when a couple both works there is definitely not much time to devote for doing everything like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning house, taking care of the kids. Time is sucked up not only by working but also commuting. My mom would choose which tasks to delegate to the maid each week and it frees her up to still spend time with us by taking us to a movie or something. It would so lovely to have that option here in the US if labor cost wasn’t so expensive.
Andrea says
yeah, we did an all-inclusive for our honeymoon and it was the BEST! We will definitely do it again (someday)!
TIna says
Oh yes, I would definitively hire someone in a heartbeat to do all the cooking related stuff (I would even clean the kitchen), if I just didn’t have to think of suitable meals and all the fighting over meals my kids wouldn’t even try because the things look “funny”. I don’t know how other people bring their kids to at least try some of the new stuff! My first kid is very picky, has always been. And as I had so many occasions where we insisted that he try at least a bite, and he starts vomiting all his insides all over the place, just because the fork nears his mouth, I just stopped insisting. Also with my three others, but they aren’t that bad. But: they don’t get anything else. No bread, no cracker, no snacks. But everybody knows that we will have a four o’clock tea with fruits and snacks (we eat dinner at 7 o’clock), so that’s no big deal for them…. Sigh. But I have to admit, that my eldest (9y) started to try new-to-him things a while ago. So there is hope! 😉
Nicky says
My list is the same as yours although not helped by my kitchen being so tiny, six feet wide by seven feet long. Not much room for helpers. We can’t have a dishwasher as there isn’t space and we have to double up the kitchen as a laundry room too so the only appliances are the fridge, cooker and the washing machine which is jammed under the draining board. I’m OK to do shopping and menu planning but playing fridge jenga trying to fit in enough groceries to feed a family of six each week is a challenge! Still doing the dishes is a good connect time with teenagers and we take it in turn to choose music to work to so it is quite entertaining.
Andrea says
oh my, that IS a tiny kitchen! Sounds like you are doing a fabulous job keeping it organized though!
Brandette W. says
Hi Andrea!
I have an unrelated post question. What water bottles do your kids use? I have seen them using these particular ones in several posts for quite awhile. I am wondering if that style would work well for my son and am super curious.
Thank you!
Andrea says
They are the Aladdin Flip & Sip water bottle — but they aren’t available in the US anymore. I really should just find a new water bottle for my kids to use because I get weekly emails and comments from readers asking where they can buy the same water bottles (and they can’t!)
Brandette W. says
Awww, that makes me sad. They looked so perfect! Thank you for answering.
Amy says
It is a toss up between cleaning my house and doing laundry! Those are the two things that I never seem to have enough time to do!
Georgia says
This is the funniest blog you have written to date in my opinion. The reason it is so funny is because I feel like I wrote it. It’s not that I hate to cook, it’s the daily routine of it. To make the matter worse is the fact hubby and I happen to be getting older and meal planning is no longer a simple matter. With the illnesses we have it takes so long to plan a menu and I am the type that gets sick of the same food all the time, I need variety. I also hate shopping of any kind and grocery shopping is a nightmare for me. Clean up, that is a whole new story, it takes forever even when I am careful not to dirty too many dishes and I clean as I go. It is still so time consuming. I won’t bore you with more of the story, I just wanted to confirm that is the one type help I personally would want to hire. I love doing the laundry though.
Andrea says
glad to be so humorous 🙂
Luba @ Healthy with Luba says
I like to cook; it’s the clean up and washing dishes that I dislike. Maybe I just need to be more organized?
Laura says
Yes! The kitchen time is such a time suck! If you want a kitchen free weekend check out Camp Barakel’s Family Camp. Lodge style accommodations and all of your meals are prepared for you!
Andrea says
cool, I’ve never heard of this camp before and I looked it up yesterday! It looks so fun — maybe in a few more years once the kids are older though 🙂
Wendy says
Bathroom cleaning for sure!!! I dislike unloading the dishwasher but that’s a chore my two remaining at home kids do.
Kim says
The Disney cruise is fantastic for the whole family!!!!! Great get away with no cooking or clean up! Hard to come home and start meal planning and cooking again
Janine says
Ha! I’ve often told my husband that if I could hire anybody to help out in our house, it would be a cook. I hate cooking. I wish I didn’t. My family probably wishes that too!
Natalia says
Now that you mention it, I think I’d like a personal chef, too. So much of my time is spent between the dining room table and that kitchen, and then repeat. Endless….
It was just yesterday that I’ve been daydreaming about hiring help with cleaning, as I was scrubbing the shower door. It seems that I can never clean that shower stall well enough! Crying Out Loud 🙁
Shannon says
Cleaning. Hands down!
Meghan says
The chore I wish someone else would do is the picking up, purging, and generally putting everything back where is belongs. The kids scatter so much randomness, and I can’t stand to be in clutter. The worst is when we are super busy and not home, so we just “stop and drop.” When we are home again for a longer stretch, I kind of internally freak until things are thrown out or properly stored.
Jenny says
Dusting! Then vacuuming.cooking, planning, and even grocery shopping are my fun things!
Mandy says
I’m with you – food prep and clean up. I don’t dislike it, but it’s spool time consuming. What will we do when we’re empty nesters?! 🙂
Mandy says
So*
Andrea says
haha — we’ll probably end up making food for our grown children and grandchildren then 🙂
Kim says
I would have someone clean my windows once per month.
Anne says
I know that you like to shop at the bigger grocery stores, but the Fast Lane at Family Fare is a lifesaver for me–and your first three orders are shopped for free!
Andrea says
yeah, we have a Family Fare only 1 mile from our house — I’ve thought about using the Fast Lane service, but it’s just SO much more expensive than Meijer. We’ll see… I might have to try it some time!
Cathy says
Dishes! i just hate loading and unloading the dishwasher.
KR says
Clean the floors, hands down. I don’t mind vaccuming but I have shampooing the rug (which is nessecary with a dog and a cat up love shedding), so we pay someone to come to that once or twice a year to the rug upstairs and the couch. Our bottom floor is low quality linoleum and we had a Roomba, but it is currently broken down. We have to get on our hands and knees and scrub the linoleum in the kitchen once a month and I HATE it.
Also, car detailing. So worth it.
Mary Ann says
I would pay for someone to do our yard work!
Jen says
Cooking–no question! I can handle the cleaning and laundry and even the grocery shopping but my dream would be someone to play the meals, tell me what to buy, and then come cook it every night! I would even clean up. I just don’t enjoy figuring out what to make and making it. LOL!
Ruth says
I am right there with you.
It would be anything and everything concerning food! And the constant handling, thinking and working with food has made me fat! I’m not even hungry most of the time, but I’m touching food all day.
I’ve calculated it and I spend about 30 hours a week dealing with meals. Shopping, prepping, cooking, cleanup.
My son’s friend once said to me, “you are always in the kitchen!”
It’s a little easier now that my kids are all in college, but my sons hate the dorm food so I am still cooking for them.
We did go on a Disney cruise once when my kids were all in high school and it was glorious! I didn’t have to think about, touch, or talk about food! I highly recommend it!
Andrea says
wow — 30 hours! I’m not sure i want to calculate my time in the kitchen. We’ll just say it’s a lot!
Christine from The (mostly) Simple Life says
I would pay to have someone clean bathrooms and floors. Although it wouldn’t really take much off my plate, since I don’t do it very often, hahaha. But I would certainly appreciate it!
Rhonda says
I would rather pay someone to do laundry, although I haven’t found anyone yet.
I do pay someone to clean once a month. We started doing it about 5 years ago. Our kids are 4 and 7, my husband works full-time and I work part-time. I get worried sometimes that I am not teaching my kids enough about how to do cleaning, but the truth we do a lot “in between” and I think they value having a clean house (although I’m not sure it’s good or bad for them to go to someone else’s house that may be dirty/messy, and they complain about it. I do remind them never to say something rude to someone else about it!) Also I used to think that having someone clean was a bit of a luxury – in fact, it’s very affordable (for us, anyway). It allows me to not panic when someone comes over (eliminates the “I haven’t cleaned!”) and I know that it’s done well once a month. My person does bathrooms, vacuums, dusts, and cleans the kitchen floor. I also think that she is more efficient than I would be, since we are not home when she comes. She also uses her own supplies (mostly) so it saves me having to buy the cleaning supplies too.
Rhonda says
For reference, I pay $150 per month for the whole house cleaning. Our house isn’t really that large, but we do have 3 bathrooms, and 3 bedrooms that get cleaned, as well as the kitchen, etc. We pay a flat fee – sometimes it takes longer, sometimes less time. I think my person usually is here about 4 to 5 hours.
Andrea says
thanks for sharing — that sounds reasonable (and well worth the money!)
Beth says
We pay a housekeeper $80 + tip every other week to clean our house. It is literally the best money we spend all month. My husband and I work full time outside of the house and we have a 15-year-old daughter that plays basketball on her high school team and a travel AAU team, so we are busy. My housekeeper spends two to three hours doing all the deep cleaning of the entire house, windows and washes the sheets on each bed. We keep up with the maintenance between visits, which is super easy. To do everything that she does would take me about 6 – 7 hours. The money we spend on the housekeeper is totally worth every penny. It is so nice to come home on a Friday after working all week to a sparkling clean house.
Andrea says
sounds amazing!
Stel says
I pay someone to do basic cleaning, 3x ‘n week. I’ll iron, do the laundry, pack & unpack the dishwasher, food prep, everything, but I absolutely dislike sweeping and mopping, and dusting and wiping. I am a housewife that irons once or twice a week in front of the tv, cart the kids up and down for various sport/school activities, do various entities’ admin and I would like to have some time for my own interests. So I have an angel called Bettie who rescues me. Fortunately it is affordable, otherwise I’d have to do it!
JJ says
Happy Chinese New Year! If there were a fortune for your cookie, it might read: Your help is in your midst. I have a friend with 4 older kids. It amazes me how much they DO now…cleanup and all! I was nodding my head the entire time I read your post. We have 3 little people, and I have told my husband the same thing!!! One time someone put the meme on FB about if you could be placed in a tv show that would be your life, which one would it be? I said, “Downton Abby!” Haha! Princess Kate may have a lot on her plate, but imagine just being able to play with your kids knowing someone else was cleaning up the mess! We live in an area with some really wealthy people who have nighttime nannies. I was taken back the first time I heard of that. While the idea sounds wonderful, I love that it’s me snuggling my babies. But if someone wants to clean up….haha! Love your posts!
Andrea says
Yes, I do hope to get my children involved in the cleaning, picking up, chores, etc. once they are a bit more competent! Nora is the oldest (but the most stubborn) so it’s been a battle over here!
Kimberley says
A person chef sound AMAZING! Doesn’t fit in my budget either…
I think I would definitely hire someone to come into my house once a week and clean up. I enjoy cleaning but I work full time outside of the house and between my husband’s schedule, my schedule and the 2 kiddos, it’s nearly impossible for me to do the deep cleans for the bathrooms (toilet, shower, sinks), kitchen (scrubbing the sink and stove) and sweeping and moping (all tile).
With our schedules and my hypothyroidism…I don’t have much energy at the end of the day and our weekends are usually filled as well.