Comments on: Why You Probably Shouldn't Hire Outside Help

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:04:18 +0000

Great set of questions! Thanks so much for sharing.

By: KIM

KIM — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:38:02 +0000

I go through a series of questions.
1. Am I wasting time? If so, paying someone is like throwing away money.
2. Is this out of my reach? Do I know someone who would teach me?
3. If I need to pay, research the quality of labor and the market price. I was very sick and needed a “nanny” a few hours a day. We found college students who were looking for a little extra work to fit their schedule. We paid better, because we didn’t want them to go looking for another job while I’m unable to leave bed.

By: Outsourcing Your Life Pt 1 » JoeTaxpayer

Outsourcing Your Life Pt 1 » JoeTaxpayer — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:03:58 +0000

[...] like to take a look were mentioned on my roundup on Valentine’s Day and included WoJo’s Don’t Hire Help, Reasons for Not Hiring Help, Kelly’s Time Management: Outsource to Save Money and Time, and Erica’s Outsourcing [...]

By: A Valentine’s Outsourcing Sunday Roundup » JoeTaxpayer

A Valentine’s Outsourcing Sunday Roundup » JoeTaxpayer — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:59:10 +0000

[...] of Fiscal Fizzle tell us Why You Probably Shouldn’t Hire Outside Help. In this post, we are offered reasons why people like the idea of paying others to do some work for [...]

By: The Amateur Financier

The Amateur Financier — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:32:30 +0000

A good list of assumptions we tend to make to justify our outsourcing. The second one seems especially odd; unless whatever work we are outsourcing must be done in the middle of the work day, the chance that saving an hour or two of time will allow us to work an additional hour or two at our normal rate of pay is minimal.

I do think there are situations where outsourcing can make sense, most of which have been touched on here; when you need professional level skills and don’t have the time to develop them yourself, when it’s a one time task and learning how to do it yourself is hard to justify, or when you simply hate doing the task enough to pay for the privilege of not having to do it yourself. But to try to justify it by saying, ‘I earn fifteen dollars an hour, it would take an hour to mow my yard, therefore, it’s a good deal to get a neighbor kid to do it for ten dollars’, that’s just absurd.
The Amateur Financier´s last post: Financial Samurai’s Alexa Challenge

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:04:13 +0000

Chalk up another one for good balance! You also made an excellent point about having to adjust with the times–our life situations change and what may not be warranted now could become a necessity tomorrow!

By: Carla | Green and Chic

Carla | Green and Chic — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:45:05 +0000

I think it really depends on what it is and you do have to chose wisely. I could have used someone to help clean my home when I was sick last spring (MS). All the focus was on me and a lot of things fell by the wayside. Trying to “do it all” is not good either.

When it comes to business, I do what I can in a reasonable amount of time and hire other people do to the rest. I do my own bookkeeping, website updates, light HTML/CSS, etc, but when it comes to anything that’s more dynamic like filing taxes (especially LLC, between two states, sales taxes, tons of 1099s and a couple of w-2s) I’m not going to risk getting audited because I screwed up. Less stress and headaches for me. I dont need to add more drama to my life!

You need to find where your balance is – at least I do.

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:17:05 +0000

Yet another layer to consider, Venus! I agree–I think we’ll take a similar approach with our kids, especially since I actually enjoy cleaning.

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:10:23 +0000

Hey Shawanda, thanks for the awesome case study! It’s amazing that you could wait almost 4 hours to see someone; I would not have the patience!!

By: Venus

Venus — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:40:01 +0000

Remember, too…Doing household chores can actually qualify as “Spending Time w/the Kids.” Especially when they’re older, vacuuming, raking, and cooking WITH the kids has many benefits, including:
1) You can pay them (allowance), instead of a paying a professional – Teaching them money management, and using money you’d probably spend anyway on their requests for toys and such. (This especially works when you DON’T do chores together.)
2) They learn to do things like cook and clean – Making them very capable adults, right out of the box.
3) You’ll fight less with them if you’re doing chores together than if you’re “making” them do chores alone.

Mostly I pay my kids a substantial allowance to do the chores without me (less than I’d pay a professional). I pay them a BONUS if they do them without me having to remind them all week ($8/wk + $2 bonus).

But, I find that when we do them together, we bond and have fun.