Hi
Hopefully
you've been having a wonderful week.
I have been super busy at work as well as my house.
So they finished painting and then they came on Monday and cleaned the carpet.
So now trying to get the baby's room set up because I have been sleep
deprived for over a year and it's now it's time for me to finally sleep.
So he is going to have his room and I'll have my room.
And in that way we both could have a better, a good night's sleep.
So I wanted to talk about outsourcing.
It made me think about it because I had been doing so much work
around the house. And I realized that if I was the one doing that,
I wouldn't be able to get a thousand things that I have on my to-do list done.
So let's go ahead and talk about outsourcing,
which is something that I've been doing for years,
and I'll definitely continue doing it for more years to come.
So if you don't know who I am,
my name is Shevonne and I talk about productivity, work-life balance,
and just life in general with two young adults and a baby.
So let's go ahead and get started talking about outsourcing your life.
So outsourcing is good because one thing that people always
think about is money,
how much money you're spending on this and how much money you're spending on
that.
But one thing that you also have to take into account is that time is
money you're spending, let's say two,
three hours on a task that you really, really hate.
You have to think about the fact that you are spending that amount of
money doing that task, that you can let someone else do it,
and you can focus on something else that you're better at doing or something
that you're more passionate about.
That's why it's always good to think about outsourcing what
you can just delegate to other people,
because then it lets them do what they like doing as well as you
go ahead and start talking about like the tasks that I've delegated.
I have definitely delegated grocery shopping.
I do do the online groceries, and then I go pick them up at Harris Teeter.
Or sometimes I go to Wegmans, which if you're not on the east coast,
it's a grocery store chain around here.
And I have been doing this,
I think since I can't even remember,
it's been like since the 2010s,
I am someone who I don't like crowds.
I'm not someone who's a fan of crowds.
I really hate grocery shopping.
The worst is Wegmans. Oh my God. Like it's a zoo in there.
I remember when I used to go into, because before the pandemic,
Wegmans did not have a way for you to pick up your groceries and they still
hadn't partnered up with Instacart either. I don't think.
And so you would have to go in there and, oh my God,
it was a pain in the and I just hated it.
I can't be around a lot of people. It's just like,
it just gets me very anxious and just tenses me up since the
2010s. And especially with young kids,
because when you go grocery shopping with young kids,
they'll ask for this and they'll ask for that.
Even if you have a list you're still going to go and buy stuff that you
shouldn't be buying for your kids.
It's always better for me not to grocery shop with kids.
So that is one of the things that I outsource.
I just order my groceries online and then I just go pick them up
whenever I go during my scheduled time.
And that just saves so much time, because for some reason,
like when I'm in the grocery store, I just spend way too much time.
That definitely has saved me time.
You're able to go and order your groceries online and then go pick them up.
Or if you have Instacart pea pod,
or any of the other grocery delivery services,
that there are definitely consider doing that.
Usually the fee is pretty like minor.
And I know like with Harris Teeter,
they actually have now changed the fee structure.
So if you spend over a hundred dollars,
it's free to go use the pickup service.
If you spend 50 is $2, which is really nice. And if you have a prescription,
cause I use them for my prescriptions as well, you pick them up, it's free.
So there are ways to offset that delivery fee. Now,
if you do do like have the groceries coming to your house,
you're going to spend more money.
But I know that it depends. Um,
it's not that drastic for me.
Like I still prefer to pick them up because it's a little cheaper,
but that is definitely something you should look into is just outsourcing your
groceries and not having to worry about spending all that time at the grocery
store. Good morning, everyone.
So I'm here with Mr. Giovanni and he is just touching everything
as kids do his age.
But while I was thinking about editing this video,
I thought about one other thing that you should consider outsourcing that
has to do with food that I did not stay in beef when I was doing the
original video is meal delivery
kits and also like prepared meals. So that's another way to save monies,
Mr. Giovanni, he goes to daycare.
And one of the things that I get for him as little spoons,
and I know that he is getting healthy food
that has already come prepared and also doesn't have those heavy metals that
some of the baby foods at the stores have. And I, when I heard about that,
I don't get that for him anymore. That has helped me a lot in the morning,
just get things done.
And then the other thing that I got for me is I subscribed to bistro MD
and that's because I'm trying to lose weight and the meals are already prepared.
So that was one of the things I was like really stressing me out was I was doing
all this stuff for work. And then I had to rush to get the baby.
And then on top of that, I had to cook.
And even though I was trying to do like meal prep is still, was so hard.
So I subscribed to like that meal delivery service.
And that is one option to outsource as well is finding like meal delivery kits.
There's a bunch of them and or meals that are already prepared.
Those are a little bit more expensive. And as well as for babies,
you can consider that too,
especially with all those heavy metals that the stores have. Yeah.
I just wanted to pop in and see,
say that another place that you can outsource is cleaning your house.
So my kids can tell you,
I am a clean freak and they hate that about me.
And before when I was younger,
I had more time because I didn't have that many responsibilities at work like I
do now.
So I was able to clean constantly.
Like I know that this is going to sound silly,
but cleaning is kind of like something that helps me
relax. I don't know why,
I guess it's because it's not something that you really have to think about
because I don't have to cook. I'm an over analyzer and over-thinker,
and that's something that I am always working on. And for some reason,
when I clean, I shut off my, my mind and I just get to work.
Now that my life is the way it is, I have no time to clean.
And so that is one of the things that I have. I do have a cleaner,
I did have her coming every other week,
but now I have her coming just every week because I really have no time just
having her be able to clean the house and not have to worry about
doing all those deep cleanings.
All I have to do is like spend 15 minutes picking up here or there or wiping
counters and stuff. And that really has saved me time.
And then it also has alleviated stress because I don't have to worry about my
house being dirty because when my house is a mess,
I can't think or anything. For some reason,
it's just like weighs heavy on my mind.
That is something that has been really great is just having someone come every
week and just clean my house. If you have, uh,
have kids,
you can delegate to them and start having them help you clean around the house.
Or if you have a partner or roommate,
you guys can go ahead and think of what each one likes
to do and which one and what you really, really hate.
And if you all can sit there and compromise,
that's another good way of trying to make sure that you're not focused
on cleaning all the time.
And you're basically outsourcing to someone in your family,
in your household to do the chores that you don't like to do during this time.
A lot of us we're taking care of our children and as well as working and
doing all the other stuff that we have to do. But yeah,
if you now feel a little bit more comfortable having your kids being watched by
someone so you can focus on work or whatever you need to do do that is
something that I finally just decided I needed to do.
When the baby started being more active,
I went and found a daycare and they had been opened the entire time because they
had medical staff, police officers, and firefighters that were using them.
And so it made me feel a little safer to that being that as well,
they had a nurse on staff and Scott is something that I did.
I just put the baby in daycare because I needed to work.
And the other thing too is if you're not comfortable doing that,
or you can watch your kids during the week,
then consider just having a babysitter.
Even if it's a babysitter that comes for like an hour or two,
you need to take care of yourself because when you're stressed and you're tired,
you're not going to do the greatest job taking care of someone else.
You can find a way to like outsource that responsibility of taking care of your
kids for an hour or two, do that. There's also even, um,
share basically babysitting duties with another family.
So if there's another family that you live nearby and you guys are pretty close
and your kids get along, then consider doing that.
Like maybe one family takes care of the kids a Friday
night, once a month,
the other parent or parents can do
something. Or,
and then the next time it's the other family that takes care of the
kids, maybe a Saturday.
And you basically are able to have someone take care of
your kids for an hour or two or even longer.
And then you're not having to worry about the money.
And that's one thing that I'm trying to do is give people different options.
Because I think when people think about outsourcing, they're always like,
I make no money. How the hell am I going to outsource?
And so that's why I'm trying to give you different options because you can
outsource without spending a buttload of money.
And so this is other ways of outsourcing or delegating some
responsibilities without feeling like you're just spending, spending, spending.
So I don't have my own business. I have a side hustle,
but like a virtual assistant,
if you are starting your own business or you're pretty busy.
So if you're starting your own business, consider getting a virtual assistant,
um, from what I've seen,
there are some that are pretty good value and you're
not spending like tons of money on them.
And so even if it's someone that helps you out,
like once or twice a week,
that is also a good way to offset some of those
tasks that you really don't want to do, like meeting,
I hate scheduling and trying to find people's calendars and what makes sense for
all of us. I hate that crap. So if I had a virtual assistant,
that would probably be one of the things that I give to him or her.
And one of the things too,
is that if you do have teenagers or you like young adults,
or even like, um, your neighbors,
like if you're able to have them be your virtual assistants,
that will probably be like a little bit more budget friendly than someone who's
a little bit older, mature,
probably in their twenties who wants to be a virtual assistant.
The only thing about that is,
so you have to remember that this person probably doesn't have that much work
experience. So you're going to have to mentor them a little bit more,
but you can have teenagers or like someone in their early twenties,
who's home for college for the summer,
have them be your virtual assistants for like one or two days a week.
And that will just make your life even better.
So this one is definitely for someone like me,
who hates doing things around the house,
in the sense of like anything having to do with the house. Like, I,
it just goes over my head that it's just not something I wish I could do it.
And I even said that to my kids. I was like, man,
if I could start my life over again,
I would have learned how to house renovations.
That is a area where you can make so much money,
especially if you like, you start getting into real estate as well.
But for some reason, I guess, I don't know. It's just like goes over my head,
like having to do anything, having to do with the house.
So that's something that I always outsource is I find people who can do
things for me because I just can't do it. The other thing that I do is, um,
if they see this, they'll probably roll their eyes, but I do have my,
my dad and my sister, they helped me out a lot.
And then my son now he's at the point that he can do things around the house.
So man, I have them do it. I'll go ahead and buy whatever things.
I need to buy that for, to fix something or to improve something.
And then they do it for me because like I said, it goes over my head,
believe me, there's other things that I help them with.
Like my dad is always bugging me to help him with his tech and stuff like that.
So it's not like I'm just sitting here just free loading off of them.
And then I'm not doing anything. It's kind of like a barter system. So yeah,
that's definitely something.
If someone in your family is super handy barter with them,
there's something that you're good at that they suck at offer those services to
them and then they'll offer their services to you.
And then you guys can both be happy without spending tons of money,
going to different companies,
trying to do what you don't want to do or can't do. And yeah, I mean,
the other thing too is like, hi, I'm a huge online shopper.
I don't know if any of you ever saw that Sandra Bullock movie, the net,
but I remember my, um, my brother-in-law used to make fun of me.
And he was like, you are definitely going to be like Sandra Bullock on the mat.
Yeah. I think that would, if I didn't have kids and I had to leave the house,
I would be like some trouble, like, like I do so much online shopping.
And that helps because I can do like price comparisons and things.
The only thing that I won't really online shop for, or like clothes,
because I don't know, it really depends on the brand and things fit and stuff.
But other than that, I've asked another thing that I do in order,
instead of having to go somewhere and buy,
I just buy it online. Well,
one of the good things about the this time is the fact that now there's
curbside pickup. So especially when not like I have the baby in the car,
I can order that stuff online. They just send me a text being like, Hey,
it's ready. And then it's just like the groceries. I just go pick it up,
open the trunk. And I'm good to go. That is something good too. It's like,
you don't have to always go and run errands and stuff like that.
Think about the places to have per site pick pickup and use those
places to do your shopping.
And then you save the time that you would be going and walking
around and standing in line, waiting to checkout.
You're just able to get it done.
That's another place that you can just like find a way to save time and just
outsource having to go and pick up all those items for yourself.
Those are the areas where I think that people should
consider outsourcing. You don't have to do everything yourself,
fine. People to delegate to.
I'm telling you it will make your life so much easier.
Let me know what areas you've outsource or what services you're
using. I would love to know,
and I will talk to you next week and have a happy Memorial day.
Bye.