What do you outsource?

[Wezil]

Inspired from another thread.

I'm too lazy to deal with ironing clothes so I send stuff out to be cleaned. I'm not a big fan of cooking so take-out and order-in foods are also high on my list.

I've been considering once a week maid service but I can't come to admit I have grown that lazy yet.

What services can you perform yourself but choose to pay others to do for you?

[DanS]

Dress shirt laundering
Barber
Shoe shine
Take-out, order-in
Cleaning lady once every two weeks
Condo association dues, which pays for building cleaning and maintenance
Mostly anything that requires manual labor, if it's not dead simple

[Wezil]

If I may ask -

How much do you pay for the cleaning lady? How long does she work and what does she do?

[DanS]

I live downtown DC, so cleaning lady is an expensive $85 a visit. She is efficient -- much moreso than I ever am -- so she probably spends about 3 or 4 hours a visit. She does all cleaning except "spring cleaning." Does dishes and laundry. Buys all cleaning supplies (for which I reimburse her).

From this, you can get a pretty good sense of the lowest perceived marginal value of my leisure time. If that value goes down -- such as if I lost my job -- then I would cut back on most or all of this.

[loinburger]

When I owned a house I paid somebody to mow the lawn (about 3/4 acre and my mower kept crapping out on me). I've always paid somebody to change the oil on my car because a. it's a dirty job and b. my dad would screw up his neck at least 25% of the time that he'd change the oil on his car until he finally caved in and got somebody else to do it (granted that this wasn't helped from the whiplash he'd gotten in a car accident many years ago but whatever it's still a pretty good excuse for me to pay somebody to change the oil on my car). That's about it - I eat out maybe once a month (including take-out or delivery eg pizza).

[Japher]

Anything to do with the car
Electrical and plumbing work around the house
Hair cutting/trimming

...that's about it

[rah]

Mowing the lawn and changing the oil.
I used to do both but it's not worth it anymore since I can get them both done cheaply.

[Japher]

Also drywall... life's to short to do drywall

[loinburger]

My dad actually enjoys drywalling, which probably means that insanity runs on his side of the family.

[Blaupanzer]

Like DanS, anything manual that's not dead simple. Could, but do not, have a maid. The three of us manage somehow on that one. Note there seem to be a lot of bachelors/only residents here. Is that the case?

[Japher]

I married with 2 kids.

[onodera]

I have my hair cut. I don't dry clean my suits myself. I don't have a car, so I don't have to outsource anything car-related. I do everything else myself.

[Drake Tungsten]

I've recently been outsourcing all my sexual duties. I keep an Indian immigrant in my bedroom closet and let him out to take care of the ladies while I play videogames.

[Kuciwalker]

I typically outsource attending lecture to all the other people in my classes.

[Provost Harrison]

When I am away on business I will get all my laundry done in the hotel...as long as it isn't crazily expensive (ie, Switzerland ) no one objects...Mexico City or Istanbul were very cheap in this respect.