When Domingo and I first moved into our town home, Domingo wanted to hire a cleaning service. I was reluctant. I hate spending money, especially on something I can do myself. Since I was still in grad school and not really contributing to the family income I felt extra guilty with the added expense. Time passed and we never quite got around to that cleaning service.

Domingo again advocated for a cleaning service when we moved into our apartment, but the place was so cluttered with things I was sure they wouldn’t be able to get to most surfaces in order to clean them. This time I was also better able to stay on top of things myself, especially when pregnant and nesting kicked in. That is until Alexis was born. Before she came I was washing the carpets. In the past two months our place looks like it’s never even seen a vacuum.

Well, we finally decided to go ahead and booked a cleaning service.

Another area we started outsourcing is dinner for the adults. I had the notion that we would all sit together and eat meals as a family like I did growing up, but rarely are we able to these days. The time between when I arrive home after picking up Nicole from daycare and the start of the bedtime routine is about an hour, and includes dinner and bath time. There isn’t enough time for both of us to eat with Nicole, especially when Alexis needs her dinner as well. So Domingo and I have taken to ordering ahead for our food to arrive just after the girls go to bed some nights. The nice thing about many of these meal delivery services is you can order them in the afternoon and specify what delivery time window you’d like. Domingo and I don’t have to waste time cooking a second dinner, or running out to pick something up ourselves.

When bedtime is a little later, and we no longer have to devote as much energy to making sure the toddler eats her food instead of plays with it, we will return to family dinners.

We tried to have food arrive in time for Nicole’s dinner as well, but alas the service was proven two unreliable. In early January there was a problem with our water. It was brown. The apartment complex claimed it was safe to cook with, and in all likelihood it probably was, but I couldn’t get past the fact that it was brown. When the water wasn’t fixed by two in the afternoon, we decided we’d just go ahead and order in. We scheduled the delivery for 6:15, around our typical dinner time. Shortly after the scheduled arrival time Domingo gets an email saying they would be unable to fulfill the order. A few minutes later we got a phone call explaining why: the restaurant we were ordering from was closed, and failed to notify the delivery service. While it wasn’t the delivery service’s fault, we were left high and dry for dinner. It was too late to order from somewhere else, and I didn’t feel comfortable cooking with the brown water. This isn’t the only time there was a hiccup in food delivery, but it was certainty the most disruptive.

In general I think I’m doing pretty good about managing my time with two kids. It helps that Nicole is still in daycare (seriously, how do you stay at home moms do it with multiple kids?!) so the times that can become crazy hectic are typically only weekends, mornings and evenings. It sure feels good to do a little outsourcing and claim some of that time back.

Posted in Family Life