As human beings, we bring stress upon ourselves in most of the things that we do. In many cases, the routine we get into can slowly steal away the energy from our lives. The worst part is that we tend to sacrifice our most precious asset — time. In trading our time for money, we end up gaining money but ultimately losing the time to enjoy it. Below are some ideas to help reduce stress in your life.
Get Rid of Some Daily Chores
One of the easiest things to do that really doesn’t cost a lot of money is to outsource things that rob you of your time and energy. Men and women spend an average of 1.5 to over 2 hours per day on household activities. These tasks not only take up your physical energy but can also take away from your productivity throughout the day as you think about having to deal with them.
Yard Work
If you have a yard you can expect to spend a bit of time each week dealing with it. Some people are particular when it comes to their yard and landscaping and don’t want to outsource it. However, if you really care about it, you can find a quality company that may even do a better job than you. If you don’t care as much, just look for someone who works in your neighborhood and get them to do it.
Housekeeping
Using a maid, or maid service can really shape things up in your life. If you are the type of person that just lets things get really messy, then have to spend hours cleaning up — it can wear you out. Alternatively, if you are very strict and keep things clean every day, you are wasting precious time that you could be using to be productive. A cleaning service that comes once a week can really make a difference in having a healthy energy level.
Laundry
Dealing with piles of clothes, or having to iron can take a chunk of time every week. Using a dry cleaner to take care of your clothes will not only keep them in better shape than in a washer, but you can have them pressed and not have to worry about ironing.
Meal Preparation
Figuring out dinner, and cooking meals every night can be a lot of work and can waste a lot of time. An option is to use a food service a couple of nights a week. You can still fix dinner regularly but have a couple of nights per week where you don’t have to worry about what to cook. It is amazing how much mental energy just figuring out dinner can waste.
Grocery Shopping
Instead of going to the grocery store and wandering the aisles, order online and pick up at the store. You can also have your groceries delivered. A trip to the grocery store can easily take an hour, and unless your time is worth less than $5/hour, then going shopping for groceries is a waste.
Which To Choose?
Having all of these things done for you could get expensive, and if you have the finances to do so, great! If not, consider which one or two items would make the largest impact in your life if you didn’t have to deal with it.
One idea is to try out temporarily getting rid of each task one at a time for a couple of weeks. Try it out and see how well it goes, then evaluate which was most beneficial. You may come to realize it is one thing in particular that really makes a difference in your life.
Hand Off Headaches After Major Events
Unlike, a recurring task that can add stress, there are also those single events in life that are incredibly stressful that most people will face.
Things like:
- The death of a loved one
- Getting a divorce
- Retirement
- Chronic illness or injury
There isn’t really anything that can happen to make these events not change your life, but there are things that go along with each of them that if removed, can ease the burden on your mind.
Moving
Moving takes a lot of energy. It is especially stressful when you are moving for a reason that isn’t of your choosing.
One thing to consider to remove some of the stress is to hire a moving company that can pack your things. While most people will hire a moving company, going the next step and letting someone else pack things up can take a lot of weight off of your shoulders. Yes, it is an added cost, but most people only move a handful of times in their lives and the service may be worth it.
Selling a House
Selling a house is incredibly stressful due to the disruption it puts in your life. Having lots of people come in and out of your house, and always needing to keep it clean. In addition, most houses require some repairs and renovations before being put on the market.
An option is to sell your house directly, instead of listing it with an agent. House buying companies offer a guaranteed sale and a set close date, in exchange for a reduced price in order for the company to make a profit. Direct home-selling has really started to catch on with major companies like Opendoor and Zillow entering the market with local house buyers.
Selling Household Items
Liquidating a lot of items can be an emotionally taxing experience. This is especially true if the items being sold were those of a loved one. In many cases, people opt for an estate sale in order to get rid of household items in bulk. However, the sheer magnitude of work that goes into an estate sale can be incredibly overwhelming.
Something to consider is hiring a company to run the estate sale for you. These companies take a cut of each item sold, so they are incentivized to not just do things quickly, but to make sure they make the most money as possible.
Final Thoughts
It is impossible to remove everything from your life that causes stress. By eliminating specific tasks in our lives we give ourselves the opportunity for a bit of peace to more effectively spend money and use our time.
Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash