It’s not easy juggling work, family, and friends with the need to have time for yourself. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, this struggle became even more stark than usual. Many people found themselves working from home and unable to separate work life with home life. Nowadays, you’re not alone in feeling that you’re doing more work than if you had been going to the office because many of us are finding it difficult to set boundaries.
While finding that boundary is something that you need to do yourself, there are things in your life you can let others take care of so you can have more time for your work, your family, and yourself.
Hire a Maid or a Cleaning Crew
Unless you have a particular way of cleaning your house, you should leave the cleaning in the hands of a professional. Most companies who provide cleaning services are aware of the threat of infection and COVID-19 and have taken precautions to ensure that they and your family are safe. Some saw an uptick in their businesses as most families recognized the need to have outside help in keeping their household running.
Hiring a regular maid service should no longer be thought of as a luxury. Instead, you should look at it as a need as you continue to work from home. You’d more likely be working from home until at least next year, and having someone to take care of the tedious chores, like cleaning, could lessen your stress and anxiety.
Garden and Lawn Care Services
Gardening itself is said to be therapeutic. Something is calming about being in nature and having control over what you grow in your garden. However, sometimes it can also be too big of a job. You might have a huge lawn that needs constant mowing or huge trees that require frequent trimming and other tree services. It becomes more of a chore then, instead of being therapeutic. Hiring a professional garden and lawn care service provider ensures that you get beautifully manicured lawns without taxing yourself physically. It becomes another thing you can tick off your to-do list.
Retain Babysitter or Dog-Walker Services
Do you have small children who you need to take care of? Is your dog still getting their daily walk while you’re working from home? These are things that have probably been eating into your workday, causing you to lose productivity and making you work longer hours. They might be cute and cuddly, but they could be major distractions when you’re trying to get work done.
If you had a regular babysitter or dog-walker before the pandemic hit, retain their services. You might think you’re cutting down on expenses by foregoing their services for now, but you’re just adding to the stress. Consider your workday as if you’re still going to the office. Stick to the hours you needed to hire the babysitter or the dog walker. The more “normal” your workday is, the better you can juggle your schedule.
There’s no question that taking care of your home and family life should be at the top of the list during this time. Working from home might have made you think that you could efficiently juggle the “need-to-dos” with the “want-to-dos.” Hiring other people to help you should no longer be seen as a luxury, but more of a necessity as you get acclimated to this new normal.
