How much time do you spend doing household activities—like washing, folding and putting away laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, dishes, vacuuming, wiping that weird pink gooey-gunky spot off the counter (WTF is that?!), and generally keeping your home in livable condition?
Have you ever tracked your time to find out?
Good news: you don’t have to, because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics did it for you.
Every year, the Bureau releases the The American Time Use Survey which is exactly what it sounds like: a national survey collecting data on how people spend their time.
According to the Survey, it’s likely that you spend 1.78 hours per day doing chores around the house. To be clear, we’re not talking about childcare or elder care—that’s an entirely separate number. We’re talking about chores like scrubbing pots and pans, sweeping, making beds, organizing, that kinda thing.
That adds up to about 650 hours per year.
What could you do with an extra 650 hours per year?
Really breathe that in. Feel the spaciousness of that number: 650. So much time.
What could you do…?
You could research to identify gaps in the marketplace, develop a brilliant offer, launch it, sell it, and transform your financial situation.
You could start a hit podcast and grow a fanbase for your work.
You could finally start that side hustle. Apply for a life-changing grant. Nail down your unique system, trademark it, and certify others in your methodology.
You could become a millionaire.
Or at least, get on the path to millionaire status and make serious strides forward.
Which is why: You need those 650 hours back.
Nobody’s going to give that time back to you. You have to claim it for yourself.
How? It’s actually pretty simple: Hire some help.
Start with household help, learn how to delegate, and then eventually you can expand into hiring professional/business help, too.
Start outsourcing tasks. Free up your time. Your skin will glow, and your bank account will thrive.
If the notion of hiring help paralyzes you, start small. Find someone you can hire $15 an hour x 5 hours a week. That’s it. Start there. Even 5 hours a week will make a massive difference for you.
I guarantee there’s a teenager (or college student) who’d be thrilled to earn a little extra cash on the side, and who will happily fold your jeans, pack lunches for your kids, run errands around town, make your bed, fluff the pillows, and honestly probably do all this stuff better (and far more cheerfully) than you do.
If you’re thinking, “But money is so tight right now. I can’t afford help every week!” then do a trial run. For just one week, treat yourself to 5 hours of help. Think of it like a one-time thing: a mental health gift to yourself. It’s not forever, it’s just one week.
And then once you experience what a profound difference this makes, you’ll realize, “Oh. Actually, I need this every week…” and you’ll be motivated to rustle up the funds and make it happen.
You were not born into the world to vacuum dust bunnies from under the bed…while your dreams get pushed to the side and your income remains stagnant.
Start outsourcing. Get those 650 hours back. Use this precious time to invest in your health, boost your energy levels, create dope things, and make bank.
The path to becoming a millionaire is paved with million dollar decisions.
Deciding to get help—and freeing up your precious time—is one of the first, and most pivotal million dollar decisions you can make.
Make that decision today.
Rachel
PS. I can already hear you saying, “But what about the Pandemic! I can’t have people come into my home right now.” True. But you can hire someone to drop groceries at your doorstep, run to the post office for you, and so much more.
Make a list of everything you don’t like doing to run your household—anything that clogs your schedule, clutters your mind, drains your energy—then pick your top 10 most-loathed tasks and assign those to your new helper. Feel your shoulders drop and your world expand.
PPS. Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways my team and I can help you grow your business this year:
1. Join the private Hello Seven Facebook group, a curated community exclusively for women entrepreneurs making six-figures or more. Learn from and connect with other high-achieving women as we divulge the moves you need to make to get to seven-figures. Click here to join (note: you must answer the questions in order to be considered).
2. Work with me and my team privately. If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take you from $100k to $1m … just use this link to apply… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details.
