1. Cleaning your house yourself.

If you work full-time then cleaning your house yourself makes no sense. People who work full-time end up with so little relaxation time. The last thing anyone wants to come home to on a Friday night is come home to a dirty house and a giant list of jobs to do.

2. Any DIY job involving the word “stripping.”

“Stripping” should be left to the professionals, hehe. Even if you quite like the idea of doing painting yourself, you can get someone in to prepare the surfaces.

Let someone else strip your wallpaper, old paint over wood, or wooden flooring that needs revarnishing.

3. Any DIY job that involves purchasing specialized gear.

When considering doing a job yourself, it’s easy to forget to figure in the costs of paint brushes, sand paper etc etc, and the gas and time involved in going to make these purchases.

Try to work with a handy man who will pass on discounts he has negotiated with stores to you.

4. Staying home from work to meet a tradesperson.

In most cases it makes sense to pay an after hours fee to preserve your vacation time.

5. Attempting to do a task without the most efficient tools or supplies.

Life is to short to endure the frustration involved in attempting to do home improvement or home maintenance tasks without the specialized, time saving tools that the professionals use.

Another issue is using cut price cleaning supplies that don’t do the job nearly as well as a better product. One area where I avoid the dollar store is when it comes to cleaning supplies – I’ve had too many bad experiences e.g., of sponges that fall to pieces when you try to use them.

6. Attempting to do your own taxes.

Attempting to do more own taxes was probably the worst decision I ever made. Not only did it take an extraordinary amount of time, but I ended up being over cautious with deductions. Now that I am using an accountant I can see that using a professional would’ve saved BOTH time and money.

7. Anything that would cost you less than $20 a hour to have someone else do.

If you earn an average salary, then $20 an hour is an non extravagant level at which to be valuing your personal time. You might not immediately know how saving that money would allow you to claw it back on other ways but chances are (a) you will, and (b) you’re not considering some of the savings that will come from someone else doing the task for you, such as saving gas money going to buy supplies, as previously mentioned.

photo credit: wwarby via photopin CC.