What My Parents Never Told Me About Chores

If you work a white collar job in front of a computer like I have most of my career, you likely sit for most of the day.  Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve heard how sitting too much is bad for your health. 

That factoid isn’t even an argument.

One of the main reasons I semi-retired in my 40’s is to sit less and be active more.  Even when I was working full time I still made cycling, running, and climbing a priority in my life. 

I shoot for at least 10 hours of these activities a week or more, and usually make that mark.  To be honest I have no clue how I did it when I was working full time.

For the past year and a half I’ve only been working 20 hours a week at my W2 job, so I have way more time to get exercise in.  But what have I filled that newly liberated 20 hours a week with?

Mostly graphic design and blogging, two activities that still require me to be in front of a computer.

I have a makeshift stand-up desk setup at home, but if you’ve never tried a stand up desk my experience is that it only works for so long.  For me at least standing in front of a computer aggravates different body parts than sitting does and is still sub-optimal. 

So over the years the long hours of being a white-collar desk jockey have left me with stiff hip flexors and a mild case of sciatica.  No bueno. 

This leads me to chores…

 

Outsourcing

Most of my friends pay to have their houses cleaned.  Many also pay to have their grass cut all summer and their leaves raked in the fall.  I think every one of my friends has a robot vacuum cleaner.  Vacuuming is for chumps and robots right?

I avoid all of these things however, and I have three main reasons.  The first is what I call “the aggregation of marginal conveniences”.  That link explains it so no need to go into too much detail here.  But basically it’s the slippery slope to lifestyle inflation, laziness, and complacency.

The second of course is the cost.  A cleaning service in my area is about $120.  Assuming they come once a month that’s $1440 a year. 

Where I live our lawns have to be cut once a week from April through October.  That’s $50 a week for about 28 weeks if you’re paying someone to do it.  That’s another $1400 annually.

Between those two services alone that’s $2,840 a year.  That $2,840 annually over just 10 years, assuming a 7% return in the market, is a $47,572 opportunity cost.  That’s enough to fund my lifestyle for more than a year.

Over 20 years it’s an eye-popping $135,567

That’s huge.

But there are good arguments for paying for these things, so before the “shaming police” come after me I’m acknowledging that.  My good buddy Doc G states it pretty clearly – he hates doing these things and feels the time he saves by paying for them is better spent doing other things.  Like making money at his numerous side hustles.

I’m not arguing with that point of view at all.  If cutting the grass takes an hour and a half and you can pay someone $50 to free up that time and put it to use working on your business, why not?  It’s a balancing act of time and money management.  I just choose to balance differently than others.

But that gets to my third and main reason for not outsourcing these activities.  Cleaning my house, cutting my grass, and vacuuming give me good opportunities to not sit.  Doing these things is a great break from my sedentary side hustles and gets me away from the computer, out of a chair, and on my feet.  More time moving, less time sitting, plain and simple. 

My parents should have told me that one day chores would be good for my health.

 

Sweet Spot

I love working on my graphic design business.  It somehow keeps growing and becoming more profitable despite my marginal talents.  If I don’t purposely set limits I can easily find myself sitting in front of the computer doing designs for 5 or 6 hours at a time. 

It’s like a space-time warp.  Poof, holy crap, it’s 8 o’clock.  How’d that happen?

When I get up after a session like that my knees are creaky and my sciatica usually flares up a bit.  When I’m moving both of those things go away. 

Damn I sound old, and typing those last few sentences was a wee-bit depressing. 

But life goes on and I have a house to clean and a yard to tend to.  So I’ll stick to doing chores myself as long as they get me on my feet.

I actually love it that manual chores now serve a dual purpose in my life.  The chore gets done, and I feel better and less achy. 

That’s a high ROI for my time. 

How about you AF readers – do you outsource house cleaning, grass mowing, and other chores?  Do you also find yourself sitting too much, even after your workday is over?