<prompt> Human: Im curious how others have dealt with the desire to get a house cleaning service or related work like lawn mowing - swapping money for your own time. I think it is tough for me to justify additional expenses but I work a job where there are time pressures and the possibility of bonuses, so it feels like if I had help with some of these tasks 100 per month it could pay off greatly in terms of time spent and the calm that comes with a clean house and trimmed yard. I am a professor in a low COL area. The bonuses would come as grants or other opportunities to cover my summer salary which is not paid by my university. These grants depend on scholarly output through the year, so its not as simple as saying I get paid 40 per hour and spending 20 per hour on a cleaning service is therefore justified. My financial situation is basically fine on a month to month basis - I have no problem covering mortgage 1351 PIMI and living expenses, fully filled my Roth IRA this past year but doing so consistently may depend a bit on whether I get the three months of summer salary covered by grants or other jobs. No credit card debt, 1k in very low interest college loans that I will finish paying off next summer.  <response>: In my case, I started a regular house cleaning service because the house was always a wreck and it was causing relationship friction. Im now totally sold on this and will never go back if I can possibly help it. I would say, if youre having to choose between Roth IRA and housekeeping, it starts to be questionable whether you should do it, though. 