Is there a word that means "paying somebody else to do what you used to do for yourself?"

[raccoon]

I was thinking about how in my lifetime, many things people used to do for themselves they now hire somebody else to do.
For example: child care, walking dogs, routine car maintenance, etc.

If there isn't a word for this, there should be.

[LWolf]

1. Maybe "over-worked?"

If I could afford to, I would pay people to do many things that I struggle to do for myself. Why? Because the number of hours I spend at work, not for extra money but because the job keeps adding more duties to my contractual day, leaves me exhausted and unable to keep up.

Spending too many hours working means that, if I want a life, I'd pay someone to take care of things at home. I can't, though, so the quality of home life is diminished, and I still don't get everything done.

Or are you referring to those who make a more comfortable living, whoever they may be? Although I guess you'd have to make a more comfortable living to be able to pay others to take care of home responsibilities and still have money to go out and do things with your life.

[rurallib]

2. "hiring out" maybe

for me it was "getting older and too busy"

[WinkyDink]

3. "I have to work, and so do other people." What's your problem? I'm 63; never knew "home car

mechanics."

[LuvNewcastle]

4. You could use "outsource."

Since I went back to work, I had to outsource Tommy and Jenny's nap time to the daycare.

[WinkyDink]

8. Having one's car inspected by a technician is hardly "outsourcing."

[liberal N proud]

11. If you would have done the inspection yourself before, it is

Don't think about outsourcing as just sending jobs overseas. Outsourcing existed long before jobs were sent to China.

[liberal N proud]

5. Outsourced

It does not just apply to work being sent overseas.

If you did it yourself once and now pay someone outside, to do that work, it is outsourced.

[gollygee]

7. Posted at the same time

I agree

[gollygee]

6. Outsourcing?

It seems like there should almost be two words - one for things people used to do but now have other people do because they can't be bothered, and one for things they now have other people do because they're unable to (like child care because both partners need to work.)

[greymattermom]

9. sometimes houses are just too big

I recently sold my 4000 square foot house. Now I have an 1100 square foot apartment. It's so easy to take care of, takes less than an hour a week because I do as I go. It was the yard, kids and husbands who made me have to "hire out". That's what we call it in these parts.

[raccoon]

12. "Outsource" and "hire out" sound good. I didn't mean the OP to sound judgemental;

In fact, I almost included a disclaimer. I almost never cook at home any more and I quit changing my own oil long ago.

[southernyankeebelle]

13. employee?

[SoCalDem]

14. Hiring for service.

It's actually a natural outgrowth from rising in status....to a point.

If we accept the fact that societies always have various strata.

the very poor always do for themselves

the not so poor may barter within their group according to abilities , and those abilities can grow into businesses. Hiring for the businesses as well as the tasks the businessperson no longer has time for, can occur

as people move up the ladder, their time becomes more valuable to them, and the often pay for others to do the menial work they no longer want to do.

[Tanuki]

15. My grandmother grew up in rural West Virginia

and in her early years did many things including making her own clothes and bedding including pillows stuffed with feathers she had plucked from the farm's poultry, canning fruits and vegetables from the farm to eat all winter, making her own soap, etc. etc. She was only able to go to school through the 8th grade and she was determined that her children would have an opportunity for an education so she convinced my grandfather to move to town, where she worked in a garment factory and paid someone else to do those things, and I believe the word was "shopping", because she obtained the results of those labors at stores. Most of us pay others to do things that were done within the average household not so long ago, including baking bread, slaughtering livestock for food, carpentry, and so on. I don't have the skill set, time, or inclination to do every task myself, so I delegate certain things. For me, it is sometimes a trade-off between having a little more leisure time and a little less money, and it does help someone else earn a living at the same time.

[Egalitarian Thug]

16. Capitalism, monopolism? The things you mention are all things that the New World Order has

made difficult to impossible (except dog walking, that's an east coast thing that has been around for a long time and has spread).

[pnwest]

17. yes. "Tipping". Thats actually my rule for who

gets tipped... If someone is doing something for me that I can do myself...like walk my dog, cut my hair, serve me food, carry my luggage, drive me to the airport...those are people I tip.

[Matariki]

18. Two Income Trap?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/11/two-income-trap