- getting someone reliable who works for such low wages is especially hard

- people are cheap generally and don't have the disposable income

- I think many people have house cleaners, people who mow the lawn and shovel snow, nannies

- Psychology: self-worth gets tied to “doing it yourself,” so outsourcing feels like weakness or elitism.

- Trust: Handing over personal tasks (groceries, errands) feels riskier than it is.

- Friction: hiring, scheduling, and managing another human adds overhead.

- Perfectionism: many would rather do it “their way” than risk compromise and not have the job done perfectly.

Ironically, these same barriers make people more comfortable with AI assistants, where with AI, you have less friction, less stigma, fewer trust issues.

The real productivity hack isn’t just saving hours, it’s getting past the belief that you must be the one doing everything.

Having a housekeeping service come for an hour or so weekly and a lawn maintenance and snow clearing service every two weeks will cost around $10k a year total in many large or mid-size cities, and many upper middle class earners do in fact use those services.