Paying for Convenience

Nearly 12 years ago, my husband introduced me to the concept of paying for convenience and at the time, I had no money and lots of time, so I couldn’t get on board.

According to Google, people tend to pay for convenience when the cost of the convenience is less than the sum of the value of the time saved plus the value of the reduction of stress. That’s a fancy way to say, if you have time and bandwidth to do it yourself, you usually will. When you don’t if you have money, you will pay to take it off your plate.

Since having a toddler and especially traveling with a toddler, I have fully embraced this equation. My stress is high, and I have very little time to waste.

Quick note before I go on: while some of these conveniences may be out of reach, and I do realize my privilege, so many of these are very low-cost.

I remember when I moved to New York and mentioned to my parents that I have all of my bulky or heavy household items like toilet paper and laundry detergent delivered to my apartment, they balked. But we already paid for delivery service and when you live in a city and don’t have a car, this seemed like an obvious choice. No one wants to carry heavy detergent for blocks, or up and down subway stairs, and it’s definitely cheaper to get the items delivered than buy them yourself and take a cab home!

This simple delivery convenience has grown exponentially since having Toddler A. If a grocery trip involves bringing the stroller and packing enough snacks to (hopefully) avoid a meltdown, it’s almost never worth it. Also, diapers and wipes are an absolute “delivery-only” purchase. They’re bulky, heavy, and needed often. It is far more convenient to get them delivered, and while it is actually free (diapers are a great way to hit a delivery minimum), I would absolutely pay a delivery fee if necessary.

Over Christmas when we traveled to Atlanta, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up essentials like milk. However, I realized later that we could have used Instacart. Again, we pay for Instacart for our groceries in NYC, so why not use it when we travel? It is so convenient to schedule a delivery to the hotel for later and then know you will have groceries like milk, yogurt, and bananas (toddler essentials), when you arrive. With this one, you do need to be aware of two possible obstacles: flight delays, and the availability of a fridge (and the size of that fridge) in your hotel room if you haven’t seen it yet. I usually don’t schedule the delivery until we land at our destination, especially with the current state of travel in this country. Again, while this post is about paying for convenience, I actually have saved money with this hack because I started ordering cold brew and coffee creamer with the groceries, which saves me from buying coffee daily when I travel! Caffeine is also a toddler essential (for the adults).

The number one thing we have started to do while traveling to pay for convenience is we rent a full size crib at our destination. We have now done this three times, and it is worth its weight in gold. We found that while hotels say they have cribs available, they often mean a pack and play, which all babies and toddlers hate. Sometimes they mean a mini crib, but very rarely do they have a full-size crib. Sometimes they say they have one or a few, but they can’t guarantee it if there are other guests who claim it first. We decided our sleep was not worth the risk, and I found an alternative.

There are a few websites that provide this service, but we have been using Baby’s Away. The rentals are extremely cheap, around $14/day, and then there is a delivery fee, but it usually works out to be about $100 for a weekend, or $130 for a 4-day weekend. While this is not cheap, we have decided it is worth $40-50/day to have good sleep. Also, it is one less thing to schlep/pay for to check on a plane. The delivery has always been seamless and on time, and the cribs are so nice. They come with a mattress and bed linens, but I always bring a sheet from home, so he feels even more comfy. Toddler A gets sleep, which in turn means we all get sleep, and all of us have less cranky days. Then when we depart, we leave it at the front desk when we go, and it’s picked up by the company. It has been absolutely worth the money. Last time, we also rented a stroller for an additional $8/day.

The final travel convenience I have converted to is paying/tipping for baggage assistance. For airports, this means sometimes checking bags at the curbside and tipping the people to avoid the inside line. The sooner we can rid ourselves of excess bags, the better. But the real tip (no pun intended) has been utilizing Red Cap service on Amtrak. There are dedicated people in busy Amtrak stations who can help with your bags, and their services are completely free (plus a tip). Not only will they help you with bags, but they also have inside info and know where the trains are sitting before the track is posted on the boards. This means you do not need to wait in huge lines or take part in a mad rush to the platform. Before anyone else is on the train, you are already settled in a seat with your bags away. This is absolutely worth $5-$10.

A major convenience expense of ours to save our sanity and marriage, is a house cleaner. While this is not new to us, nor is it cheap, it continues to be a huge worthwhile expense. When Chris and I first started dating he sent me article after article about how hiring a cleaner can save your marriage. At the time, we weren’t even engaged, and I was poor, but I agreed with the sentiment. During Covid, we didn’t want other people in our home, and we attempted to split chores using a chore chart. It… didn’t go well. We are now and forever a shameless “hired cleaner” household and it is a vast life improvement… especially since our carpets are now permanently seasoned with cracker crumbs.

The main “pay for convenience” I hear about often is ordering takeout or delivery. I admit I definitely order more takeout than I did before having a kid, but I still try to minimize this expense. Not only do I despise the insane fees, but I prefer a healthier alternative. If I’m in a pinch, I like to run to the store to grab a rotisserie chicken, but for now while Toddler A still isn’t eating full adult meals, it usually doesn’t ease my burden much to order delivery food since I still have to cook something for him.

Have you utilized any of the convenience fees I mentioned? What else is worth paying for to keep my sanity? I’m not against adding on to the ones I mentioned to buy additional time back.