No one warned you that adulthood would come with an endless queue of chores: grocery runs, laundry, pet care, and home maintenance. The good news is that a growing ecosystem of on-demand service apps lets you delegate the most tedious tasks to vetted professionals—often for less than you might expect. Here are four apps worth adding to your phone.
1. Handy – Home Cleaning and Repairs
Handy connects you with background-checked professionals for home cleaning, furniture assembly, plumbing fixes, and general handyman work. You book a time slot through the app, a pro shows up, and you get your weekend back. Handy operates in dozens of cities across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and its flat-rate pricing model means you know the cost upfront before anyone rings your doorbell.
Best for: Regular house cleaning, one-off repairs, post-move deep cleans.
2. Rover – Dog Walking and Pet Sitting
Pets deserve more than a quick pat on the head before you leave for a long workday. Rover is a marketplace that lets you search, vet, and book local dog walkers, drop-in visitors, and overnight pet sitters. Sitter profiles include reviews, photos, and rate information. GPS-tracked walk reports and in-app messaging keep you in the loop while you’re at the office.
Best for: Daily dog walks, vacation pet sitting, last-minute boarding alternatives.
3. Instacart – Grocery Delivery
Instacart partners with major grocery chains and local supermarkets to bring your shopping directly to your door. You browse store inventory inside the app, add items to a virtual cart, and choose a delivery window—sometimes as short as one hour. A personal shopper picks your order and can message you in real time if a product is unavailable so you can approve a substitute.
Best for: Weekly grocery shops, heavy or bulky item orders, avoiding peak-hour store crowds.
4. Tide Cleaners – Laundry and Dry Cleaning On Demand
Laundry is one of those chores that never truly feels finished. Tide Cleaners is a service from the detergent brand that offers wash-and-fold, dry cleaning, and garment alterations. You can schedule a pickup and drop-off through the app or use one of the brand’s 24-hour locker locations—similar in concept to a smart parcel locker—to drop off and retrieve clothes on your own schedule.
Best for: Busy professionals, delicate or dry-clean-only garments, anyone who simply refuses to fold another fitted sheet.
Note on availability: Service coverage for all four apps varies by city and region. Always check the app or website to confirm availability at your address before signing up.
Is Outsourcing Chores Worth the Cost?
The value of these services depends entirely on how you value your time. If a two-hour grocery run plus commute eats into time you could spend on high-value work, client projects, or simply recovering from a demanding week, paying a delivery or service fee can make practical sense. Most of these platforms also offer subscription tiers that reduce per-use costs for regular customers.
Start with one service that addresses your biggest time drain, track whether it genuinely frees up your schedule, and expand from there.
Originally inspired by a feature on Essence.com.