This is a sponsored post.

In our modern world, we’re all obsessed with trying to figure out how to be more productive – and for someone working in the blogging field, this goes double. Owning a blog means you serve as the writer, editor, photographer, marketer, secretary, bookkeeper and more for your business. With so many aspects of the business to manage, it can and does get very overwhelming trying to keep all the plates spinning. After 11 years in this field, I’ve learned the importance of delegating work whenever possible – and since this isn’t a traditional business with employees, this process works a little differently for us.

What – And How – to Outsource

Running a blog is a unique business model, so it can be hard to know what, or even how, to outsource the workload. These are some common areas where delegating can be a lifesaver:

• Accounting: I handle my bookkeeping because there’s no real practical way to outsource that, but my accountant takes care of all annual tax-related matters. This saves me a tremendous amount of time, money and stress.
• Social Media & Virtual Tasks: Having a virtual assistant on hand to help you with day-to-day blogging tasks is an incredible help. Every blogger’s needs are unique, so this varies for each person, but common VA tasks include managing social media channels such as Twitter and other doing day-to-day blogging maintenance.
• Content: Most successful blogs hire out content creation – some of the top food bloggers have entire recipe development teams. I don’t outsource my own content because Cooking Catastrophe is a very different kind of food blog, and since I came into this field from print journalism, I purposely outsource things I’m not that passionate about specifically so I have more time to write. But for most typical food blogs, having someone work on recipe creation is often essential.
• Tech: One of my husband’s roles in our business is serving as our in-house, on-call IT person for all my websites and devices, but this is another area in which I am an outlier. For most blogs, having people on hand to handle website design and technical issues is absolutely vital.

How Do You Find an Assistant?

Part of the challenge of delegating tasks is knowing who to hire. For me personally, I hired my accountant based on a recommendation from a trusted friend, and she’s been preparing my taxes for 11 years now. For my virtual assistant, I joined a few Facebook groups for VAs and got lucky on my first try in finding someone absolutely incredible. Ask for recommendations, start small, and take advantage of tools such as password managers to give you control and peace of mind.

But I Can Just Do It Myself!

It’s OK to outsource things you are capable of! For years, I’ve felt like if I could do something, I should do it. I always thought that hiring a third party was something you did when you had a task that you couldn’t complete, but I’ve realized the folly in that. It’s not silly to outsource tasks that you can do; it’s smart! When it comes down to it, bloggers are capable of doing most things relating to our businesses – and that’s how you end up working 24/7. I realized that I was neglecting the most important part of my job, i.e. writing actual content, because I was so consumed with keeping up with the daily grunt work. Sure, XYZ task only takes a short amount of time, but when you add up all those little tasks, the sum total can easily consume most of your day. Delegating some of these jobs has allowed me to focus on the core important aspects of my job, do better work, make more money, and oh yeah – actually take a day off occasionally!

This is a partnered post.

Buying food is an ongoing expense, and being a foodie makes that even more costly. Whether it’s hunting for obscure ingredients or buying extra supplies for a new recipe project, cooking special dishes can really add up. Since I’m a frugal foodie, these are my tips for cutting down on costs when you’re developing a recipe:

Waste not, want not. If you’re trying something new or getting adventurous by creating your own dish, there’s bound to be times when it doesn’t quite work. However, there are many times when you can repurpose leftovers or specialty ingredients into another recipe instead of just throwing them out. I am the “Leftover queen”, always getting doggie bags at restaurants and re-working my own leftover meals and ingredients into new ones. Not only does this stop unnecessary waste, but it saves you money as well. If you’re stuck for inspiration, try a website like SuperCook.com where you can put in what ingredients you have and get recipe suggestions that call for them.

Plan what you purchase. If you’re cooking a specific dish rather than just creating your menu based on sales, you’ll end up spending more overall, but that doesn’t mean that one special recipe has to throw off your whole week’s budget. If you know that you’ll need to pick up chicken breasts, organic asparagus, and whipping cream for a special stuffed chicken recipe, think about what else you can make based off that: What should you put on the menu afterwards to use up the rest of the whipping cream? How about a chicken stir fry using your leftover, chopped up meat? Not only does this cut down on time and costs, but it also prevents you from wasting leftover food that you didn’t get a chance to eat. See tip #1!!

Use coupons, in the grocery store…

Check trusty sources such as your newspaper and local sales fliers for coupons you can clip before heading to the grocery store, and save yourself some cash on the items you have on your list! Coupons aren’t just for “Junk food”; you can also find coupons for foodie staples like spices, olive oil, organic products, and so on – you might be surprised what you find!

…And online!

I can’t be the only one who has ordered specialty ingredients online, like almond flour, that I couldn’t find in my local stores. Good thing I put that expensive flour to use in my bread recipe that completely flopped, right? 😉

Luckily, you can cut costs on these fancy-pants ingredients, which takes a little bit of the sting out when your bread explodes! Groupon Coupons, a recently-launched extension of Groupon, has a searchable database of coupon codes available at tons of online retailers. You’ve probably taken advantage of Groupon vouchers before for visiting new restaurants; well, now you can use Groupon Coupons to potentially save some cash on online grocery orders. Groupon Coupons is a database filled with coupons and promo codes, is free to use, and doesn’t require an account; just click and search for the retailer or type of deal you want, and you can save in a few clicks. Sales are also listed by categories – here’s the ones that can aid in your culinary efforts:

Grocery coupons for standard items on your shopping list or even a specialty item;
Food & gourmet coupons for wine and other foodie treats;
Kitchen coupons for tablecloths, flatware and other food photography props;
And finally, coupons and sales for restaurants & bars!

So those are my four hints for saving money on your kitchen experimentation! What tips would you add?