Not for the first time the other day, I was accused of being lazy. This is a fairly regular occurrence, especially when people find out about the plethora of services I use to reduce my time spent engaging in the most mundane of activities.
For example: I get most of my groceries delivered by Tesco so I don’t have to push a trolley around the store and fight my way through check-outs. Instead, I point and click on their website, and a nice man comes and carries it all to my apartment.
I use FromYourDoorStep.com to get my dry cleaning done. Once a week a guy turns up with a big bag and takes away shirts, trousers, suits, jackets and bed linen, which all comes back in a few days clean and beautifully pressed. The price is comparable to taking it to a high-street dry-cleaner, but the effort involved is far less: I don’t leave the house! You can either phone them up, or use their online form to request collection.
I’ve used CarValet.co.uk to keep the car clean for as long as I’ve been a driver. The hand washes you get in some car parks are pretty good if you just want to take the top layer of muck off, but to really get that “just new” feel back, you want a proper valet - inside and out. They’ll come to wherever I happen to be working that day, home or office, and have everything they need onboard their van so don’t need access to water on site.
Swissmaid.co.uk provides me with the lovely Maggie, who comes to the apartment every other week to keep the place spotless. I’ve used them for as long as I’ve been in Winchester and have never been disappointed.
Like most people, I use Amazon to get my media fix; be it via books or rental DVDs. Other retail therapy is achieved via Scan, eBuyer, Apple, Dell et al.
Need to arrange a courier? Parcel2Go.com makes it easy to request a courier to come and collect items to, well, courier them to wherever you like. Again, all this can be done with a few mouse clicks.
BMW services are arranged online, and they’ll come to me to take the car in, leaving me a courtesy car if I need one. Once again, the low hassle option!
All my banking is done online, it is very rare for me to write a cheque or deal with “real” money. Personal banking, company banking, credit cards, pensions and investments are all dealt with via online systems. (That said, some institutions still maintain a “personal” presence and try to arrange face to face meetings every-so-often!)
And of course, making all of this possible is the 8Mb Internet connection provided by Zen.
If it weren’t for the pesky business of meeting clients and friends, I’d never have to leave the apartment. 
I’m not sure that lazy is fair. How about efficient? Are there any services I’ve missed? What, if anything, do you have done for you to make life easier?
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