Walgreens has partnered with task outsourcing app TaskRabbit to let cold sufferers order medicine from their sickbeds. Though task outsourcing apps are often accused of reinforcing social divides, this provides a more ethical application.

As distinctions between public and private lives continue to blur, consumers – particularly those from Generation Y – are finding increasingly ingenious ways of monetising every minutiae of their existence.

With the spread of technology, companies are exploring the ways household chores can be made more bearable. Amazon is appealing to grocery-hating mothers everywhere with Amazon Dash – the kitchen assistant intended to do for the shopping list what Kindle did for the e-book.

In the UK, 75% of adults care about their home being clean – but only one in five put the time in to clean at the weekend. Perhaps it's down to laziness, being overworked, or rethinking priorities, but one million more people employ a cleaner than a decade ago.