yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jul 7, 2011 11:33:38 GMT -5
I've been noticing that a lot of people have a cleaning person or lawn care in their budgets, or it just comes up in threads. It seems like this is very common on YM. Maybe it's because I'm cheap but I'm just surprised that it's so common. I'm not criticizing at all but is it a regional thing? I'm in the Northeast and I don't know anyone with a cleaning person (or maybe I do and I just don't realize it), and I only know a few with regular lawn care.
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hockeygrl
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Post by hockeygrl on Jul 7, 2011 11:43:45 GMT -5
I know lots of people with cleaners/lawncare and lots of people without. Common? I would say probably 60-40 (without - with).
I never considered either until I bought my first house and mowed the lawn in 100+ degree heat. I had room in my budget, so I paid for lawncare after that. Now my husband takes care of the lawn. I didn't have a cleaning lady until I had a baby. I decided I would rather spend my time off with my husband and son instead of scrubbing toilets. I realize that it is a luxury and tons of people juggle a lot more than working, one kid, and housekeeping but I can afford it now, so I choose to pay for it.
And let me add, single moms amaze me. After having the boy, I realize just how much work they put in. My husband is a great help with our son, I can't imagine doing it on your own. Hats off to you, ladies!!
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swasat
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Post by swasat on Jul 7, 2011 11:44:50 GMT -5
I'd say it depends on the family more than the region. Most working couples with young children like to have one if they can afford it.
I have a cleaning lady, but we don't outsource lawn care. My DH loves gardening, so he takes care of it all. Oh, I am in the midwest.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Jul 7, 2011 11:45:39 GMT -5
I have been thinking the same thing. Some days I am ready to hire a cleaning person, but lately I have been leaning to the clean 1 room a day and assign tasks to other family members route.
My problem is I am a person that would rather do it myself if I get any flack. So, I end up doing everything.
The lawn care I am less inclined to put out, DH doesn't mind cutting the grass, but he is really busy. DH and I have gotten quotes for the fertilizer/weed services, but they want so much $$ DH always decides to keep doing it himself.
Last week someone said they could clean theri whole house in 6 hours, so my goal is to see how long it would take me. If it is 6 hours a week, gosh I should be able to find that much time in the week to take care of it myself.
One issue I have is I have an HE washing machine. It works ok, my clothes are clean, but it takes a long time to run through. DH told me last week he thinks I should get rid of it b/c it puts creases in the Jeans. Not sure if he would be happier with a diff machine or if he would find something new to complain about. Honestly I think he will have to put up with that until the thing dies. I have a long list of wants and needs for the house. I do lots of laundry. Only 4 people but I do at least 8 loads a week.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jul 7, 2011 11:46:51 GMT -5
I'm in WNY and I've been thinking the same thing. I know a couple of wealthy executives who hire things out, but other than that, nobody I know hires anything out. But then again, we hang with a crowd who fixes their own cars & builds their own houses. I've been toying with the idea of paying someone for a one-time thorough top-to-bottom cleaning, but I haven't decided if I'm going to do it yet. I've been so busy lately and not feeling well and I just haven't had the energy to do the big cleaning jobs, it's all I can do to keep up with keeping the kitchen & bathroom clean and the floors vacuumed and stuff tidy. If I do, I don't want my friends or my MIL to find out, I can't imagine what they'd think about me hiring out housework.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 11:47:59 GMT -5
I am in the northeast as well. It seems like the majority of people have either a house cleaner or lawn care or both.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 11:48:14 GMT -5
I am in the northeast as well. It seems like the majority of people have either a house cleaner or lawn care or both.
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MN-Investor
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Post by MN-Investor on Jul 7, 2011 11:48:11 GMT -5
I know some of my neighbors have a lawn service. Just as many, if not more, have snow service in the winter. If I were single, I would pay to have those things done. I hate mowing, I hate shoveling. My DH prefers to do both himself.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jul 7, 2011 11:48:47 GMT -5
We have lawncare service. We have just shy of an acre of land. Rather than spending 4-6 hours mowing is the heat, plus edging, trimming shrubs and cleaning up, we use the lawn service. They come every 2 weeks, the lawn looks great. They use their professional lawn care equipment a couple guys and are done in an hour or so. We are not having to constantly buy lawn care equipment or repair mowers. To us it is worth the price.
We do not have maid right now, but have at various times in the past, especially when we had 3 kids in the house with various activities. We are down to one kid at home and for only one more year. I do the cleaning myself.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jul 7, 2011 11:49:53 GMT -5
This message has been deleted.
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skubikky
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Post by skubikky on Jul 7, 2011 11:58:06 GMT -5
We have lawncare service. We have just shy of an acre of land. Rather than spending 4-6 hours mowing is the heat, plus edging, trimming shrubs and cleaning up, we use the lawn service. They come every 2 weeks, the lawn looks great. They use their professional lawn care equipment a couple guys and are done in an hour or so. We are not having to constantly buy lawn care equipment or repair mowers. To us it is worth the price. We do not have maid right now, but have at various times in the past, especially when we had 3 kids in the house with various activities. We are down to one kid at home and for only one more year. I do the cleaning myself. Good point regarding the ownership and maintenance of mowers etc. I never considered that. We have 5 acres and DH mows it himself(John Deere lawn tractor). He really enjoys it so that works for us. Wonder how much he'll enjoy in 20 years when he's 73?
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MN-Investor
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Post by MN-Investor on Jul 7, 2011 12:00:19 GMT -5
If I do, I don't want my friends or my MIL to find out, I can't imagine what they'd think about me hiring out housework. I'd have no problem! I figure that I don't make everything I eat from scratch, I don't sew all my clothes, I certainly don't do car maintenance (DH does it, but I'd hire it out if I didn't have him). Etc. You prioritize. Your time is worth something, and you have a limited amount of it. You shouldn't let someone guilt you into making housework a higher priority than spending quality time with your family. Or whatever else is important to you.
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Jake 48
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Post by Jake 48 on Jul 7, 2011 12:00:51 GMT -5
We have a fertilizer service, I don't like keeping the chemicals around the house so it minimizes it
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 12:03:11 GMT -5
My wife didn't want my mom to find out that we used a housecleaner so we didn't mention it for a while. Finally I said something about Diane who cleans our house. The cat was out of the bag and my mom's surprise lasted only a few moments. Much ado about nothing.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jul 7, 2011 12:03:38 GMT -5
We have 4 acres of lawn and extensive gardens & a pond. We mow about 2 acres of it on a regular basis and the rest of it 1-2x/yr. DH & his son mow. I take care of the gardens. It takes them a few hours/wk and me a an hour or so every other week to tidy up plus a 1/2 day spring & fall cleanup not counting the time harvesting fruit & picking berries.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jul 7, 2011 12:03:51 GMT -5
I guess it is more common than I think. It just seems like such a foreign concept to me, like something for the rich. I guess it is because both DH and I were fairly poor growing up (although neither of us thought of ourseleves as poor). I guess 8 year old me would think 30 year old me is rich . We don't have either but could afford it.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 7, 2011 12:06:23 GMT -5
A large portion of people that I know do have a house cleaner. Even the SAHMs.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jul 7, 2011 12:08:30 GMT -5
I guess it is more common than I think. It just seems like such a foreign concept to me, like something for the rich. I guess it is because both DH and I were fairly poor growing up (although neither of us thought of ourseleves as poor). I guess 8 year old me would think 30 year old me is rich . We don't have either but could afford it. I can't believe how many times I said "I guess" in that post. "I guess" I need more coffee
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jul 7, 2011 12:08:54 GMT -5
I think whether or not people have lawn or cleaning services depends on a lot of factors.
First is probably how much they hate doing that chore. After that you get into financial resources, number of incomes, length of work week, size of family, age of family, and a lot of other stuff. Considering that a lot of YMers are two income families, older, with more financial resources than average, you'll probably find a higher level of household services among YMers than you would find in a broader sample.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jul 7, 2011 12:09:42 GMT -5
If I do, I don't want my friends or my MIL to find out, I can't imagine what they'd think about me hiring out housework. I really don't care what my MIL thinks. If my cleaning lady horrifies her, she's free to come clean my house. About 1/2 of my friends have cleaning ladies (just about all of us use the same one) and the 1/2 who don't have one wish they had one. I'll bet if you hired one, your friends would be jealous. BTW, I live in the really redneck part of NYS, so if anyone is going to be horrified, it's these people.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 12:11:23 GMT -5
I'm not very mechanical, so if I move somewhere with a lawn and it is too big to cut with a reel mower, I would probably hire a service.
I can't justify a cleaning service for one person's mess though, but I'm surprised how many of my friends do this.
I'm also surprised by how many of my friends hire a handy person for really basic home projects. I wonder if one of the side effects of our more dispersed society and people living away from their families is that we don't have anyone to teach our generation to do these types of things. (I would need someone to teach me how to maintain a weedwhacker, so home improvement and landscaping are similar mysteries for me)
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Post by pig on Jul 7, 2011 12:11:55 GMT -5
I think I'm the only one in my neighborhood that doesn't have professional lawn care. I told myself that as long as I'm capable of doing it I'll do it myself.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jul 7, 2011 12:13:06 GMT -5
Well if I wasn't such a neat freak, I'd probably get a cleaning lady. Although, someone mentioned having one just for big jobs. That sounds appealing. Window-washing is not high on my priority list. I get upset when I see a messy bathroom or floors that need vacuuming but I can always close the blinds if the windows are filthy If I didn't have a DH that did the yardwork, I would have bought a condo.
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MN-Investor
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Post by MN-Investor on Jul 7, 2011 12:13:21 GMT -5
I know that in some countries, if you have a decent job, you are expected to hire housekeepers and gardeners, etc. It's the accepted way to help people worse off than you. I remember reading about a maid for a well off family who hired someone poorer than her to clean her house. That was expected of her. It's a good approach.
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Waffle
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Post by Waffle on Jul 7, 2011 12:16:53 GMT -5
I grew up pretty poor - everybody I knew did their own lawn care. I knew people had housekeepers, because my grandmother was one. Now, I hate lawn care and it would be one of the last things I would cut out of the budget. One horrible year I had two mortgages and I still hired help for the lawn of the house that was for sale! Housekeeping, I've never hired out - part of me is tempted to, but the trust no one part of me doesn't feel comfortable having a stranger in my house to clean.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jul 7, 2011 12:17:21 GMT -5
Well if I wasn't such a neat freak, I'd probably get a cleaning lady. Although, someone mentioned having one just for big jobs. That sounds appealing. Window-washing is not high on my priority list. I get upset when I see a messy bathroom or floors that need vacuuming but I can always close the blinds if the windows are filthy If I didn't have a DH that did the yardwork, I would have bought a condo. My cleaning lady comes every other week and cleans the bathrooms, mops the floors, and does other bigger jobs like washing windows and wiping down cabinets. She vacuums, but I also do it regularly. I don't have her pick up, I do that so she can clean the house. She does have people that hire her just for heavy duty spring cleaning.
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Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on Jul 7, 2011 12:20:00 GMT -5
We dont have either lawn care or a cleaning person. I wish I had a cleaning person but I just can't justify it.
I did have a cleaning person years ago when my son was younger - I was able to go to his games, etc. without worrying that the house wasn't getting done. Worth every penny!
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jul 7, 2011 12:20:02 GMT -5
part of me is tempted to, but the trust no one part of me doesn't feel comfortable having a stranger in my house to clean. That is a big one for me too. I think I'd feel like a total jerk if I was home while someone else was there cleaning for me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 12:20:12 GMT -5
I can't imagine owning a piece of property so large that I couldn't maintain it myself. That means you're pretty much tied into ongoing maintenance expenses. I mow our lawn. To me, it's just another type of workout and it takes me about 1/2 hour. I also do the gardening (which is a fancy word for weeding). We're in the minority in our neighborhood.
DH does the cleaning. Not up to my standards but I pitch in if it gets too dirty for my tastes or ignore it. We have a big house and I'd rather take the $$$ we'd spend on professional cleaning and put it in the savings or use it to travel.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jul 7, 2011 12:20:39 GMT -5
I'd have no problem!
I figure that I don't make everything I eat from scratch, I don't sew all my clothes, I certainly don't do car maintenance (DH does it, but I'd hire it out if I didn't have him). Etc. You prioritize. Your time is worth something, and you have a limited amount of it.
Yea, but these are SAH people who grow their own food and cook & sew, etc. It's bad enough that I work outside the home so we spend money on convenience foods and I have a nicer wardrobe than any of them and I don't have time or energy to do canning or crafts like I used to. There's no way I would want them to know that I hired out cleaning when I have time to sit and watch tv or read for a couple of hours in the evening. I know I should be spending that time cleaning, but I'm just exhausted. I already feel bad enough about not being able to stay at home and do all of the things they do because it's my responsibility to support the family since I make 2/3 of the income, I don't want to stand out as being even more different and incompetent as a homemaker. My job is just something that I do because I don't have a husband capable of supporting a family. Having the house look nice and cooking when people come over are the woman things that I take pride in.
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