swamp
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Post by swamp on Jul 7, 2011 12:22:49 GMT -5
I pride myself on my house looking nice too. I just pay someone to do it for me.
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swasat
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Post by swasat on Jul 7, 2011 12:24:18 GMT -5
I pride myself on my house looking nice too. I just pay someone to do it for me. LOL Thats me too swamp. I take all the credit for my home looking nice. Just because I am the one who pays the cleaning lady
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Jul 7, 2011 12:24:30 GMT -5
I have lawn care. I could mow and edge and do yard clean up - but it takes me about 2 - 2 1/2 hours to do it all every week during the growing season. I've got limited time and it was getting very 'stressful' to figure out how to fit it in AND get to do the 'gardening' I like to do. I feel that I get alot of value from the lawn service - since I can devote time to the gardening chores I enjoy more (versus time spent on the endless maintenance of mowing, edging, trimming). I had a cleaning lady for a while - but it didn't seem to free up as much time as having the lawn service. I still had to laundry and wash dishes every evening and pick up after myself everyday.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 12:33:56 GMT -5
My MIL/FIL and GIL have a lawn care person - GIL and DH's aunt have a cleaning person. I understand DH's aunt having one - she works ike 70-80 hours a week, so she's never home; however, it's just her, so how messy can the place really get? GIL is retired, so I'm not quite sure why she still needs a cleaning person. She also has a handy man on retainer. I have no idea where she gets the money.... As for people my own age, I don't know. None of my friends have cleaning people. I could sure use one (especially now), but DH doesn't want a stranger in the house touching our things.
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MN-Investor
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Post by MN-Investor on Jul 7, 2011 12:37:15 GMT -5
I don't want to stand out as being even more different and incompetent as a homemaker. No, you are a home manager. It is your job to make sure that all tasks get done. Nothing says you have to do those tasks yourself! Would the CEO of your company type his own letters? Of course not. It's a poor use of his time. Good grief - a CEO wouldn't be guilted into typing his own letters! Why would you be guilted into doing your own floor scrubbing? You are a resource! Manage your resources wisely. That's your job! Yes, it may make sense to do the housework yourself, but analyze the situation without the guilt and make the best decision based on you and your family's needs.
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Jul 7, 2011 12:38:28 GMT -5
We don't have either although I have several friends (older widows) who have both. Our lawn is a very small patch that takes me less than 10 mins to mow (with an elec mower that starts with the press of a lever). I enjoy the gardening, but in a few years may hire someone to help with spring clean up, weedwhacking (DH does that).
I've talked to DH about hiring a cleaning lady because we both hate to vacuum, but he won't hear of it. He shares the housework and picks up after himself, so it really isn't that big a deal.
He will also do the windows (inside and out) when we have company coming.....
But I am thinking of hirong someone to come in once or twice a year for some real heavy duty spring/fall cleaning......
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lazysundays
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Post by lazysundays on Jul 7, 2011 12:42:36 GMT -5
I think this is really the biggest perk of moving out of NY NJ etc and moving to a low COLA. I would be able to afford a maid and lawn care. I would love it.
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reader79
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Post by reader79 on Jul 7, 2011 12:48:24 GMT -5
I live in Queens, so while we are in NYC, we have a 2200sq ft house and a medium sized yard. When all of my siblings lived at home, we had plenty of help keeping up the house and the grass. Now, not so much. My mom and I have talked about hiring a housekeeper/maid, but what has kept us from doing it so far is fear of theft. And from what I have understood from calls that I have made, it is not worth some of the more legit companies time to travel out to our area for just one house. They prefer to stick to Manhattan and Brooklyn. And while I do have friends who joke that they would clean our house for money, I prefer to keep that separate. I don't need them gossiping about my bathroom.
The yard is my dad's domain. However, he is a major procrastinator. The lawnmower broke at the end of last year, and he keeps talking about how he is going to go to the flea market to try to find another project one to work on.....but the grass keeps growing in the meantime. He finally cut it for my brother's graduation party with the weed wacker - took him all week. We paid a service one year, but by the end of the summer the guy had stopped showing up. The last straw was when my dad was home and saw him pull up, sit in his truck for a few minutes on his phone, and then leave - but he sent a bill for services rendered.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jul 7, 2011 12:49:03 GMT -5
I think this is really the biggest perk of moving out of NY NJ etc and moving to a low COLA. I would be able to afford a maid and lawn care. I would love it. You're a pharmacist, correct? They're dying for them around here.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jul 7, 2011 12:50:48 GMT -5
I think lazysundays is trying to hijack my thread ;D
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Jul 7, 2011 12:54:57 GMT -5
DF and I interviewed a cleaning service once, and decided it was not for us. The rate itself wasn't the problem, it was how little I felt we got for that rate, and the ridiculous restrictions that came with it.
For example, there is a joke about "cleaning for the cleaners". They won't vacuum a floor if there is stuff on it. They won't dust a shelf unless you remove everything from the shelf (I understand why, but its the taking off/putting back which actually takes the time), and I didn't like the idea of locking my pets up all day.
Most of the stuff we have problems with, are out of scope for a cleaning service. Our messes are more like sorting our mail, shredding papers, laundry, pet care, and stuff like that.
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april47
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Post by april47 on Jul 7, 2011 13:01:42 GMT -5
I've never had a house cleaner and probably never will. My husband and I never had a lawn person either. He actually liked to work in the yard. After he died, I confess I paid someone to mow for me. I tried trimming bushes and pulling weeds but about had a heat stroke (Texas Gulf coast) I now live in an apartment and it is so nice not to have to worry about it!
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jul 7, 2011 13:02:45 GMT -5
We don't have either, and I don't really know anyone who does.. our lawn is about 2 acres and it takes DH 3-4 hours a week to mow. I have no idea how much a lawn service would charge. As far as cleaning, I actually don't mind doing it myself - it relaxes me If I have kids, I'll probably change my tune.
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share88
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Post by share88 on Jul 7, 2011 13:03:34 GMT -5
I live in an extremely modest neighborhood and I would say 1/2 have lawn care.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jul 7, 2011 13:04:42 GMT -5
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. I have no doubt my friends would be jealous, but I'm jealous that they get to stay home. (And I live within a reasonable drive of the nearby city, but our friends are in the really redneck part of WNY - Adirondack hillbillies ain't got nothin' on those of us from the southern tier ) No, you are a home manager. It is your job to make sure that all tasks get done. Nothing says you have to do those tasks yourself! Would the CEO of your company type his own letters? Of course not. It's a poor use of his time. Good grief - a CEO wouldn't be guilted into typing his own letters! Why would you be guilted into doing your own floor scrubbing? You are a resource! Manage your resources wisely. That's your job! Yes, it may make sense to do the housework yourself, but analyze the situation without the guilt and make the best decision based on you and your family's needs.I know, but I'm still having trouble reconciling who I am with who I want to be. I don't want to be a CEO, I want to be home barefoot with the radio turned up cleaning my own house & cooking from scratch today. Instead, I'm doing monthly reports for a global corporation... which I really should be getting back to... sigh...
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jul 7, 2011 13:10:34 GMT -5
Part of where we bought has a lawn service which includes weeding, fertilizing and even tree/shrub trimming. It also has snow removal in the winter. This group of 25 houses banded together to get a great deal on it. We call it our HOA!!!!
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spartan7886
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Post by spartan7886 on Jul 7, 2011 13:17:13 GMT -5
We have both lawn care and a cleaning service. Lawn care we've had since we got the house - it's fairly standard in Houston, probably something to do with the availability of cheap labor. We still take care of the gardens ourselves, he just mows and edges. The cleaning service is recent, but we have the money and it never seemed to get done before. We did for most of the time I was growing up, except one summer where I was home and my mom decided she'd rather pay me to do it. $20/week for cleaning one floor top to bottom (2 story house, so alternating floors each week) was decent money for a middle schooler as long as I didn't do the math on my hourly rate. It was something to do while my folks were at work, anyway.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 13:21:14 GMT -5
We have both. We have about a half an acre, landscaped, with numerous mature oak trees. We were paying 1-2k a year for leaf removal and general clean up in spring and winter - it would take a few u-haul trucks to clean up the leaves. I quit leaf cleanup after filling 20 50lb bags and not even clearing my driveway. Now we just pay $185 a month for weekly mow and blow, weeding, pruning, leaf removal and reseeding/fertilizing. They also repair the sprinklers in the spring. I'm still out there weeding, deadheading, and dealing with the vegetables and fruits.
Our housecleaner comes every two weeks and does the heavy lifting. It's $65 each time and takes her about three hours. I clean in between because I like a very clean house. I'm the type to scrub toilets before guests come over.
My neighborhood is full of larger lots so pretty much everyone has a lawn service. Most of the mom's in my playgroup have small yards and do everything themselves.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 13:26:30 GMT -5
When my kids were younger I had a lawn guy come out every other week in the summer. I took care of it on alternating weeks. I also had a company come out to fertilize and spray for weeds. I don't hire any of it out anymore. My teenage son and I take care of the yard now, he does the regular/routine mowing and trimming.
There's one guy that maintains several yards on my street. Otherwise, I know people that take care of it themselves and people that hire it out for whatever reason.
If anyone that I know pays someone to clean their homes, they've never mentioned it.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Jul 7, 2011 13:31:57 GMT -5
however, it's just her, so how messy can the place really get? You still have to clean the tub, toilet, sink, and wash the bathroom and kitchen floors occasionally - not mention vacummning various rooms. Even if it tops out at 3 hours of 'maintenance work' every week - when you are working 50 or more hours aweek and trying to maintain a social life AND get some sleep - a cleaning person starts to look really good.... I know I was working 50 - 60 hours a week (with an additonal 10 hours commute time) and having to do the same things over and over and over week in and week out to maintain the house and my life started to depress me.
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backontrack
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Post by backontrack on Jul 7, 2011 13:45:22 GMT -5
I was surprised to find out how many people we interact with on a daily basis have housecleaning services. But since they are mostly families with young kids, I totally understand why. Things like cleaning a toilet or even getting out the chemicals to clean are tricky with a toddler around. And no parents I know want to spend the entire time the kid is asleep running around trying to clean.
There are many things I would give up before the cleaning service. In fact I want to up our frequency since we are monthly right now. I would love to have someone take care of the yard as well, but DH wants to keep doing that himself.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jul 7, 2011 13:49:55 GMT -5
Slight hijack - those of you who have a cleaning service, is this a licensed/bonded agency, or just a person you pay to come in? Seems like it's common enough to be a good source of side income for some YM-ers *cough*Doxie*cough* but probably not if most of you are using agencies.
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❤ mollymouser ❤
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Post by ❤ mollymouser ❤ on Jul 7, 2011 13:50:18 GMT -5
We have a lady who comes in every other week on a Tuesday afternoon to clean our 3 bathrooms, mop our tile floors, wipe off the baseboards, and thoroughly vaccuum and dust the whole house. (I vaccuum and dust on her "off" weeks, and I keep the kitchen sparkling!)
We have a gardener who comes every Friday morning to mow and edge. (I usually deal with the flower beds, bushes, trimming, pruning, etc.... though sometimes I will hire them for special projects.)
We have a Spider Guy who sprays once a month outside our house/in the garage. (I don't do spiders, or bugs, or pesticides!)
We have a Pool Guy who comes every Monday to clean/service/chemicalize the swimming pool. (I skim it daily during the summer when I'm in there, swimming.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We've had the same gardener, pool guy, and spider guy for the 8.5 years we've owned the house and have been very happy with their work, their prices, and the value received. If I need to have a tree trimmed or the sprinklers repaired when my wonderful DH is deployed, the gardener will do it. When I needed to have the swimming pool drained during one floody February when my wonderful DH was deployed, the pool guy came over on a Friday night to do it. And when I found a HUGE spider in the shower when my wonderful DH was deployed, the Spider Guy company sent a guy over to kill it for me ... and take it with him. (It was huge.)
We're only used this lady to clean our house for the past 2 months, but we're liking the job she does so far. Before that, we did it ourselves for a while, and before that, we had a lady who did it for about 4 years (but she quit to have babies.)
We're debt free (including our mortgage), and we've budgeted for these expenses.
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Post by illinicheme on Jul 7, 2011 13:51:55 GMT -5
We hired a housekeeper back in early March. It's been awesome. She doesn't do a perfect job, but our house is definitely FAR cleaner on average than it used to be. The cost fits easily into our budget.
We currently do our own yardwork. We bought a house in which the previous owner clearly LOVED to garden. The front yard is mostly a bunch of flowering bushes and flowering ground cover. The backyard has a tiny patch of grass, but otherwise is mostly trees, bushes, and flowers. The amount of work needed to keep it all pristine is overwhelming, but for the most part it looks pretty good even if I only weed/pull up dying stuff every couple of weeks. (There's always something pretty and flowering, so you don't notice weeds as much as you would if it was a plain grass front yard.) I'm certainly learning a lot about plants. I'm also learning that I have a great green thumb as long as I'm in California and have an automatic watering system!
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constanz22
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Post by constanz22 on Jul 7, 2011 13:53:06 GMT -5
I pay for mowing. I work full time, am a single female, and have almost a half acre, hilly lawn. Besides the fact that I detest any kind of lawn work. I am not at all anal about my lawn. If it gets mowed every other week, I'm good with that. I pay about $40 a mow, and I'm good with that. It's totally not worth my time at that price.
ETA: I would love to have someone come in to clean also, but, so far, can not justify that expense. I also need to get the house into fairly decent order and then maybe have someone come once or twice a month to do the "deep" cleaning. Someday...I'm getting there with the debt paydown...I had someone clean my old house when it was for sale. I kept it pretty clean but she did all the mopping, scrubbing, etc. I loved it. I think it was about $45 a pop.
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swasat
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Post by swasat on Jul 7, 2011 13:54:52 GMT -5
midwestern, we don't use agency. Its a Mexican lady who comes and cleans. I always call her when someone is home, usually its the weekend. Not sure if she is illegal immigrant. She takes personal checks, so I am assuming something is right.
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hockeygrl
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Post by hockeygrl on Jul 7, 2011 14:00:44 GMT -5
Midwestern: I hired the cleaning lady my sister in law has used for 18 years. I pay her as a contractor - 1099 at the end of the year and she's responsible for filing her quarterly taxes. I use her because I know she won't steal anything, I know her SSN is legitimate, and I know she is legally allowed to work in the U.S. I know this because my sis-in-law pays her as a waged employee (she started out working on their farm) and did all of the required checks.
If I didn't have my sister in law's recommendation, longevity, and backgroud checks, I would have gone through a service in order to ensure the employee wasn't a thief, was legal to work in the U.S., and that tax laws were being followed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 14:01:58 GMT -5
You don't need to send a 1099 to a contractor who works in your home.
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hockeygrl
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Post by hockeygrl on Jul 7, 2011 14:03:28 GMT -5
You don't need to send a 1099 to a contractor who works in your home. I thought I did? I've only had her a few months, so I had planned on doing it at the end of the year. I will look into what I need to do, then. Thanks.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 14:05:27 GMT -5
You don't need to send a 1099 to a contractor who works in your home. I thought I did? I've only had her a few months, so I had planned on doing it at the end of the year. I will look into what I need to do, then. Thanks. Only if you hire the contractor as part of a business to business transaction.
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