Stats please if you have maid or gardener etc

[lazysundays]

If you have hired help come to your house to help out with something, please post where you live (or if it's low COLA) and what is your income and if you are in debt..

just wondering if moving to low COLA would be worth it or if you guys are just rich in general

[Deleted]

Central Connecticut
approx annual household income $120k
We are in debt.

[swamp]

Cleaning lady every other Thursday. Really LCOLA. @$200k ish. Debt includes mortgage, 2 vehicles and a student loan which I have been told not to pay off early.

[swasat]

Midwest LCOL
Household income $215K
Debt includes mortgage and DH's student loans about ~20K

Cleaning lady once a month, sometime twice. Cost $90/visit

ETA: Since Houston is considered LCOL, I am pretty sure we are LCOL ;D

[soon2bmomof3]

Cleaning lady every other Friday. $60 or $80 a visit depending on it's whole house or just downstairs.
Lawn people every two weeks from May until Sept, every 3 weeks or a month from Oct until May. $25/visit.
Gross ~ $150k, Houston, so I guess LCOL.

We have mortgage debt.

[lazysundays]

Hmm, only 4 posters and I'm already seeing why $150k household income doesn't cut if in HCOL area...

[swasat]

tbird, you have 300K in SL?

[Deleted]

LCOL area, no debt, average $10/month for either shovelling or yard work depending on the time of year, I make well under $100,000/yr

[midjd]

Midwest, LCOLA, we don't have a gardener, but my husband does some landscaping side work for $15/hr (and he's good!) Cleaning services run $15-20/hr.

[hockeygrl]

Medium COL area
Housekeeper 2X month, $60 per visit
Income ~$170K/year
Debt: $30K SL, $160K mortgage, $23K car note

Edited to add: maybe I should say LCOL area? I just moved to Colorado from Houston, so to me the groceriies and the houses are insanely expensive here, but I know they don't compare to the east or west coasts. That's what made me say medium COL area.

[Tiny]

Near Chicago - moderately high COLA. SINK (single income no kids) 90K income. No mortgage but Insanely High property taxes. Debt: Heloc, mortgage (rental property), monthly credit card debt paid in full.
Lawn service = $21 a week May thru the begining of November.
Also have a CSA share (farm box) $30.00 a week.

Those are my two splurges I could cut back on... ;D

[spartan7886]

Houston area, so moderately LCOL
Housekeeper biweekly $84
Lawncare (not including gardens) $25 every 2 weeks or as needed
Annual Income ~$170K
Debt: Mortgage only

[backontrack]

I am in a somewhat higher than average COL area (according to the calculator I just found).
Annual Income: $100k
Debt: mortgage only
Services: Cleaning service monthly at $133 a visit (and am really considering moving that to bi-weekly which would only cost about $50 more)
We don't have a lawn cutting service, but do have Scott's treat the lawn at $35 a visit on some random schedule

[lazysundays]

Thanks Iggy. I guess other includes pooper scoopers? I find that weird, but coworker with two large breed dogs swears by it

[ontrack]

Jul 7, 2011 13:07:22 GMT -5 swasat said:

tbird, you have 300K in SL?

I did a double take on that as well but I assumed $87K income, mortgage of $300K, SLs of $5K now.

[constanz22]

Northeast (LCOL)
Income just under 50K.
Yes, I still have a decent amount of debt.
I pay about $40 every other week for lawn mowing. Well worth it! It's almost a half acre, hilly lot and I hate yard work.

[illinicheme]

Bay Area CA (VHCOL)
Income $180k not counting any bonuses.
Only mortgage debt (currently ~$470k).
Services - housekeeper ($80 every two weeks)

[Deleted]

I'll just include my income since my DH and I keep separate finances. The lawn guy predates him. He did the lawn at my previous house, too.

I am in a LCOL area when you look at the country in general, but MCOL for Alabama. There's a house behind my modest home for sale at $579,000. (It hasn't sold in almost three years, though.) He has 30 acres to my half acre.

Income (mine) is $60,000.
Only debt is the mortgage . . . about $100,000 left. No car payment or CC debt.
I pay $75 every other week. He charges $50 when he does the pruning.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

We're in California .... not sure where we fall on the COL scale ... perhaps MCOL? (We pay up to 30 cents per KwH for electricity, 10% state income tax, and around 8.5% sales tax, but real estate prices are plummeting while unemployment is skyrocketing....)

We're a single-income family ~ my wonderful DH is active duty military. Our income fluctuates a bit (upward) when he's deployed to combat zones thanks to the CZTE (combate zone tax exclusion), family separation pay, imminent danger pay, hostile fire pay.)

No debt.

[Waffle]

approx. $89,000 a year in a LCOL area

pay lawn guy $35 a week during the growing season

I have debts (but also have a positive net worth)

[kgb18]

I'm in western Pa. It's a pretty LCOL area. We have a house cleaner who comes every other week. It costs us $110 a month. We have the typical home, car and school loans, but no credit card debt or any other loans. Our income is around the $100k a year mark.

[Deleted]

I'm curious as to the size of people's lots although that's subjective unless you look at the deed or something. Maybe you could say townhouse, subdivision with small lots, subdivision with large lots, estate lots, or something?

I'm asking because I seem to be high at $75. We are 1/2 an acre, and the guy is a perfectionist. When he did my SFH on a really small lot, it was $35. When I moved here, he asked for $65. He never asked for an increase, but gas prices have really shot up since he started in 2004 so I've voluntarily given him two $5 raises. He really is awesome and worth every penny so I'm not going to replace him even if I could find it for half this cost.

But you can't help but be curious as to how much is being done at your places. Mine is cutting, weedeating/edging, blowing off, removing the debris, etc. And he's done little freebies as extras (dug a few holes for DH, cut up a huge pine limb that was down in the yard and stick it in the no-man's zone between us and the neighbors, etc.) He's a perfectionist and told me straight-up that he can't do a bad job just because we live on a street where no one else edges, blows off the grass, bags, etc. That was fine with me because I'm a perfectionist, too.

[lazysundays]

Well, if I had people come to the house, which I don't but really really want a maid...

I live in a VHCOLA, $150k joint, and in debt up to our eyeballs thanks to my SLs. also have mortgage

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I think our lot is about 11,000 sq. ft with LOTS of lush, mature landscaping and lots of overgrown bushes/flower beds. And our "growing season" is year round. (Our lawn still grows and needs to be mowed in December/January/February)

[lazysundays]

for those of you that are allowed to leave the leaves on the side of the street without bagging- sooooo lucky

[Deleted]

Mowing in your leaves is easy and good for the grass. I highly recommend it.

[Waffle]

Jul 8, 2011 5:58:00 GMT -5 lazysundays said:

for those of you that are allowed to leave the leaves on the side of the street without bagging- sooooo lucky

I never thought of it as lucky - we're actually not allowed to put out leaves in bags in my town. They have a big vaccuum truck that comes along and sucks the leaves up as long as you leave them at the side of the street.

[Epiphany]

115k combined income, LCOL midwest area
lawn people come every other week and mow, edge, remove sticks 35.00
Fall clean up and spring clean up runs us about 100 extra
Also have our 300 ft. driveway plowed in the winter at 40-50 dollars a time
(eta: only debt is 100k mortgage)

Our yard is a hilly, tree filled disaster. We literally live in a ravine set back from the road 300 ft. We actually had lawn people say they didn't want to deal with our lawn because it is difficult. Not a lot of grass but in odd places. But it is amazingly beautiful. DH and I hate yard work.

[Deleted]

Washington DC area
$115K
debt is a car loan (purchased in february) and mortgage (that's about to increase as I'm moving and increasing my mortgage balance by about 75%)
cleaning service every other week - $109 but they don't do either of the kids' rooms or the downstairs family room.

[gaultamort]

HCOL. Monthly housekeeper, $95 per visit. $100K. SL for DH's law school may finally be under $50K. Mortgage and hopefully, our first and last car loan ever @ $6K