Oh yes, we have the official exterminators for termites and CPA for taxes. I did them twice in our marriage and myself before we got married. Am glad the CPA does it now–things have gotten much more complex!
I out source everything, except for laundry and occasional light house cleaning and cooking. I was going to say nothing at first, but then I realized both of my apartments have full staff of handymen and doormen.
Oldfort,
I too hire out. My pest control man and house cleaner have keys. Housecleaner only comes once a month now, as I am empty nester. Gardener and pool man. I love buying plants and landscaping, but have the gardener buy and lay the mulch. I have an a/c man, a termite man, electrician, plumber (his wife and I are good friends, she runs the cancer support group at our hospital). Oh yes, a sprinkler man, a flooring couple (our kids went to school together), house painters. I can paint an individual room, but use pros for removing popcorn ceiling.
The nice thing about staying in same place for years is the consistency and trust.
I am so jealous of the people who hire things out. What a luxury it would be to have people you know that come and do things for you. My sil complains that her H doesn’t want to do anything around the house but she picks up the phone and it gets done. How I would love that.
H can do most anything, but that doesn’t mean that things get done. I’ve learned over the years not to be too picky. It was that or divorce. Since I like him and he’s pretty easy to live with, I’d like to keep him. It was an adjustment when we married, my dad did things on my moms timetable, meaning right away. And he was really neat. Not my husband.
We were moving and my H had moved to our new location. I was not doing the lawn, so I hired a service. It was great. They came, mowed, edged and blew things in short order. How I would love that all the time.
I think it makes sense to hire out the things you can’t do or can’t do well - so hiring out a roofer, someone to tear out and resurface the driveway, etc. are no-brainers for hiring out IMO.
To me, when I think of “hiring out” I think of things you COULD DO yourself and perhaps do as well, but choose to not do because you can afford it. Most (not all, MOST) people CAN clean their house, but have the ability to hire help so they happily do.
For instance, our dog has never been to a groomer. We bath him monthly, walk him regularly so he doesn’t need nails clipped and we brush his teeth. The only “spa day” he gets is at home in the stationary tub in the basement!
We have never been in the position to hire out house cleaning help, gardening/landscape help. Sounds kind of nice though!
Ditto. We do the “every day stuff,” like cooking/general cleaning/laundry/light home maintenance. We have no yard to speak of now, and the HOA does what little there is.
We have professionals do pretty much everything else. And as long as I have a few dollars in my pocket, I’m not scrubbing toilets or bathtubs ever again. That was my job growing up and until we could afford a cleaning service, and it hurts my back. I hate doing it and don’t plan to ever have to in the future.
DH doesn’t mind puttering around the yard doing stuff, and does a lot when we are at our lake place, but in general he is not handy. No point in spending his time doing something that someone else is going to have to come along afterwards to do correctly anyway.
I admire people who can do a good paint job, though. Many times I’ve seen interior paint jobs that pretty much look like the homeowner did it vs. a pro. And mine would look like that if I tried it.
I did do some stencils in my girls’ bedrooms back in the day when that was all the rage. They came out pretty well actually. I’m sure when we sold that house, the first thing the buyers did was paint over all that love and effort!
That has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of!
I like my house to be really neat and clean. I can usually have it guest ready if I have ten minutes notice. I grew up in a house with many kids and my mom was too overwhelmed to keep up with it, and we couldn’t afford a housekeeper, so it was always a disaster zone. I was embarrassed to bring anyone over most of the time.
We used to have a weekly cleaning service, but now we are able to keep it to every other week, and it takes the crew of four ladies two hours. They are worth their weight in gold, imo.
^^^ It’s good that you appreciate that luxury. I like my house really neat and clean too. But my nimble hands must be the one to do it after a day’s work out of the house!
@abasket, I do truly appreciate my blessings. I don’t mind the straightening and I have my kitchen spic and span as soon as we finish dinner, but the heavy cleaning is just something I’m unwilling to do as long as there are discretionary funds in the bank.
As someone who just missed two months of work for a back injury, I count my cleaning team as one of my most cherished luxuries!
I hire people to do lots of things. I get paid by the hour, so I’d rather take on an extra work project, which I enjoy, and pay someone else to clean my house or mow my yard, which I don’t enjoy. I make more per hour than I have to pay out for these services. It makes economic sense. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I just listed all the outside help we hire and deleted it due to embarrassment. Let’s just say we help keep the local economy alive and well. :">
As long as there’s no do-it-yourself dentistry out there…
I have done a little touch up body work on my car with the help of super, super find sandpaper and matched paint.
Our dog goes to the groomer. And prices are strangely regional. After we moved I found a really good hair stylist for myself and she charges only about 60% of what I used to pay but the dog groomers are all double! I tried, and failed, to groom out little Maltese. His hair never stops growing so I’d need a little Flowbee or something for him.
We do that too. She was a nanny when the kids were young and W and I both worked outside the home. She was so loyal and hardworking that we didn’t have the heart to let her go when I became a SAHD. She doesn’t cook for us, but otherwise takes care of things.
We outsource just about everything. When I was still getting a paycheck, my attitude was “I’m a great coder, you’re a great plumber, let’s do what we’re good at, and money is what allows us to come to an arrangement.”
If money were tighter, I’d do more myself, but we’ve been lucky.
We have a cobblestone driveway, so I do the snow blowing (can’t plow it, and shoveling is dangerous to the back with real cobblestones, ie, not pavers). I’m not sure the heated drive would have worked, but I like the idea.
Money is not a problem for us but I like to do some of these things to keep our brain alert and alive. As my husband has discovered a lot of ideas when he vacuum a room or washes dishes. I’m sure there will be a day when it will become too much. Also for security issue, less people come in, less problem. I have girls and probably read too many crazy stories out there.
On a regular basis, we have a housekeeper who cleans weekly and also does the wash and some ironing. Dry cleaner comes 1x a week for pick-up and drop-off. Also, have two guys who help with the gardens and landscaping (we have 2+ acres–most of which is a woodland garden). Other help is on an as needed basis–we have a fairly new house so haven’t had too many repair issues–just maintenance for water treatment system (we have a well), septic, hot tub, and window washing.
My H is very handy but he works long hours, travels, and often doesn’t have time to do maintenance work. We both like to cook and do garden work. Even with garden help, there’s always something that needs attention in a large garden. At our vacation place we have a caretaker and a landscape guy. What’s nice is that I can call the caretaker if there’s a problem, e.g., when we opened the house up a few weeks ago the dishwasher wasn’t working. I can call the caretaker and he’s got repair people that he calls for the homes he watches and he’ll do all the scheduling.
I always have some house project going on, besides yard, which is an ongoing task. I have teak wood patio furniture, so yearly needs to be sanded and oiled. Every few years I have to fill and paint patio roof. The awning needs yearly cleaning. So, the patio can take me a few weekends. I do what I can.
Recently, my neighbor complained that my arbors, which are covered in flowering vines, was leaning into her fence. I asked to gardener for help. He put in many large wood beams, dug down a few feet, and filled with 50# concrete. Now my arbors don’t lean and can survive a hurricane. This is an example of a project I am not capable of doing. He still hasn’t billed me, though at some point he will. Before I put in hurricane windows and doors, the gardener came by to help me with the aluminum shutters for the largest windows.
I hire people that actually do the work themselves, not the huge companies. I much prefer the mom & pop businesses.
We have an HVAC guy come in twice a year to service the AC units and furnace, because if we don’t, the AC breaks down without fail on the first 105 degree day. We plan to repaint the exterior sometime in the next year or two, and a professional will do that. And we’ll soon be ripping out our water-guzzling front lawn and putting in drought-tolerant. We’ll definitely use a landscaper for the design and probably for installation as well.
The question of a housekeeper is one I’ve struggled with for years. I loathe and detest housework, and as a result, my house is seldom in optimum condition. But every time I am tempted, I think, “That’s $300 a month that really should go into the retirement fund.” We’re still playing catchup from my 15 years as a SAHM.
We ‘outsource’ practically everything. We’ve done large renos, both inside and out in the past couple of years, so everything was done by professionals. We have a landscaping maintenance company that comes weekly to look after the property, and in the winter months, they keep the driveway plowed and the entryways cleared. They also look after referring any type of plumbing, electrical, window cleaning, eavestrough cleaning, etc. to business associates. We have a pool maintenance company who opens/closes and weekly maintains the pool and hot tub. Anything that needs doing around the house, we hire someone.
Same with our second home in the south. We have a caretaker who looks after things for us when things need doing. He checks the house a couple of times a week when we’re not there, adjusts thermostats, keeps the golf cart and the car that my husband leaves there running and clean, allows access to the pest control and hvac people. He also meets the cleaning lady at the house when she comes as I prefer to limit the number of people with keys to the house. The one difference for our main home is that I don’t have a regular cleaning lady. I have a service come in periodically but it’s difficult to have someone weekly, although I probably could do it if I really wanted to, because we have multiple dogs and a couple with specific health issues so it’s just easier not to have someone in the house when neither of us is around.
We are very fortunate to be in a position to be able to afford to hire others to do all these things, and it allows us to enjoy our time with family, friends, our volunteer work and outside activities. We also feel good about supporting many small businesses in this way.
I wish H would let me hire out for exterior painting.
It takes so long, and he isn’t as good as he thinks he is. But mostly it is such a big job, that he should be spending sunny days, enjoying the weather!
He also won’t tape, saying that " it’s easier for me to scrape the windows". ( meaning , me, not him.)
:-/
I need to hire someone to prune the kitty corner neighbors corkscrew willow. It is planted at the corner of the fence closest to us, and is mature, blocking light and leaving branches all over the yard. I’ve cut some of it back, years ago, but to get any more, I need a professional.
( the neighbor told me to do what ever we want. It has dead branches, & willow is not long lived, so I am worried that a big branch will take out my dog)
We are finally hiring out to paint the exterior of the house and are going to have the building trades class make a deck for us next year. After 8 years of waiting I threatened harm if I didn’t get my promised deck. DH is a maintenance man, so he can fix anything. I would love a cleaning lady, but it is not in our budget yet.