I am thinking like do you hire a gardener, or a maid service, personal chef, snow remover, etc? to do any chores that you either hate to do, or just take a lot of time. If so, what is your experience and do you find it worth the value, in terms of the monetary exchange for what else you could be doing with that money and time? Paul
We have hired a cleaning lady in the past, but now that I am part-time at work, I have decided to start cleaning the house myself so that I feel like I am contributing more at home. It was absolutely worth the money when we were both working 40-60 hours a week and having to chose between things like going on a hike versus cleaning the house. Having a clean home really is a huge component of success in my opinion. Its where you start and end your day and when you wake up amongst clutter and go to sleep amongst it, it can make you feel not so great about yourself. We still have someone who cuts the lawn though; I do not do yards.
Good gracious - I have 4 kids. That's my for hire service. Sometimes, they don't complete a job, and they often need close supervision, but they are available day and night and they don't steal anything cause, after having them, I don't own anything much worth stealing. They only charge me everything I own - which isn't much. What else could I be doing with that money and time? Vacationing in Fiji comes to mind.
We have someone clean the house once every two weeks, someone snowblow our driveway in the winter, and cut the grass in the summer. What is the value - very high. It allows us to spend more time doing things we enjoy. The grass cutting was very helpful (just started last summer), as I would wait for a good day and take an hour and half to cut the grass, hopefully getting to it once a week. A lot off my mind. Same with the house cleaning for both Louise and I. The snow blowing was, as I see it, a necessity. Our driveway holds 6 cars easily, and it would take me 4 hours to clean it after a heavy storm. As well, I'm in good shape but am 47, and some of the wet snow we get is not called heart-attack snow for nothing. Getting these tasks we don't enjoy off our minds allows us to live life a little better. Tom
Thanks. Useful replies. I am coming to a conclusion that I need to reevaluate my emotion to money vs this kind of service. I've always felt that money fuels being able to do other things and so I'd sooner have the money to go out with than pay for a service. If those services cost $200 for example, that pays for a vacation or a second vacation each year. Our grass gets cut b/c we are a town home, but we have a bit of yard that looks like crap! And I am not a yard person!!! Hate it. So I am thinking that maybe I could get a gardener in once every 2-4 weeks depending on what needs to be done to maintain that. Snow blowing is another one. Because I travel, my wife can't do it b/c of a bad back and usually I've just left it. We don't have much, but our homeowners is reminding people etc that it is meant to be cleared in 24-48 hrs after a snow fall. So again, maybe next year I need to look into that for peace of mind. Household stuff - hmmm - gotta think on that one LOL!!!
Thanks for this! It's one of those kinds of statements which really made me stop and think. I am not the tidiest or the least cluttered person on the planet. And every time I start to get clear, I get about 75% of the way there and then stop. I need to finish it and move on LOL!!! You helped phrase that in a way that I can put more leverage on myself. I did have a good go at this about 2 months ago and went through two filing cabinets of stuff at home. I chucked 75% of it and got the rest filed much better. There is about 5% of the original amount on the floor still which is all the stuff which is like - duh what do I do with this? Miscellaneous type stuff.
When my kids were younger and both my ex and I were working f/t & the kids were involved in a lot of extra-curricular stuff, I paid to have the house cleaned on a regular basis. I got off cheap cuz my parents did housecleaning for extra income after they "retired" (at ages 50, 51). But it sure was nice knowing things were CLEAN, even though there was often clutter around. Just knowing how much you travel, Paul, I would say it is worth it to pay for the things that truly BOTHER YOU that aren't getting done. Or you would LIKE to have done becuase things would look better & make you FEEL BETTER. Definitely the snow removal, and I'd go for the landscaping if you can. Approaching an ugly/neglected/plain/boring yard when coming home can set the tone for the day or evening.
Yeah I think you and Mer' are right in this respect. I do think it is now lowering my energy when I get home and I know my wife would appreciate the yard looking better too. She isn't that much into gardening either, BUT she does appreciate when things look nice LOL!! You know those psychological testing things (like DISC or whatever, like the ones AR has when you do GTE, or TOYL)? Well, I always score way, way low on aesthetics... so it's no surprise I am the way I am. But yeah, it has been bugging me, def. been bugging my wife, and Mer's post up top really made me ask the question, can I be successful and.... a clutter freak?
I think you can have clutter and be a successful person in other areas of life just as there are people who do not have clutter and are not successful in other areas. Having clutter does not mean you are not a success. But I do think it has a psychological impact on a person. I remember having so much clutter in my room when I was a child. Periodically my mother would go through with a trash can and toss most of it and helped me reorganize the room. I remember feeling so much better about myself after those "cleansings" and I think I even did better in school too. Having a clean room just made me feel like a good kid and good kids are happy and do well in school. It just sort of crosses over. I just spent four hours cleaning out our medicine/cosmetics closet. (anyone need some lotion? I have about 50 travel size bottles to give away, lol) It looks awesome now and I feel sooooo amazing for having tackled that and stuck with it until everything had a spot. The last hour of the project I found myself wanting to walk away from it several times because I had a few piles of stuff I wasnt sure what to do with. I am so glad I stuck with it to the end!! I feel incredible...just from cleaning!!!
Jeff is HILARIOUS!! I've never seen a ventriloquist/comedy act before but he must be the BEST. So talented and funny! :rulz:
No, my fiance & I do all of it ourselves. Yes it can be time consuming, but I feel good about cleaning my own home. One thing that helps a lot is to do a chore or two every night during the week so by the time the weekend hits, all of your time is not consumed with cleaning/chores. You can actually enjoy the weekend! Last night I was cleaning my bathroom at 9:30pm. You've gotta do what ya gotta do. I take advantage in the early am too if I have the time and fold laundry, ect... When you have a few minutes, why not? Which reminds me, I'm off to fold and put some laundry away. :lildevil: Kimberly
Yep, Hire a Maid/Cleaning Lady named Nellie Best money I spend every month She comes in, does the heavy cleaning and toilets During the week we maintain the light cleaning. Before Nellie my weekends consisted of Mowing, cleaning, washing etc... After Nellie I hike, bike, run, dive. OK, I still have to Mow but other than that, life is good. I just have to figure out how to get Mrs Scooter to not clean the house before the Nellie comes. That seems such a waste of time. If you can afford a cleaner then I suggest getting one. ps. if you have a parrot, they will teach it dirty Spanish words. You have been warned
I have a cleaning lady who comes in every other Wednesday for $100 per day. I would never go back to not having one. I still have to do laundry, wash dishes, clean the kitchen, put kids toys away, fold sheets and towels, make the beds the other week, clean the blinds and the windows. But every other wednesday every bathroom in my house is polished, every room vacuumed, the kitchen counter is scrubbed, the kitchen floor is mopped, the microwave is thoroughly wiped down, the beds are made, the wood floors mopped, and for at lest 2 days everything looks great. A lot of people suggest that this gives them time to do things they enjoy, and that's somewhat true, but for me: 1. my house is generally cleaner and, knock on wood, my children have missed only one day each due to illness and some of their friends have missed as much as 10 days of school. Without that help my house would be MUCH more germy because I grew up a slob. How does having a clean house contribute to my kids not getting sick? Not sure, but... knock on wood. 2. I can do work that I get paid for at night, rather than clean. 3. I work with my kids at night, rather than clean 4. I am not stuck at home on weekends and can do errands 5. I can paint my house like I did this winter- 3 large rooms- because I don't have to vacuum 6. I can pay bills, file mail, build photo albums, assemble old clothes for giveaways and other things that are work around the house that only a family member can do 7. I can do work for school 8. I can volunteer for the PTA So think about those kinds of issues that aren't even about having fun or things that seem frivolous. One night 2 weeks ago I filed all my bank, credit card and 401k statements for all of 2008. All that paperwork done. This tuesday I went through all of my older son's clothes and pulled out everything that no longer fit. and that's not someone on the internet pretending that they have their life in order, I really did that this week. As an alternative to a personal chef, which is actually really expensive around here, I'd suggest a thing like "Let's Dish" where you can make 8-10 casseroles and freeze them in your freezer in about 3 hours.
They can be hired but depends on the sort of thing you gotta do,Most of the times it has to be according to how something should be working if its about dealing with all the statistics a mark can be made which is provided by overall ways of learning so yeah this is the way how it is.
I rarely use such services. I rarely go to a cleaning company. I found on the Internet a good free application on the phone https://apkbird.com/en/housewife.tips . This app helps me clean up better and faster. I don't take much time to clean. I like to do gardening. My husband is engaged in cleaning snow, leaves, or repairing a house. So we don't need such services from other people.
