post off: what do you outsource?
I had an epiphany the other day when I was attempting to weed our new yard, which appears to have last seen a weeding roughly four years ago: Sometimes it’s just worth paying other people to do things for you. Relatively new to the Pacific Northwest, I’m not even sure what’s a weed sometimes, and pretty much everything you see in the photo that’s green is a weed…I think? So I’m throwing in the spade and calling a yard service to come help me out, so I can plan more important things, like where to expand the patio. What do you outsource? –Mary T.
P.S. If you’re willing to share how much you pay, please do.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 am
I just hired a service to clean up after my dogs in our yard. It seemed like such a silly thing to do, but it’s so worth it.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:03 am
We have someone come to do our fertilizing and such at the appropriate times during the year. He’s a young man with his own business (not Chemlawn or TruGreen), and he goes as organic and natural as possible, so I love that, too. We have a rather large lot since we moved to the country, and it probably doesn’t cost any more than doing it ourselves. I like gardening, so I do that myself, and I have a teenager too, so he mows the lawn.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:48 am
We outsource as much as possible, including regular cleaning, all yard work, and home repairs. My husband and I underestimated the work required to maintain a home, and overestimated our skills/time/interest in doing that work. Were it not for our two fabulous dogs, we would have moved back to an apartment years ago.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
wow! what a timely post! I admit it…I have a major problem outsourcing projects/services for our home. We try to do everything ourselves. I just spent 4 days weeding our overgrown yard (and we are in the middle of painting the exterior of the house as well!) . Part of the problem is there isn’t a lot of extra funds to pay for all the projects we need to tackle…so we do everything ourselves that is humanly possible. The result is that we have a lot of projects that are incomplete or that take months to complete! I do outsource any electrical projects and most plumbing.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 am
I outsource my laundry. Best thing I ever did. It costs about the same as if I did it myself. I refuse to get a cleaning person though.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 am
Dog poop pickup (once a week)
house cleaning (twice a month)
gardening service (once a week)
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
House cleaning 2x month
Gardening service 1x per week although I took it on to try and rip out all of the bermuda grass in my large backyard myself. After renting a sod cutter and using about 15 gallons of Roundup, I’ve given up and the gardener will hopefully do it next week. The bermuda grass is just far, far more stubborn that I thought it would be.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 am
The next question is — how much do you think is reasonable to pay? I want to pay for everything, but like Susie says, it’s just not always economically feasible.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
I think what you outsource can depend on your joys and strengths. My husband is in commercial construction and enjoys everything from small repairs to major remodel work on our house; he’s proficient at basic automotive work, but he doesn’t like it, so we count ourselves lucky to have a good local repair shop. On the other hand, I’m not a great gardener, but I like it, so I (try to) avoid comparing my kitchen garden to those of others who might hire out the work and love it for the process, not necessarily the results.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
We’ve only outsourced our bathroom remodel because we were just not capable (at all), and we would have had to take two months off of work to get it done. We’re in our third week now, and it’s been worth every penny (speaking of which, I got a great bid from a contractor we know and then I shopped shrewdly locally and online to bring everything within a nice budget).
Otherwise, I can’t imagine paying someone to pick up the dog poop, though we do have a dog walker who does pick up the walk poops.
Luckily my husband loves to work in the yard all weekend. A cleaning service is the one thing I’d like to be able to fit in the budget, but I really think we can do without.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Well, this is timely! I just paid for my first pedicure, and have decided that I will be outsourcing monthly, detailed care of my feet from now on
$24, including an hour in the massage chair!
Aside from that, we also outsource plumbing, major carpentry, and auto repair. Everything else we try to do ourselves, or with the help of friends & family… with admittedly mixed results.
I really like to spend time in our garden, but the remaining lawn could use a professional. I’m curious to know what other people are paying!
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Back in our previous place, which was much smaller and less expensive, we splurged and had our house cleaned 2x a month. He only charged $35/visit, which was MORE than a fair trade for a clean house, as far as I’m concerned. If I could find as good of a deal here, I would take it, because the clean house was like a present after coming home from work, and it motivated us to keep on top of the clutter.
Now I must tackle the mountains of laundry, dishes, and cat hair myself. Off to work!
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I’ll eat raman noodles for every meal before I’ll give up my house cleaner! It seems like an incredible indulgence for a stay-at-home mom, but I HATE to clean. Those two visits a month keep everyone sane and happy at our house.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Until recently, my husband and I outsourced nothing. We redid our kitchen ourselves, painted, and put in flooring. We cleaned. My husband built a deck. We did electric work, plumbing, changed the oil in our cars, everything. I gardened and mulched. But recently we decided to sell our home,and hired professional painters to repaint and it was glorious. We also hired a friend with a fledgling landscape business to mulch…it was all worth it! At some point the decision becomes about time vs money, and though money used to be more important, now time is.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
agreed.
My boss told me every one makes a decision at some point in their life as to whether they are going to clean their own home… doesn’t matter if you work or not. I have someone come every other week. It takes the edge off. Please, I’m still constantly straightening, wiping and sneaking in loads of laundry for me, my husband and 2-year old. The days I come home from work to the sparkling house with folded laundry and taught bed are (to quote a credot card company) PRICELESS. $60-$100 is the going rate in my neighborhood.
April 5th, 2008 at 6:56 am
We sporadically outsource - we always have a cleaning lady come before a house guest arrives, and then typically every 1 or 2 months for a good, deep clean…though I would really love for her to come at least once a month.
For our yard, we LOVE to garden, but our grass knowledge is minimal, so we hired an organic lawn service that treats the lawn a few times a year, aerates and recommends ways to get rid of our crabgrass and beef up the grass in general (we bought our house a year ago, and the lawn was sadly neglected for many years, so we’re in the middle of “garden rehab”)
If we think for a minute a home job is beyond our skills, we’ll hire someone without hesitation. For example, we just purchased new doors, and are waiting for a month until a recommended handy man can come and hang them all correctly. We’re also going to wallpaper our dining room with a fab geometric pattern, and there is no WAY we’d be able to hang it perfectly, so we’ll hire a hanger.
And our big “outsource” indulgence is bringing our dog Lucy to doggie camp a few times a month…for $25 she gets to play all day…swim…and meet other dogs. It wears her out, keeps her balanced and gives our house a break!
April 6th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I have my townhouse cleaned every 2 weeks. I did it when I lived alone and now that I’m living with my boyfriend it’s even more necessary. She doesn’t do my laundry though, I don’t trust other people to do it and it would cost more. Could I do a more thorough job cleaning myself? Yes. But it’s about having free time. We also have a dog walker that comes mid-day every week day. To me that’s just being a good doggy parent.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:01 am
[...] 2. You dislike cleaning the house as much as we do. Gardening, dog-walking, and dog poop cleanup were all mentioned as tasks that you outsource, but house cleaning seemed to be the winner as far as everyday tasks you’ll happily pay others to do. As Leah says, “I’ll eat ramen noodles for every meal before I’ll give up my house cleaner! I HATE to clean. Those two visits a month keep everyone sane and happy at our house.” So what do you outsource? [...]
April 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
My husband and I joke that our favorite tool is the phone. As in call someone else to do it. We are both desk jockeys with ho handy skills whatsoever. We have our house cleaned 2x month ($75 each). I still do plenty of laundry, dishes, cooking, organizing, keeping the house tidy, etc and would pay someone to do that if I could.
How bad are we? We hired a handyman to install curtain rods, a new faucet, and simple shelves for our son’s room. One 4th of July weekend, I thought I could remove the wall paper and repaint the half bath. That room sat half-painted for like 18 months, until we hired a pro.