Firing the service workers

[sanfanciscotreat]

I have no problem mowing the yard with a small diesel tractor. Getting a bit much work to mulch and trim so that will be farmed out more in the future.

 

[foxfirev5]

Never had them and hopefully never will. Great exercise and savings keeping two homes in tip top shape.

 

[Sunset]

I toyed with the idea of getting a lawn service when I bought my house last year. The lady I bought it from had one of those big zero-turn mowers that she offered to sell me. She mentioned that she just put several thousand $ into it...but then I found out it was about 30 years old. I've never paid more than $1500 or so for a riding lawn mower, so I figured that something that old, that could run up that much in repairs, was just a bankruptcy waiting to happen! So, I passed.

On the day I settled on the house and started moving in, a guy from a lawn service stopped off, and dropped off a section a hose that he said one of his guys ran over, so he repaired it for her. I was a bit confused at first, and said, but she always cut her own grass? But, since she was selling the house, and wanted to downsize, perhaps she sold her mower? No, the guy said that it broke down on her! So, she paid him, $1200 for six mows. Or, $200 per cut.

Now, this property is 6.5 acres. Parts of it are wooded, and then once you account for the house, outbuildings, pool, driveway, etc, the mowable area is considerably less...but probably still about 4 acres. He said it took about 2 hours for his crew to come in and cut it all. He also said that, if I got on a contract plan with him, he'd do it for $150 per cut.

It was late in the season last year, so I said I'd think about it, and kept his business card. My uncle brought our tractor from the old house over, and cut it for me for its one last time of the year. He did it over the course of two days, and he said it took about 4 hours per day. So, 8 hours, total. Suddenly, that $150 per cut started looking pretty good!

But, my uncle is retired, and has nothing BUT time, so he's offered to do it for me. And, earlier in the year, my Mom gave me her old tractor, so now we have two of them, and hers is a little bit bigger than the one we have. Also, my uncle tends to cut "low and slow". I tend to go faster, but keep the mower deck up higher, so I'm less likely to kill any critters that sometimes try to hide in the grass, or can't get away quickly enough. I can cut the whole yard in 4-5 hours, depending on how high we let the grass cut. So, suddenly, that doesn't seem *too* bad.

Still, $150 per mow, considering the size of the yard, seems pretty reasonable. However, I'm sure they'd be out every week, so they could knock it out fast. I think we might have cut the grass perhaps six times total this past year. First time was in April, and I think the last was in mid/late August. This was a fairly dry summer. Even though it's pushing mid-November, it probably could use one last cut, but at this point it's no big deal. Anyway, I guess one way of looking at it is $150 x the six times we cut it = $900 in savings. But I'm sure the lawn crew would have been out an average of once a week for 6 months. So, $150 x 26 = $3900! Even if the dry season threw them off and they only came out 20 times, that's still $3000.

Eventually, my uncle will get too old to be able to do it. He's 67, but not in the best health. And even now, he has trouble driving the bigger tractor that my Mom gave us. It's heavier, the steering requires a bit more muscle, and it hits the bumps harder than the one we already had.

Once I'm retired, I'll have nothing BUT time, so I'll probably do it. But, who knows; I might change my mind. The old house is on about 4 1/4 acres, but mostly woods. It would only take 1-2 hours to cut the whole thing, depending on how out of hand I let the grass get. That didn't seem so bad. I'd knock it out right after work, and still have plenty of time left in the evening. But riding around out there at the new house, and after an hour or so looking around, and seeing just how much still needs to be done, can get a bit depressing.

So, at this point I'm on the fence about paying for a lawn service. I won't do it now, because I'm still in savings mode, and trying to sock away as much as possible. But, once I switch to spending mode in retirement, I might splurge on it.

How about getting some goats to munch on the grass, it works for the Reagan library

 

[Katsmeow]

We have generous line item in the budget and DW has a cleaning service bi weekly. I gotta admit I was sorta stunned when others cited 2% of budget for this service but ours is only 1% but that’s still higher than I expected.

Depends on your income and the cost of the cleaning service. The last time we had a cleaning service we had a 3000 SF house and doing it biweekly was about $400 a month (with them not cleaning 2 of the rooms in the house).

So that is $4800 a year. So, even at an income of $100,000 a year that would be 4.8%.

Now, maybe your house is not as large and you have a less expensive cleaning person. Let's say you spend $200 a month. That is $2400 a year and is 2.4% at $100,000 a year and lots of people have incomes in retirement under $100k.

 

[Badger]

I had to find someone to mow my lawn about 8 years ago due to medical issues. At 71 those problems are only getting worse so I have to hire for so many jobs and projects I used to do. Most of them I have been doing for decades and enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment with them all. I would gladly trade those medical issues for the chance to go back to being able to do all the maintenance chores again.


Cheers!

 

[athena53]

I'm in the group that never had either. I do have someone apply chemicals to my lawn but I do all the mowing and gardening, and I also clean the house. At this point I think I'd have a hard time finding a cleaner who met my standards- the Ex and I had them when we were both working FT and my experience is that they have their list of things they do and they ignore any messes not on the list. I clean every room in the house including the basement storage area once every 2 weeks- it's just me and no pets so that works.

The house is built into the side of a hill- it takes me 45 minutes to mow but it's a heck of a cardio workout. There's a lot of garden space but I'm simplifying by putting in a lot of native grasses- they take very little care and the critters like them. When I travel the place that applies lawn chemicals mows it as well. I may have to use them all the time when I can no longer do it myself but I hope that's a long way away.

In the meantime I'm saving a bundle.

 

[ckelly78z]

We have never had a housekeeper, or a gardener, so I voted "No".

We will NEVER have a housekeeper, or a gardener if anyone was curious.

 

[euro]

I may be missing something, but I've had neither.... thus I can only fire me.

+1. Lol

 

[Jerry1]

We have never had a housekeeper, or a gardener, so I voted "No".

We will NEVER have a housekeeper, or a gardener if anyone was curious.

Never say NEVER. As has been pointed out in this thread, hiring out help can be a good strategy to stay in your own home longer as we age.

With regard to this thread, I had a lawn service while I was working. I loved it, but it is not something I can justify in retirement as long as I have my health. One thing I do, however, is buy good equipment. I could get the job done with a smaller lawn tractor, but I moved up a notch and got a mid range John Deere for my acre lot and the job gets done quicker and a bit easier. I think the lawn tractor cost about two years of lawn service.

Never had a housekeeper, but in my mind, I’m always evaluating the value of getting one. Thinking of starting with just a few jobs like a major vacuum and dusting one a month while I do the tidying up in between. We’ll see.

 

[freedomatlast]

I like doing the housework and yard work for the exercise. I never understood paying someone else to do house work and yard work but then also paying to go to a gym for the exercise, unless allergies are a concern. I would rather expend physical energy and be able to see the result afterward such as a clean house and nice yard.

 

[ach88]

When we retired we moved from a 4000 sqft house on two acres to 2400 sqft home with small yard close to the ocean. DW does most of the housework because she doesn't like the way I clean and most of the gardening because she enjoys it. I now wash my car and manage all of the technology. We both do many of the small projects around the house and for the cars because we have time, we enjoy, and you can learn anything on Youtube.... ;-)

 

[harllee]

All you folks who say you will never hire anyone to do housework or yard work must be a lot younger and with better knees than DH and I are. As you get older there are trade offs. as we approach age 70 it is worth it to us to get someone to do the house and yard work while we save our knees for fun stuff like dancing and golf.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I would never say never because you cannot predict your health. I am hoping to be like my mom and aunt. I am 65 but DH is only 60. He is doing basic car maintenance in retirement like oil changes and brakes because he has the time. Also it depends on the size of your yard and if it’s low maintenance.

 

[SumDay]

We have a cleaning service every six weeks, and I do weekly light cleaning. I like they way the scrub the woodwork, wipe the dog art off the windows and storm doors, etc. I don't do that, which is why I have them.

We moved to a maintenance free community a few years ago so DH couldn't even own a riding lawnmower as he no longer has any business on one but doesn't realize it. We pay <$200 a month for mowing, weed wacking and blowing, fertilizing, weed treatment, fall leaf removal, shrub and tree trimming, and snow removal. Worth every penny.

 

[Moemg]

We have a mowing service . It is too hot in Florida for outside work a lot of the year. Last year when I was sick I hired a cleaning person . She started out great but slowly got not so good so I resumed cleaning . I will hire another one if my health goes south or I get tired of cleaning .

 

[Ronstar]

We fired the cleaning lady years ago before we retired. She didn’t clean. We never hired a new one. We do have a guy wash our outside windows, since I have a hard time doing second story window cleaning.

 

[Bir48die]

We fired the cleaning lady years ago before we retired. She didn’t clean. We never hired a new one. We do have a guy wash our outside windows, since I have a hard time doing second story window cleaning.

Interestingly similar to me. When my late wife was ill, I hired a house cleaner for awhile. My sons were of the age where they peed everywhere but the toilet. I just found myself cleaning again after she just cleaned not only in the bathroom but many parts of the house.

 

[ChicagoGal]

I've had the same cleaning lady for 25+ years (1/2 day, every other week). I'm just afraid she's going to retire! My retirement budget includes paying her.

I'm hoping to get rid of the lawn service before I retire, because the plan is to downsize to a place that doesn't need one.

 

[Rustic23]

NO! We hired both!

 

[Murph]

We have a bi-weekly housekeeper and a weekly gardener. Together they make up 3% of our budget. Upon retirement we plan to terminate them and do this work ourselves, because time will be plentiful and we just don’t know how long our nest egg will need to last. Other similar moves might be paid car washes, handyman work you can do yourself, etc. I’m curious how many people made this same cost cutting “time-for-money” tradeoff upon their retirement.

We had a landscaper and a lawn treatment company that we used for many years. I discontinued them to both save money and give myself something to do. Had to buy a lawn tractor but it’s already paid for itself.

 

[irishgal]

Both of the housekeepers I’ve had since I left California stole from me so I decided I’d just do it myself.
I also do all the outside maintenance, mow 5 acres, trim, weed, last weekend I blew all the leaves into piles and mulched them.

 

[DeborahB]

I am physically unable to do much, so I want to spend my energy on things I enjoy. I have a house cleaner who charges $20 an hour and a somehow much more expensive lawn service. I simply can’t spend energy on those activities. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and a bad back. C’est la vie!

 

[albireo13]

I enjoy yard work ... fresh air and some exercise.
We have a house cleaner now. Not yet retired but, we have budgeted to keep the house cleaner.

 

[PointBreeze]

The cleaning lady is part of our retirement budget. We never did have a gardener, although I could see getting one when I am physically unable to keep it up.

Our cleaning person was part of our retirement budget, too, but after a few months I just couldn’t see paying that much for something I could do in 4 hours/month, so we let her go. It is in my future spending plans to hire someone to help with yard work in 15-20 years (or sooner, if needed for medical reasons (I’m 60, in decent shape, and enjoy most yard work)).

 

[JAB1950]

Same here.

We retired so we would no longer have to work, not to substitute a an unpaid job for a paid one.

+1