Keeping Up With Home Care

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icfrugal1
Posts: 2952
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:54 am

Re: Keeping Up With Home Care

Post by icfrugal1 »

Love this thread :D

If I want something done it's one of three things.

I do it , I hire it out, or it doesn't get done.

I was tired of finding people to hire for the gutters so i got the https://www.leaffilter.com/discover/compare/leafguard/ for the gutters a couple of years ago. I'm NOT getting on a latter on a two story home.

Today, I weedwacked, not great, in the front, but better then nothing.

Part of my trying to de clutter is to make it easier to keep up with everything.

My home isn't "eat off of the floors" clean, but not dirty. Could be cleaner, I do need to carpet sweep more and dust.

DH isn't able to do much, so I do what I can.

Thankful to NOT live in a HOA, I would be fined all over the place.

Thankful to own our home.

IC
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: Keeping Up With Home Care

Post by HappyDaze »

I have to have a tree removed that is growing in the front of one of my basement windows before it damages the house. I will start with my landscaping company and see if they can do the job or recommend someone. Fun times! Has anyone ever had to have a tree removed from your property? What was your experience?
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
frugalmom
Posts: 1710
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:52 pm

Re: Keeping Up With Home Care

Post by frugalmom »

HappyDaze wrote: Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:16 am Some things happening in my neighborhood have made me wonder how people "keep up" with things - like yard work (mowing, trimming, etc.), cleaning gutters, keeping trash taken away, that sort of thing.

As a single person, I will admit that it isn't always easy for me and I did finally hire a trash removal company because it was hard for me to keep up with hauling my garbage to the dump. I also have a maintenance company for lawn mowing and trimming and once in a great while (2x this season), snow plowing.

I take care of trimming shrubs, flower beds, cleaning gutters, making sure there is no litter around (it blows in from goodness knows where).

So very recently some people up the street got a dumpster and started cleaning up their property. It was a MESS - piles of lumber and metal and garbage, overgrown plants, falling down fence, you name it. I thought well, how nice that they're cleaning it up. Turns out they MOVED - and the house is for sale. I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't want to have things nice for yourself - why wait until you're moving to clean things up?

In the other direction, a young couple just moved into a house that has been vacant for about 4 years. These kids are real go-getters - they were out yesterday mowing and hauling brush and cutting trees, sweeping the driveway, bagging up trash, washing porches. and windows. They were hot and tired but gave me huge smiles and hellos when I walked by.

I mean there are LAWS here about having rubbish around and not taking care of things - but apparently it's ignored for some people and not others.

I'm considering taking a plate of cookies and a gift card to the local sandwich shop to my industrious new neighbors (they're about three houses down - but our back yards kind of connect - it's a weird layout).

Do you have help for maintaining your property? Is it a struggle for you? What motivates you to keep it nice? What are your biggest challenges with home maintenance/repair, cleaning up, etc.?
I like my house clean but I am not obsessive about it lol. It is much easier now that only one kid is at home and he is clean. It is when my daughter comes home and then it is like a blizzard or tornado blew through because she has a bad habit of leaving things everywhere! I like the minimalist kind of look where it is empty, light and airy-white and bright walls and I have a cream marble floor tiles like a sandy beach. Laminate beech like wood rest of the house so very light in color the whole house-neutrals.

Dh takes care of the outside and that is how I think he got a heart attack bc he does soooo much. It is like a mini farm out there-he does it to himself. And he won't hire anyone bc he is too cheap. He was upset at me that I got the gutter cleaning done and the windows washed and screens done when he was in the hospital-and yes, it was expensive for us, BUT I knew he would want to tackle those chores next so I did not want him doing that after a heart attack when he could barely walk and needed a walker! So he ranted and raved kind of-but he was too weak to protest-and I did it anyway! I knew he did a lot of work but it was not until he was in the hospital and I was doing his work that I was crying there thinking omg if he died, I am in big trouble bc I could not manage all that myself!

Only once in awhile we will hire the next door's gardener for 20.00 to maybe trim something like our topiary bushes or bouganvilla or roses.I have big projects still waiting to be done. He just fixed our toilet guts inside and bc his brain is not really the same as before, it took him hours to do this which probably would have taken maybe no more than an hour or so(probably less-my brother took less time even) for a plumber but he says I am NOT paying 500.00! I tell him there is no cheaper man and he is getting worse as he is getting older! I am not spending a penny he would tell me! Sigh...ooookkkk. And I used to be the cheaper one-what did I create!?

Talking about this, my son came home yesterday and was telling me about his friend's house. They have like 9 kids (some adopted) and like that many dogs and other birds,etc-all kinds of pets. My son was telling me that house is so messy and gross and the dog pees all over the house and they don't clean it up-he said it felt so uncomfortable and he was like I was sitting on the couch and wondering if some spider was going to crawl into my hair or something and he did not feel like eating the pizza there bc it was so dirty there. So I told him you did not like the feeling when it is dirty right, it makes you feel dirty and uncomfortable right, so make sure you keep your things clean and neat! Not that my house is immaculate, but at least reasonably clean(we have our moments I am sure)-we battle dust all the time bc dirt yard on part of it and like right now it is windy so where does that dust go-it is a never ending battle. I can clean that day and a few hours later the dust settles still,in fact, he just told me to close the window the dust is kicking up from the wind! And what is bad about our dust or dirt, over here they have what they call San Joaquin Valley Fever in CA where you can get really sick and be hospitalized for months-I had a couple of friends that had that and they got really sick and was never the same after that. There is a jail down south near San Bernadino I think it was and these inmates would get that!

My brother lives that way too-no one cleans the house and boxes are everywhere and he just had ten puppies and I am sure it is going all over the place-they have the money they can hire someone to clean,but his wife doesn't want it.

One thing is my dh keeps everything (so opposite of minimalism-lol-he has a shed and cluttering my patio full of things-like wood is getting expensive so he is keeping a chest of drawers and stray lumber wood parts bc you never know when we need wood!? Sheesh!). So I let him do his own thing, BUT I tell him all the time when you are gone one day you know I am just going to throw it all away!!! Between my husband and my mom :roll: I am going to have a lot of work to junk everything! For me, I do not want to leave work for my kids to throw away all my junk bc I know how it is going to be for me!
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