Top 10 Tasks Around the House That You Should Never Pay Someone Else to Do
Thoughts
Wouldn't it be great to have enough money so that you could pay someone else to do all the dirty, mundane and loathsome jobs around the home?
On face value the answer has to be a resounding YES but when you give the matter closer consideration wouldn't there be some tasks you would rather do yourself?
Anyway why pay someone if you can get the jobs done for free?
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Tasks
When you think about it paying someone to do your household chores could be a nightmare. If you will not be home the person in question must be trustworthy, in every sense of the word.
Upset the person responsible for cleaning and you could find that your face flannel has been used to clean the toilet bowl and your toothbrush the drain!
With a quick rinse afterwards how would you know that this was the case? So remember not to upset someone who you trust with such tasks.
As for the top 10 tasks around the house that you should NEVER pay someone else to do, these are not easy. However having given the matter some thought these are what I have come up with.
Cook for you
You may think that cooking for you would not be a problem. However we have heard and read about restaurants where the employees have urinated in soup, spat into yogurt and worse. Unless you are 100% certain that you can trust the person avoid this one like the plague.
Washing your underwear
No matter how clean a person you are your underwear should be a private affair. Some lingerie is expensive and delicate and needs extra love and care when being laundered. Even if you choose to wear big knickers that are nothing fancy do you want a stranger handling the goods? I think not.
So do not run the risk of offending someone or enabling a person to know the intricate details of your smalls, or perhaps they are bigs?
Do the job yourself.
If you buy throwaway or edible underwear laundry will be a thing of the past. This could be true for doing dishes too but how much do paper plates cost, I wonder?
Free tasks
Then again there are tasks that are a case of why pay someone to do them when you can get them done for free? Here are a few:
- Window cleaning.Cleaning the outside windows is not difficult. It can be a pain at times but NEVER pay someone to clean them for you. If you do you will find that the window cleaner will clean the glass come hell or high water. You will probably arrive home from work to be told by your window cleaner that he cleaned the windows, even though the heavens have been open all day. How you can prove if this is true or not? Window cleaners have a living to make and so they need to visit every couple of weeks, like it or not. Clean them yourself as the weather permits.
- Weeding your garden. Turn all or part of your garden into a meadow. Plant wildflowers and let weeds and seeds flourish. This will attract birds and bees and other wildlife plus your garden will become the interest of the neighbourhood. It may be an eyesore for the first few months or even years so it could be advisable to put up a warning sign or notify the neighbourhood watch group of your plans.
- Watering a garden. Install a water butt to harvest rainwater then link a few rainwater barrels together and add tubing so that the garden can self-water. With a little ingenuity your garden will be well watered with no effort, even if you are away on vacation.
- When you think about it there are quite a few jobs in the garden that you should not pay someone to complete. Pruning trees or cutting back branches could give free fuel for the winter. Advertise free wood for anyone with a real fire. When they arrive tell them that it is free as long as they cut the wood themselves. Bingo. Job done.
- Never pay someone to clean your carpets. Instead ask for a home demonstration from the retailer of an expensive carpet cleaner. With a little skill on your part your carpets will be cleaned for free. Simply say that you will need time to decide whether to buy or not after the demonstration and then forget about it.
- Similarly try a different retailer when you want your sofa or other furniture cleaning. If you pick a pricey piece of equipment the retailer will probably be happy to offer a home demonstration.
- If you have laminate flooring or a similar surface do not pay someone to clean them. Simply tie fluffy cloths around your slippers and dust the floor as you move about. Take care if the surface is polished or slippery though as it may be fun skating about the floor as you clean but a broken leg or worse is not advisable.
- NEVER pay someone to paint the door and windows frames of your home. Instead ensure that any home you move into has UPVC frames already installed which are almost maintenance free.
Be imaginative and think about just what household chores you should not have to pay for. Some are just so basic that between the family members they should be easy to share out. Other chores probably do not need doing as often as currently.
As a final free clean consider applying to be part of a TV show such as How Clean Is Your House.
Bear in mind though that you will have to let your home become filthy before the show’s producers select you to take part.
After all a fairly clean home is not entertainment.
Think about other home make-over shows and see if you can apply. If you are lucky you will be able to have your home re-designed and modernized for free.
Finally if you have lots of money, how about buying new before you need to clean or maintain? This could work for ovens, fridges, dishwashers, washing machines and more.
As far as paying someone to repair a dishwasher that originally cost less than 200 dollars, will it really be cost effective?
© 2010 Ethel Smith