Well, as one of the other 99%, I can say I don't have anywhere near that!

I have a kid who cuts my lawn. I hired him as a favor for his parents. That's it.

---

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

A service mows the yard; other than that, nothing.

---

DFL > DNF > DNS

My kids go to school/daycare (couldn't be bothered to raise them myself).

Other than that it's mostly on me. Getting better now that my husband has a more "normal" job with predictable hours.

As someone who makes even less than a lawyer, I too have none of those services. In fact I do everything around my house myself.

Granted, I am single with no children. So the mess is kept to a minimum. But I do have a large yard (measured in multiple whole acres) that I have to mow in the summer and a greater than 300 foot driveway I need to plow in the winter. My current project list of odd jobs includes finishing installing my laundry room cabinets with countertop and sink which includes some minor electrical, install new steps for my deck including making and burying the footings and installing a railing on my deck.

None.

---

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Neighborhood kid to biweekly mow the lawn, monthly cleaning lady, and handyman that comes to repair/odd jobs around the house around every six months.

Spent most of our life with no help, For the past two years have had a cleaning service every other week.We will probably end that when the kids are off at college (in one year).

We have a dog walker and a cleaning lady who does the bathrooms, kitchen, kids laundry and vacuums the stairs once a week. I'm out of the house from 8am to 10pm and my wife from 820am to 6pm. I mow the laws and do the gardening but that's a weird affectation that stems from me needing to do man stuff after spending the week behind a computer - everyone else on the block uses a service.

We also have a kid-sitter generally 1 or 2 nights a week.

---

"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

what the hell do you do that you are out of the house from 8am-10pm?

They're probably better off without you anyways ;-).

Do you have any free time?

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Long Chile was a silly place.

8-8:15 - walk kids to school
8:15-9:05 - (MTA dependent) - subway to work
9:05 - whenever, typically 8:30 or later - work
8:30-10 - run home.

I would expect a patent attorney could sympathize!

---

"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

I currently am at the office from around 7:30-5PM each day. I work much less now than I used to.

Back when I was working longer hours, I would just work 6 days a week. (I in NO way advocate for this lifestyle)

Cleaning lady every other Friday and a motivated type-a wife who abhors clutter.

---

War is god

I'm almost certain you make more then me.
I guess I spend my money on such services and not race cars and shots of Pappy!

How much free time do you have? Does your wife work?

My wife has a 40hr/week job but often gets called in for an extra shift, sometimes overnight. So, she's 50+ hrs.

I'm usually around 50 but my work creeps in to my evenings with clients texting me. Also, my brain rarely fully turns off of work with planning, adjusting schedules, etc.

We have a 2 year old kid and 2.5 year old husky/German Shepherd. They require a lot. We are AirBnBing our rental right now and that is a surprising amount of hands on work.

Between organizing my business, then all the other people we employ and juggling their shit (nanny calling in sick, Airbnb cleaner cancelled on us last minute, guess we are cleaning till midnight tonight) our life just seems like it has so many moving parts. When things are running smooth, it's fine. When something goes wrong it's chaos.

The crazy thing is, we have it relatively easy. No commute, we are in good health, it's not like I'm a specialty surgeon working 100+ hrs a week, etc.

Most nights, By the time we get home and spend time with the kid and dog, eat and put our daughter down it's 9ish before we even look at chores, lawn mowing, etc. I'm just curious how other people seem to manage busy lives, multiple kids and other responsibilities with more ease, and find time for themselves. I just feel exhausted most of the time.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

They are in the same boat.

Re: man stuff.

I do man stuff for a living. I LOVE the days when I'm 'stuck' In front if a computer doing paperwork!

That being said I still love mowing the lawn and working around the house. I just never have the time to enjoy those tasks.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

We hire out some things on an irregular basis (just had someone paint our fence but I power washed it) but other than that absolutely zero.

We both work and I started a new job that has me questioning my sanity, so we may start hiring for more routine stuff.

drn92

None. I also do all my own “house work “. That includes any issues with electrical plumbing, furnace, air conditioner, appliances, cars whatever. I even roofed my house.

yard guy every week in the season. Cleaning woman every 3 weeks.
Wife stays home with 2 small ones.

used to do all of it on our own but realized that little bit of free time (1.5 hours for yard weekly, 3 hours deep cleaning every 3 weeks) is well worth it.

Yup. I do all the morning routine stuff, including getting the kids to daycare/school, then I drive directly to work. My husband picks them up. I get home, do dinner/empty lunch bags etc. After supper it's play with the kids/get them to bed. By 8ish they are all settled in and then I dog walk/clean/laundry/sit on my ass and watch tv.

Weekends are a mix of family/hobby/chores - no set schedule.

I work out a lot at lunch - so that helps free up time. I feel like I have down time now - the kids are 7 and almost 3, so life is getting "easier" all the time.

x2.

Resisted it for a long time but between how bad it made my spring allergies and the hot, sweaty timesuck that mowing the yard in summer is, I finally admitted how much I actually hated it and let my wife hire a service. Outside of lawn-mowing season, they also do leaf cleanup once in the fall, and a general cleanup in early spring. We also paid them to put down new mulch this spring.

Do you work?
I'm a home Reno guy.
Reno's at home take 4x what they take me at work.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Definitely. I realized, when I was running with my mower, that something needed to change.

Those services frees up hours of time. It doesn't take nearly that long to work enough to cover those costs (minus the Nanny, that one's a big chunk of change).

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Nothing. None.

.

I don't have anyone to help when I'm here. But apparently when I'm deployed for more than a week or two my wife hires someone to come over and provide some service. He's not cutting the grass or pulling weeks, so I'm not sure what he does.

My wife and I do all the work around our house. Years ago we hired someone to clean when the kids were young and we both had full schedules - but their quality of work was lacking and it wasn't worth the money. I'm sure there are people who would do a better job, but we decided to just keep doing it ourselves.

My kids are going to college but living at home, so their responsibilities include doing dishes, laundry, cleaning and cutting part of the yard.

25 years in SoCal: nanny, Chinese tutor, gardener, house cleaner, pool guy, and dog walker/sitter as needed. Kids were 0-8. Nanny was hourly ($14-20 cash), tutor same, gardener $250/mo, pool guy $180/mo (2x a week), house cleaner $250 a week...dog sitter was the most expensive at about $100-120 per day (overnights).

Now Michigan: took a while to find the right help (previous owner of our house spent $18k just on gardening the year before we bought........).
1. I did the mowing (zero turn rider) first two years but no longer this year now that we have cleared and planted grass in adjacent lot (we are on two acres) have a service that does lawn for $60/per, and another service that does the fertilizing/weed control for $50 a visit (4x a year).
2. I spent all last summer tearing out railroad tie retaining wall + about 1000 SF of bluestone & installing a 300' retaining wall (blocks) & grading/installing 200+ yards of stone + slag & then 3500 SF of bluestone....that really, really sucked but bids were $100k and I did it for less than 30% of that.....but paying someone to do the mortar/tuck on the last 100' of capstone b/c I just can't/won't.
3. We took out about 20 trees, and paid pros to do that, but I'll take down the others as needed as grew up with a chainsaw & enjoy it. I spent a day last summer splitting firewood (rented splitter & had 100# maple logs.... won't do that again.
4. Pool guys here are ridiculous---$120 per visit. I use him maybe 2x a year if the pool gets away from me or if I'm traveling....and definitely once in fall when leaves just go nuts. He opens/closes the pool as well for about $600 total. I'm teaching the kids (10 & 12) to skim/vacuum the pool but the two pool vacs we have do 90% of the work.
5. House cleaner here is $300 per visit.
6. Sprinklers & lighting I maintain, but if it requires digging up a broken line we have a guy. He closes up the sprinkler lines for us each fall as well.
7. Koi pond I maintained last couple of years, aside from the 1x a year fall cleanout, but re-doing entire pond this summer & probably will have them do it as they are moving the skimmer/pump to a bottom well....and well life is too short.
8. Chinese tutor: 2x a week and that is about all that is the same with CA pricing..

My to-do list/fixes around the house is now down to about 4-5 hours each weekend, plus there is a full fall & spring weekend (winterizing + spring uncovering/mulching). Mulching we do on one weekend day---22 yards of mulch, 2 kids/wife & a $300 Home Depot tractor rental is 1/4 what the pro's want, and I get to drive the tractor all day. Fall I'll still do the leaf pickup---with quotes at $1k per visit....I bought a tow-behind leaf shredder for $3k when we moved here & its paid for itself about 4x over. That being said my summer to-do list is still about 30 items, with some joy-joy items like gutter clean-out & gutter guard install come September......

Midwest definitely has a MUCH higher maintenance rate than CA. Getting competent pros to show up is $$$$ here.....CA was much, much easier & cheaper.

I also try and do more here myself, as my wife has a tendency to go down the "while you are here" rabbit hole....

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____________
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

My wife baby sits grandkids four days a week and I work about 60-65 hours per week. We do everything ourselves.

Wait, don't you have four young kids? Or am I confusing you with another poster?

If so... How in the hell do you manage that?

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Just hired someone to clean the house every other week for $145, so we are happy having that done and we’ll worth the money. We used to have a service cut our 3+acres for $110 but didn’t really like their work so bought a zero turn and do it myself in around 3 hours. Good time away from the bs.

Interesting. We don't get much of a lunch hour, so, our working out happens in the wee hours around 4-5am which I think contributes to our exhaustion, as 9-10pm sneaks up on us really quickly and it's hard to get everything done in the evenings before then, and then get to bed at a reasonable time, hopefully enjoying a solid 5 minutes of reading or something before passing out.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Prosescution or IP lit?

Me - single, live alone. I have someone come do a deep clean about once a month. The owners of the townhouse that's a VRBO (we have 2 separate buildings of 2 units) own a landscaping service so their guys mow the yard. I also have a meal service deliver meals (deliver them to work). Do the personal trainer and the personal Pilates instructor dude count?

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I liked doing it for a while....zero turns are fast + a blast.....but it was the other stuff that accompany it that became a PITA. Weed whacking. Replacing the line on said weed whacker. Rebuilding the fuel unit on said weed whacker (I'm cheap & using a commercial Echo I bought 20 years ago for the annual fire clearance on our back hills in CA). Maintenance on mower. Sharpening mower blades (clearing the side acre = weekly sharpenings due to stick factor). Getting gas.....seriously I don't think the mower service is good at math b/c I was spending about 1/3 of what I'm paying them now in gas/maintenance monthly....and unlike the slow mowers of old, you have to kind of watch where you are going with a 60" Exmark.... Maybe when the kids are a couple years older I'll set them loose on it, but not at 10/12.

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____________
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

Daycare for the kiddo, otherwise it's all the wife and I. That'll change once my wife finds a new job, she currently has half-days on Tuesday and Friday's completely off and is able to run errands/do some cleaning during that time. Once we're both full time there just won't be enough time to get the cleaning/errands done on weekends.

We do get 3 dinners a week delivered (just $38 a week, for the convenience and good meals it's worth it). But we'll also get a cleaning service and possibly lawn care. I'm out of the house from 7:45am to 7pm, my wife from 7:45 to 5 or 5:30pm, and taking care of a baby on top of everything else is downright unmanageable as it is, even with the time off she gets.

Damn!! I pay $100 per visit.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

How is that even possible.
We have gotten quotes for $250-400/visit for our house. It is 1200 sq ft. We have one bathroom.

Our downstairs 800sq ft suite costs us almost $200 if we use a professional service. Around half that if we use an independent random off Craigslist.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

My husband leaves the house by 5am for work (and is in bed by 8/8:30pm). The only workout I'm willing to do that early is swim (which I can't do because kids). I run or bike at lunch - helps that my boss does triathlons and trains all the time at lunch. My time isn't micromanaged either, so as long as I get my work done he doesn't care if I take extra time at lunch. In the winter I ride the trainer after the boys go to bed.

Yeah, 54 inch John Deere, that I don’t really trust the wife to use without driving over a flower bed or the septic system pipes, so I haven’t pushed her to learn how to use it. I do like having it to take water down to the garden by the road or pick up fallen branches away from the house to clean up.

The weed whacking was the reason I had the service do it but when a neighbor offered his year old mower for 40% off purchase price, we couldn’t resist. And yes, ran out of string half way around the garden fence the other evening so there is still 75 feet of fence line that needs trimming...

A cleaning lady that comes every other week.

That’s about it. Also Various service people as required to do jobs that I either don’t want to do or are above my skill set.

Looking for someone to replace tiles in our bathroom (above skill set) and someone to replace a ripped screen for me (I dont want to).

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Ours is $100 per visit as well. 4 hours work.

Maybe you should move.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

But then I'd have to live somewhere else...

Do you use a pro service or random independent person?

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Independent. Not random, recommended.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

He provides services alright

What's the dinner company?

I can recommend a great tile guy. Travel cost might be steep...

Replacement screens are pretty cheap. Around here a patio door screen will be replaced for $75ish. So, around $40 Toronto Dollars.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

You need to find a good Polish cleaning lady because that is bullshit

Cleaning lady comes every other week

Landscaping service once a week in season.

Upstairs bedroom window. A raccoon was trying to get in. Did you know that those fuckers could climb brick walls? WTF is that?

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Unfortunately, most of the Polish immigrants in our area, like my mother, are around that age and retired. In the 70's-80's there was a huge wave of Italians, Poles, Greeks and Portuguese that showed up in Western Canada. Most of the newer, younger immigrants are Asian and more wealthy than the locals.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

My dog cornered a big ass raccoon in the yard the other night. The sounds that raccoon was making were terrifying. It sounded like an angry python hissing. I'm glad the dog had enough sense to not attack. Despite her being a 75 lbs german shepherd/husky cross, I would put my money on the racoon!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Neighborhood kid picks up poo and mows lawn weekly. Cleaning person every other week. During the school year a nanny shared with another family picks up the kids from school and supervises homework then play til dinner two days a week.

I hire someone 4 hours a day to hang out with my mom in her nursing home too - so she’s not as lonely or bored.

Honestly the young kid phase exhausting. There’s no medal for being the most burned out. Lots of people have help from family. Lots of people have a stay at home spouse. Lots of people hire help. Lots of people must just be really tough. Everyone seems to be exhausted.

Someone cleans our house every 2nd Friday. That's it.

I qualify for AARP and am closer to "GET OFF MY LAWN" age than diapers, but thanks for asking!

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DFL > DNF > DNS

You post really young though

😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

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DFL > DNF > DNS

Quit flirting. She's probably 30-40 years older than you are.

<dodging>

Ditto.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

https://www.everyplate.com/


We had been doing HelloFresh, mostly would sign up with different emails to get their intro offer then cancel a few weeks into their regular plan because it was just too expensive - around $70 for three meals. This one is identical in quality, zero difference imo. Slightly less variety, and they don't package things quite as well--all the food comes in a big box that needs to be sifted through to organize one meal, but it's a tiny inconvenience given the affordability. If it catches on it very well may increase in price but we're loving it so far.

Absolutely none.

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**********************
Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

Ok, you're the one with 4 young kids, right?

What's your schedule like? You're the type of person I want to hear from!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Are you going to ask every female poster that until one lies and says yes?

Considering there's only a handful of the womens in this forum, yes, that is precisely what I intend to do.

Now go back to telling Sally how young she posts.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

My husband got a roomba when I was gone for a particularly long stretch flying.

x3
you are my twin brother..

We have an Au pair that lives with us, A nanny that shows up at 6am to get the kids up and ready for school. The cook shows up at 7 to have breakfast prepared. Wife and I are out the door by 8. Nanny takes kids to daycare. Cleaning service shows up each day at 10 cleans till 2. Once a week we have a lawn mowing service, and the Gardner works about 3hrs a day 7days a week. Nanny picks kids up from afterschool daycare at 4 and brings them home by 5. Chef has a light snack ready for them. Tutor comes over at 6 tutors kids till 8. Chef has dinner ready at 8 wife and I get home some nights by 8 for dinner. Au pair reads to kids and tucks them in by 9. at least a few nights a week wife and I are home by 9 but some days we just need a break from the kids and house work so we meet up at a bar for drinks those nights we get home by 11 (only 2 or 3 times a week) Anyhow, if we are home by 9 we go into the kids bedroom and give them a kiss good night.
Then we head downstairs for a few drinks, as having kids and running a household is so much work.

Of course weekends are different our chef wont do lunches, so we make the Au pair feed the kids, so we don't have to leave the gym or spa to come home and make them a meal.

So i guess you could say we have a little bit of help, but I am sure others have far more.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

No real disagreement here, but in the D the Polish cleaning crews are....well I would like to say organized but more in a RICO way.

We pay for trust. We want someone in our house that will do a very good job, and won't steal from us. And in my experience, that is a 1:1 contact, not some guy who is ferrying 20 women around in a passenger van every AM.

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____________
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

So your Au Pair does nothing basically....pics or it didn't happen..

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____________
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

So do I. I only use people for everything that I have gotten a personal referral for.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Our's is 60, big house with dogs. We've told her she doesn't charge enough, she says she is fine. Every now and then we give her more, she says it is too much. Gave her a Christmas bonus, she cried.

That is the only help other than online grocery shopping. I really enjoy gardening and spend multiple nights a week and weekends doing that. Wife enjoys mowing, but she is shitcfor doing the trimming (all of it) so I have to do that.

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Nanny in the summer (his cousin)
Housecleaner every other week
Dog walker/sitter as needed when I Will be gone all day.
Landscapers treat yard, trim bushes, trees etc. I mow and weed whack.

I think he forgot the pink; otherwise the au pair is for when wifey is too busy to be a wife and tucks him into bed. It worked for Schwarzenegger...until it didn’t 😉

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DFL > DNF > DNS

Yep, that’s me. Kids are 10, 8, 5 & 2.

Husband who works ridiculously long hours so I’m pretty much mom and dad rolled into one, but thankfully I don’t work.

I’m up around 6:00/6:30 when the first kid wakes up and usually in bed by 8:30, asleep between 8:30 and 10:00. It’s really hard to get moving again after getting 4 kids to bed in the dark. Easier to just go to bed myself.

Outside work - there’s not much to be done right now. We’re renting, and the owner takes care of the dandelion forest that is supposed to be the yard, and in the past we’ve lived in condo complexes where the HOA does the exterior maintenance. In winter, all the major snow removal is taken care of by HOA’s or the owner but we had to dig out our parking spot and walkway. 2 winters ago it was no big deal, this winter was unreal. We didn’t even see any grass until the very end of May. Then we got 6” of snow. Lots of shoveling by me. Husband would sometimes help if he wasn’t too late or if he needed to decompress, but I did most of it. Kids did as much as they could, but they built more snow forts than shoveling. The neighbor took pity on me and used his front end loader or his bobcat snowblower 3-4 times after monster storms to clear our parking spot. Without him, it’d have been a lost cause. We paid him in beer and gas money for the heavy equipment.

Inside - I do at least 1 load of laundry every day, often 2, some days 4. Depends on what’s being done. Dishes pile up and get done before I start dinner usually. My oldest is getting into helping with dishes, he’s just not independent with them yet. The 2 older boys have started cleaning toilets and sinks, basic bathroom stuff because I got sick of cleaning their pee off of all surfaces. How is it possible to miss so badly when you literally have a hose to pee from?? They are getting better (at cleaning, not aiming) but I still have to go over and hit what they missed. Sweep daily, vacuum when necessary (if not daily, every 3 days), mop when there’s a huge mess.

We live in a small house, so toys, LEGOS, stuffed animals and books are a problem.

Condos have always been small and overrun by kid stuff. It’s everywhere and I just don’t notice it much, but it’s sad. We’ve got 3 boys in one room, and my daughter sleeps part time in our bed and part time on a mattress on the floor in our room. So the bedrooms are nothing but beds and clothes. We do the best we can, but it’s messy. Even when we clean and organize it’s just cluttered.

We are building a proper house (haven’t lived in one since I lived with my parents) after living in small condos for the last 20 years (except for one winter), and we cannot wait. We’ll have 4 good size bedrooms and a dedicated playroom. Closets for kids clothes, and room for dressers and beds. It’ll be a new house, so I’m hoping to hire cleaners to help keep it nice. I hate cleaning! Only thing here that seems to be decently priced - $20-25/hour. Snow removal will be on us (time to buy a blower and hire a roof crew), but no lawn, just a wildflower mix (it’s whats on the lot along with trees).

I’ll be honest and say our house is always a mess. It just is. The second we sweep or vacuum, there’s crumbs on the floor. After you pick up all the LEGOS- you step on one, stuffed animals and blankets are everywhere. And I don’t t care. 6 people in less than 1000 sq ft is just messy.

I do lunches, walk kids to school, drive them or put them on the bus - depends on where we live honestly (we’ve been moving around a lot since October 2017). I get them home, do homework, cook. If my husband isn’t home yet I get kids ready for bed and get them to sleep.

There’s more, but it’s past my bedtime and a kid just woke up. Gotta go!

---

**********************
Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

I am retired, and Mrs RG still works PT, so I am the Household Concierge (housekeeper, gardener, cook, shopper and bottle washer. And I still have time to exercise as much as I want... or not.

---

RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

I can sympathize with that last point. Some services where I live (Florida) are skyrocketing in cost right now (e.g. landscaping).

I'm single and live alone in small house. Work full time and travel a lot for work. I have a landscaper and a pool cleaner. Everything inside the house I do on my own. My community has an HOA which maintains the common areas which have a lot of landscaping so I'm hyper-aware of those costs.

House cleaner every other week.
Use a lawn service just to do the spring clean-up of the yard.
Luckily my 15yr old like to mow the lawn.
Everything else we do ourselves

I have a dude clean the gutters twice per year. We have a steeply pitched roof, and the gutters are nearly 30 feet up in back. One fall and the family is hosed...

Beyond that, I take a lot of pride in doing it all myself. Very few of my neighbors do, so I treat it as an opportunity to show my sons the pride that comes from having a really nice place that you did yourself.

---

******************************
If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat

---

RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

My mother in-law comes over every Wednesday and she usually cleans up while she's here.

?? professional, licenced and insured, right. Otherwise "One fall and the family is hosed... "

---

RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

I have been starting to do some of the landscaping, when in the past I did none. Since I have a landscaping business, I just put my house on the schedule. We have been too busy this year at work, so I send my crews to people that pay instead of me!

I still have my lawn mowed weekly though.

We also have a house cleaning service, but only once a month.

I generally cook, girlfriend generally does the laundry. Anyone does dishes and garbage. In a perfect world, everyone picks up after themselves and it all works out.

Regardless of my income, I don’t want to over complicate my life as you have found is happening. More sq ft, vacation home, extra cars (I’m victim of that), all require more maintenance. It just is not worth the headache.

I’m actually thinning the bicycle heard at the moment for the same reasons.

Yeah, I'm definitely looking to un-complicate and streamline a bit.

Luckily we have long term student tenants moving in to our suite soon - no Airbnb management.

Our nanny is gone end of summer and our daughter will be in daycare - one less thing to manage, AND the house will be quiet on the days I work from home. I cannot wait to clean out/set up the home office. I'm actually giddy about it.

The dog walker we have twice a week, as it's nice to get home some days and not have to head back out for an hour+, especially when weather is shitty.

I hope to dramatically re-landscape our yard in to something with less maintenance at some point, but that's relatively low on the home improvement priority list.

We don't own ANY toys (camper, boat, extra vehicles, etc). Most of our money goes to living where we do, which is expensive, but hard to beat.

It's hard to believe how much I did before we had a daughter. 12+ hours of IM training, starting a business, renoing my own place, etc. The difference was when I got burnt out, you just stopped and took the time to recover. Now when I feel burnt out, the kid takes that as a sign to forget how to sleep and wake up at 3am daily :-).

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Long Chile was a silly place.

This is what I get for posting at end of a long day.....zero sense of humor awareness. Well done.

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

I do think this is very important. From feedback from our neighbors, and from my kid's friends parents, they are amazed that we "force" our kids to do chores, and that they actually do them. Not sure how they grew up/raised their kids, but I personally value a very high sense of work ethic & believe it is crucial to long-term success.

Plus if they don't want to do the chores their phones & electronics go away and then magically chores get done....

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

When I lived in the Okanagan I had a raccoon family in one of our chicken pens late one night. Cornered one with my .22, hit it in the side and the fucker ran at me snarling. Those little bandit faced assholes are vicious. Once I killed it, my border collie picked it up, shook it three times and spit it out with contempt and walked away. Thanks a bunch for your help bitch.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Tell your neighbours about the Harvard Grant Study.

Kids who do chores are more successful as adults because they develop a “pitch in” mentally.

Wow Mopdahl.. you need some rest. and a pic


And last years

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Wish we hired a little more, but I'm too Midwest frugal. We are starting to hire a little more, though. There's just too much going on with the family and kids activities for me to keep up on everything. Hired someone to do some work around here -- a little paint, powerwashing, staining the deck. Probably gonna hire some teenagers to rip out landscaping overgrowth and rocks so I can redesign it, might bring them back to lay down the new rock. As much as I'd like to pay someone to mow my yard or clean the house, I just cannot justify it and would rather make it an expectation that the kids chip in to help with the cleaning so we don't have to pay for it and they learn. But I'd hire a personal chef in a second if we had the scratch to justify it comfortably. And a driver.

Thought she looked familiar. Hope she wasn't too used up when she made the move south....

Such a darling come-hither look to the children:



Beach days were always a favorite. Especially in December:


Problems started when my children, and wife, for some reason started developing body image issues. I didn't understand the nature of he problem as I was fine with the body.


Had to let her go. Pretty sure she went to work for this guy (I think it was the kids photos on the iphone case that sealed the deal)...

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

 
?? professional, licenced and insured, right. Otherwise "One fall and the family is hosed... "

Yup. I’m not somebody’s golden meal ticket.

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If I don't, who will? -Me
It's like being bipolar in opinion is a requirement around here. -TripleThreat