I suppose it’s true about the economy. On two consecutive days we had people wander up to our door asking if they could mow our lawn for some cash. Day #1 Man was well put together with a folder containing reference information. Day #2 Man was a bit scarier since he was pushing a running mower up the street. I declined help from each man even though I think it’s great they’re attempting to work for some money. I do get the hint, it’s time to mow our clover laden lawn. On that note, I hired our neighbor’s landscaper on the spot today to come by and look after our yard. I honestly love getting out in the yard and making it sparkle, but with the little one the luster has dulled a bit.
I thought it was interesting when I went home for lunch today. My purpose of going home was to meet our wonderful Terminix guy. When he pulled up to our house the newly hired landscapers (three of them) were in the yard making it pretty. While the Terminix guy was plugging a hole under our kitchen sink, he said this. “After 30 I decided to call in the troops as well“. Good, I feel validated in our many decisions to outsource.
Presenting Team Singe:
- Landscaping by Mr. Vargas and his two cohorts
- Pest control by John with Terminix
- Housecleaning by Jeanette of the self-employed variety
- Semi-monthly babysitting by Mary
We’re a kept family. Anybody want to maintain two blogs for me and train for a triathlon?
The Continued Life of Monkey Boy 
I made the decision a long time ago to have a lawn guy because it actaully works out cheaper to pay him to cut my grass than to do it myself.
Extermination team is a local family run business. Pricey but not nearly as bad as the effect that termites and carpenter ants could have had.
I wish I could swing a cleaning person/crew – not in the financial cards right now but a guy can dream for now.
Have you got a date set for your next triathlon?
I’m all about outsourcing house labor. Seriously…I refuse to paint anything. I’d rather pay someone to do it nice and professional like than me do it shitty and half-assed for free.
count me out for the triathlon.
House cleaning will by my first outsource.
Egan, You’re speaking my language. Would you recommend Terminex? Last weekend I discovered some insect holes in the basement windows and now I need to figure out what kind of critters are eating my house.
Outsourcing is the way to go! Who needs house and yard work?
Chris – it appears you have your own sort of cleaning crew in the making. I like it. Well there’s a triathlon in less than two weeks that I tell myself I will do every year no matter what physical shape I’m in. Have I signed up yet? Nope. I have been on the bike twice in the past three days. The Tour de France has influenced me.
Sicilian Mama – me too, I hate painting. The act of painting isn’t so bad, but it’s the blasted prep and cleanup which drive my batty. No triathlon for you? I can’t see why not.
QT – it’s something I rejected for so long, but once baby came there was no way we’d get to the deep cleaning tasks. Well worth it.
Sprizee – we’ve been pretty satisfied. We have a great serviceperson. I don’t have much experience with this, but I’ve been happy so far with Terminix. Yeah, keep an eye on the wood stuff. We got screwed with our West Seattle place when it came time to sell. Ugh.
Meno – I do like yard work, but we just can’t squeeze everything into a 24 hour day. I want to spend some time with my lovely fast growing daughter.
No but send that cleaning lady by my way. She won’t mind a bit of a commute? Ha. That will actually have to wait a few years till the budget allows but you can bet I’ll be hoping for a crew in time.
Yeah, just this past weekend as my fiance and I were watching the movers haul our stuff up two flights of stairs, I was in major peace with the decision to shell out a lot of cash for them. It’s one of those things where once you go *there* you never go back. Plus, our friends won’t do much for pizza and beer any more. 🙂
Hmm… I’ll train the swimming and running part of the tri for you. The blogs, I can’t commit to.
Oh, but if you need a personal food-shopper? I’m your girl.
(Do you have another triathlon on the books?)
I have a triathlon this weekend and I haven’t even really trained for it for myself, so as much as I would love to help you out with that, I won’t offer.
We have a cleaning service too. I used to feel guilty about it since I am a stay at home mom, but you know what? I am home to be with my kids, not to clean. Even with the cleaning ladies, I clean more than you would think since I have 4 kids.
We have the orkin guy who takes care of the mice for us. It really is so worth it. So far no lawn service even though I want one. My husband takes care of that and I keep trying to explain to him that if he didn’t have to do that he would have more time to spend with us instead of wasting it all working outside. My neighbor has someone that said he would give us both a great deal if he did both at once, but so far my husband won’t go for it.
Will a cleaning lady follow my husband around picking up the fifteen piles of keys, mail, and electronics he leaves from the front door to the bedroom? Cause the vacuuming is under control. Wait, that’s personal assistant territory isn’t it?
How much does this blogging gig pay?
If I had the money, I would totally outsource. Things being as they are, how much would you pay me to train for a triathalon for you?
Maggie – I fought having a housecleaner, but it has been really nice to come home to a clean pad every other week.
Nilsa – your last sentence sealed the deal here. So far we’ve had friends willing to help us as long as we provided beer and pizza. I’m not sure that would go over so well not time since most have kids. We’ve moved five times since we met. Our moving karma needs some work.
Brookem – why not cycling? You know how to mount a bike on top of a car don’t you? The next triathlon is July 20th. I’ve been on the bike twice in three days. Now I need to get in the pool. Do some backstroke yo!
Tori – you got a bit of a Team Tori going. I like it. Your husband needs to suck it up and let the hired help do the work. It would be a nice way for him to spend more time with the fam. Are you doing a sprint triathlon this weekend? Good luck.
Ms Chica – now that’s sort of funny. I know of this trail, to some extent. I try to leave my keys, cell phone, wallet, and iPod touch all in one place. Sometimes that doesn’t always happen. Personal assistants are cool. Maybe we can get him a virtual personal assistant.
Ubermilf – salary is negotiable. How good are you with typing confirmation codes? That’s a key skill to fast commenting.
Churlita – very good question. Right now I’m taking back the triathlon offer. I’m getting my ass back in shape after not doing much of anything the past 12 months.
I’d volunteer to do the training for you, but I’m not sure exactly how that would work.
Dude, Terminex? What do you have?
Amy – I’m turning the triathlon thing around. More details to follow, but thanks for the gracious offer. Hoot hoot.
K – we had mice and a rat, notice I used past tense. I’m being optimistic. The construction work for the light rail has seen more rats in our ‘hood.
I would LOVE to outsource the housecleaning. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.
What other blog do you have?
it’s not about the bike my friend.
that is all i have to say about that.
You write my blog and I’ll write yours, okay?
(I won’t clean your house though, no matter what you offer in return.)
ah heck. just drop the triathalon and keep the blogs. why dont you? just teasing.
Sari – outsourcing the housecleaning was our first order of business. I also author a French Word of the Day blog. I’ve been absent for a couple weeks though. I do have a triathlon blog too, but that’s not getting any attention these days. You can find links to them in my left sidebar.
Brookem – there you go again with your Lance Armstrong quotes. Nice.
Gwen – do you hate cleaning that much or do you think we’re really messy? I’m torn which is worse. Now get to work.
steppingoverthejunk – ha, I signed up for my first triathlon of this season so there’s no stopping me now. I promise a new blog post for tomorrow.
Outsource the two blogs.
*runs away*