Someone awhile back posted her idea for starting a helping hands type of business....that got me to wondering about what help do people hire or would they consider hiring. For example, do you hire someone to maintain your lawn, clean your house, babysit, a personal trainer, etc? Do you have something you would love to be able to hire someone to do for you - like clean closets or wash windows?

Personally, I have someone come in to clean house on a regular basis....and I have had a full-time babysitter in the past. We also pay someone to paint the exterior of the house when it's needed. I've hired entertainment for kids bday parties, too. Other than that, we pretty much do it.

Services I think I'd like to have: tax preparation, window washer (it just doesn't get done at all).

People have told me that I'd be a great personal shopper. Unfortunately, I don't think it would pay near as well as my real job - though might be more fun!

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

We have a business rake the lawn and pick up broken limbs in the fall and spring. We have our taxes prepared. We have a pet sitter come in twice a day to feed with the cat when we're on vacation.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I would love to have someone come in and make me get rid of junk! Like the clean sweep people. I am horrible at getting rid of stuff.
I have never had/paid anyone to:
clean my house
do my laundry
paid for a babysitter
mow my lawn
rake my lawn
make travel arrangements
wash my car
vacume my car
do any painting in my home
paid a personal trainer (dh does it for free)
paid a drycleaning bill
had a manicure
had a pedicure
had a message
had my pets groomed
geez....do you think my dh knows how lucky he is <grin>

I'd love to have a housecleaner and some home remodelers on contract, but sadly no.

The only services DH and I have ever had to pay for are:
carpet installation and professional cleaning
roofing
deep freeze repair
replacement central heat and air units.

If DH or my dad can't make a repair or do an installation of whatever is needed, it's a complicated situation. DH and my dad installed laminate flooring in the dining room, living room and hall areas. DH installed kitchen and bathroom faucets. DS helped with the bathroom faucets so he could learn how to do it. DH, with a little help from me and DS, put up the privacy fence across the backyard. DH also installed the chain link fence on one side and across the ends of the house. My dad installed the garbage disposal. DH installed the washer and dryer last year. We do all interior and exterior painting. DH and my dad built the deck around the pool and the very nice sized work shop in the back yard. DH does all the routine maintenance on our vehicles. DH and my dad also did the roofing job on our first house. The roof wasn't steep and there were just two valleys so it wasn't a difficult job.

There's not much my dad and DH can't do.

We have our taxes prepared (my mom in an EA). Even if my mom didn't do it, it's something I would never do on my own. I've heard too many stories about how my mom had to "fix" turbo tax returns.

We do most of the rest of our stuff. DH is handy and I have family for free babysitting. I would like a house cleaner but I know I can't pay the $10-$15 an hour for a good person to come in (the going rate here). I would LOVE to be able to afford someone to come in and finish our basement but that would be like $50-$60K so we'll do it ourselves (and take a million times longer LOL) for about $25K.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

We had carpet installed and the heat pump but other than that we've done everything else to this house.New siding,installed windows,hung sheet rock,laminate and hardwood flooring.Looking back now I wish we had bought a new house.Always working on something gets old and tiring.

We pay a CPA to do our taxes. Right now that's about it..jobs and economy being the way they are, and with one kid in college and one hs senior, well we are ok but there's no extra $ for non-essential services.

In years past we paid for professional contractors for work on the house if we didn't know how to do it ourselves. We also paid to have rugs/furniture steam cleaned just a couple times. And when the kids were little we paid for babysitters/daycare, sports leagues, a tutor, occasionally a clown or bday party performer.

I am about to hire a friend of my grandchildren to paint the interior of the house for me.

We have a construction business, so we do all of our own renovations, painting, etc. As far as cleaning and my yard, it's 2 things NO ONE is going to touch! I've very anal about both! I used to have an amish girl come in in the spring and help me with spring cleaning, but I got to the point I was cleaning her area days after she was gone.

The only thing we have professionally done are our taxes. That, I'm not touching with a 10 foot pole! Between our 2 business', our farm and our rentals....NO WAY!

I pay someone to come in every two weeks to clean my house. When my husband was gone to Iraq last year in the spring, I paid someone to mow/weedeat our yard. Our almost 12 year old has since learned how to do that. We have usually done most everything else in the house. I am very tempted to pay someone to come paint whenever that needs to be done again.

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NSDQ-Nightstalkers Don't Quit!

We don't pay anyone to care for our yard or to clean our home. We are pretty handy (and cheap) so we fix and paint what we can. But, we hire experts or those with the right tools or expertise as needed.

Being disabled, I would pay for someone to come to my home and just be there in case I need something that I can't get to/lift myself. There are a lot of things I need help with during the day but I have to wait til hubby gets home to have them done or get them from where they are for me. Boy, if only I had that kind of money LOL

I used to pay someone to mow my yard because the rate was decent and I HATE to mow.

Sadly, that person moved away and the only other person who does it charges WAAAYYY too much. The first person charged $10 to do my yard, the new person wants $30!! The yard is small, I can mow it myself with a push mower in less than 30 minutes.

I'd LOVE to pay someone to come and shovel my walk and parking area but there is no one around that does that. I live in a trailer park and you'd think there would be a bunch of kids out trying to make some $ by shoveling snow, raking leaves, mowing yards, etc but there just isn't.

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Jesus SAVES by shopping smartly and using double coupons!

We hired an architect to do the design work when we added an addition a couple of years ago. Mainly because we hate additions that look like additions. I wanted it to look as though the home grew from the ground up looking like it does now. Truly worth the extra $$. The home was originally built in 1949 and now it looks like it's a fairly new construction.

We just hired a certified electrician to come and do the final connection (natural gas) on the
standby generator. DH had completed all of the prep work such as pouring the concrete pad, running the conduit, and installing the transfer box. Somethings need to be done by a certified person for the warranty.

Otherwise we are the people in the neighborhood that everyone hires to do their work in and around the house.