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I was hesitant to hire a cleaner - what would my mother think? MC surprised me with a freshly cleaned apartment when we were first living together and I freaked out. I could tell immediately that a stranger had been in our place as the dining table centerpiece was moved and the vacuum marks in the carpet were in a different direction. I was livid!

However, he has no love for cleaning and I have no love for doing it myself so we've had someone for the past seven years and it's been great. She comes monthly and we run the vacuum and wipe down the bathroom counter etc in between visits. Love coming home to a freshly cleaned apartment on a Friday after a long week of work. 

 

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On 5/30/2023 at 10:32 AM, Iskaral Pust said:

When we were young & (relatively) poor, we cleaned together weekly.  Since we became parents, we’ve had bi-weekly cleaners.  We maintain a very tidy and clean home between those visits, but the cleaners do the heavier lifting on kitchens, bathrooms and floors.  As @baxus said, I place a high value on my time.  Plus, I still have plenty of house projects to complete on my weekends.  Owning a house is very different to renting an apartment or owning a condo.

Yeah, since owning a home while divorced, I now have a dedicated handyman named Matt who takes care of all my riveting home horrors like “the kitchen cabinet doors are off kilter!” or “I need a new thingamajig for my frameless shower!” or “I don’t know why these towel racks are coming loose? Halp!!”

Matt gets paid $90 an hour and is worth every penny.

I own a townhome, but it is a single-family attached home. This distinction is very important, because what it means is that we can turn off people’s water when they don’t pay their HOA dues, because there is no “sprinkler system” fire suppression that you would see in a multi family unit (condo, apartment). People pay their bills pretty quickly when you can turn off their water. It’s much faster than foreclosure.

The Doctor grew up without a lot of money and with the need to fix things, so he is handy, but it’s more like he only has the time to say “the cabinets are out of kilter because the house is naturally settling, you need a new (whatever the thing is), and your builder’s wall anchors were crap”.

I just grew up with professional fixing stuff when it needed to be fixed, and the foibles of managing highly paid carpenters or painters who did great work when they were sober. 

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Having a handyman on tap is a joy, my dad is amazing at stuff like that. So he gets invited down as we have built up a big enough list of jobs. And the best part is he fucking loves it so I don't even feel guilty. 

Last time he tiled my fireplace, layes new flooring in my hallway and utility, re hung my curtains that my dick kid had ripped out of the wall, fixed a dripping tap and wallpapered a wall. Probably saved me a grand and all I had to do was feed him for 3 days. 

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11 hours ago, kairparavel said:

I was hesitant to hire a cleaner - what would my mother think? MC surprised me with a freshly cleaned apartment when we were first living together and I freaked out. I could tell immediately that a stranger had been in our place as the dining table centerpiece was moved and the vacuum marks in the carpet were in a different direction. I was livid!

However, he has no love for cleaning and I have no love for doing it myself so we've had someone for the past seven years and it's been great. She comes monthly and we run the vacuum and wipe down the bathroom counter etc in between visits. Love coming home to a freshly cleaned apartment on a Friday after a long week of work.

This made me think of something that happened a few years back.

One night my wife and I had friends over and we got a little tipsy, then when everyone else went home we got a little romantic, and crashed. We had to work the next morning and didn't have time to clean up, so we just left the apartment as it was.

I was the first to come home, and I was struck by how immaculately tidy the apartment was. Had my wife come home early and cleaned everything? But no, she wasn't around. Plus there were things that seemed distinct from our routine, like the smell of strong cleaning agents in the bathroom, and a blanket neatly folded into the seat of our couch. And most curious of all, our bedroom was picture-perfect...except that the bottle of lube that we left out from the night before was still there on the night table, untouched!

Then I noticed a note on the table from a cleaning agency thanking us for our patronage. But it was addressed to our friends who lived in the apartment directly above ours. Somehow they got it mixed up...and somehow found their way inside the wrong apartment!

Aside from the intrusion, we appreciated the tidying. Some advance notice would have been nice, though!

 

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7 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Having a handyman on tap is a joy

Aye, it sure is. Especially when that handyman is me.

I have a wide array of tools and I am good with my hands. If I am facing a task I've no experience of, Youtube is generally all I need.

I. AM. BLOKE.

 

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