Do you pay for someone to do the gardening?

[marla]

We have a big yard and it takes me a good part of the weekend to do all the outside work to keep my yard looking nice. How do you do it without spending hours and hours? Do you hire someone to do it for you?

[lieweheksie]

Hi Marla
In South Africa it is very common to pay someone to do garden work. I have someone come to do my garden once a week, he also does small handyman jobs for me and helps if I'm having building work done
We have a very high unemplyment rate- about 35%- so emplying someone is often not just about saving you maony but helping someone feed his family while retaining his dignity

[terry1156]

That is a very important point. Part of being frugal is to save money so it is used in ways that you want. It doesn't mean being tight with your money in all situations. "employing someone is often not just about saving you money but helping someone feed his family while retaining his dignity" I can't think of a more appropriate way of spending money.

We don't have a gardener, but then I enjoy doing outside work on the weekends.

[Tree0164]

My husband and I do our outside work ourselves. But most of our neighbors have someone come and mow the lawn and do the trimming on the brushes.

One summer I had some one do it, since DH broke his leg and I was working almost full-time. I had to pick up my son at his grandmother's and drive hubby back and forth to work since he couldn't drive It cost us $50 a week to have someone do it.

[DivaJen]

We do all of our work ourselves. By and large I enjoy gardening, though, so it works out just fine. We don't have a lawn in front - I've planted mostly perennials so it is not high maintenance the bulk of the year. Out back, I've just seeded part of it for a new lawn, so that will require regular watering and mowing. but DH will help with that. Most of the neighbors have someone come mow and edge their lawns around here. I don't know what that costs.

[marla]

I guess I should rethink my back yard and plant less high maintenance plants. The problem is I have a big tree that keeps me busy raking all fall. It would also help if I liked doing that kind of work more, but I see it as a chore.

[DivaJen]

Originally Posted by marla

I guess I should rethink my back yard and plant less high maintenance plants. The problem is I have a big tree that keeps me busy raking all fall. It would also help if I liked doing that kind of work more, but I see it as a chore.

We have eucalyptus trees out back, so leaves and pods are a constant battle for us. I've finally had to take the approach that it's just never going to be perfet back there without a lot of work, so we go with the flow out there instead. The area I seeded is about 300 sq ft, so keeping that raked won't be such a chore.

Do you have any neighborhood kids that could help out? Our neighbor's boy, while he was in high school, used to do the raking for the neighbors on the other side of our house.

[Tree0164]

I think it all become priority and what you chose to do with your money. If you can't pay your bills, the landscaper probably shouldn't be coming to your house. If you decide that having someone come out is worth your TIME and ENERGY and you can afford it (without hardship-maybe not going out to dinner 2 times is worth it)

[Razzy]

I thought if I paid someone to mow our lawn I could guilt my dh into doing it himself. Boy was I wrong, it had the opposite effect on him. He didn't mind paying someone to do it, I thought it was a wast of money. I would do it but i'm allergic to grass and can't mow the lawn.

Razzy

[arthurb999]

I do.... i costs 1800 for the year and that includes all the raking in the fall (weekly), weekly mowing, trimming, 2x big cleanups, and fertizlier/treatments.

I think it's worth it beacuse we work pretty hard all week and that would cut into time with my family.

[MonkeyMama]

Best money ever spent, if you ask me.

We have a small yard, and a gardener, but no one in my house like yard work at all.

Was extremely important when we had infants. Bought me way more time with my family. (That part is priceless). We probably see the point less and less as the children age. Yard work can become a family/team effort, and I actually think that is important for the kids when they are a little older.

Then again, I still love not having to do yard work. & it's really hard to find a good gardener around here. So I am hesitant to ever give it up. But we probably will when the kids are older. For their sake.

When I was in my early 20s I thought I would have never hired help like that. What a waste of money! Well, having kids changes things a bit.

[pearlieq]

We're considering it for this summer. Neither DH nor I is into lawn work and he's going to be traveling a lot. Right now I'm trying to decide between hiring the neighbor kid or contracting with a service. Each has their ups and downs, I guess.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

No way! I live to garden, and I'm not just talking about mowing the grass, though I even like that. I wish I had more yard. I talked to a neighbor about possibly buying her vacant lot which is so close to me. I can't afford her price by any means and she is patient to wait for someone to come along who can pay her price. However, she told me she is open to letting me garden on it. So in my mind, I have been landscaping it (with lots of edibles!) ever since the end of last summer. I have done all the gardening for another neighbor for 13 years now, even buying the plants, seeds, and other supplies. Oh, I also keep a little welcome garden at the entrance to our street, on public property. When the city planted trees on the street's wide median parkway, for two years I watered the ones that my hose could reach. Few of the trees survived that did not get that small attention. My dream is a riverside property where I can grow walnut trees, or pecan trees if I have to go further south.

Gardening is good exercise when done as I do it, without power equipment. It is great for me mentally and spiritually as well. I am Buddah when in the garden. It was great when my son was young, as he learned so much science working in the garden with me as I explained things to him. I only wish it were more of a social thing nowadays. I wish there were someone who wanted to work alongside me.

When we bought this house, we were buying the yard as much as the house. It had to pass my standards for gardening. I would be very sad if I had to pay someone to garden for me. Unfortunately, I have sometimes had to just wistfully look out the window as I have a back problem that has sometimes kept me from even the simplest garden tasks. But I figure that work is one of the main sources of my health.

That sad, I have a few times paid someone to mow my little yard. When someone who was very informally trying to make money mowing and who seemed to very much need the work,knocked on my door, I have paid them to do it.

[Razzy]

The last time I had dh mow over the leaves to mulch them. Now he needs to do the other part of the yard.

Razzy

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

No way! I live to garden, and I'm not just talking about mowing the grass, though I even like that. I wish I had more yard. .

Man I wish you lived near me! All my attempts fail and I so want my kids to know more of gardening than I do

[vonowen]

in my case I don't..!!! i love doing the garden stuffs. In this way I can arrange whichever plant or ornamental positions I love to look like in my garden

[GREENBACK]

I live on a 1 acre wooded lot with lots of trees, shrubs, a goldfish pond and a vegtable garden. I've never paid any one to work on these things. Working outside is a great de-stresser for me. No kids at home so it's a lot of work but I like it.

A guy came by on a tractor the other day and asked to plow the snow off my driveway for $10 and I turned him down and I grabbed the snow shovel. I really should get a snow blower but a shovel cost so much less.

[Daylily]

I have two acres and there is no way we could afford to pay someone. Actually, there's no way we could bring ourselves to pay someone what it would cost. I very much enjoy gardening, but I don't like mowing. Little by little I am changing the grass into gardens (flower and vegetable) so that there will be less and less to mow.

[Goldy1]

I used to have a small pond in my yard that dh built for me. That time and algae trap was a pain in my bum so I was so glad to fill it with dirt and bring fish into an aquarium. I planted a flower garden which I tend myself. I cut the grass myself. Dh used to pay soemone to do it when single b/c he made more an hour at work than what the lawn guy charged an hour. He said he'd rather stay at work.

[Marikam]

Marla: I used to do my own gardening and like you found my relaxing weekend was anything but. Now I have a gardener. I feel so much more relaxed and since I started up a home based business, I now have more time to spend on it. In fact, I now make more than enough to pay the gardener.