spinoff to - can someone tell me

Message edited 10/11/2006 9:07:36 AM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

not sure I get the Q

what is wrong with people hiring a painter or a contractor? not everyone is handy.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Message edited 10/10/2006 2:21:07 PM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I get what you mean...and I do agree. Some feel like the day they say I do, they should step into already established lives, whereas some of our parents had to scrape and scrounge to get where we are already in life.

My dad is always saying how "much" we have already in our lives, whereas he didn't see some of the things we have until he was in his late 30's, early 40's. I kind of always have to put my husband in check when he complains about how he wants this or that about how grateful we should be for all we've been blessed with.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

my younger brother bought a handy mans special and did most of the work himslef, but he is an electrican/construction worker and knows his stuff. he also has a lot of friends in the business, artiect, plummber, etc, so it worked for him.

i know a lot of people that DIy, but i see no harm in hiring someone to do it for you. if i know i can't lay down hard wood floors, why should i attempt it.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

i can afford to hire a contractor, landscaper and cleaning service.

if i can afford it what is the problem?

and fyi- my parents never had a cleaning serrvice, landscapers or fancy contractors.

when i see how hard of a job these things are, i appreciate it the luxury of having someone do it for me.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Message edited 10/11/2006 9:07:48 AM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I feel like so many people I know have called in a company to do everything for them, and it all has to be top of the line. They have cleaning ladies and landscapers already....





We did because we are not handy like that. If we were then we would have done it ourselves. As far the cleaning lady goes we hired one because my job can get very hectic at times so it works for us. Once people can afford to do certain things without living above their means then so be it. If you are going to struggle and put yourself more in debt then that is another issue.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Posted by nixy

I am not even sure what the questions is....

I was just thinking about my parents and IL's and how much work they personally put into our house...
she stripped moldings, hung wallpaper, painted etc. They really put work into their house and I don't think hiring someone to do it for them ever crossed their minds.

So I guess I am just wondering if our genereation has just become one that thinks that we are incapable of doing these things ourselves and that we must hire someone....

Or maybe I just grew up around people that were handier...It was just a thought.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I don't know if I would say people expect too much, I think they expect it all right away.

My mom commented on this to me about 10-15 years ago, when her friend's children started getting married. She was saying that when she got married, they bought their furniture a little at a time, as they saved up for it. Then, when they bought their house, they made improvements to the house the same way. She was amazed at how the young people she knew were getting married, buying a house and completely furnishing it in a relatively short amount of time.

I think the world was a different place back then, though. I think there is so much more available credit to allow people to do things on whatever timetable they want. I also think that in a double income family, with some people working more than 40 hrs a week, some people just don't have the time to do things themselves anymore.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Our parents generation, you did it all yourself, over time. Because they understood that buying a house is a lifelong committment.

They also understood that instant gratification isn't such a great thing. There is something to be said for working hard for something, being patient, and the benefits you reap from it.

It's like sacrificing for something, anything, is looked at as being foolish. Maybe it's because we didn't grow up in an affluent area, but my siblings and I didn't have much handed to us. We worked for it.

I don't see that in my neices and nephews and I think they're missing out. But I digress.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Message edited 10/11/2006 9:08:03 AM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I know for us, it's about what's most cost effective.

Landscapers and cleaning services are relatively cheap when it comes to labor per hour. We'd rather put money into that so we can work on other projects where the labor would cost much more.

And sometimes it just comes down to time constraints and/or "talent" (not everybody can fix a leaky pipe or do finish work.)

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Message edited 10/11/2006 9:07:27 AM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Yes totally. I think about when my parents first got married, they waited a long time to re-do things in their home, didnt go on super expensive vacations, etc....Now we live in a world where instant gratification is the norm. We see something we want, and we get it.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I dont expect any of that... I guess I base that on my parents who did everything themselves. My dad was handy with contracting and landscaping type things and my mom also took care of the kids and cleaned on her own.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I think there are differences between our parents generation and ours. My parents did most of the work on their first house themselves (though they hired people to do a lot on the second).

DH and I do not expect to buy a perfect house, nor do we expect to hire people to do everything. Most landscaping (except for tree removal) we could do ourselves with some help from a friend of mine who is a gardening fanatic. We could paint, do basic plumbing, and tiling. I'm sure there are other jobs we could learn to do.

However, when we look at houses, if there are too many things wrong, it becomes a big minus for us. Mainly because we both work long days (including some weekend hours), and we both have long commutes. Our parents worked much shorter days with shorter commutes (actually our moms didn't work at all until we were both about 12). Given our living situation, we probably would hire out some work that neither one of us could do well just to save some time.

So, for some people, hiring work out may be because they just want a perfect house instantly. Others may not have time to do the work or time to learn.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

My husband happens to be very handy, and talented when it comes to painting, construction, building things, etc.


Sometimes your time is worth alot more than how much it will cost to pay someone to do something. We live on 100 x 75 peice of property. My husband always cleaned the gutters, mowed the lawn, did the fall cleanups, but realized that it is so worth 80 dollars a month to hire a landscaper, than be bothered with it.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

My husband is very helpful but not handy. There is no way some of the things listed he could do. Believe me he would if he could. For us it is not keeping up with the Jones, it is knowing our limitations.

Message edited 10/10/2006 5:00:59 PM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

For us, our time is valuable. We work long hours - DH works even longer and he travels. To spend hours cutting, hedging, etc our property when we could be doing other things together, is worth it to us to hire a landscaper. Plus we're allergic to grass and DH is allergic to, well, everything

We hired someone to gut & redo our bathroom b/c we had a 2 week window to work with - again, time was important.

We bought a house that needed updating, rather than "work" and we're comfortable with doing things on our own...but when it comes to dormering and adding a bathroom, we're hiring someone.

If we can afford it, why not?

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

I think that some expect to have what their parents worked their whole life for - right now

my parents grew up in a tiny apt and played in the streets on blacktop, so buying a nice house in LI was an upgrade (in their eyes).

Honestly I loved having a pool in my backyard, I would love to buy a house with a pool b.c that is what I grew up with....but my parents were married 10yrs before they bought the house they live in now

I think some of my friends or people my age who were recently married would lke that stuff now


is that what you mean?

Message edited 10/10/2006 4:50:12 PM.

Re: spinoff to - can someone tell me

We do what we can ourselves, but certain things are just worth paying for.