Working Through Retirement Is Optional. That Includes Housework And Home Maintenance, Right?
Don’t judge me.
I do a ton of stuff to keep my home clean and hospitable most of the time. In fact, my family thinks of me as a neat freak. I’ll straighten up a room before I can relax in it, even when I’m exhausted. Geez…sounds like a disorder of some kind, doesn’t it?
This is why I couldn’t ignore my filthy windows. Plus, I’ve always felt that clean windows help make our physical home happy. The rooms are brighter. The sun streaming into rooms is uplifting after a long New England winter. And, the outdoors feels like an extension of our space when seen through clean windows.
Why Hire Help?
I can think of three justifications off the top of my head for hiring someone to do work I once did. I’ll use window and gutter cleaning as an example.
#1 With Age Comes Wisdom
My excuse for hiring a window cleaner could have been a problematic shoulder (even though I don’t have one) or my lack of stability on a ladder (even though my husband has always cleaned the outside of those windows that required a ladder).
In reality, my main reason was that I promised myself that once I was no longer working by choice (some call it retirement), we would no longer be the ‘doers’ of all home maintenance and general upkeep. I would hire insured professionals—even if it meant giving up something in exchange for the cost.
With age comes wisdom. It’s OK to pay someone to do some things you might have done yourself when work was a requirement (pre-retirement).
Permit yourself to enjoy your time and retirement savings! Don’t miss the opportunity to have lunch with friends, spend time in your garden, take a long walk with the dog, or enjoy a day trip somewhere because of housework that you could hire someone else to do.
“Your retirement fund IS NOT only for vacations and healthcare.”
People focus on their retirement savings going toward dream vacations and living expenses, including healthcare costs. Using some of that savings to help maintain your home instead of doing it yourself is important, too.
I’m pretty sure that no sane person on their dying bed said, ‘Thank God I was smart enough to spend all that time on those home projects I hated doing. I’m so glad it took time away from the things I really wanted to do.’
#2 Prioritize Safety and Recognize Limits
I must admit that I’m finding some household tasks more daunting than they were even three years ago. Washing the forty windows in my house was a ‘heavy lift’ for me, given the time and energy required.
I got a tension headache and body aches just thinking about it.
Additionally, there’s one section of gutters that is very tricky, given the slope of the land (more like three stories even though it’s technically a two-story home). Carrying the extension ladder and watching my husband with a three-story drop has always been tough on me. And when he started voicing how much he hated cleaning gutters, I knew that particular task had become daunting for him.
Time to pay someone to do what neither of us needs or wants to do at this stage in our lives. It’s the safest option. A fall at any age is dreadful, but a fall at our age might occur as our last living act. Morose? Sure. Ridiculous? No.
#3 Good Vendors Are Worth Every Penny
Gone are the days of thinking, ‘If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.’ That’s just bull****.
Shift your mindset!
I put the job out to bid and chose a smaller window-washing and Christmas-lighting design-and-installation business that was founded just a few years ago. Perhaps a bit of a risky choice given the company’s age, but I was impressed with the young owner’s business acumen, customer approach, competitive pricing, and consistent 5-star reviews. Within 18 months of him starting the business, he had hired a staff of four and had three trucks to keep up with demand.
Ahead of the confirmed start time, the crew texted me that they were running about 30 minutes late (which was accurate). They were very courteous while in my home. After they completed the job, they told me to call if I saw any issues in different lighting, as they would come back to take care of them right away. I saw a few streaks the next day when the sun was out, and true to their word, they fixed them right away.
Dare I say, they did a better job than we normally do?! We always have a few streaks on the larger windows or missed spots that we discover the next day, but we live with them instead of dragging the ladder and tools out to rewash them.
Worth every penny. I plan to use them again.
We also paid them to clean out our gutters—an unadvertised service they offer. There’s no longer any reason for my husband to be on a two-story ladder risking a fall. Yay!
And Now
We need to plant some shrubs in our backyard to replace some that died a few years ago.
Let me reword that.
We need to hire someone to plant shrubs.
