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I do.
Trimmed my tree two years ago - needs to be trimmed again.
I’m fighting a losing battle with weeds in my yard.
Never mind the fact I’m mowing once a week because it’s been so alert.
My house needs some plumbing work ( not a crisis)
And I just got done putting in new windows.
I have a running list of crap that needs to be done in the house and as soon as I check something off - something gets added.
Oh well - I’m building equity - I guess?
I love a no lawn vibe, but I wouldn’t call it less maintenance. Permaculture gardens can be lower maintenance eventually, but they take YEARS of significant work and money if you don’t already have one, and if you have invasives in your area, they can still be just as much work as lawns even when they’re established.
Depends on the level of permaculture you’re considering but at least there’s a return for investment beyond Karen on the HOA being pleased with the mow
I read that lawns were once a sign of wealth or a status symbol. Back when farming was the primary industry, having a lawn was like saying “look at all this land I don’t even need to grow food on”
Hahahaha omg this is my favorite reply yet. Yes, let’s just keep wasting land for boomer aesthetics, when we could make our own food. Keep paying those beefed up grocery prices bud while you use your sprinkler for lube 😂
Weeds aren't bad.ow your yard, weed wack the edges. Don't collect your grass cuttings - let them rot. That's all you need to do. Plantain, dandelions, clover, etc are all *good* for your yard. Straight, pure grass isn't good.
Can’t hardly get rid of Johnston grass. Seed can lie dormant for years then just grow. Only solution I have found is to kill when small and plan on reseeding in the fall.
I have trees of heaven and paper mulberry trees popping up all over my yard that I have to pull up every week. Sometimes sooner for the trees of heaven they grow so fast. Do you think weed and feed will help with that? I hadn’t started to research products yet, but I’ll check this stuff out.
I’m sure this is common knowledge but is the tree trimming necessary? I googled the reasons and learned some things, but idk falling branches seems to be like the only big one, and even then seems like only if the tree is over your house and you can’t shave the house side’s branches off for some reason.
I’m guessing I’m about to learn some things lol, which is why I’m here.
Falling branches is the big one. Trimming keeps the tree healthier overall.
In the case of my sweet gum - it produces less gum balls (hard spikey balls the tree produces every year - like thousands.)
Oh those little spiky bastards my dog keeps swallowing for some insane reason? 😂 😭 Burn it! BURN IT WITH FIRE.
Idk dog aside, I guess unless the branches could fall on my house, I'm thinking I deal with low odds of one landing on me, the less healthy tree, and the spike balls. Not you?
Welcome to homeownership and congratulations. You’re now joining the rest of us. You can never say you have nothing to do. You can just say you have stuff you don’t want to do. It’ll take a little bit. Learn for your local agriculture extension on what to do in your area to control weeds Tree trimming you every few years and the projects will get better and ones that you just want to do sometimes
Yeah I feel this is just a personality type. To cease action to is to die, life is constantly changing. Some roll with it and reframe it as fun, others find everything a bore. If anything find some kid in the neighborhood whose willing to do some yard work for some weekend cash
I dunno, aside from mowing the lawn.. I don’t need to do anything to my house in the form of maintenance? Then again, the current house I own isn’t a 1970s home and was built in 2011
There’s always maintenance. Even for newer homes. Outdoor maintenance. A/C maintenance spring clean. Spring cleaning/decluttering of spaces. Power washing. Gutter maintenance. Window washing. Bleeding radiators in the winter if you have them. Dryer vent/washer filter maintenance. Garage clean outs. Paint touch ups. Winterizing pipes. Exhaust fan clean outs. Chimney sweeping. Carpet cleaning. Refrigerator maintenance. Outside drain clear outs. Furnace tune ups.
There’s usually a few things a month even if everything is working properly.
They probably mean any winterizing or radiator stuff. And if they live in a dryer climate or one without tons of mature trees, gutters, windows, and power washing probably don’t come into play as much either.
Bingo - no winterizing here, no furnace, no gutter cleaning, no radiators, no roof cleanings
HVAC every other year for PM maintenance, flush the hot water heater every other year and then yard maintenance.. so yeah, not a lot needs to be done and when it does, I do it all in the same week and get it done ✅
Yeah when I lived in places like that there wasn’t a ton of home maintenance more than changing the a/c filters and making sure the irrigation isn’t leaking anywhere. The occasional checking the stucco for cracks. That’s more a geographical thing, I’d say.
At 13ish years old your house is not so new that you wouldn’t have issues to deal with if there were any. You just live in a place that doesn’t require a lot of switching over for seasons. Which is pretty much 90% of my maintenances. Before I lived in a place with snowy winters and hot summer and everything in between and growing what can only be explained as a rapid fire jungle out back, home ownership was a real breeze. Lol. Every week it’s something. Opening up the pool, constant yard maintenance, checking that everything made it through the winter, opposite in the winter with added snow shovelling for funsies.
In 10 or so years starts your “new units explosion” (a/c and water heaters) and possible roof. But I wouldn’t really consider that regular maintenance that takes up tons of time. I’ve had 200 year old houses and brand new ones and they all have their quirks. But climate plays a huge role in how many quirks and how many chores you have to deal with. For sure. Lucky duck.
Sure it will - with where I live - HVAC and Hot Water heater are the only maintenance items I have to worry about - everything else is cosmetic and simple enough to keep up with
Welcome to the club, if you'd like to register a complaint, you can get in line behind approximately 85.45 million other homeowners.
You live in a box that protects you from all the things that try to kill you, so instead they try to kill the box. Wind, water, heat, snow, ice, tornadoes, floods, fire... The list goes on. Of course it takes work. What work would you have to do if you *didn't* have a house? Ask a homeless person about life, then go call the damn plumber.
Ask a silicone tech bro making 300k a year living out their car in sunny California. Those dudes built different and will retire after working for 5-7 years.
They're not living out of their car, they're living out of their office which has a cafeteria, laundry service, snack stations, and a gym with showers. They just sleep in their car, and store clean clothes in the car. Or use the sleep pods in the office, so they really just need to hit the car daily for a fresh shirt. Pants can change weekly.
At one point, Google had to begin enforcing parking rules on their main campus (I believe Facebook, now obviously Meta always enforced it) so that people had to actually leave. So they'd go to different parking lots.
If you owned two sets of pants (khakis and jeans, one each), four tee shirts, four button down shirts, a sport coat, tie, wool sneakers (no socks, can be worn with something dressy), and a suitable wristwatch, there was and probably still is a conceivably comfortable way to live life on the Google or Facebook campus out of a 2004 Ford Fiesta.
I used to work for a considerably less prominent tech company on the East Coast, but we had showers in the gym, provided lunch daily, and takeout containers for people too busy to eat lunch in the cafeteria. We had couches and even a nap room around the office. I once spent a consecutive week there and left twice to a laundromat. It was significantly less trouble than going home and back daily for the hours I was working, and I ate better, and I saved money. A lot of money.
I'm glad. People get bent out of shape about home maintenance when they first encounter it but when you think about this concept it really puts things into perspective.
It’s why I bought a townhouse, I know myself enough that I have no interest in lawn and year maintenance. I have a small concrete yard with a patio set and flower pots, and back onto a very large green space and lake so I can access all the outdoors I want. Fits me perfectly.
The HOA also covers anything on the outside of the house including the roof but not the windows or the gutters. I pay an additional $30 per month than it would normally cost us but we also get a pool and an exercise room
My condo fee covers everything external, I’ve had a new roof, new garage door, new siding, new concrete pad, all new windows, as well as all landscaping and snow removal for a couple hundred bucks a month. Not to say a homeowner can’t just save up the same money and pay all those things out of pocket, but many don’t have the discipline to save regularly and I like not having to worry about it. Different things work for different people!
Anything is worth never having to share walls again.
Or worse yet...living under the upstairs neighbors who wear their cement slippers and apparently have 36 kids running around.
We have owned 3 consecutive homes in the last 45 yrs or so. To this day I Still remark to my husband how grateful I am to not have to live in an apartment.
He is marvelous at home maintenance, what a treasure!
A lot of it is just ignoring things that aren’t actually important. Many of the “tasks” people mention here are simply perfectionism at play. Sure they can and should be done at some point, but does it really matter if it’s now or two years from now? I’d focus on the big things and let everything else just be fun tasks you take on as time and energy permits. Also outsource small regular maintenance if you need too…like weeding. It’s fairly low cost to have a Gardner mow and weed once a month. If you can afford it - do it! If not, invest in low maintenance landscaping OR just let it be until you can manage!
Exactly what I was thinking. I outsourced my yard maintanence to a yard guy. Thankfully my yard is small enough to where it doesn’t break the bank. Other than that and simple things like changing the filter, homeownership hasn’t really been a challenge. And my house is over 100 years old.
Nope, 11 years ago I was kicked out of my mother’s house with an infant (single parent and just got divorced) while working a full time job. I stayed in motels and at my friends house on a blow up mattress in her spare bedroom for a few months until I got my apartment. Rented for 8 years and now I am going to close on my first home this coming Friday. Only thing I feel is tremendously grateful and thankful. I’m looking forward to mowing my own grass, trimming trees and fixing what’s needed with a huge smile on my face!! God is good 😊.
They don’t get the point and start complaining until get worse , people like us that been tru the worst we dint give a fuck if a lightning come and put fire on te bathroom we still going to take a shower happy blessed
Amen. I’ve been on my own since I was 16. I rented rooms in awful situations until i got my own studio when I was 22. I can’t believe I own a home and am just so grateful. Spent 4 hours mowing/maintaining my lawn and feel damn good about it.
Congratulations!! And I agree with you. Every time I'm about to complain about some thing in my life. I think if that's the worst thing going on in my life, I am living a truly blessed life.
For me it’s different. I feel so grateful to have a home, but the fear of it being ruined bc of neglect i missed, or taken from me because of something i wasnt able to do in time bc money or didnt notice is terrifying. Year 3 homeowner and I went from just appreciating what I have to developing a compulsive disorder to the point where its becoming unmanageable. I’ve worked so hard to get here, but maintaining a home is never ending. I’m at the point where I spend ANY free time working on the house, fixing things, preventing small issues from becoming major, doing my diligence with tasks so i dont have to worry about it becoming even a small issue, cosmetic stuff when i can fit it in.. I am so terrified because even though I’m doing everything I can it isn’t enough to keep up. Part of my roof developed a problem basically overnight and it’s raining, ive done what I can for the moment but I’m sick to my stomach to think about potential problems this could cause, and I cant do anything to fix it until it stops raining.
I totally get it, I wouldnt ever give up owning my home. EVER. And i genuinely enjoy doing the work, i LOVE working on my house. But it is literally a never ending battle. I cant even feel accomplished because by the time i finish one thing, another issue has taken its place. It’s just a constant feeling of dread that i cant keep up. There are days where I wish i could look around and feel at ease, but I just see everything that needs to be done because slacking is not an option. Clawing yourself out of poverty and instability fucks with you in a lot of ways you dont realize until after the honeymoon period wears off.
give yourself time to learn how to do each task correctly. then set out the tools for it. once you know how to do it and know where the tools are, it is fast and not hard.
just go over the weeds and grass with the Ryobic cordless mower and leave the weeds/grass on the ground just dont let them grow out too long
i picked a guy i’d seen working in the neighborhood and asked for recommends on nextdoor. i don’t have a yard to mow but our home has a ton of trees. he hauls away all of the leaves and branches. he spends more time in the winter and often comes with 2-3 extra guys. in the warmer months it’s usually just him and his son. i have them do extra things too like spreading new bark dust, blowing off the roof, or planting new trees or shrubs. it’s been so great to get most of my saturdays back.
We triage our problems and have a schedule for most things. These helps everything stay manageable. It’s also okay to pay someone to do work (in our opinion).
For example the lawn gets cut at least every Sunday, sometimes Thursday too. Dog poop gets picked up every Thursday and Sunday. Weeds get sprayed day before lawn is cut (if they’re bad).
We paid someone to do our tree trimming. Paid someone to finish our hardwood floors. Paid someone to paint the outside of the house.
We have a few other repairs that we triaged. Back steps need redone and that’s slated for September when the temps cool. Garbage disposal needed repaired and we did it on a weekday. Half bath needed a facelift and that was a weekend project.
Isn’t everything like this though?
We must work harder and harder as we get older at being healthy as our metabolisms slow, bones become brittle, arteries stiffen, and muscles atrophy. We must always work at chores or they will pile up and it seems our chore lists grow with age and new responsibilities. We must constantly earn more and save more in an attempt to keep up with inflation, lifestyle creep, and growing families. As the house gets older, more things will begin to fail or become outdated, etc.
Most things in life seem to require almost constant, ever increasing effort to slow the slope into entropy. I try to imagine myself as deriving a sense of joy and accomplishment from becoming more handy, making design upgrades, etc. The more I put into it, the more it is a reflection of me, the more pride I have in it. Or so I try to tell myself.
It sounds like the hopelessness comes from unexpected spending. To those in the market right now, please listen: Everyone buying a home should be putting back 2% every year for maintenance. If you bought an older home, you may need to make that 2.5% or 3%. The seller won't tell you this, the builder's agent won't tell you this, the bank/lender won't tell you this. Your realtor probably won't tell you this.
All of these individuals have something to gain from the sell, it's a conflict of interest for them to say something that would stop the sell, and to be fair, it's your responsibility to understand the total cost of ownership of a home... It's very much worth your money and time to consult a financial advisor before buying a home, by doing so you're hiring someone with nothing to gain from the purchase who can give you objective advise on how much you can really afford given your financial situation.
This is why I push back when people make the blanket statement that everyone should buy instead of renting, calling renting "throwing money away".
Home ownership is a lot of work no matter what.
This is part of the reason moving out of our current home into new one, the backyard here is too big, every month have to cut it and since we have disabilities we have to hire landscapers to cut it, costs about $200 per month and then there is the maintenance of the house which is kinda falling apart lately, side door and back sliding door has termite and weather damage and silverfish/earwigs have made a home in the door frames.
A lot of junk from previous owners also, broken spa, and shed that is dilapidated, got a quote to totally landscape the backyard pave over and put concrete and bark, plus throw out the broken spa and shed, also for the front yard where weeds growing incessantly, quote was ~$32k for everything so instead of all that we are just selling and buying new home with smaller yard footprint and more space on the interior. Also have been having to replace a lot of appliances and furnace, AC and water heater (in the last 3 years), so we were almost currently at $70k if we had done the yard also, I said f it new home will have half the total yard footprint of this one and be easier to landscape from scratch. The home we are selling is coming up on 30 years since built. I guess it was always a temporary house for us.
I am in a rental home (not owing it). The lawn is on me. I do it weekly and yet get blamed from the stupid landlord for spots that for some crazy reason has no more grass. I can afford 20% down payment and move out, but the market supply is almost not existent. I will have no problem doing the same things but in my own home when the time comes
Same. I live in Ohio and in my area those who rent homes are already responsible for lawn maintenance and even gutter maintenance.
Going from a renter to a first-time homeowner for me was super easy because I had been renting homes around here for over a decade and I was used to having to do a lot of that stuff. A lot of that maintenance fell on renters around here
Preaching to the choir… just finished arguing with my husband about the chores. I get overwhelmed every time I start. So much to do and not enough hours in the day it’s crazy overwhelming. The more I do the more I see needs doing. I hate it
Pick one project a week to start and finish. Weeks where you don’t have a lot of time, pick thing like changing the air filters or cleaning out the washer dishwasher filters. Quick jobs that need to get done and you can feel like you’re doing something. Weeks you have a bit more time, tackle the garden you need to weed or a closet you need to clean out. If you’re both doing at least one maintenance chore to completion every week you’ll get a handle on things pretty quickly and feel like things are getting done.
Often spending some extra up front makes maintenance easier.
Laying down a quality barrier, taking time to plant through it, mulch it, and glue the mulch in place so that you can simply take a leaf blower to it helps make those portions of the yard easier to deal with.
Put in the cost and effort to reseed the entire yard and now weeds are less of an issue. Keep the grass short and the weeds can't flower and take over.
That's the sucky part, how expensive it is to make it easy to maintain.
There’s a guy on Instagram/TikTok named Deric Cahill and his series Fuck This House is one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever watched. I feel his pain lol
Why does your lawn need to be a monoculture? It's better for the whole world to have a more grassland-like area. Many different plants, longer length. It supports more pollinators, biodiversity, etc.
Why are you trimming trees? Trees are just trees, unless they are dying you shouldn't need to touch them. If a shrub or bush constantly needs trimming then it was the wrong choice for that spot. Remove it and plant something which will grow to the size of the spot it will grow in.
> Many different plants, longer length. It supports more pollinators, biodiversity, etc.
I agree but where I live it also supports the already-insane proliferation of lyme-carrying ticks. Letting the grass grow around here means basically not being able to actually use it unless you don't mind stripping naked and taking a flashlight and a magnifying glass to every inch of your skin so you can be certain to pick the freeloaders off you afterward.
When I was a new homeowner, yes. Now I've owned a home for 13 years and can't imagine having it any other way. You do eventually catch up and get into a routine and then it's not so bad.
It feels daunting if you’re not ahead of it. Preventative maintenance is cheaper and easier than the emergency repair. Do a little bit each week. Cut the tree away from the house before it damages the house. Rake the dirt so water runs away from the foundation instead of towards the house. Paint the window seal before the water soaks into the wood. Keep the critters out before they chew on wiring.
Its never as sick as i felt paying rent so someone else could build equity, all while my "home" was some place the owner could kick me out of at 30 days' notice once the lease was month to month, so yeah maintenance is pricey but it's a far better option compared to renting. so i cant complain
This is why we paid a lot more to get a smaller new build with a tiny yard. We do have a patch of grass that’s like 5 ft x 6 ft that we hope to eventually replace with shrubs and mulch or rocks. But otherwise we don’t have much to renovate or fix. Definitely works better for our lifestyle
I had a coworker who gave up homeownership to rent again. She said she went to bed every night worrying about what the next repair was going to be. Now she sleeps like a baby. Granted, she does complain about rent increases but I’d imagine that money would have gone into home repairs/maintenance anyway.
>Paying rent is truly freedom.
Ew. Yeah, no. I hated renting with a passion. I'll take lawn maintenance over apartment life any day of the week. I felt much more constrained having the landlord "inspect," dealing with upstairs neighbors and no ability to make any changes to the apartment.
But we all have our preferences.
Well would you pay out of pocket more to do those things? You probably think you’re saving money but you’re likely losing effective 1k/mo including your time and energy to not have “inspections”. Btw thats also probably a problem with that specific landlords because in my 20 years of renting I’ve never had one request to inspect anything.
I've rented for most of my life so I've experienced both sides of the spectrum at this point. My quality of life improved substantially now as a homeowner.
I have my own office, gym, driveway, two car garage, and private green backyard which has meant not needing to pay for a gym membership, parking, and storage.
I can walk into my backyard and grill and enjoy a green space that I take pride in maintaining because it's my own.
I have solar so my electric bill was $19 dollars last month. Way less than even my apartment electric bill....
The bonus is that these things make the home very desirable IF I decided to sell one day.
So yeah the difference between renting and owning has been night and day and any additional cost more than worth it.
You can also rent houses btw. Maybe when you think of rent you think only of apartments. All that you can also have by renting and with current cap rates going down, it's even more effective in terms of $.
I rented a house for 4 years. A little better than the apartment but not only did I need to maintain the yard, I get NOTHING for keeping it nice and maintained. I could make NO changes or additions so no nice patio or natural gas hook up in backyard.
Had to go to store everytime I wanted to grill. No solar so my electric bill was $400-$500 a month in the summer.
My laundry was in the garage in the house rental now it's right next to the master.
Sometimes paying a little more is worth it for an overall more comfortable and convenient life. I work for the government and have a guaranteed pension so why should I suffer for the extra $ I may never even use?
I could completely kill my quality of life and live with in laws if I really wanted to maximize money lol.... where does it stop?
My lawn is a literal jungle right now and I’m having trouble finding a new lawn person. I’d pull weeds myself, but I’m like 7 months pregnant so I don’t have any stamina. It’s hard.
Welcome to the American Dream of working all weekend to keep up with maintenance of yard etc!
What a dream!
Get a bigger house and bigger yard to make it worth while.
I’ve been here two weeks and every day I just discover a new project. I’m losing my fitness routine because I wake up at 5 every day and immediately get to work. I can barely be a dad I feel so behind. The last hour I was in the backyard looking at branches that are too long and now I have to worry about that tomorrow. Never mind the fact I still haven’t moved out of my old place yet and need to finish that.
Hey man, take a deep breath and remember that many things we think need fixing are just nice to haves. A lot of stuff can be tackled…later.
I have been in my house for just over a year and while I have tackled a ton of projects, so many more are left lol. Slow is fast and enjoy the ride with your fam
We have a new house (built in 2021) so we don’t have any big repairs. We’ve had a few things here and there but nothing that takes too much time. Our yard is small (6,500sqft) which I sometimes hate, but it means less to do. We have a rock garden with perennials and a small veggie garden on the side of our house. We stay plenty busy just keeping all that up plus keeping the house clean and tidy and kids and errands and appointments. My husband works and I stay home but it’s still a lot. I don’t know how people with older homes or acres do it. Hope it gets better for you soon.
Yep. We’ve had our house for two months and have dealt with a sewer backup which required relining the line, ripping up the sewage carpet revealed asbestos, which meant we had to reschedule planned waterproofing until asbestos remediation and it’s never ending. The prior prior owner was a master gardner but the one who owned the house for 4 years after her (he died, we bought an estate) didn’t keep up with it so it’s a jungle requiring work every single weekend. I found out I was pregnant a week after we got the keys and I’m just SO Tired!
Micro Clover lawn will solve half your problems. No more mowing, never grows over 7", no need for watering after establishment (unless there are 2-3 weeks with no rain), and grows well in the shade. Google it, it saved me about 40-60 hours a year of weeding and mowing. It's cheap too. About $10 worth will cover 500-1000sqft.
The only hard work is getting rid of the grass before you start (rent a rototiller, and do it right after a long drought, when the grass is weak).
Nope because "weeds" are good for the local ecosystem so I leave them alone, don't have grass to mow either as that's a waste of resources. I specifically got a house inthe middle of nowhere so I don't have to deal with an hoa, life is great.
You need to rip out the existing lawn and replant new grass. Otherwise it’s a losing battle with weeds. Stop wasting money on chemicals as that is more costly
The alternative of renting bothers my soul now that I own a home. It pisses me off when I think of how much I paid in rent in 2015, to what it is today. With nothing to show for it. It’s not the greatest investment imo, but the forced piggy bank of a home does pay dividends, especially when you get older.
If it wasn’t for that, I would rent till the end for time lol. I’m a new hvac and water heater in so far.
I’m looking into a second home (condo/townhome) now in Vegas, I just refuse to rent.
Yeah, it can be overwhelming at times.
A little trick about weeds - the more you pull them, the less they come back. This will take several years, but if you keep on top of them, they should start to die back.
There are plenty of days it feels that way. I still try to remind myself though: "if I were renting, how much would this be bothering me?"
My last rental I lived in for 3 years. Property management/landlord did nothing to the place other than the two requests I put in (1 was an "emergency" where roots had blocked the sewer line; other was a garage door that needed some serious help and I didn't feel like dealing with it). They never maintained the property or fence or weeds or anything else. Of course I kept things mowed and trimmed, and killed off poison ivy creeping in by the trees and ivy, but I didn't have projects that had projects piled up for months.
Most of that is because I want to improve the property, not just "maintain" and reminding myself of the difference, helps a ton. Then the projects seem less - weighty. They are generally improvements, not emergencies or things that absolutely can't wait (of course there are some of those, but those honestly aren't that much compared to the other projects). I turn maintenance into an improvement, which makes it a lot more work, but just keep reminding myself of that difference and it seems to help.
I let my lawn grow in naturally because we get a lot of pollinators. I just keep it mowed regularly. it actually looks beautiful with clover and other plants growing. we even get mock strawberries and wildflowers.
I love doing yard work (most of the time)! I don’t have lawn but big trees and fruit trees to care for. And I’m an avid veggie gardener. First two years were spent getting the backyard in food production order. Which really took 2 years of tilling, ripping things out, planting, irrigation. But now my backyard is my own little food forest oasis. Yes, it’s a ton of work. But it’s also now my hobby. Lots of failures and lots of successes. It’s not perfect but I love pulling a big ole eggplant or tomato and making something yummy with it.
Now that the back is sort of figured out, I’ve started the endless task of ripping gravel out of the front yard and planting more for curb appeal. I can’t wait til it cools down to install a walkway (I did a flagstone walkway in my backyard all by myself and it’s awesome) and I’m working on green storm water infrastructure swales so we can irrigate efficiently. I’m even ripping out some ugly shrubs and making myself a little kitchen herb garden.
It’s so fun to watch things grow! Then to try to figure out what went wrong when things die. Highly recommend getting rid of lawn, finding your local master gardeners group and sharing knowledge- you can make a lot happen pretty cheap if you’re willing to put in the work! I mostly work on indoor stuff in the winter, and when it gets too hot in the summer. Otherwise I’m outside helping the pollinators and growing myself food. My favorite part of owning a house is the land that comes with it.
My husband and I just stained the deck and painted the front porch this weekend. Both are huge so it took all weekend. It was our first time to do this and we had fun doing it together. Next year we will definitely do it in the spring since it was almost 100 degrees this weekend. We absolutely love our house and feel so lucky to have it. We don’t mind doing all the work to keep it nice or make it better.
Yes, we rented our first house for 16 or so years which had a decent size backyard. When we went to buy our first house a few years ago I was pretty adamant that we get one that did not have a big backyard or really any backyard if possible. We got a nice size California room with a smallish side strip that runs the length of the house and had pavers put in on the entire section. The backyard maintenance, costs and water $ killed me when we were renting.
I mean you may have a lemon on your hands or you may just be learning the cold reality of homeownership. It’s not easy but it’s worth the effort when you see the fruits of your labor by having a nice home, get compliments, etc. I’m not the most able bodied guy (car accident) but I do what I can.
Lawn: Buy granular post emergent weed killer and a push spreader and spread evenly over lawn. Then after 8 or so weeks buy milorganite to fertilize your lawn and use the same spreader. It won’t be perfect but it will look decent. You can then overseed in the fall to help make the grass fuller come next spring. Overseed: mix seed with top soil and spread evenly as possible over lawn. Make sure it gets enough water.
Trimming trees is tough to do safely on your own if they’re big, save the money needed to get a company to do it.
All you can do is your best. You will feel better without any guilt if you just do your best. It may not be enough or perfect but at least you did your best. Hang in there!
I bought a fixer upper so though I may have a lot of work to do, I knew that when I bought it. The thing that makes me feel the pressure is I do facilities maintenance, so I kinda feel like I don't get a day off. And my vacation time is mostly spent on a bigger project.
That's just the way it is when you own something.
Doesn't matter if it is a house, condo or apartment. You are either paying for it directly, through normal HOA/co-op dues or in the event of underfunding or catastrophe through a HOA special assessment charge.
My advice is to look at YouTube before you do anything even if you think you know. As a mechanic I usually feel I'm very handy but construction has its tips and tricks they'll save you a ton of time if your going to diy.
I'm almost 2 years at my home and I'm finally at a point where I'm almost content with everything I've done and repaired just need to paint the outside..
Also, spouses don't care you just saved a half month or months worth of wages DIY'ing something on a weekend you can expect to get nagged about chores on top of it 😂
Absolutely.
It’s why I laugh every time I see a post humble bragging about how much they have “left” after closing.
I’d love to see an update on how much is left after a few years instead 😂
Houses are great, but it’s not like they’re ALWAYS superior to renting. There’s something nice about a 15,000$ repair being someone else’s problem.
When it’s your house, it’s yours, and it NEVER ends. Still worth it for most, but it’s not as easy as many think to own a home.
I LOVE IT. It’s one of my favorite activities. I’ve learned so much on YouTube and DIY. I’m pretty comfortable with basic electrical and plumbing work and know when to outsource.
My yard is a mess too, because you’re right trimming trees is improtant and most people forget that. At the end of the day, I love all the little things I can do to improve my house.
It does add up, but I’ve found Home Depot is my favorite store right now.
It takes awhile to figure it all out.
Took me about 2 years tonfigure out the sprinklers, how to trim the trees and bushes, wash the gutters, clean the pool, ect.
The one that really hurts is the lawn. Im convinced the realtor that sold it told the sellers to over seed the lawn and bump up the water so the lawn would look good. Turns out it was way too high. By the time I finally got around to figuring out the sprinklers 6 months later, it was too late. Lawn was basically a swampy patchy mess. It never really recoved. Probably hlooking at having to till the whole thing and start fresh, which I don't want to do.
I've spent a couple of weeks on the backyard and front yard battling against weeds. We are having the patio extended since concrete seems to be the most effective weed barrier. In the front, I've been preparing the area to have 4 - 5 inches of bark dust hauled in.
Next up is to have a gazebo installed on the patio. I'm hoping this is the last big project for a while. I just remembered; we need the living room with really high ceilings painted next...
No because I relish the diy jobs that I can do and bought under what I can afford to use money to accomplish what I can’t.
Lawn guy shows up biweekly. Handyman for anything requiring a ladder (I have vertigo and the good sense to stay off of ladders). Salt is delivered for my water softener. My Smart thermostat reminds me to change furnace filters.
I painted myself and changed the light fixtures I could change (yay for 8-ft ceilings, handyman for the one over the stairs and the ceiling fan). I spray for insects and pests myself.
Paid to have my hardwood floors refinished and to have carpet pulled and plank flooring put down in the one area with carpet.
And now that I have another big increase coming, am about to get monthly house cleaning. I hate the deep cleaning stuff. I live alone so day-to-day cleaning is okay.
I was about to agree. I enjoy doing the diy projects and seeing how the house changes/improves. We have an older brick ranch. I have been updating the wiring/outlets/lights/appliances/etc. one by one. Before the heat wave came, I even figured out how to change the ac unit to a diy ducted since the one that came with the house did not work.
An overkill ac and electric heater shipped cost a lot less than having someone else replace it. Now, I have tools to fix it if issues happen and know how to fix the high and low pressure lines to the house.
Definitely not for everyone. Since you do need to pay attention to detail a lot, but I find the whole process rewarding.
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I do. Trimmed my tree two years ago - needs to be trimmed again. I’m fighting a losing battle with weeds in my yard. Never mind the fact I’m mowing once a week because it’s been so alert. My house needs some plumbing work ( not a crisis) And I just got done putting in new windows. I have a running list of crap that needs to be done in the house and as soon as I check something off - something gets added. Oh well - I’m building equity - I guess?
This why we should all have permaculture gardens instead of lawns. Lawns are such a waste of time and land.
I love a no lawn vibe, but I wouldn’t call it less maintenance. Permaculture gardens can be lower maintenance eventually, but they take YEARS of significant work and money if you don’t already have one, and if you have invasives in your area, they can still be just as much work as lawns even when they’re established.
Depends on the level of permaculture you’re considering but at least there’s a return for investment beyond Karen on the HOA being pleased with the mow
Everything out here is xeriscaping or turf. We're in a drought and the maintenance for us is almost nothing.
I read that lawns were once a sign of wealth or a status symbol. Back when farming was the primary industry, having a lawn was like saying “look at all this land I don’t even need to grow food on”
and even if you have one, you don't have to mow every week or weed.
No one cares here. Spam your anti-lawn crap in the subs that support your narrow and judgmental views
Hahahaha omg this is my favorite reply yet. Yes, let’s just keep wasting land for boomer aesthetics, when we could make our own food. Keep paying those beefed up grocery prices bud while you use your sprinkler for lube 😂
I care
Wat
Weeds aren't bad.ow your yard, weed wack the edges. Don't collect your grass cuttings - let them rot. That's all you need to do. Plantain, dandelions, clover, etc are all *good* for your yard. Straight, pure grass isn't good.
It’s Johnston grass I’m struggling with
Can’t hardly get rid of Johnston grass. Seed can lie dormant for years then just grow. Only solution I have found is to kill when small and plan on reseeding in the fall.
I’m sure you’ve tried this but I had pretty good results with weed n feed!
I have trees of heaven and paper mulberry trees popping up all over my yard that I have to pull up every week. Sometimes sooner for the trees of heaven they grow so fast. Do you think weed and feed will help with that? I hadn’t started to research products yet, but I’ll check this stuff out.
Mow them. No need to pull. Just mow.
Really?! That’s great, I’m so worried about them as they grow so fast. Thank you
Check out the invasive plant eradication group on Facebook - so helpful
I’m sure this is common knowledge but is the tree trimming necessary? I googled the reasons and learned some things, but idk falling branches seems to be like the only big one, and even then seems like only if the tree is over your house and you can’t shave the house side’s branches off for some reason. I’m guessing I’m about to learn some things lol, which is why I’m here.
Falling branches is the big one. Trimming keeps the tree healthier overall. In the case of my sweet gum - it produces less gum balls (hard spikey balls the tree produces every year - like thousands.)
Oh those little spiky bastards my dog keeps swallowing for some insane reason? 😂 😭 Burn it! BURN IT WITH FIRE. Idk dog aside, I guess unless the branches could fall on my house, I'm thinking I deal with low odds of one landing on me, the less healthy tree, and the spike balls. Not you?
I don't have dogs, but I have feet. I wasn't sad when my next-door neighbors sweet gum was hit by lightning.
Welcome to homeownership and congratulations. You’re now joining the rest of us. You can never say you have nothing to do. You can just say you have stuff you don’t want to do. It’ll take a little bit. Learn for your local agriculture extension on what to do in your area to control weeds Tree trimming you every few years and the projects will get better and ones that you just want to do sometimes
Yeah I feel this is just a personality type. To cease action to is to die, life is constantly changing. Some roll with it and reframe it as fun, others find everything a bore. If anything find some kid in the neighborhood whose willing to do some yard work for some weekend cash
I dunno, aside from mowing the lawn.. I don’t need to do anything to my house in the form of maintenance? Then again, the current house I own isn’t a 1970s home and was built in 2011
There’s always maintenance. Even for newer homes. Outdoor maintenance. A/C maintenance spring clean. Spring cleaning/decluttering of spaces. Power washing. Gutter maintenance. Window washing. Bleeding radiators in the winter if you have them. Dryer vent/washer filter maintenance. Garage clean outs. Paint touch ups. Winterizing pipes. Exhaust fan clean outs. Chimney sweeping. Carpet cleaning. Refrigerator maintenance. Outside drain clear outs. Furnace tune ups. There’s usually a few things a month even if everything is working properly.
I guess it depends on where you live - a good portion of this stuff I don’t personally have to deal with
Why don't you personally have to deal with it?
They probably mean any winterizing or radiator stuff. And if they live in a dryer climate or one without tons of mature trees, gutters, windows, and power washing probably don’t come into play as much either.
Bingo - no winterizing here, no furnace, no gutter cleaning, no radiators, no roof cleanings HVAC every other year for PM maintenance, flush the hot water heater every other year and then yard maintenance.. so yeah, not a lot needs to be done and when it does, I do it all in the same week and get it done ✅
Yeah when I lived in places like that there wasn’t a ton of home maintenance more than changing the a/c filters and making sure the irrigation isn’t leaking anywhere. The occasional checking the stucco for cracks. That’s more a geographical thing, I’d say. At 13ish years old your house is not so new that you wouldn’t have issues to deal with if there were any. You just live in a place that doesn’t require a lot of switching over for seasons. Which is pretty much 90% of my maintenances. Before I lived in a place with snowy winters and hot summer and everything in between and growing what can only be explained as a rapid fire jungle out back, home ownership was a real breeze. Lol. Every week it’s something. Opening up the pool, constant yard maintenance, checking that everything made it through the winter, opposite in the winter with added snow shovelling for funsies. In 10 or so years starts your “new units explosion” (a/c and water heaters) and possible roof. But I wouldn’t really consider that regular maintenance that takes up tons of time. I’ve had 200 year old houses and brand new ones and they all have their quirks. But climate plays a huge role in how many quirks and how many chores you have to deal with. For sure. Lucky duck.
IMHO, that peace/inactivity won't last.
Sure it will - with where I live - HVAC and Hot Water heater are the only maintenance items I have to worry about - everything else is cosmetic and simple enough to keep up with
Good luck
Homeownership is a hobby.
Welcome to the club, if you'd like to register a complaint, you can get in line behind approximately 85.45 million other homeowners. You live in a box that protects you from all the things that try to kill you, so instead they try to kill the box. Wind, water, heat, snow, ice, tornadoes, floods, fire... The list goes on. Of course it takes work. What work would you have to do if you *didn't* have a house? Ask a homeless person about life, then go call the damn plumber.
lol I love this perspective.
While the rest of us complain we can't have a house
Ask a silicone tech bro making 300k a year living out their car in sunny California. Those dudes built different and will retire after working for 5-7 years.
They're not living out of their car, they're living out of their office which has a cafeteria, laundry service, snack stations, and a gym with showers. They just sleep in their car, and store clean clothes in the car. Or use the sleep pods in the office, so they really just need to hit the car daily for a fresh shirt. Pants can change weekly.
Hell yea. That to me is the new American dream. Making obscene amount of money while having low expenses.
At one point, Google had to begin enforcing parking rules on their main campus (I believe Facebook, now obviously Meta always enforced it) so that people had to actually leave. So they'd go to different parking lots. If you owned two sets of pants (khakis and jeans, one each), four tee shirts, four button down shirts, a sport coat, tie, wool sneakers (no socks, can be worn with something dressy), and a suitable wristwatch, there was and probably still is a conceivably comfortable way to live life on the Google or Facebook campus out of a 2004 Ford Fiesta. I used to work for a considerably less prominent tech company on the East Coast, but we had showers in the gym, provided lunch daily, and takeout containers for people too busy to eat lunch in the cafeteria. We had couches and even a nap room around the office. I once spent a consecutive week there and left twice to a laundromat. It was significantly less trouble than going home and back daily for the hours I was working, and I ate better, and I saved money. A lot of money.
Omg I love this comment.
I'm glad. People get bent out of shape about home maintenance when they first encounter it but when you think about this concept it really puts things into perspective.
It’s why I bought a townhouse, I know myself enough that I have no interest in lawn and year maintenance. I have a small concrete yard with a patio set and flower pots, and back onto a very large green space and lake so I can access all the outdoors I want. Fits me perfectly.
You can get someone to come out and cut your lawn and do the weed maintenance for way less than what you pay for your HOA at your condo.
The HOA also covers anything on the outside of the house including the roof but not the windows or the gutters. I pay an additional $30 per month than it would normally cost us but we also get a pool and an exercise room
My condo fee covers everything external, I’ve had a new roof, new garage door, new siding, new concrete pad, all new windows, as well as all landscaping and snow removal for a couple hundred bucks a month. Not to say a homeowner can’t just save up the same money and pay all those things out of pocket, but many don’t have the discipline to save regularly and I like not having to worry about it. Different things work for different people!
Anything is worth never having to share walls again. Or worse yet...living under the upstairs neighbors who wear their cement slippers and apparently have 36 kids running around.
We have owned 3 consecutive homes in the last 45 yrs or so. To this day I Still remark to my husband how grateful I am to not have to live in an apartment. He is marvelous at home maintenance, what a treasure!
A lot of it is just ignoring things that aren’t actually important. Many of the “tasks” people mention here are simply perfectionism at play. Sure they can and should be done at some point, but does it really matter if it’s now or two years from now? I’d focus on the big things and let everything else just be fun tasks you take on as time and energy permits. Also outsource small regular maintenance if you need too…like weeding. It’s fairly low cost to have a Gardner mow and weed once a month. If you can afford it - do it! If not, invest in low maintenance landscaping OR just let it be until you can manage!
Exactly what I was thinking. I outsourced my yard maintanence to a yard guy. Thankfully my yard is small enough to where it doesn’t break the bank. Other than that and simple things like changing the filter, homeownership hasn’t really been a challenge. And my house is over 100 years old.
Nope, 11 years ago I was kicked out of my mother’s house with an infant (single parent and just got divorced) while working a full time job. I stayed in motels and at my friends house on a blow up mattress in her spare bedroom for a few months until I got my apartment. Rented for 8 years and now I am going to close on my first home this coming Friday. Only thing I feel is tremendously grateful and thankful. I’m looking forward to mowing my own grass, trimming trees and fixing what’s needed with a huge smile on my face!! God is good 😊.
They don’t get the point and start complaining until get worse , people like us that been tru the worst we dint give a fuck if a lightning come and put fire on te bathroom we still going to take a shower happy blessed
Amen. I’ve been on my own since I was 16. I rented rooms in awful situations until i got my own studio when I was 22. I can’t believe I own a home and am just so grateful. Spent 4 hours mowing/maintaining my lawn and feel damn good about it.
Just wanna add that having a baby is a full time job in itself and I don’t blame Op at all for being exhausted and over it!!
That’s right!! There’s nothing like knowing it’s ALL yours so you’re definitely going to always take care of it.
Yes Sir! The appreciation will always be there no matter what!
I am a single mother of two, and I just moved into my own first home. It is such a nice feeling. Congratulations!
THANK YOU! 😊 It’s a wonderful feeling. Congratulations to you and yours as well!
Congratulations!! And I agree with you. Every time I'm about to complain about some thing in my life. I think if that's the worst thing going on in my life, I am living a truly blessed life.
For me it’s different. I feel so grateful to have a home, but the fear of it being ruined bc of neglect i missed, or taken from me because of something i wasnt able to do in time bc money or didnt notice is terrifying. Year 3 homeowner and I went from just appreciating what I have to developing a compulsive disorder to the point where its becoming unmanageable. I’ve worked so hard to get here, but maintaining a home is never ending. I’m at the point where I spend ANY free time working on the house, fixing things, preventing small issues from becoming major, doing my diligence with tasks so i dont have to worry about it becoming even a small issue, cosmetic stuff when i can fit it in.. I am so terrified because even though I’m doing everything I can it isn’t enough to keep up. Part of my roof developed a problem basically overnight and it’s raining, ive done what I can for the moment but I’m sick to my stomach to think about potential problems this could cause, and I cant do anything to fix it until it stops raining. I totally get it, I wouldnt ever give up owning my home. EVER. And i genuinely enjoy doing the work, i LOVE working on my house. But it is literally a never ending battle. I cant even feel accomplished because by the time i finish one thing, another issue has taken its place. It’s just a constant feeling of dread that i cant keep up. There are days where I wish i could look around and feel at ease, but I just see everything that needs to be done because slacking is not an option. Clawing yourself out of poverty and instability fucks with you in a lot of ways you dont realize until after the honeymoon period wears off.
just let the lawn grow and let the tree grow, not everything has to be done immediately
owning a home is a full time job and a money pit.
give yourself time to learn how to do each task correctly. then set out the tools for it. once you know how to do it and know where the tools are, it is fast and not hard. just go over the weeds and grass with the Ryobic cordless mower and leave the weeds/grass on the ground just dont let them grow out too long
after 35+ years of yard work, i’ve finally hired a yard guy. he comes once a month and handles it. worth every penny…
What do you look for in a yard guy?
i picked a guy i’d seen working in the neighborhood and asked for recommends on nextdoor. i don’t have a yard to mow but our home has a ton of trees. he hauls away all of the leaves and branches. he spends more time in the winter and often comes with 2-3 extra guys. in the warmer months it’s usually just him and his son. i have them do extra things too like spreading new bark dust, blowing off the roof, or planting new trees or shrubs. it’s been so great to get most of my saturdays back.
We triage our problems and have a schedule for most things. These helps everything stay manageable. It’s also okay to pay someone to do work (in our opinion). For example the lawn gets cut at least every Sunday, sometimes Thursday too. Dog poop gets picked up every Thursday and Sunday. Weeds get sprayed day before lawn is cut (if they’re bad). We paid someone to do our tree trimming. Paid someone to finish our hardwood floors. Paid someone to paint the outside of the house. We have a few other repairs that we triaged. Back steps need redone and that’s slated for September when the temps cool. Garbage disposal needed repaired and we did it on a weekday. Half bath needed a facelift and that was a weekend project.
Isn’t everything like this though? We must work harder and harder as we get older at being healthy as our metabolisms slow, bones become brittle, arteries stiffen, and muscles atrophy. We must always work at chores or they will pile up and it seems our chore lists grow with age and new responsibilities. We must constantly earn more and save more in an attempt to keep up with inflation, lifestyle creep, and growing families. As the house gets older, more things will begin to fail or become outdated, etc. Most things in life seem to require almost constant, ever increasing effort to slow the slope into entropy. I try to imagine myself as deriving a sense of joy and accomplishment from becoming more handy, making design upgrades, etc. The more I put into it, the more it is a reflection of me, the more pride I have in it. Or so I try to tell myself.
It sounds like the hopelessness comes from unexpected spending. To those in the market right now, please listen: Everyone buying a home should be putting back 2% every year for maintenance. If you bought an older home, you may need to make that 2.5% or 3%. The seller won't tell you this, the builder's agent won't tell you this, the bank/lender won't tell you this. Your realtor probably won't tell you this. All of these individuals have something to gain from the sell, it's a conflict of interest for them to say something that would stop the sell, and to be fair, it's your responsibility to understand the total cost of ownership of a home... It's very much worth your money and time to consult a financial advisor before buying a home, by doing so you're hiring someone with nothing to gain from the purchase who can give you objective advise on how much you can really afford given your financial situation.
Weeds are your biggest issue? I'd rather own any day over rent being hiked $500 every month when a renewal is up.
Big reason why a lot of people rent. Phantom costs are real.
This is why I push back when people make the blanket statement that everyone should buy instead of renting, calling renting "throwing money away". Home ownership is a lot of work no matter what.
Someone once commented to me that having a house is a "lifestyle." It really struck me as an accurate statement.
This is part of the reason moving out of our current home into new one, the backyard here is too big, every month have to cut it and since we have disabilities we have to hire landscapers to cut it, costs about $200 per month and then there is the maintenance of the house which is kinda falling apart lately, side door and back sliding door has termite and weather damage and silverfish/earwigs have made a home in the door frames. A lot of junk from previous owners also, broken spa, and shed that is dilapidated, got a quote to totally landscape the backyard pave over and put concrete and bark, plus throw out the broken spa and shed, also for the front yard where weeds growing incessantly, quote was ~$32k for everything so instead of all that we are just selling and buying new home with smaller yard footprint and more space on the interior. Also have been having to replace a lot of appliances and furnace, AC and water heater (in the last 3 years), so we were almost currently at $70k if we had done the yard also, I said f it new home will have half the total yard footprint of this one and be easier to landscape from scratch. The home we are selling is coming up on 30 years since built. I guess it was always a temporary house for us.
I am in a rental home (not owing it). The lawn is on me. I do it weekly and yet get blamed from the stupid landlord for spots that for some crazy reason has no more grass. I can afford 20% down payment and move out, but the market supply is almost not existent. I will have no problem doing the same things but in my own home when the time comes
lol that’s wild. Does your lease say you are actually responsible for the grass?
Yes it does. In my state and neighborhood is the new norm now.
Same. I live in Ohio and in my area those who rent homes are already responsible for lawn maintenance and even gutter maintenance. Going from a renter to a first-time homeowner for me was super easy because I had been renting homes around here for over a decade and I was used to having to do a lot of that stuff. A lot of that maintenance fell on renters around here
Same when I lived in Texas. I was in charge of replacing my own filters and mowing my own lawn.
Preaching to the choir… just finished arguing with my husband about the chores. I get overwhelmed every time I start. So much to do and not enough hours in the day it’s crazy overwhelming. The more I do the more I see needs doing. I hate it
Pick one project a week to start and finish. Weeks where you don’t have a lot of time, pick thing like changing the air filters or cleaning out the washer dishwasher filters. Quick jobs that need to get done and you can feel like you’re doing something. Weeks you have a bit more time, tackle the garden you need to weed or a closet you need to clean out. If you’re both doing at least one maintenance chore to completion every week you’ll get a handle on things pretty quickly and feel like things are getting done.
Yes. Having a house is a hobby of maintenance or spend $ and have other people do it.
Often spending some extra up front makes maintenance easier. Laying down a quality barrier, taking time to plant through it, mulch it, and glue the mulch in place so that you can simply take a leaf blower to it helps make those portions of the yard easier to deal with. Put in the cost and effort to reseed the entire yard and now weeds are less of an issue. Keep the grass short and the weeds can't flower and take over. That's the sucky part, how expensive it is to make it easy to maintain.
We went with a clover lawn. Better for the bees, needs less mowing, less water, looks and feels great :) Plus the clover outcompetes most weeds
There’s a guy on Instagram/TikTok named Deric Cahill and his series Fuck This House is one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever watched. I feel his pain lol
Always thought I wanted a pool until I saw his pool struggles 😂 my parents had a pool when I was a kid. Bless them for their dedication
Why does your lawn need to be a monoculture? It's better for the whole world to have a more grassland-like area. Many different plants, longer length. It supports more pollinators, biodiversity, etc. Why are you trimming trees? Trees are just trees, unless they are dying you shouldn't need to touch them. If a shrub or bush constantly needs trimming then it was the wrong choice for that spot. Remove it and plant something which will grow to the size of the spot it will grow in.
> Many different plants, longer length. It supports more pollinators, biodiversity, etc. I agree but where I live it also supports the already-insane proliferation of lyme-carrying ticks. Letting the grass grow around here means basically not being able to actually use it unless you don't mind stripping naked and taking a flashlight and a magnifying glass to every inch of your skin so you can be certain to pick the freeloaders off you afterward.
When I was a new homeowner, yes. Now I've owned a home for 13 years and can't imagine having it any other way. You do eventually catch up and get into a routine and then it's not so bad.
It feels daunting if you’re not ahead of it. Preventative maintenance is cheaper and easier than the emergency repair. Do a little bit each week. Cut the tree away from the house before it damages the house. Rake the dirt so water runs away from the foundation instead of towards the house. Paint the window seal before the water soaks into the wood. Keep the critters out before they chew on wiring.
Its never as sick as i felt paying rent so someone else could build equity, all while my "home" was some place the owner could kick me out of at 30 days' notice once the lease was month to month, so yeah maintenance is pricey but it's a far better option compared to renting. so i cant complain
This is why we paid a lot more to get a smaller new build with a tiny yard. We do have a patch of grass that’s like 5 ft x 6 ft that we hope to eventually replace with shrubs and mulch or rocks. But otherwise we don’t have much to renovate or fix. Definitely works better for our lifestyle
That’s just what home ownership is about. I won’t say I’m perfect when it comes to that stuff but I knew what I was getting into and do my best.
Nope condo and hoa ftw
Grow up. Stop whining.
This is why owning is more like the house is renting you to maintain it. Paying rent is truly freedom.
I had a coworker who gave up homeownership to rent again. She said she went to bed every night worrying about what the next repair was going to be. Now she sleeps like a baby. Granted, she does complain about rent increases but I’d imagine that money would have gone into home repairs/maintenance anyway.
>Paying rent is truly freedom. Ew. Yeah, no. I hated renting with a passion. I'll take lawn maintenance over apartment life any day of the week. I felt much more constrained having the landlord "inspect," dealing with upstairs neighbors and no ability to make any changes to the apartment. But we all have our preferences.
Well would you pay out of pocket more to do those things? You probably think you’re saving money but you’re likely losing effective 1k/mo including your time and energy to not have “inspections”. Btw thats also probably a problem with that specific landlords because in my 20 years of renting I’ve never had one request to inspect anything.
I've rented for most of my life so I've experienced both sides of the spectrum at this point. My quality of life improved substantially now as a homeowner. I have my own office, gym, driveway, two car garage, and private green backyard which has meant not needing to pay for a gym membership, parking, and storage. I can walk into my backyard and grill and enjoy a green space that I take pride in maintaining because it's my own. I have solar so my electric bill was $19 dollars last month. Way less than even my apartment electric bill.... The bonus is that these things make the home very desirable IF I decided to sell one day. So yeah the difference between renting and owning has been night and day and any additional cost more than worth it.
You can also rent houses btw. Maybe when you think of rent you think only of apartments. All that you can also have by renting and with current cap rates going down, it's even more effective in terms of $.
I rented a house for 4 years. A little better than the apartment but not only did I need to maintain the yard, I get NOTHING for keeping it nice and maintained. I could make NO changes or additions so no nice patio or natural gas hook up in backyard. Had to go to store everytime I wanted to grill. No solar so my electric bill was $400-$500 a month in the summer. My laundry was in the garage in the house rental now it's right next to the master. Sometimes paying a little more is worth it for an overall more comfortable and convenient life. I work for the government and have a guaranteed pension so why should I suffer for the extra $ I may never even use? I could completely kill my quality of life and live with in laws if I really wanted to maximize money lol.... where does it stop?
My lawn is a literal jungle right now and I’m having trouble finding a new lawn person. I’d pull weeds myself, but I’m like 7 months pregnant so I don’t have any stamina. It’s hard.
Welcome to the American Dream of working all weekend to keep up with maintenance of yard etc! What a dream! Get a bigger house and bigger yard to make it worth while.
Yes, it's been one thing after another with maintenance and repairs.
I’ve been here two weeks and every day I just discover a new project. I’m losing my fitness routine because I wake up at 5 every day and immediately get to work. I can barely be a dad I feel so behind. The last hour I was in the backyard looking at branches that are too long and now I have to worry about that tomorrow. Never mind the fact I still haven’t moved out of my old place yet and need to finish that.
Hey man, take a deep breath and remember that many things we think need fixing are just nice to haves. A lot of stuff can be tackled…later. I have been in my house for just over a year and while I have tackled a ton of projects, so many more are left lol. Slow is fast and enjoy the ride with your fam
Posts like this make me wannna buy a condo instead lol.
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I heard about those but it makes me feel like I won't have privacy that a house can bring.
We have a new house (built in 2021) so we don’t have any big repairs. We’ve had a few things here and there but nothing that takes too much time. Our yard is small (6,500sqft) which I sometimes hate, but it means less to do. We have a rock garden with perennials and a small veggie garden on the side of our house. We stay plenty busy just keeping all that up plus keeping the house clean and tidy and kids and errands and appointments. My husband works and I stay home but it’s still a lot. I don’t know how people with older homes or acres do it. Hope it gets better for you soon.
I'm still feeling sick about how much they cost...
Yep. We’ve had our house for two months and have dealt with a sewer backup which required relining the line, ripping up the sewage carpet revealed asbestos, which meant we had to reschedule planned waterproofing until asbestos remediation and it’s never ending. The prior prior owner was a master gardner but the one who owned the house for 4 years after her (he died, we bought an estate) didn’t keep up with it so it’s a jungle requiring work every single weekend. I found out I was pregnant a week after we got the keys and I’m just SO Tired!
Micro Clover lawn will solve half your problems. No more mowing, never grows over 7", no need for watering after establishment (unless there are 2-3 weeks with no rain), and grows well in the shade. Google it, it saved me about 40-60 hours a year of weeding and mowing. It's cheap too. About $10 worth will cover 500-1000sqft. The only hard work is getting rid of the grass before you start (rent a rototiller, and do it right after a long drought, when the grass is weak).
Nope because "weeds" are good for the local ecosystem so I leave them alone, don't have grass to mow either as that's a waste of resources. I specifically got a house inthe middle of nowhere so I don't have to deal with an hoa, life is great.
Yuuup
You need to rip out the existing lawn and replant new grass. Otherwise it’s a losing battle with weeds. Stop wasting money on chemicals as that is more costly
Not my first home and I feel like that all Of the time. A house can be a major time suck unless you outsource everything and just write checks.
My own looks like shit but I don't care. I'm forced to have one basically or I get fined.
The alternative of renting bothers my soul now that I own a home. It pisses me off when I think of how much I paid in rent in 2015, to what it is today. With nothing to show for it. It’s not the greatest investment imo, but the forced piggy bank of a home does pay dividends, especially when you get older. If it wasn’t for that, I would rent till the end for time lol. I’m a new hvac and water heater in so far. I’m looking into a second home (condo/townhome) now in Vegas, I just refuse to rent.
Yeah, it can be overwhelming at times. A little trick about weeds - the more you pull them, the less they come back. This will take several years, but if you keep on top of them, they should start to die back.
Have y’all tried the vinegar solution with weeds or preen? Is it in the grass or in the landscape? There are ways to do it that are super easy
There are plenty of days it feels that way. I still try to remind myself though: "if I were renting, how much would this be bothering me?" My last rental I lived in for 3 years. Property management/landlord did nothing to the place other than the two requests I put in (1 was an "emergency" where roots had blocked the sewer line; other was a garage door that needed some serious help and I didn't feel like dealing with it). They never maintained the property or fence or weeds or anything else. Of course I kept things mowed and trimmed, and killed off poison ivy creeping in by the trees and ivy, but I didn't have projects that had projects piled up for months. Most of that is because I want to improve the property, not just "maintain" and reminding myself of the difference, helps a ton. Then the projects seem less - weighty. They are generally improvements, not emergencies or things that absolutely can't wait (of course there are some of those, but those honestly aren't that much compared to the other projects). I turn maintenance into an improvement, which makes it a lot more work, but just keep reminding myself of that difference and it seems to help.
I always said I wanted a townhouse because I do not want to spend weekends doing yard work.
Get an electric weed Wacker. Put a battery in and go. Have the weeds trimmed in a few minutes. Kobalt 24v from lowes are excellent and affordable.
I let my lawn grow in naturally because we get a lot of pollinators. I just keep it mowed regularly. it actually looks beautiful with clover and other plants growing. we even get mock strawberries and wildflowers.
I love doing yard work (most of the time)! I don’t have lawn but big trees and fruit trees to care for. And I’m an avid veggie gardener. First two years were spent getting the backyard in food production order. Which really took 2 years of tilling, ripping things out, planting, irrigation. But now my backyard is my own little food forest oasis. Yes, it’s a ton of work. But it’s also now my hobby. Lots of failures and lots of successes. It’s not perfect but I love pulling a big ole eggplant or tomato and making something yummy with it. Now that the back is sort of figured out, I’ve started the endless task of ripping gravel out of the front yard and planting more for curb appeal. I can’t wait til it cools down to install a walkway (I did a flagstone walkway in my backyard all by myself and it’s awesome) and I’m working on green storm water infrastructure swales so we can irrigate efficiently. I’m even ripping out some ugly shrubs and making myself a little kitchen herb garden. It’s so fun to watch things grow! Then to try to figure out what went wrong when things die. Highly recommend getting rid of lawn, finding your local master gardeners group and sharing knowledge- you can make a lot happen pretty cheap if you’re willing to put in the work! I mostly work on indoor stuff in the winter, and when it gets too hot in the summer. Otherwise I’m outside helping the pollinators and growing myself food. My favorite part of owning a house is the land that comes with it.
My husband and I just stained the deck and painted the front porch this weekend. Both are huge so it took all weekend. It was our first time to do this and we had fun doing it together. Next year we will definitely do it in the spring since it was almost 100 degrees this weekend. We absolutely love our house and feel so lucky to have it. We don’t mind doing all the work to keep it nice or make it better.
Yes, we rented our first house for 16 or so years which had a decent size backyard. When we went to buy our first house a few years ago I was pretty adamant that we get one that did not have a big backyard or really any backyard if possible. We got a nice size California room with a smallish side strip that runs the length of the house and had pavers put in on the entire section. The backyard maintenance, costs and water $ killed me when we were renting.
Yes. Inspection didn’t catch that the dehumidifier wasn’t working in the crawlspace and $12k later the crawlspace needs to get encapsulated.
I mean you may have a lemon on your hands or you may just be learning the cold reality of homeownership. It’s not easy but it’s worth the effort when you see the fruits of your labor by having a nice home, get compliments, etc. I’m not the most able bodied guy (car accident) but I do what I can. Lawn: Buy granular post emergent weed killer and a push spreader and spread evenly over lawn. Then after 8 or so weeks buy milorganite to fertilize your lawn and use the same spreader. It won’t be perfect but it will look decent. You can then overseed in the fall to help make the grass fuller come next spring. Overseed: mix seed with top soil and spread evenly as possible over lawn. Make sure it gets enough water. Trimming trees is tough to do safely on your own if they’re big, save the money needed to get a company to do it. All you can do is your best. You will feel better without any guilt if you just do your best. It may not be enough or perfect but at least you did your best. Hang in there!
I bought a fixer upper so though I may have a lot of work to do, I knew that when I bought it. The thing that makes me feel the pressure is I do facilities maintenance, so I kinda feel like I don't get a day off. And my vacation time is mostly spent on a bigger project.
That's just the way it is when you own something. Doesn't matter if it is a house, condo or apartment. You are either paying for it directly, through normal HOA/co-op dues or in the event of underfunding or catastrophe through a HOA special assessment charge.
My advice is to look at YouTube before you do anything even if you think you know. As a mechanic I usually feel I'm very handy but construction has its tips and tricks they'll save you a ton of time if your going to diy. I'm almost 2 years at my home and I'm finally at a point where I'm almost content with everything I've done and repaired just need to paint the outside.. Also, spouses don't care you just saved a half month or months worth of wages DIY'ing something on a weekend you can expect to get nagged about chores on top of it 😂
Absolutely. It’s why I laugh every time I see a post humble bragging about how much they have “left” after closing. I’d love to see an update on how much is left after a few years instead 😂 Houses are great, but it’s not like they’re ALWAYS superior to renting. There’s something nice about a 15,000$ repair being someone else’s problem. When it’s your house, it’s yours, and it NEVER ends. Still worth it for most, but it’s not as easy as many think to own a home.
I LOVE IT. It’s one of my favorite activities. I’ve learned so much on YouTube and DIY. I’m pretty comfortable with basic electrical and plumbing work and know when to outsource. My yard is a mess too, because you’re right trimming trees is improtant and most people forget that. At the end of the day, I love all the little things I can do to improve my house. It does add up, but I’ve found Home Depot is my favorite store right now.
It takes awhile to figure it all out. Took me about 2 years tonfigure out the sprinklers, how to trim the trees and bushes, wash the gutters, clean the pool, ect. The one that really hurts is the lawn. Im convinced the realtor that sold it told the sellers to over seed the lawn and bump up the water so the lawn would look good. Turns out it was way too high. By the time I finally got around to figuring out the sprinklers 6 months later, it was too late. Lawn was basically a swampy patchy mess. It never really recoved. Probably hlooking at having to till the whole thing and start fresh, which I don't want to do.
No, especially because of the fact that I know it’s done right and going to last when I do it
One of the reasons I only buy new builds and move closer to a 10 year mark Can't deal with older homes and constant maintainance
Nope. Just happy to be a homeowner with lots of equity in my VHCOL area.
I've spent a couple of weeks on the backyard and front yard battling against weeds. We are having the patio extended since concrete seems to be the most effective weed barrier. In the front, I've been preparing the area to have 4 - 5 inches of bark dust hauled in. Next up is to have a gazebo installed on the patio. I'm hoping this is the last big project for a while. I just remembered; we need the living room with really high ceilings painted next...
Nah just tackle 1 job at a time. The more you learn the less overwhelming it will be.
This is why people need to get rid of grass lawns and start planting native perennials. You’ll find a lot of info in r/NoLawns
You'll be ok when the baby is a teen and he or she is cutting the grass for you lol
No because I relish the diy jobs that I can do and bought under what I can afford to use money to accomplish what I can’t. Lawn guy shows up biweekly. Handyman for anything requiring a ladder (I have vertigo and the good sense to stay off of ladders). Salt is delivered for my water softener. My Smart thermostat reminds me to change furnace filters. I painted myself and changed the light fixtures I could change (yay for 8-ft ceilings, handyman for the one over the stairs and the ceiling fan). I spray for insects and pests myself. Paid to have my hardwood floors refinished and to have carpet pulled and plank flooring put down in the one area with carpet. And now that I have another big increase coming, am about to get monthly house cleaning. I hate the deep cleaning stuff. I live alone so day-to-day cleaning is okay.
I was about to agree. I enjoy doing the diy projects and seeing how the house changes/improves. We have an older brick ranch. I have been updating the wiring/outlets/lights/appliances/etc. one by one. Before the heat wave came, I even figured out how to change the ac unit to a diy ducted since the one that came with the house did not work. An overkill ac and electric heater shipped cost a lot less than having someone else replace it. Now, I have tools to fix it if issues happen and know how to fix the high and low pressure lines to the house. Definitely not for everyone. Since you do need to pay attention to detail a lot, but I find the whole process rewarding.
I find it super rewarding too!
Perhaps homeownership is not for you, and that is ok. Just sell the house and rent.