Random services people use

[wand3rer]

Hi everyone! 😊

After seeing another thread where lots of people mentioned being signed up for a bin cleaning service (which I’d never even heard of before), I got curious.

What other services do people use? Aside from the usual ones like general cleaning, window cleaning, gardening, ironing, magazine subscriptions, or even cooking subscriptions, are there any useful services you swear by?

I have to admit, I don’t use any of those myself, but the bin cleaning idea is definitely making me think 😁

Yes. If I could find a reliable handyman I would adopt him.

No food waste bin in some North Yorkshire councils as well.

I used to work in an office who used a plant-maintenance service and realise I need that now as I kill houseplants regularly. They supplied the plants, watered them, treated any bugs etc and replaced sad plants with new, healthier ones. Not sure if they came weekly or fortnightly.

Yearly gutter cleaning does make a difference - they get all the moss and muck out and scoop the drains, meaning less overflow and flooding in heavy rain. We can do the lower ones ourselves but the top ones are an enormous faff without the proper kit - which they have and we don't.

Now we have solar panels we'll probably pay for those to be scrubbed every few years as well to keep them efficient. Like the gutters, it's not worth buying and storing all the ladders and poles needed for such an occasional job.

And we employ an occasional tree surgeon.

Can't think of anything else though. We have a Vax to do the carpets. Don't cook the sorts of food that gunk up the oven or throw away the sorts of things that make bins smell. Subscription deliveries either rely on more predictable routines than we have, or need so much checking and adjusting that it just seems easier to buy stuff when we need it.

I have the carpets and ovens cleaned once a year, makes such a difference and jobs that I hate doing. Car cleaned once every couple of months at the local car wash inside and out to keep on top of it as with 2 kids its often a state.

I used to have an ironing service but now mostly buy clothes that don't need it (since having children) and I still have a fortnightly cleaner.

I do also use the local laundrettes service wash every few months. I do wash regularly, but it's useful after a trip or just when it starts piling up, and I can't keep on top of it or have plans at the weekend after a full on week at work. I can fill an enormous basket (easily 4 loads worth) and drop it off, pay £20 and collect it a couple of days later, all clean, dry and folded. I sort it first and of course I'm washing the rest at the same time but it helps me catch up and occasionally to see the bottom of the washing baskets!

Have also recently had the gutters hoover, soffits and fascias cleaned - makes the house look fab so will do that again. The same guy then came back to professionally clean our block paved driveway,. He pressure washed, scrubbed with some products and once dry came back and re-sanded it. It looks brand new and it's over 10 years old. I could not believe the difference so that was well worth it too. Maybe not every year, but every few years I think.

I use a “Sell It”’service, where someone comes to collect things I want to sell and sells them for me taking a commission (and all the hassle out of it). Brilliant idea.

I do need a decluttering service.

Gutter cleans once per year, same with fascia soffits etc wash. Stupid white gutters! Never again.

There is someone locally who offers a home cooked ready meal service. Think lasagnes, cottage pies etc. We buy every couple of months.

Tyre service: we live remotely so have someone put winter tyres on our car. They store our summer tyres for us and switch them back.

I wonder if they have a daily version. 🤔

Some of these services seem cheap?? A tenner to cut a lawn?? £2.50 to clean a wheelie bin?

A bloody americano is £3 at least

I'd expect a tenner for lawn cutting to be for a relatively small lawn, possibly also where the gardener also has other jobs in the area.

Or they're not a serious business person, some small scale trades might be good at doing the actual job, but less good at charging proper business rates, so it's more a hobby business/income top up aside to a pension, benefits or a spouses income.

Bin cleaning is done as rounds, where the ideal is they have lots of houses close together that can be done quickly. Still seems pointless to me, our bins have never been cleaned and don't seem particularly dirty or smelly, given that they're bins and don't need to be spotless. Seems like a waste of money and water to me.

Leeds doesn't have food bins but we do have a waste to energy incinerator plant so no (domestic at least, not sure about business) waste goes to landfill.

DiveBar2021 our food waste just goes in the black bin. My Grandma in a different county had to have a caddy in the kitchen for food and 4 wheelie bins !

Professional sofa cleaning! Only do it every year or so but I love it!

Our dog walker is a luxury now. We don't "need" her any more but we have kept her on 3 days a week on our busiest days where we're working/ferrying kids around etc. Which essentially gets one of us an extra hours sleep on those days because it's one less dog walk to do!

I am looking locally for someone to take my rug away, clean it and return it. All I can find are people who clean them in situ and we currently have untreated wooden floors so i don't really want them getting wet

My friend has a bedding laundry service. Every week they collect her bedding, wash and iron it and it comes back all crispy and lavender scented.

I wish i lived in a city because I would totally use that!

Oven / hob cleaning about every 6 - 12 months.

I have coffee on a repeat delivery.

My mum used to deliver nappies but it was in the days before supermarket deliveries.

My dad's shirts are all sent to, "the iron lady" and come back all crisp and neat.

I have an amazon subscription for a Sudafed nasal spray every 6 weeks.

I’m ND and when I got a blocked nose when trying to sleep and lying down it used to cause me to panic being unable to breathe properly.
It’s great in summer for hayfever and in winter for constant colds.

I can’t describe the relief of being able to breathe again when I unblock my nose, I have a spray in my bag and it’s top of my list of things to pack when we go away.

I have a few spares atm and should pause the subscription, I just worry I’ll run out and have forgotten to activate it. I think I’ll just reduce the frequency of deliveries.

Is that random enough? 😂.

We get the bins and windows cleaned and we have toilet paper delivered. It’s just a tiny thing but one less on the mental load.

Eastbourne. Apparently it’s rolling out next year but not to all households

My council DID do food recycling but then they stopped. I don't think many people were using it and the tiny outside caddy wasn't a match for the local foxes.

And Brighton. Yes, the green capital of the country are shocking at this stuff. We can't recycle any kind of soft plastics either.

Re. the pillow menus, a guy I know told me that some hotels frequented by businessmen ask them at check in if they’ll be wanting ‘an extra pillow’ - a euphemism for arranging a rather different kind of guest service.

God i want that.

I used to have a man who cleaned and ironed and he came once a week but he started getting shirty about mess. (I just realised I made a pun).

We have a pyrolythic oven but don’t use the cleaning function. Our last oven broke from using it and the repair person warned against it. A quick google will show that in theory while great it’s not fit for purpose as the temps are so high they will wreck either the element or board on the oven. Just an fyi. So it’s back to scrubbing for me

I have found a local seamstress who will take trousers up for £12 a pair. As someone you who can’t sew and is a bit short this is very handy.

A little tip for people with dogs who find their wheelie bin stinks more because of the bagged dog poo.
We have a separate metal dustbin that lives outside that we line with a bin bag. All bagged dog poo goes in that bin, then on bin empty day, we just whizz the bin bag full of bagged dog poo into the wheelie bin. This does seem to keep the horrible smell out of the wheelie bin (we cope with the smell of the ‘dog poo bin’ because that’s its specific job)