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, we have a kitchen food caddy which then gets emptied into a kerbside food caddy ready for collection every week. We also have a black bin for landfill and two different coloured sacks for recycling - one for cans and plastics, and one for paper and cardboard. They all get collected weekly. We then have a box for glass which gets collected fortnightly. We also have a subscription service for garden waste. I share with my NDN as it obviously reduces the cost.

My mum used a service like this back when I was growing up in the 1960s.

My DD has someone like that, it's me! And I am a bargain because I don't charge her!

When I was growing up in the 1960s, a man would come round once or twice a year to sharpen garden shears etc. My DM used him all the time.

My cleaner is just the same! She doesn't drive, so can't take the dog to the vets, but she does pretty much everything else! A couple of months ago she cleared out my garage for me. I was anticipating having to pay about £180 for a waste collection service to collect the rubbish, but she loves a bit of upcycling etc, so she took most of it! The few bits that were left were collected by the local scrap man.

We have a monthly mosquito spray outdoors so we can use our outdoor space
There is a service in my city which I have considered that sets up a fish tank for you and then comes round to your house to look after it.

I have a woman who comes round once every three months to clean my dog's teeth by ultrasound. It will hopefully help prevent him from having to have anymore teeth removed under general anaesthetic. He isn't exactly very co-operative when we try to clean his teeth, so there are parts we can't get to.

My dog could use this service! Does she anesthetise your dog, or just use the ultrasound when its awake?

I also suffer with congestion due to allergies and asthma, you have to be super careful with nasal sprays - apart from becoming reliant due to rebound congestion I was reading recently about them causing long term physical harm.

Speak to your pharmacist about weaning off them, steroid based sprays help massively with this (eg clarinase). Take a good anti histamine for allergies and if you have asthma speak to your asthma nurse to ensure its controlled.

@1StrawberryDaiquiri could you share a link to the service you used? I have DMs disabled but live in one of those areas and would like to book

No, the dog is awake. I am not sure exactly what she does to be fair, as she takes the dog out to her van, but she always sends me before and after photos, so I can see how much plaque has been removed. She also advises on the best toothpaste etc. It costs £45 for maintenance visits with a £25 deposit, and slightly more for a first visit.

OMG - I would love that… thanks to 6’5” husband, our bed is custom made and 6ft wide x 7ft long. Duvet and bedding custom made too - it’s a massive hassle to make.

i have a Declutter come for a day every three or four months. Sorts the clothes for seasons, this time is going to do son’s room as he’s recently moved out. Flipping brilliant.

We're in the NW and our food waste has to go into the normal rubbish. It’s horrible and seems so wasteful. What’s worse, they actually stopped the previous food waste collection system - everyone had food caddies for the kitchen, small green bins for collection etc., all now redundant. A while ago there was a big announcement that they were going to introduce it again - but so far absolutely nothing’s happened.

What happens to your garden waste, like grass cuttings? Our food and garden waste used to go together, but for the last couple of years it has been separated. The garden waste is a subscription service so you can't use it unless you have paid. For one green bin it costs £50 a year, and it's collected weekly with the exception of six weeks over the Christmas/New Year period. I only have a small garden, so I share a bin with my NDN which is what a lot of us do. I suspect a lot of people just throw their grass cuttings in with their landfill rubbish.

I’d love to do this for someone as a job 🥰

Eco cleaning and refills delivered on subscription.

We get laundry detergent sheets, cleaning spray tablets, washing up liquid concentrate, dishwasher tablets and roll on deodorant refill.

All recyclable packaging.

My parents have a chap visit every few weeks to clean their fish tank. I didn't know that this was a thing but it's a great help to them.

How much do you want paying?!

We’ve got separate (large) garden waste bins. One green bin is free; you can have more if you have a big garden but you have to buy any additional ones. No annual fee though (yet).

A family member elsewhere in the country has black (normal rubbish), brown (paper, glass, tins etc), green (garden waste) and kitchen waste (small green bin collected weekly). Their green bins cost something like £50 a year each, like yours.

Chimney sweep once a year, wasp man on speed dial (we get a lot of wasp nests) and 6-weekly coffee subscription from Amazon.

I have one of these but scared to use it! 😂 How does it work? I think there's a pyrolytic setting but how high for oven & how long does it take, also does it smoke the house out and set off the fire alarm? Sorry for so many questions!

I don't get anything exciting delivered / serviced regularly - but am reading everything here!

@CherryRipe1 my pyrolytic oven is Whirlpool - it takes about 4 hours to run the cycle, reaches 500°, and really heats up the kitchen 😊 Doesn't emit smoke, so doesn't set off smoke alarm or anything.

Thank you so much, I'll get onto that come the sub zero winter days. I'm following this too with interest for ideas to make life easier.

Sounds scary! 😬

Which brand is it?

We've struggled to find eco-friendly dishwasher tablets that don’t leave a residue.