Paragon is pleased to include an article from our guest blogger Teri Silver. Teri Silver is a writer and an outdoor enthusiast who grows her own vegetables and spends her weekends mowing her five-acre lawn.

When it comes to a pleasant, visually stunning place to retire, Jacksonville, Fla., is tops. The humid, subtropical climate is a winner!  Keeping your Jacksonville home in good shape helps it retain its value. The question is: Does it make more sense to do it yourself or hire a professional service?  Depending on the type of project, you can save money by doing it yourself — going DIY — as long as you know what you’re doing. 

The cost of living in Jacksonville is on par with other U.S. cities. Let’s take a closer look, and see where going DIY is worthwhile.

Cleaning Services

The average cleaning service charge in Jacksonville ranges from $22 to $30 per hour, and there may be a minimum of hours required. Most companies offer general services for single-day use; “deep” cleaning, “move out or move in,” and vacation rental cleaning. The company may have services such as furniture moving (within the home) and doing some home improvements.  Several Jacksonville cleaning companies provide trained employees and all the cleaning gear. For a thorough cleaning job that takes at least eight hours, you'll pay around $240 before tax.  Be ready to pay the same amount every month because even the cleanest of houses get dirty again! Do it yourself for almost nothing. But your time is worth something, and a thorough cleaning will cost you eight hours of your life that you’ll never get back! 

Yardwork

Taking care of your lawn can be a real chore, especially in the humid summer. Lawn care crews put in the sweat to keep your lawn healthy and green. DIYers must mow, fertilize, water, edge, and treat the grass for weeds ... and that’s only the yard. The flower beds and gardens also need weekly attention. According to data from LawnStarter, the average cost of lawn mowing in Jacksonville is less than $40 per service. Fertilizing starts at about $55 and is recommended 4-6 times per year. If you do this work yourself, you have to figure in the cost of the lawn mower, maintenance on that mower, a broadcast spreader, weed eater, sprinkler, hose, weed killer, fertilizer, and all the odds and ends.

Landscaping 

The city of Jacksonville will plant trees in your yard for free right now. It’s part of an effort to green-up the city. But they won’t water or come over and prune them for you. Pruning your trees and shrubs requires a ladder and some backbreaking work. You could invest in a ladder and hand saw and do it yourself, or outsource the task for about $120 an hour.

Palm trees are gorgeous in the yard, but they do take some maintenance! Dead fronds need to be removed, and the trunks need special care before a freeze. It may be worth a few hundred bucks to hire someone.

Pool Cleaning

Pool cleaning seems like it’s a simple task, but it has its challenges. Outside of clearing debris and keeping up with the chemicals, a clean, swimming pool is best left to a professional service. Most pool cleaners require contracts for their services. Average costs are $75 to $165 per month based on four visits. You can do it yourself for about $20 to $100 per month after buying pool cleaning tools. You will need a vacuum head and hose (around $50); leaf skimmer; chemicals; test strips; telescopic pole; and wall brush (starting at $60 or more). Pool service packages include brushing the steps, walls, adjusting the chemical balance, cleaning the filter, vacuuming and emptying the skimmer.  Filter cleaning costs run about $60 per hour, and vacuuming can cost anywhere from $55 to $124 per hour.  The pool service you choose may have a senior discount.  You can try to DIY but do you really want to do all this work yourself?

Laundry

Doing a little bit of laundry once a week is something you’ve done all your life.  But if you want some help, consider the costs.

The basic cost of a washer-dryer set is $1,500. Depending on how you use these appliances, the average price of electricity is 36 cents per load for a wash and 40 cents per dry.  If you use 40 gallons of water, that’s another (average of) 11 cents. Add the cost of laundry detergent, stain remover, and dryer sheets. Do it yourself, and you can do other things at the same time.

Taking dirty clothes to the dry cleaners means about $1 to $2 in gas and about $2 per pound for them to wash, dry and fold your clothes. Even better, some companies offer pick up and drop off services. Sending machine washable clothes to the cleaners will increase your household expenses, but again it will save you valuable time.

Staying busy in retirement is a great thing, and you can definitely save money by doing basic chores yourself.  But the big stuff can be stressful and expensive, especially if you do it wrong the first time. Sometimes it's best to leave the heavy lifting to someone else.

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