As a fan of life and money optimization, I’ve written about home services that are worth paying for. But what about the other side of the coin – those that are a waste of your money?

Well, that’s the treat I’ve got for you today. A little discourse, based on personal experience, on where not to spend your hard-earned money. Let’s get to it.

3 Home Services That Are A Terrible Value

1. Pressure Washing (Unless It’s the Roof)

I credit my wife Lily for making me see the light on this. You see, when we first moved into our house, I hired out pressure washing a couple of times. We paid well over $200 each time.

Then, Lily bought an electric pressure washer for around $200. And lo and behold, it works great! Granted, it’s not as powerful as a gas-powered one, but you don’t need a tsunami of water to clean your porch.

So, when the tool to do it yourself costs less than what you’ll pay to have a pro do it once, it might not be worth paying for. The only exception, in my mind, is for the roof. Unless you’re very confident you can do it yourself, I think it’s best to refrain from pressure washing the roof, just because of the risk involved. After all, you don’t want to take a bad spill just to save a few bucks.

The only real downside I see is that it does take time (up to a few hours). Oddly enough, though, I find it therapeutic; you’re outside, doing something that doesn’t take too much brain power. Kind of like gardening for some people, I find it relaxing.

Anyways, unless you absolutely don’t have the time, I recommend you buy a pressure washer and do it yourself.

2. Light Floor Cleaning

When it comes to floor cleaning, I think that heavy mopping is worth paying for maybe once a month, or even more frequently if you have young kids or pets, and find your floor constantly dirty. That said, in my experience, the best way to keep your floor clean in between each heavy floor cleaning is by using a robotic vacuum cleaner.

We have an older-model Roomba, and it works pretty well. I mean, it’s definitely not perfect; it frequently gets stuck and sometimes even gets lost in some corner. But overall, it does a good job of picking up all sorts of debris, which it collects in an easy-to-empty container.

In terms of ongoing maintenance, all you really have to do is clean some of its parts every 10 floor cleanings or so, and change out some rollers and filters every 3-4 months. The cost is about $200-$300 for the robot, plus about $30 for each spare parts kit.

That’s far better (and much more convenient) than paying someone to do it for you. Of course, you could also do it yourself, which will depend on whether you’re willing to devote the time and energy to it. However, since a robot can do it for you at a relatively low cost, I’d say go with the robot.

via GIPHY

3. Home Organization

By home organization, I mean taking your stuff and picking it up off the floor and putting it in drawers, and similar tasks. Like, rearranging things so they look neater.

The problem with having someone else do this for you is that then you can never find your stuff, because you won’t know where they put it! (Unless you’re very well-off and have a housekeeper that knows your preferences).

This is not to say that I’m against those home organization systems that you can buy, so long as you learn to use them. The important thing is that you are the one who ultimately organizes and stores your stuff, so that you later know how to find it.

Summing It Up

To paraphrase Donna Summer, you work hard for the money! So, it’s a real shame to waste it. In terms of home services, I can say from experience that it’s rarely a good idea to pay for pressure washing, light floor cleaning, or home organization.

Would you/do you pay for pressure washing, light floor cleaning, or home organization?

On a final note, I leave you with the inimitable Mrs. Summer: