Author Topic: House Cleaning  (Read 47213 times)

MarciaB

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #100 on: March 30, 2014, 09:20:25 AM »
I'd like to add in another factor that was relevant for me. A few years ago I had someone doing some cleaning for me (lots of circumstances were in play), and she really needed the work. She had a disabled husband, three hungry kids, a busted up old car, and a lot of money problems. The $65 she got from me every few weeks helped keep her family going.

Paying her to do some work for me provided her some household income, and that, for me, was a social good I felt good about.

There are a lot of facets to spending, and it's usually not just about the dollars.

BlueHouse

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #101 on: March 30, 2014, 08:17:47 PM »
Ew-- I've encountered a few bathrooms that likely hadn't been cleaned in a long time, and the people who live in them are not suffering any adverse health effects.
When I was in college, I drove 7 hours to visit my brother at his college.  He and his roommates took great pride in how filthy their apartment was.  The bathroom shower had a small tree growing out from between tiles on the shower wall.  They had recently found a lizard living under all the filthy dishes in the kitchen sink.  I was repulsed and couldn't get close enough to the bathroom sink to brush my teeth, so I got back in the car and went home.  After 20 years, they still laugh at me for staying for 8 hours then leaving (I slept there, but refused to stay another day).  That was one of the most disgusting things I've ever encountered and I've been in my share of developing world latrines. 

As for housecleaning, I have a cleaner that comes every two weeks.   No pets, no kids, no difficult circumstances to "excuse" the behavior.  But I'd rather spend another 1/2 hour at the office to gain 4 hours to do whatever I want to do on Saturdays.  It's quality of life for me. 

Fishingmn

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #102 on: March 30, 2014, 09:06:34 PM »
We've had a housecleaner for many years. Then again we aren't nearly as mustachian as many here. To us saving 25% was always the plan and has us on track to retire in mid-50's. Cleaner saves a lot of stress on our relationship.

3 hours every other week - $75

ladywingnut

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #103 on: March 30, 2014, 11:22:26 PM »
I pay a cleaner $25 an hour for one hour twice a week.  Which sounds extraordinary in the context of an MMM forum, I know, but I am ok with it.  I have chronic anxiety and depression and generally have way less energy available to do all the things I need to do in a day than your average non-depressive.  Plus, an untidy house lowers my mood considerably, and I am prone to acute suicidality, so I do as much as possible to create a world that supports positive mood.

To explain the energy point, I like to use "energy units".  So, like, I have 20 energy units to most people's 40 at any given time.  I spend 15 of those units on work, like everyone else, but when I get home, and I've only got 5 units left (to everyone else's 25), I cannot bear to waste them tidying and cleaning.  Those 5 units are precious to me as they're what I get to use for my creative work and time with friends.

All of that said, my health is improving (in part, no doubt, because as much of my energy as possible goes into getting better).  I find that these days I am able to do some chores and tidying etc without becoming overwhelmed.  It's likely that I'll be able to cut down her hours soon, and continue to do so until I am managing on my own.  That's certainly the goal.

I view the cleaner as a luxury, certainly, but one in the 'health' category.  Plus, I should say, I am saving 50% of my post-tax salary.

greenmimama

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #104 on: April 01, 2014, 04:30:44 PM »
I pay a cleaner $25 an hour for one hour twice a week.  Which sounds extraordinary in the context of an MMM forum, I know, but I am ok with it.  I have chronic anxiety and depression and generally have way less energy available to do all the things I need to do in a day than your average non-depressive.  Plus, an untidy house lowers my mood considerably, and I am prone to acute suicidality, so I do as much as possible to create a world that supports positive mood.

To explain the energy point, I like to use "energy units".  So, like, I have 20 energy units to most people's 40 at any given time.  I spend 15 of those units on work, like everyone else, but when I get home, and I've only got 5 units left (to everyone else's 25), I cannot bear to waste them tidying and cleaning.  Those 5 units are precious to me as they're what I get to use for my creative work and time with friends.

All of that said, my health is improving (in part, no doubt, because as much of my energy as possible goes into getting better).  I find that these days I am able to do some chores and tidying etc without becoming overwhelmed.  It's likely that I'll be able to cut down her hours soon, and continue to do so until I am managing on my own.  That's certainly the goal.

I view the cleaner as a luxury, certainly, but one in the 'health' category.  Plus, I should say, I am saving 50% of my post-tax salary.

I think it sounds like you are quite smart, knowing your limits is great! I'm glad you have something that works for you.

nikki

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #105 on: April 01, 2014, 08:26:30 PM »
Slightly off-topic question since the direction of this thread has largely been about paying someone else to clean your house:

How often does the average person sweep?

I'm not average by any means (a bit of a compulsive neat freak) and do it 2-4 times a day, so really just asking for some perspective. I don't feel comfortable asking people I know on Facebook because it would probably turn into a conversation about MY habits...

Zaga

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #106 on: April 02, 2014, 04:45:35 AM »
Slightly off-topic question since the direction of this thread has largely been about paying someone else to clean your house:

How often does the average person sweep?

I'm not average by any means (a bit of a compulsive neat freak) and do it 2-4 times a day, so really just asking for some perspective. I don't feel comfortable asking people I know on Facebook because it would probably turn into a conversation about MY habits...
We don't have kids, have a short haired dog, and are fairly neat in general.  So we sweep maybe once a month?  I could see even up to once a week if we were pickier, but more than that would be silly for us, our house just doesn't get that dirty.

BlueHouse

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #107 on: April 02, 2014, 05:21:44 AM »
How often does the average person sweep?
No kids, no pets, rarely cook and I don't wear shoes in the house  If crumbs or food fall on floor, I pick them up with a wet rag. I have a cleaning service every two weeks, so unless there is something visible on the floor, I don't sweep inside th house at all.
At my sisters house, they cook a lot and there are so many people in and out of the kitchen. We always sweep (swivel sweeper is magic)  at least every meal there. Sometimes more than every meal (clean up during prep time because there are too many kids dropping  things).
When I have a bunch of people over and we cook, I usually get the swivel sweeper out so people don't track food out of the kitchen.

Zamboni

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #108 on: April 02, 2014, 05:27:15 AM »
I'm probably only about a monthly sweeper unless you count the area right around the litter box, which gets swept about weekly.

Also, after years of keeping my own habitat clean (well, sort of clean), I finally have just hired a service to do a one time "deep clean."  I was all revved up to do "spring cleaning" myself, but then realized I am working extra hard right now (for lots of extra pay which is all going into savings), so $135 one time was probably a good spending choice.  I'm hosting a party Sunday, so the cleaners are coming Saturday.  It will force me to get things mostly picked up by Saturday, and then I know I will be super happy when they leave and take the dust bunnies and bathroom mildew with them.  I will be able to enjoy the party a lot more if I don't kill myself scrubbing in the days leading up to it.

Cinder

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #109 on: April 02, 2014, 06:35:20 AM »
How often does the average person sweep?

I'll chime in.  We have one small area that is carpeted, the rest of the downstairs.. Entryway, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Laundry Room.  They all get swept once a week.

Two cats, not a huge amount of fur, but since I change the little to go out with the weekly trash and usually get a little on the floor, while I have the broom and dustpan out I do the whole downstairs quickly and put it in with the rest of the trash.  There have been times where I've gone one ~ two months though. 

Only area that gets 'bad' is the corners in the stairs, cat hair seems to accumulate there!

greenmimama

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #110 on: April 02, 2014, 08:21:48 AM »
Sweeping:

Kitchen, ding area, it totally depends, whenever it needs it, sometimes a few times a day, sometimes every few days, depends on what we ate and how clean the boys were.

Entryway at least once a week, we take off our shoes and have no indoor pets.

The bedrooms about once a week, I will run the roomba in there.

CommonCents

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #111 on: April 02, 2014, 08:29:35 AM »
1 cat, 2 people, shoes off inside:
Before we moved (small condo, all hardwood, a few rugs) I'd sweep once a week.  DH would do it about once a year.
After we moved (house, 2 floors hardwood, basement carpeted), we haven't done it very often - in part due to challenges of moving (from being crazy busy to still can't find the dust pan), and it's been about once a month.  It'll probably get up'd to once every two weeks.  But the way the floors are, more of the cat litter/food that escapes her tends to stay in the entrance than get tracked around as used to in the condo.

boy_bye

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #112 on: April 02, 2014, 08:48:01 AM »
vacuum the whole apartment about once a week, including the furniture as it seems to collect cat hair and litter dust.

dustbuster around the litter box at least once a day.

LucyBIT

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #113 on: April 02, 2014, 04:46:37 PM »
My only sweepable floors are kitchen and basement, and we sweep both when they need it. That turns out to be more in the basement, because the cats fling litter all over the place, but it's still not very often. If I had small humans crawling around putting things in their mouths, I might sweep and vaccuum more often, but I don't. Because I don't care.

Cassie

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #114 on: April 02, 2014, 05:09:23 PM »
i sweep the whole house weekly. WE have 3 small dogs and 2 adults.  I also have a cleaner that comes once per month for $55.00. It is worth every penny & is very reasonable. 

nikki

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #115 on: April 02, 2014, 06:31:12 PM »
Thanks, guys! Very interesting responses.

I might just be excessively messy with I cook; I almost always have something to sweep up after each prep and meal :-p

Plus a cat who loves to fling litter! Those two combined gets me to 2-4 times a day, and since my whole space is ~275 sq ft, I just sweep it all each time. It's so small I don't even have a normal-sized broom! Just a small hand broom.

Cleaning is so much easier when there's less to clean :-D

Cpa Cat

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #116 on: April 04, 2014, 02:46:29 PM »
Are there people from other cultures/countries or even other parts of the US where you feel it is your duty to help someone earn a living?

My father made his living essentially going to third world countries and setting up mining operations. Every time he was assigned to a new project, he carted my stepmom and their kids to foreign lands. My stepmother was generally "debriefed" by the corporation that he worked for on what local expectations were for her.

It FREQUENTLY entailed hiring out almost every single chore. There was an expectation that she would have a cook, cleaner, gardener, nanny, etc. She complained that she actually enjoys doing some of these "chores" and hated always having people around working in and around her house. She never hired a nanny or a cook.

One one island, whenever her maid's family members had no job, they would just accompany her to the house and start working (with the expectation of being paid). She once overheard them gossiping that she obviously needed the extra help because she didn't have a nanny! She could never turn them away, because their pay expectation was something like $1.50 a day. She gave her kids more in allowance.

The income differential was extreme though - my father always lived in very nice homes by our standards, where "the locals" were often living in grass huts or corregated tin shacks.

MustardTiger

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #117 on: April 04, 2014, 06:00:47 PM »
When I lived in Thailand we had a live in maid that cleaned the whole 4 bedroom house (3 roommates and significant others) as well as cooked for all of us separately.  We paid her 400$/month split 4 ways.  This turned out to actually save me money because it stopped my eating out habit.

MayDay

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #118 on: April 04, 2014, 07:53:45 PM »
Re. Sweeping.  I have kids so we tend to sweep after every meal.  It isn't just them, as I do make a mess cooking as well.  But if it was an adults only house I think once a day would be fine. 

When I was working full time, we had strife about cleaning.  Now that I stay home and have free time while the kids are either in school or playing independently,  I am naturally more in charge of the cleaning.  This is a good thing as I am the only one with standards.  We discuss me returning to work, and if that happens one of the requirements will definitely be a cleaning person.  I can't do parenting plus cooking plus working plus cleaning without losing my mind.  DH works a lot and need time to parent and exercise.  There just aren't enough hours in the day if we both work full time (which is why I am currently leaning towards not working). 

Capsu78

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #119 on: April 12, 2014, 10:09:00 AM »
We have had a cleaning service since 2008 when we finally completed renovations on our 30 yo home that we raised our kids and pets in.  We are empty nesters now and have lived through enough clutter and chaos during our parenting years, and now enjoy the "order" that a 2x a month service provides.
I also got to know some of the young adult girls who worked for the company and casually discussed their backgrounds- single moms, girls with no access to college funds without going into debt and some girls just struggling to get by.  While it is costly, part of the equation is the social good of providing them a job- and we tip, because the amount we give them is meaningful to them.
At Christmas we gave each of the girls a bigger amount that they opened up after they left- next time around, they hugged my wife and myself and said "You guys are our favorite customers"  nothing wrong with that exchange on either side of the equation.
That all being said, I got "surprised" this week with a letter from the owner cancelling our service due to the time and distance they were driving to get to us.  Since I was one of their first customers I called the owner to see if we could work something out.  She could not reverse her decision and said "we had to walk away from 3 entire towns so this is not a decision we made lightly". 
She did give me a nice parting gift however- advice on what questions to ask a potential new service which I will share with you:
Can you provide PROOF of a certificate of insurance? 
Do the people who service me all speak English?
While I understand that I may see new faces from time to time, will I have the SAME team leader?
Do you perform quarterly spot quality checks by someone other than the team?
How do you hire?  Do you take anyone who responds to your newspaper ad?
Finally, if a new person shows up at my house, have they been trained first or just thrown out there to learn on the job?
My big hot buttons are low turnover, trust that they are not taking anything and finally if something does get broken, are they going to tell me.
The owner of my lost service also suggested starting with the Chamber of Commerce, as the $3-400 fee usually wards off the fly by nights.   She said it is very difficult to fill these positions with quality people who pass a strong background check with no dings.  Her horror stories included a service that was caught using a toilet brush on the stovetop!  Ewwww.... She said my team members clean my house to my expectations before I let them loose in yours. 

Zamboni

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #120 on: April 12, 2014, 10:39:38 AM »
^I hope she pays the potential new hires for cleaning her house. 

Horror story:
Pre-MMM days we bought a lot in a subdivision where new houses were going up.  We were the third contract signed in the first phase of a planned large development, so they were hiring all new teams of sub-contractors.  The initial construction manager ended up being fired after a few months, and the scuttlebutt was that he was having the subs build his own new house (in another area) for free as part of the "screening" process.  I already thought he was a jerk, so I was glad to see him go, but it did cause some delay in getting our house built.

Maid service is a trade off.  I hate to say it, but in this country if you have service over many years, eventually you will have many little things pilfered.  Most maids are honest I am sure, but you only need one dishonest maid come through your house to lose something you value.  We've had three different services over 15 years and every single service eventually had someone steal from us.  The biggest challenge is that unless you inventory your belongings after every service, you usually don't realize it right away.  I used to just treat this as the cost of maid service, but some sentimental things have been gradually taken from my home and I've decided it is not worth it.  Jewelry is a big target, especially gold items, so be sure those are locked away, not just hidden.  Hidden things will be found and taken.  Money as well; even just the quarter jar in your dresser drawer will get lighter.  It's sad.

RichardLearner

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #121 on: November 02, 2017, 06:03:04 AM »
I found this website most interesting educating and informative. Thank you for your great forum. I also must say that your layout is a pleasure to view. Keep up the good work.

dragoncar

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #122 on: November 02, 2017, 02:52:06 PM »
I found this website most interesting educating and informative. Thank you for your great forum. I also must say that your layout is a pleasure to view. Keep up the good work.

I also find the layout a pleasure to view.  Seriously, I find boglegeads and ere kinda a pain to navigate

Imma

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #123 on: November 02, 2017, 03:16:42 PM »
To revive this old thread: yes, I do sometimes hire someone to clean my house.

I suffer from chronic illness which means my energy is limited. My s/o travels a lot for work so he's often away from home. I'm sometimes expected to work overtime. When that happens, I hire someone to clean my home. She asks for €10/hour, I earn a lot more. So for me it's a logical choice: I can't work overtime if I also have to spend time cleaning. This is not about one day of overtime, but sometimes several weeks in a row. I could catch up during the weekends, but as I'm also recovering from the work week, the progress is slow and if I do too much, I go into the new week pretty tired. So yes, in this case, hiring a cleaner is useful. She can clean my entire house in 2 hours (I live small).

On the other hand, I don't get people in my situation (two people working, no kids) that need a cleaner twice a week. We're not home often enough to actually get the place dirty enough for two cleaning sessions. Add garden maintenance, dry cleaning, window cleaning and car cleaning to that, and there's a lot of unnecessary spending that could easily be cut.


OurTown

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #124 on: November 03, 2017, 01:12:38 PM »
$80, just once a month.  The rest of the time, the spouse who is offended by the uncleanliness, cleans it.  Sometimes that's me and sometimes that's her.  I also regularly sweep / clean for a little moderate exercise.

Hula Hoop

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #125 on: December 02, 2017, 10:21:47 AM »
Slightly off-topic question since the direction of this thread has largely been about paying someone else to clean your house:

How often does the average person sweep?

I'm not average by any means (a bit of a compulsive neat freak) and do it 2-4 times a day, so really just asking for some perspective. I don't feel comfortable asking people I know on Facebook because it would probably turn into a conversation about MY habits...

We sweep the kitchen maybe twice a week and mop maybe once a month (being honest here).  Rest of the house - maybe once every two weeks.  We have 2 kids both work FT and no pets.  Not neat freaks at all. 

I think there's a MMM post where he talks about wanting to have a perfectly clean house/clothes as another expensive luxury.  He apparently only showers every couple of days and doesn't wash his jeans that often - same with his house.  I agree to a certain extent. I shower daily but try to only wash clothes when they are actually dirty.  They wear out much quicker if washed constantly and it's wasteful.  Also with 2 little kids we end up with mountains of laundry so we are always trying to keep it under control.  AT home, we try to keep things somewhat clean.  I clean the bathrooms every Sunday and my husband cleans the kitchen pretty often but we really only deep clean if company is coming.  We're all perfectly healthy - kids are hardly ever sick.

I'm kind of intrigued by the Roomba.  We don't have pets though.

ETA - I think the point with MMM is not to unthinkingly spend money on things just because "everyone does it" or out of laziness.  I've heard people say things like "with two FT working parents you absolutely have to have a cleaner once a week" and I think it's good to challenge that thinking as we on MMM do.  We've never had a cleaner, even when our kids were small, and, I admit, our house is not as spotless as most of my friend's houses.  But we're able to live with that and would rather use the money for other things like working less, travel etc.  Other people really care about their house being spotless or just really hate cleaning and don't mind working longer for that and that's fine so long as they realize it's a choice they are making.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2017, 10:31:02 AM by Hula Hoop »

frozen

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #126 on: December 02, 2017, 01:50:35 PM »
I call a maid service to clean my condo about every month or so. I pay $112.
I don’t mind cleaning myself in between maid visits, but I find that using a cleaning service allows me extra time to focus on organization and clearing clutter.
This may not be mustachian, but it fits my budget and relieves stress.

gaja

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #127 on: December 02, 2017, 03:06:19 PM »
I pay my kids (9 and 11) to clean. Not their own rooms, and not the things that are part of the ordinary family life. But I have no problems using money to a) motivate them to learn new skills, b) get the stuff done that I hate doing, c) teach that work equals money. Most tasks are worth $5: cooking dinner, changing their sibling's and parents' beds, doing laundry, etc. Cleaning the bathrooms is the most hated task by all members of the household, so that is worth $10-12. Decluttering is $2 per full garbage bag.

We started the system at age 3-4, with stickers for payment and simpler tasks. Packing lunchboxes for the entire family was an early task. The contents of some of those early lunches had relatively low nutritional value, there were some raised eyebrows at work when I unwrapped the fourth Nutella sandwich in one week. But since they started school we haven't even had to remind them to pack their lunch.

If my spouse's or my standards had been higher, or if we needed things to be done a certain way, I don't think this system would have worked. But I doubt we spend more than a couple of fucks on this issue a year. If the kids want to cook eggs and bacon for dinner, or make my bed with "hello kitty" sheets: cool. That is good enough.

Imma

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #128 on: December 03, 2017, 02:51:58 AM »
If my spouse's or my standards had been higher, or if we needed things to be done a certain way, I don't think this system would have worked. But I doubt we spend more than a couple of fucks on this issue a year. If the kids want to cook eggs and bacon for dinner, or make my bed with "hello kitty" sheets: cool. That is good enough.

I like that approach. My parents felt the same. We kids were all expected to cook for the entire family one night of the week (not for my payment though) but they had this rule that the person who cooks gets to decide what we eat. We always ate very plain food at home so I was trying out "exotic" new dishes on my regular night. My brother and sister never liked cooking, so I always offered to take over their turn as well so I could make lasagne, chili con carne or indonesian food.

littlelykke

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Re: House Cleaning
« Reply #129 on: December 03, 2017, 01:41:45 PM »

I like that approach. My parents felt the same. We kids were all expected to cook for the entire family one night of the week (not for my payment though) but they had this rule that the person who cooks gets to decide what we eat. We always ate very plain food at home so I was trying out "exotic" new dishes on my regular night.

Haha, we had the exact same situation. We all had to cook once a week, and I liked to experiment. My brothers and sister however cooked much more plainer food. And especially my sister was complaining ALL. THE. TIME. about everything I made. Never liking it.
Until I left the house. Now she complains about the very simple and plain meals that everyone is still cooking. And she misses my experiments. I've never been so stunned before. She's a VERY picky eater. Hardly likes anything, so I always ignored her complaints. As long as I liked it, it was a success by my standards :P

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!