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Most pests can be eliminated without paying a pro. But if you have a problem you can't handle on your own (or don't want to handle), we have advice and ratings for finding the best exterminators.
If you want to hire a company, our ratings tables show how customers we surveyed rated local housecleaning services and the results of our price shopping.
Many consumers prefer to hire an individual for housecleaning help, rather than a service. But doing your own hiring brings the responsibilities associated with the role of an employer, such as filling out paperwork and paying various taxes.
The National Committee on Household Employment, before it closed its doors, developed a set of standards for employers and their household employees. The guidelines presented here are from its Code of Standards for Household Employment.
Kermit the Frog once crooned “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” If you have a lawn, you can relate: It’s not easy keeping things green. Here's how to plot a course, whether you call in the pros or go it alone.
Lawn care services work with different products and techniques, but the results they promise are similar. Companies usually offer customers a selection of “packages” that include specified treatment plans to take place over the course of a year.
Chemicals used in lawn care treatments can be transported from your hands to your mouth, or can readily enter your body through your skin or eyes, or through inhalation. Furthermore, children may actually ingest treated grass.