Carpets, Windows and a House Wash: Bundle Them or Book Them Separately?

These are the jobs everyone means to get around to and somehow never quite does. The carpet that could use a freshen. The windows you have stopped really looking through because you have got used to the film. The exterior wash you last thought about two summers ago, before the moss moved in. Individually, none of them is urgent, which is exactly why they slip, and slip, and slip.

Booking them one at a time is the reason they never happen. Bundling them into a single annual plan is how they actually get done, cost less, and stop nagging at the back of your mind. Here is the case for doing it that way.

Why a bundle beats three separate jobs

• One decision, made once a year, instead of three separate ones you keep quietly putting off until you forget again.
• A better price than booking each on its own, because it is one visit for us to plan, schedule and travel to rather than three, and we pass that efficiency on.
• The stuff you would otherwise forget actually gets done. The exterior wash especially, because that is the one nobody ever remembers until the grime is visible from the street and a bit embarrassing.

A sensible annual rhythm

You do not need to do everything at the same frequency, and a good bundle is built around your property rather than a fixed template. But as a starting point, this is the rhythm that works for most homes:

Job	How often
Carpet steam clean	Once a year (more with pets or kids)
Windows, inside and out	Twice a year
Exterior house wash	Once a year

Set it once, and it simply happens on schedule. You stop being the person who notices the grime and feels a low hum of guilt about it, and quietly become the person whose place always looks sorted without anyone quite knowing how. It is a much nicer way to live, and it costs less than the stop-start way you are probably doing it now.