What did you pay

Boiler serviced last week while Heating engineer/plumber was here doing other small jobs so only charged 1hr time.

Gave the piano to a good home years ago.

No dog but last visit to Vet with cat there was no charge as he died before they got round to putting him to sleep.

Dry hair trim - £8.00 though I give them £10. I go to the barber with DH who is only £5.00 pensioners rates.

Never paid for a painter - have to DIY or should that be DIM (do it Myself).

Good Lord! I can't afford to come back to live in England with those prices!
In Malta we do not have a boiler, the vet is around 25 euro for the dog's annual injection. I don't have a cleaner but they charge around 10euro an hour. Blow-dry is 10euro, roots 23 euro, cut 15 euro. We don't have a piano, and most of our house has stone walls which do not need painting. DH does any other odd jobs for free!

Devon:

Boiler serviced yearly on contract plan for all central heating, electrics etc

Hair - roots, foils, cut and finish, about £82.00

Decorating: when we moved in here 18 months ago - hall, stairs, sitting room, two bedrooms cost about £600.00

We find local tradespeople (gardener, plumber etc) charge much less than in North Kent; the house and car insurances went down significantly too.

Gosh, I am lucky. I don't have a boiler, nor a piano (but would love one),
nor a dog. Just think of the money I save! I always cut my own hair and do all my own decorating.
I'm in the Devon countryside where life is still a bit more primitive.

Boiler service £75
Piano? (Where on earth would I put it?)
Hair £43 (cut, blow and roots ) It is a necessity !
Decorating, I do it all (and every body else's) , perhaps I should start charging
No pets
I do my own garden and cleaning.

I am in Tyneside.

Hair - cut and blow dry = £50

Piano = long gone

Cat = long gone to her home in the sky

Boiler service = Serviced yearly on contract

Decorating = it has been some time ago now but have badgered persuaded DH to 'get a little man in' to freshen the whole house!! Watch this space!!

I'm in South West Herts

Sussex Coast

boiler service - old retired friend does it so £40
Cut blowdry and roots £45
dog's teeth - no idea but have been muttering about having them done!
no piano - but wish I had and could play
don't know about decorator bet it's a lot - DH has done it up to recently.

Thanks, everyone, interesting variations in prices.
I seem to have been overcharged for the boiler (small and just a year old)
I'm amazed and impressed by how many of you do your own decorating. I picture loads of sprightly old dears up ladders painting their stairwells then popping up onto the roof to fix the loose slates.

No piano or boiler.
No dog but brand new Portuguese vet (therefore trying to get business) only charged 60 euros for a full body X-ray and overnight stay for friend's daft Labrador, after he'd jumped over a wall without knowing there was an 8foot drop the other side.
Only have a cleaner when we have paying guests,she charges 7.50 euros an hour and her OH (both Russian) charges the same for any labouring job, gardening, painting etc.
Very good hair cut, blow dry, head massage and cup of coffee with a lovely Dutch guy who always makes me laugh as well,56 euros. Portuguese lady down the road charges 15 euros in her new salon.

Phoenix, I'm so sorry about your cat.
Mine cost £130 to be PTS a year ago but it was a Sunday. She was 18 and I knew it was time, I couldn't leave her until the next day.

dustyangel my dentist is a young gorgeous Portugese

We used to try and clean our dog's teeth, and the toothpaste was very expensive, about 6 times the price of ours.

My dog is having a lump removed soon; it doesn't seem to be anything to worry about but I'd still like to get it checked out. So, as she's having an op anyway I'm having her teeth cleaned; she's a middle aged dog now and I wouldn't want to put her under anaesthetic when she's older. Downside is that it releases a lot of bacteria but the wound won't be in a place that she can reach and the vet is going to put her on antibiotics for a while. Insurance won't cover the work on the teeth but it will cover the cost of the treatment room, anaesthetic etc. Sighthounds seem to have a problem with their teeth as they get older, although hers aren't too bad at the moment. Getting a quote for work that needs doing on the house soon; hope it isn't too much. I used to do the decorating myself but just can't manage it these days [I found that my decorator got everything trade price, and the paint was costing me a fortune, not to mention turps, brushes and stuff like that].

Hair dry cut £14 shampoo/cut/blow dry £25
brand new boiler
piano sold years ago[ after last child refused to play any more]
no dogs teeth [indeed, no dog] but cat put to sleep £45
decorating usually done by ourselves
South Oxfordshire

M74 very pricey if you get it from the vet, only £3 something from pet shop.

Thankyou aka. No dog any more sadly, but not getting another one.

Shampoo, cut and blow dry, £15.

Paid £450 to have a valley gutter fixed on the roof.
Now have a bill of £1080 to repair the repair!
Can't afford to decorate.

Durham, believe it or not.

Hey apricot who are you calling an old dear? Nobody calls me that and lives!

I will accept 'sprightly' however. Given that I ski-ed 35 km yesterday.

Icy

im in the south east....

window cleaner £10 a month

gardener £20 a fortnight during the spring and summer months just to cut grass

dry hair cut £20

vet bills for my cat...ie vaccinations and flea/worm treatment

Cheshire:
Window cleaner every 6 weeks (weather permitting) £7.50
Wash, cut and blow every 5 weeks, £33
Boiler service £50 and he says it's unnecessary to have it done annually
No pets
Gardener £15 per hour - weather permitting
Decorator - scared to ask!

South Midlands

Hair £12.50
Boiler comes with contract
Gave piano away when we moved
No pets
MOT £30 and no retest charge if fails
Burglar alarm test and maintain £40 a year
TV Ariel fitted on very high roof £140
Electrical engineer came to house to fix problem with car £50
Do own decorating and housework.
Fencing and DIY stuff delivered free
Window cleaner £35 but we have lots of windows and some are very high!
Car parking 50p per hour free at the station
Even BT turned out promptly and fixed the problem which well might have been down to us!
Nothing is expensive round here and the service is excellent. We don't have any of that sucking in of teeth and being told what a big job it is, they just give us a straightforward quote.

Compare this to where we used to live:

Hair £45 and all the faffing too
Wouldn't open the car bonnet under £250
Window cleaner - forget it
Tradesmen - if you can get them to quote they didn't turn up on time.
BT - left us without a line for about 10 days
Car parking - too much!

Do we like living here? You bet

Here in North Essex :
Cut & Blow £27 (top stylist)
Boiler - we pay £150 a year to cover all plumbing and heating and have claimed every year (local company)
Window Cleaner - £12 (every 6 weeks, 4 bed detached)
Decorating is DIY
No piano or pets

All in all not too bad.

Dry trim £10 in my part of Northern Ireland.