I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but I want to seriously suggest all the home owners, or those resposnible for fall clean-ups, call around to several local landcsapers (most of which offer free estimates) to have them stop by and give estimates for fall clean-up. You may be suprised how affordable some of their prices actually are.
To keep your cost down and still allow you to do some work yourself you could for instance just contract them to clean the lawn and leave the beds and landscaped areas alone, or vice versa. This time of year is the last chance for steady work for landscapers before the gamble of feast or famine once winter sets in with snow removal. So most of them will be willing to take on any work that comes along.
