Houses are Hard Work

I just spent a whopping eight hours out in the sun weeding, mowing the lawn, and generally digging around in the dirt. We hauled out three bags of weeds, and the place still looks like a pit. Now, heres the fun part: we have almost no yard. We have a little strip of garden area around our deck, and we have a few small areas of lawn near the sidewalk. Yet, we are overrun by weeds. I close my eyes and I see weeds. I have nightmares about the entire house being covered in ivy. How do people with real houses do it?