Do you mow?

[saluki9]

Now that I have a house in suburbia and summer is near I need to make a choice.

Do I mow my own lawn (1/3 acre lot) or hire somebody to do it? I would probably be the only person in the entire town who cuts their own grass, but I don't care.

Lawn mower (Honda) would cost me about $400 (with my 10% off moving coupon from Home depot which somebody here referred me to so thanks)

Lawn service would run about $60 a month.

 

[HFWR]

Mowed the first two years after moving, then found a mowing service for under $16 a week, if I pay for the full season up front. Working twelve hour days, the LAST thing I want to do after w*rk is mow the lawn, especially if it's 110F outside...

 

[brewer12345]

1/3 acre? Buy a push mower for under $100 and get a little exercise.

 

[chinaco]

Yup! We have 1.5 acres. about .5 acres is wooded in back. I mow 1 acre. The yard has some slopes in spots. I use a riding mower. It takes about 1 hour to mow. trimming takes about 15 minutes.

Mowed for the first time this year last Saturday.

 

[LOL!]

I mow. I find it therapeutic and relaxing, much like playing my guitar, riding my bike, watching my aquarium and working at my job.

Get brewer to mow your lawn for free. A push (no engine) mower will be a PITA and take you 5 times as long. I got one for free from someone who tried it. I also tried it.

 

[spark0506]

I mow a couple of acres and it’s my mini escape. I mix up a nice adult beverage, light up a cigar, fire up the John Deere and get to it. For me it’s like therapy…

 

[Sarah in SC]

Four acres...Yanmar diesel tractor with a 4 foot mowing deck (finish mower).
Takes about 4 hours total. DH actually enjoys it, in a zen sort of way, like LOL! mentioned. He won't even let me do it, it is a "man job". I spent enough time on big tractors on Dad's farm, so I'm good with that. I had to mow big fields and the ditches, so mowing around trees is a bigger hassle.
How funny to live somewhere where you'd be the only one mowing your own grass...
Oooh, Spark, a John Deere, I'm jealous! But we got a great deal on the Yanmar diesel.

Sarah

 

[lem1955]

Yes, I mow, on a 10 year old Sears riding mower - takes about 2.5 hours. I have it serviced every year. I'm counting on DSO to plant enough gardens that I can replace it with a walk behind when it will no longer run - less grass area. I'd rather mow than clean house. Sometimes I take a beer along, but no cigar.

 

[justin]

I mow. $129 mower (el cheapo) from Home Depot. 1/3 acre. Takes ~1 hr (with a couple short cuts). Trimming, done occasionally, takes 15-30 minutes. It's good exercise. It does suck to mow in 95-100 degree weather and 100% humidity.

 

[Outtahere]

DH enjoys mowing, so much so that he does my dads yard next door too. A lot of times it's a game to see who can get to the mower first, dh or dad. End results for me is a well manicured lawn all summer long I don't even mention wanting to do it, I'd never get a chance.

 

[kat]

Yes, I mow. Dad gave me their old 1970's mower when I bought my house. It sill works. When I got "eco minded" I bought a reel mower, the push kind, but it's still in the box.

 

[dex]

I was a city boy who wanted to try living in a house in the suburbs - so I got the house on .5 acres and tried the mowing and tree care thing - no gardens.

It was a pain in the but - mowing is only one part of the cost
Fertlilizer
Weed control
Clippings disposal
purchase of mower
purchase of gas
purchase of mower oil
weed wacker for trimming around things & edging
rental of bush trimmer

Loss of hearing from all the noise ... priceless

Pay someone to do it for you.

 

[poboy]

Mow my own and always have. Those on my street with young children have yard service. Gee, maybe I could cut their yards..........nah.

 

[d]

don't water, don't fertilize, don't grow, don't mow.

 

[Darryl]

1/3 ACRE, MOW IT. I CUT THE GRASS A COUPLE TIMES A YEAR DW DOES MOST OF IT. SON JUST TURNED 12 (WAS ON AN APPRENTICESHIP THE LAST TWO YEARS) WILL BE TAKING ON MORE THIS YEAR. iF WE GET BEHIND, BUSY VACATION ETC... WE HAVE THE NEIGHBOR KID GET IT FOR US.

 

[grumpy]

Bad back - haven't done my own mowing in 10 years. Current lawn service costs a lot but includes fertilizing, mowing, edging, mulching, etc. I pay $104 per month for a 10 month "season".

Grumpy

 

[gandalf42]

DS (dear son) has done it since he was 12. I'll have to do it this year til he comes home for the summer from college.

 

[Nords]

Do I mow my own lawn (1/3 acre lot) or hire somebody to do it? I would probably be the only person in the entire town who cuts their own grass, but I don't care.

I got lucky and married a woman who thinks mowing is fun.

What about planting a 1/3-acre garden or xeriscaping?

 

[bpp]

1/40th of an acre. It would be embarrassing to hire somebody else to do it.

 

[Andre1969]

I have a lawn tractor that I use to cut my yard and my grandmother's, across the street. Of my 4 1/4 acres, I'd say that maybe 1-1.5 acres actually gets mowed. The rest is either forest, driveway, structure, etc. My grandmother's yard is about 1 1/4 acres, but once you account for the house, driveway, garage, fenced in area for the dog, etc, it's probably down to under an acre.

To do it all probably takes about 2 1/2 hours. My Granddad bought the tractor back in early 1990; probably paid about $1300-1400 for it. Considering it's going into its 18th season, I'd say we got our money's worth out of it! It needs a new battery from time to time and an occasional belt, and some suspension work here and there.

I can actually get most of the grounds with the tractor, so I don't use the push mower that often. There are some spots I can't get, such as the dog run area at my grandma's, or a courtyard area at my house, and I'll usually hit them about one a month. I try to hit the parts of the grounds with the tractor every two weeks, although sometimes I get lazy and put it off. And sometimes the grass grows fast enough that even two weeks is too long.

I have no idea how much a lawn service would cost. I think my neighbor pays about $50 per visit. But they do everything...tractor cutting, push mower cutting, edging, trimming, etc. She complains about the cost, but I think it's a pretty good deal. Heck, I wouldn't do all that for 50 bucks! I told her I'd cut her back yard area, which I can hit with the tractor in about 20-25 minutes and not charge her anything, but then that would leave her with all the other trimming and such.

I think I was 9 when my Granddad started letting me drive the tractor. Back then, we lived down in Southern MD, about 40 miles from my grandparents, and every other week during mowing season, he'd load that tractor up on the back of his truck and bring it down to cut our grass. I remember how exciting it was as a kid, getting to drive that tractor. The novelty wore off fairly quickly, though. Seems like when it's something new and different, it's fun, but once you realize it's just another chore, it loses its charm.

 

[Nords]

1/40th of an acre. It would be embarrassing to hire somebody else to do it.

With scissors...

 

[justin]

1/40th of an acre. It would be embarrassing to hire somebody else to do it.

Wow! Is that how much grass/yard you have or the size of the land your house sits on? That equates to 1100 square feet. Most folks houses in the US wouldn't physically fit on that piece of land at all (my rather modest house certainly wouldn't!). Of course land where you are might be 10x-100x as valuable as land where I am.

I probably wouldn't even break a sweat mowing that size yard.

 

[FinanceDude]

1/3 of an acre. Bought a 20 inch John Deere self-propelled 11 years ago

However, still works, has had only 3 tune-ups, runs like a "Deere".........

It takes me 75 minutes to mow the whole thing.....not a lot of time..........

1/3 of an acre is NOTHING to mow..............

 

[REWahoo]

5 acres, with only one acre mowed and/or trimmed.

For the first 10-12 weeks of the season (March - May), I mow only a very small area allowing the blooming weeds wildflowers to seed before cutting them. This reduces the number of times I have to mow each season by 50% since little grows around here in the heat of the summer - and I don't water anything but the plants around the house foundation.

 

[Sandy]

2/3 of an acre. DH and I share mowing.

About half the neighbors have a service and half mow their own. Of those who mow, all have large riding mowers. I find these silly for this amount of land. They are difficult to store, seem to break often, are very heavy and difficult to load into the van/truck to take to the repair shop, and are more costly to fix.

We have a good, but basic self-propelled mulching mower that is a walk behind (and a steep slope in one part of the front the yard that is a challenge even with self-propelled and which would make a riding mower very scary).