Yeah, let mowers do the lawn - I'd rather do it but with heat, not having to store a mower and listening to the wife ~ I am better off getting it done although I have done it for many, many years.

Mowing, edging, and leaf blowing takes me 30 minutes, tops. I have a small yard, but the cordless electric mower, trimmer, and leaf blower makes it really convenient--and the mower folds up and stores upright.

I pocket $175 a month to do it myself.

I have a gardener come twice a month to mow and trim the bushes ($60 Per month). I have the time, I just simply don't have the desire to do it.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Mowing, edging, and leaf blowing takes me 30 minutes, tops. I have a small yard, but the cordless electric mower, trimmer, and leaf blower makes it really convenient--and the mower folds up and stores upright.

I pocket $175 a month to do it myself.

$175.00/month?????

I pay $45.00 month to get all my bushes trimmed, date palms shaped, citrus tree shaped and everything hauled away.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Mowing, edging, and leaf blowing takes me 30 minutes, tops. I have a small yard, but the cordless electric mower, trimmer, and leaf blower makes it really convenient--and the mower folds up and stores upright.

I pocket $175 a month to do it myself.

$175.00/month?????

I pay $45.00 month to get all my bushes trimmed, date palms shaped, citrus tree shaped and everything hauled away.

Orange County markup.

51 in a few days. I would probably mow even though I suffer allergies for days after, except that some local guys mow and bag for $40. I pay to have my oil changed and anything mechanical on them. I only do light plumbing and my SIL is an electrician, so...

I still scoop the yard, fix the fence, maintain the pool and clean the guns.

I have been paying a guy to mow my lawn this year and it’s a been absolutely wonderful, I hate mowing grass, I’d rather let him come every Friday with his zeroturn and do his thing. It originally was only going to be this year with having a new baby and just being busy with kids, but I think I’m going to continue next year as well.

My wife hired a yard guy a few years ago when our son was around 2-3. When I asked her why.

Her response was: "Would you rather be out there in the hot mowing? Or would you rather be spending that weekend time with your son? What's that time worth?"

I stopped arguing.

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Mowing, edging, and leaf blowing takes me 30 minutes, tops. I have a small yard, but the cordless electric mower, trimmer, and leaf blower makes it really convenient--and the mower folds up and stores upright.

I pocket $175 a month to do it myself.

$175.00/month?????

I pay $45.00 month to get all my bushes trimmed, date palms shaped, citrus tree shaped and everything hauled away.

Orange County markup.

Quoted for truth.

I do all of my own stunts.

I don't want to help someone else retire.

I job out everything I can.
-Lawn mowed
-lawn fertilization/weed control
-Shrub trimming (I've got a lot and it takes a 3 man crew 2 hours+ with tall ladders and big-ass gas powered trimmers)
-House cleaned every 2 weeks. We're neat people so we can easily go two weeks, even with our new puppy.
-Get my oil changed at the dealership since both our vehicles are still under free service, but if not I'd pay. No why I'm climbing under and doing this dirty job.
-Landscape work from simple stuff like some edging to redoing a shrub bed.
-Window washing. Inside and out and worth every penny.

In my much younger days I would never pay for these things. I didn't have the cash bringing up 3 kids.

I do tackle some "projects" like I painted my garage last winter. Took my time, did one wall at a time, removing all of the things fastened to the walls and moving cabinets, freezers etc. Took about 10 days but I considered it is a form of relaxation as I wasn't under the gun to get it done.

Due to an injury, I started paying for a lawn service. They do an outstanding job, always on schedule, and bill me electronically. Now that I'm able to do it again, I still decided to keep paying for it. The free time on the weekends has been great. I do think it's kind of expensive and wouldn't have paid for it in my younger days.

I just had a new tile shower built . I demo'd the old fiberglass shower myself to save money . I would never dream of attempting the tile work myself . I could tell it was going to be a tricky job since it was going to double the size of the old one and there was going to be some framing needed and some drywall work on the exterior .
I don't mind paying a pro for good work .
I still mow my own lawn though .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I just had a new tile shower built . I demo'd the old fiberglass shower myself to save money . I would never dream of attempting the tile work myself . I could tell it was going to be a tricky job since it was going to double the size of the old one and there was going to be some framing needed and some drywall work on the exterior .
I don't mind paying a pro for good work .
I still mow my own lawn though .

I almost made the mistake of attempting to lay porcelain tile. Glad I didn't, it took three guys that do it every day for a living 7 solid days to complete. Like you I removed the old tile and had the floors clean and prepped.

Despise yard work and the guy that cuts 7 of my neighbors lawns will do mine for $25, mow, weedeat, edge, and blow off all the walkways and sidewalks. When he said $25 I couldn't say yes fast enough. Doing it myself was a 90 minute job. Now when my son is old enough to help we will start doing it ourselves, mainly to teach him how to do it. I made most of my spending money as a kid mowing lawns and raking leaves.

The only thing I've given up are oil changes and brakes. Around the house I still do everything, Lawn, snowblowing, all maintenance. Coming up on 61 I understand how you guys feel because I'm getting tired of doing a lot of what I find myself into.

Groom my cat. When it comes time to de-mat the varmint, he can be a real prick. Calls for a professional. And all car maintenance. I dont have a garage.

Anything that's outside a computer, I hire somebody else to do it. If I can, I'd hire someone to wipe my ass. But I'm sure, the time will come for that.

"Nurse, nurse! Time for my sponge bath, please."

46 here…
Things I still do; pick weeds and spray roundup. Very small yard with rocks. Some vehicle modifications, skid plates, exhaust, diff covers, etc. All electrical work around the house. Minor plumbing on clean water pipes. Flooring, slab pouring, shed building, etc.

Things I pay others to do;
Major modifications i.e. suspension (lift kit), all vehicle maintenance, any plumbing that deals with sewage pipes, aside of swapping toilets, probably paying a landscaper to set pavers, and fix the crappy drip system.

You've got it good when you can break out your checkbook instead of breaking your back.


I'm in my late 30s and when I was younger I'd do everything that I could myself. As I got older and had the ability to pay for it I'd still do it myself to prove that I had the skills. Now I pay for someone else to do it if I can afford it.

I recently bought a new computer. I used to build them myself. Between sourcing the parts, waiting for all of them to come in, put it together, troubleshoot the issues, look past 1 or 2 things just not working, etc. I unboxed it, turned it on and away I went. When I ran into an issue, I got another brand new computer as a replacement and was up and running with no down time ever since. I did the math and the parts alone would have cost me more to build it myself. The time, effort and aggravation would have been extra.

We're living in a time where businesses are efficient and technology/tools have increased that efficiency even more to the point where it's more cost and time effective to have a professional do it. Sure, there are exceptions but generally speaking most tasks can be done by a pro who does a better job with proper tools.

That said, it's important to check their work. My mother got an oil change and when she came over one day the lifter tick was louder than usual. I checked the oil and it was 2 quarts low.