I Hate Mowing!! So Why Do I Do It?

I Hate Mowing!! So Why Do I Do It?

If you live in an area where you don’t get to enjoy mowing your lawn, you don’t know what you’re missing out on… sweltering heat and sweat, 90 decibels of mundane loud noise, and an hour or more of your day wasted every week.  Mmm, mm, mmm – doesn’t that sound exciting?!

It’s not.  I hate mowing.

I decided this past weekend to mow the lawn early in the morning before it got too hot out.  Didn’t matter.  It was a hot and muggy day and there I am outside sweating my keester off for a good ol’ 75 minutes.

And while I’m out there mowing and listening to one of my awesome playlists, I start daydreaming of the different ways of eliminating this whole mowing thing.  Maybe I could concrete the whole yard and paint it green!  Maybe I could replace it with artificial grass.  There was a guy on the street that I grew up on that did the whole artificial grass thing back in the day… wow, that guy was probably a genius.

Then, on top of the actual mowing, you have to keep an eye on the weather beforehand and figure out the planning.  It usually goes something like this…

Maybe I’ll have time on Friday after work to mow, but it looks like it’s going to rain.

Well, I can make time on Saturday morning, but the ground’s probably still going to be wet from the night before.

Saturday during the daytime and evening I’m busy, so that won’t work.

How about Sunday?

Well, the weather looks Ok – maybe I can squeeze it in first thing in the morning.

If not, I’ll have to rush home after work on Monday to get it done.

What a pain!

So how much would it cost to have someone mow my lawn for me?  $25-$30.

Wait, what?!  $30??!!  That’s all???!!

So why do it?  I can afford to have someone else come and do it.  All the headaches would go away.  Let someone else do the weather-watching and planning.  Let someone else hang out in the blistering sun sweating up a storm.  Why not free up an hour of my week for three seasons out of the year?

Two words: Exercise and money.

First off, I’ve talked about how I wish I could get more exercise into my schedule.  It might not be much by itself, but every little bit counts.  A little over an hour’s worth or walking and pushing the mower (followed by some every-other-week weed eating) is good for me.  It’s gets me outside and helps me from being too lazy.

I have an office job where I’m sitting 8-9 hours a day so that’s really not good.  This not only gets me moving, but it also gets me out in the sun for a little bit.

Then there’s the money.  Yes, $30 might not sound like a lot of money in itself, but if you figure in the whole spring/summer/fall schedule, that would probably cost a big fat $900!!  Call me cheap, but boy, I could definitely find better places for that $900 where it can make me some money instead!

Ok, so mowing sucks.  But guess what?  I do the same complaining to myself in the winter when I have to think about snow blowing.  Oh well, maybe I should just suck it up and enjoy the fact that I’m able to get off my duff and actually do this work!  I’ll have to chalk it up as one of the joys of home ownership!!

So what do you think?  Am I just being too cheap?  Should I forgo the exercise and just pay someone to do this?

Do you need to mow your own lawn and if so, do you do the mowing yourself or have someone do it for you?

Thanks for reading!!

— Jim

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22 thoughts on “I Hate Mowing!! So Why Do I Do It?”

  1. As someone who lives in an apartment in NYC, I’d love the the opportunity to mow a lawn. In fact, I’d bet I would enjoy for at least two weeks, if not three.

    If you don’t enjoy it, why not pay someone else to do it? I do not enjoy cleaning bathrooms and have happily paid someone else to take on that task for years.

    1. Hi Biglaw – I know there are a lot of people who would love a lawn to mow, but once you have one, you have to plan on a little work to maintain it whether you’re in the mood to or not.

      Like I mentioned, there are two reasons I don’t pay someone to do it: it’s good exercise and I’m too cheap to pay someone (although on a rare occasion, I’ll have someone do a one-off on it). And of course, once it’s done, then I’m glad I did it! 🙂

      — Jim

  2. I no longer have a yard with grass that requries mowing, but I did. And for years, I struggled with the same question as to whether to hire or do it myself.

    It really drove me crazy when I would fight an hour plus commute of traffic on a Friday evening and arrive home to see my neighbors that worked from home with an already mowed lawn, sitting on their porch enjoying a cold beer.

    I like to joke that I mowed the lawn every week until one weekend when Ms. Financial Slacker had to do it. After that, we hired someone.

    I would say if you have the time, it’s not a bad way to get some exercise and save the money. Or, you could have a few kids and let them do it for an allowance.

    1. Haha – I like the joke about what triggered you to hire someone! 🙂

      Glad to see that you were in the same mode of thinking at one point.

      I have a feeling if I had more kids it would cost me slight more than just outsourcing it! 😉 I do have a daughter about to turn 6 that’s really all about it… she wants to mow so bad and hates that I won’t let her. Of course, I’m sure when she’s big enough to actually mow, her interest in it will already have subsided!

      — Jim

      1. I am a female whose my father did a great job of teaching me the value of a dollar. My father outsourced the lawn to me those 7 years in middle school & high school. It was my favorite job, I was well paid for my time $20 and it took me an hour. I worked for my spending money. Don’t hold your breath but your daughter may still be interested when older, for the right price.

  3. Haha! Funny one RtR!

    I’m the same way, I hate mowing! I wish I could rip it all up and just throw down some gravel.

    I mow every other week, and would never hire anyone to mow for me. That’s $30/hour I’d be missing from paying myself!

    1. The gravel would have to be painted green though so you could still feel like you have a “pretty” lawn! 🙂

      I never looked at it as being $30/hour – I’ll definitely keep doing it myself now!

      — Jim

  4. My hubs calls it “yard-i-cise,” and while he, too, grumbles a bit, I think he sometimes enjoys being alone with his thoughts for a while. And as long as you remember that you can “splurge” once in a while, it’s the best of both worlds. And I’ll bet your lawn is beeeeee-au-ti-ful! 🙂

    1. Haha… beautiful might be pushing it! 🙂 I’m with your husband on the yard-i-cise – it definitely does give you an opportunity to think while you’re out there since there’s really not much concentrating needed otherwise. I actually find myself stopping periodically to jot notes down in my phone so I don’t forget them after I’m done mowing.

      — Jim

  5. Very good question!

    For us it is clear; I do not mind doing the weekly 50 minutes walk in the garden. To some extend, the monotonous sound of the mower, me walking one hour with no distraction has some relaxing effect on me.
    Looking at the budget for this for a ear, you can make a great city trip. SO, I prefer the city trip and the exercise…

    1. I definitely can appreciate *most* days once I actually get out there mowing (except for the really hot days!). I usually get a lot of good thinking done during that time.

      You’re right that if you suck it up, you can use the money you save for much better things (or investments)!

      — Jim

  6. haha mowing is one of the worst things I have to do. The only thing worse then that is picking up my dogs poop!! LOL.

    On the bright side of things though, I do agree that mowing is kind of like working out. I get a ton of steps and lose a lot of calories sweating like a pig!!

    1. That’s funny – I don’t have any dogs, but I do bust my next door neighbor’s chops who has 3 of them! Doggy-doo cleanup prep work makes the mowing seem like something to look forward to!

      — Jim

  7. While I hate the planning of trying to mow (I attempted to mow about 8 times last week but kept getting thrown off by rain), I actually don’t mind it too much. My yard isn’t too big so it only takes 40-50 minutes and it is always a nice accomplishment when I’m done and it looks a lot better.

    That being said, when the neighbor kids get old enough to do it for $10, it will be their job in a heartbeat 🙂

    1. $10 would probably make it a little more tempting for me to give away the job to something else. In a way, I’m glad it would run me more so that I can just stick it out and continue to whine about it! 😉

      — Jim

  8. Haha, funny thoughts Jim. We don’t have a lawn at our rental place so that takes that question out of the picture for us.

    I reckon you should keep doing it. The smell of freshly cut grass, the sense of achievement from doing it, the exercise, the free time for your thoughts, saving money..all good reasons.

    Otherwise you could pay a young member of your family. I bet they’d be happy for the money, nothing like child labour 🙂

    Tristan

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