Do you do your own lawn care or have a service?

United States
May 7, 2007 2:51pm CST
I was recently garge sale hopping and noticed that everyone in this subdivision seemed to be in competition with the perfectly manicured lawn. What made me laugh was that they basically were having others do the work for them, so where exactly is the competition? LOL Not sure, but it made me wonder how many people have others do their lawn and how many enjoy doing it themselves. I don't like doing the lawn, just not a planting and keeping anything alive kinda gal! LOL I wish I was though! This year I swear I'm going to try harder to get my yard to look nice!
9 people like this
14 responses
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
8 May 07
If I could afford it I would. It just gets too hot down here for me to do it. That and physically I can't really but for now my brother is doing it (when we nag him enough). We have a lot of lawn services in the area and the competition keeps the prices low which does help but right now $15 a visit is more then I can afford. I have to admit when we could afford it and we had a good service our lawn looked great. It just depends on the service. Some over mow to make more money and the grass gets damaged. The good ones though are usually in bigger demand so if you don't have them already it's harder to hire them.
• United States
11 May 07
It does cost a lot. Although with the cost of gas going up and up... it costs nearly as much to fill the gas can as it does to fill a small car! LOL
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
11 May 07
Oh I know let alone if you have a gas weed wacker, edger and blower. I have electric of those but the mower is gas and it does get costly. I don't know how the lawn services are donig it without raising their prices
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
7 May 07
I wish I had a lawn!!!
1 person likes this
• United States
11 May 07
Maybe you could get the bums to lay down on the roof and shave their beards? *wink* LOL
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
11 May 07
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
@Tanya8 (1733)
• Canada
8 May 07
I use a service. I'm definitely not in a lawn competition with the neighbors; I just don't want them to have to look at an overgrown yard. I also enjoy having my surroundings look nice. My husband travels a lot for business. He's away about 50% of the time, and although I love gardening, I can't do everything on my own. The kids and I do the weeding together, and I have about 20 other things on my list of areas that need to be fixed, that I'm slowly working on. It's nice to at least not have to worry about the grass. Before we had the service, I was making no progress on the areas that need landscaping, because I was too busy with the maintenance.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 May 07
I think I'd pay for my lawn service if I didn't have my teenage son! LOL I'm so not a "gardening" person.
• United States
7 May 07
Nope, we are real cheap we would rather spend our extra money on us doing something FUN .. so we do our own lawn care, my boyfriend spent the entire day on Sunday working on the backyard, we have real issues there, I am so proud of him and how much he did in the 88 degree weather we have been having.
1 person likes this
@lpetges (3036)
• United States
8 May 07
i would not pay someone to do our yardwork. it would cost a fortune! we have a lot of land, and its fun to work outside!
1 person likes this
• United States
11 May 07
If it's something you enjoy doing it definitely makes no sense to pay someone else. Many people see it as a wonderful way to de-stress.
@kareng (53375)
• United States
8 May 07
One of the girls in our yard - This is one of our girls and her dog in our backyard.
I'm rolling on the floor laughing. Did you visit my neighborhood? The homeowner's association in our neighborhood have a contest each month for "Yard Of The Month". They do judging and the winner gets a sign in their yard for that month. It's really funny to see how these people knock themselves out to win. My husband and I take bets to see who the next winner will be. Oh and we do our own yard. My hubby is in charge now. When he worked nights and my kids were small I did the yard. I took more time with it and had flowers and roses. He doesn't like taking the time for all that--has taken all my roses out and after throwing grass seedlings on my one flower bed left week after week I gave up on trying to keep it weed and grass free.
• United States
11 May 07
I always laugh when you see a whole subdivision of "perfect" lawns. LOL
@castleghost (1304)
• United States
18 May 07
I have better things to do with my money then to pay someone else to take care of my lawn for me. I will usually spend a couple of hours one evening to mow and trim the whole yard. My partner takes care of such things as flowers and all. I just have to dig up the yard where she wants a new flower bed at.
1 person likes this
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
7 May 07
When I first moved into my home, I would do the lawn by myself but after some time had passed my neighbor has been doing all the yardwork for me and my neighbors. He does not charge us anything as he enjoys landscaping and doing the lawn. He loves planting flowers and mowing the lawn and taking care of the leaves. Every once in a while I may do my yard but he does it for the most part.
• United States
8 May 07
My husband does all of our yard and garden work. He has worked for several landscaping companies and loves to do this type of work. I seldom go out to do any of the work because he finds fault with how I do it. Let him have it!
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
8 May 07
My neighbourhood growing up was like this - except everyone did their own yard work. It was a source of pride to have a nice looking lawn, I don't think it really matters who did it. I do remember not being 'allowed' to mow the lawn because I couldn't do it neatly enough. I was 'allowed' to weed, fertilize, etc, just not mow. (And so, of course, that is the chore that I wanted to do).
1 person likes this
• United States
7 May 07
Until I broke my back I did it myself but now I have a very nice man who does it for me and other odd jobs I'm not so able to do. He is a godsend and doesn't charge me very much.
1 person likes this
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
9 May 07
We do our own- My legs and butt are still killing me from Sundays pulling weeds in the flower gardens- We bought a Zero-turn lawn mower last year- We own 5+ acres of mowable land- So the zero-turn almost took 1/4 the time off- My sig. other mows with that and I push mow around the numerous trees and other things in the yard! We mulched the flower gardens and swing set area over the weekend- Have to do a bit more of mulching around the garage and that will be done for the season. Also need to get our garden in- Fun fun- I can't imagine hiring our lawn care out- I love to be outside! So whether I'm laying in the hammock or mowing- I'm happy!
8 May 07
LOL - my partner usually cuts the lawns for me but a couple of weeks ago he got out the mower and started on the front lawn, only to have the mower motor blow up. We now have two lawns wild enough for a tribe of pygmys to live in. :-)
@Denmarkguy (1845)
• United States
8 May 07
I take care of my own lawn... and I wouldn't spend the money on lawn care anyway, since I live in a rental. When I lived in Texas, I briefly had lawn care when we first moved into the house-- because I had SO much else to do, with a new house. But that only lasted the first summer; after that I decided there were better ways to spend $25, once a week. Whereas I actually like yard work, I have never been part of the "competitive set," when it comes to lawn care... my lawn is full of dandelions and other weeds, and as long is it looks green and mowed, I feel pretty content about it. Some people do seem to take the whole lawn issue to extremes....
@kitkat1 (1227)
• Canada
9 May 07
I actually am one of the ones who enjoys mowing the lawn and doing yard work i find it relaxing to tell ya the truth. It is also a good way to get active for your health. As far as hiring someone it is very costly to do that where i live and i have a none exsistent budget that just would not stretch that farlol so good thing i like to do it myself cause i have no choice in the matter.
1 person likes this