What’s Worth More: Your Time or Your Money?
November 6, 2009 · Posted in around the house, gardening, pj by pj
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My husband and I have been living in our house for just over 365 days. Last year, when we moved in, our 1/2 acre of property was already covered in warm-hued leaves; the trees were bare. Because we didn’t have a rake — or very much time — we hired a lawn care company to do a Fall clean-up. They mowed and raked and tidied up our property in just a couple of hours.
This year, I watched in dread as the leaves began falling off the trees. J and I decided that we would play the roles of responsible homeowners and not spend the extra money for somebody else to do our dirty work. When there was an adequate amount of leaves blanketing the lawn, we woke up early on a Sunday and began tackling the front yard. We got a quarter of the way through before we had to abandon our project for other plans. A couple of days later we did another quarter of the front yard. It took a little over an hour, but when we were finished, half of our front lawn was clean.
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Forty-eight hours later, you couldn’t even tell where we had raked. More leaves had abandoned their branches.
Like most couples, I imagine, my husband and I really only spend quality time together in the evenings and on the weekends. Occasionally I have to work on Sundays, so we don’t always have full weekends together. If we were to rake and clean our entire property, it would take one whole exhausting day, maybe two. In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, I can’t help but wonder: Is it worth it to spend the rare time we have together sweating it out in the yard? Or would our time be better spent if we shelled out the cash for somebody else to rake?
We aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination. We try to live comfortably within our means. It is extravagant to hire a lawn care service to tend to our yard? Or is it a good use of our time and money? What do you think?
Oh, what I would do to have a yard to rake at all…to be able to exercise and do yard work at the same time! To spend time with my husband outside on our own property and not a crowded public park full of dog poo and homeless people.
How’s that for perspective?
But really, I grew up with a yard and raking the leaves each fall earned me a little pocket change. Then, like you, I almost always felt it wasn’t worth the trouble. haha!
Life is short. Do what makes you happy. Who cares what anyone thinks? It’s not really their business anyway.
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Haha, well said, Elizabeth!
We also have a 1/2 acre lot. The first year, we just kept mowing the grass as the leaves fell and they ended up chopped up. At the very end of the season, we ended up mowing and bagging the clippings. Last year, we hired a relative to rake, and I think that’s the route we’re going again this year. We both work full-time jobs and have an hour commute each way (although we do carpool), so our time at home is precious. It’s hard enough to find time to clean the house, let alone rake leaves! We do mow and weed-eat the lawn ourselves, though.
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Much to my mother’s HORROR, I’m sure my husband I and, if we owned 1/2 an acre of leafy land, would hire someone to handle it. I can barely clean my TINY apartment in one day without screaming about how I need some hired help :)
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nice Posting. I just starting with Internet. My parents didn’t allow me this, before I was 16 years old. It’s very nice, becaus now can I improve my English language.
Have a leaf raking party. get some rakes, some warm soup/hot chocolate, invites some friends! as long as you don’t have to help them with their leaves!
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We have a little over 7.5 acres. The majority of that gets majorly coated in leaves every year. A few things I’ve learned since living here:
1. Keep your lawn mowed short, then many of the leaves will blow through your yard and into your neighbors. :)
2. We only rake twice, the first time when about 3/4 of the leaves have fallen and then the second time in late november/early december after all the leaves have fallen.
3. Leaf blowers are magical things, you can only rake for so many hours, we combine the leaf blowing action with raking and we move much faster through the acreage and can last a lot longer-thus getting it done more quickly.
4. As Gerry suggested, a leaf raking party makes the work so much easier and a lot more fun. Many hands make light work!
5. We lay tarps and rake the leafs onto the tarps and then haul these to the compost-if you don’t have a compost you can also take them to the dump. This method is a lot faster than filling trash bags or trash cans.
Good luck with everything! We choose to rake rather than pay because it’s a good workout (no need to go to the gym!) and we find that it encourages us to get outside for fresh air, work as a team and makes relaxing that much sweeter for us. But growing up, I made a ton of money every fall from people who didn’t have the time to take care of their own leaves. Either way works!
It is easy for me to say “just hire someone if it makes you happy”, but I understand your dilemma. I have trouble keeping up with the house cleaning, especially the deep cleaning like base boards, windows, and ceiling fans, and would like to hire a maid. But then I feel embarrassed even thinking about shelling out money for such a luxury, and even more embarrassed admitting that I can’t keep up with my house!
Hire the help–hands down! We have nearly two acres and I would much rather the three of us spend time picking pumpkins than raking leaves. And I have a gem of a cleaning lady too. Now, if I could just find a cook…kidding, I do love to cook!
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