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Mowing Lawn as a Woman June 7, 2024

Hi there. I have a front/back yard on a 5,000ish sq ft lot. I currently pay a lawn service to cut it - they charge $80 and they mow every other Tuesday. I kind of feel like I am paying a fortune. There aren’t any trees or shrubs to mow around. I work full-time and make ~$130k per year. Also I am a 5’1” female, never mowed a lawn before. Would I be physically able with an electric mower? Or is $160/month worth it with my time and income?

Edit: Thank you for all your replies! The overwhelming consensus is that I can do this and am likely limiting myself. I see where y’all are coming from seeing as how I haven’t even tried to mow the lawn myself. Thank you for your encouragement! I am gonna start researching mowers.

Edit #2: These are real time camera feeds of my front and back yard if this is more helpful. Also, the 2 guys that came on Tuesday spent exactly 40 minutes. Yard

Relevant Comments:

Plutoid:

With all due respect, you’re wildly underestimating your capabilities.

BeneficialSquirrel91:

Hard agree. I have found it to be only slightly trickier than vacuuming. Hydration and sunscreen, and there is no manufactured air freshener that beats the scent of a real-time Freshly Mowed Lawn.

OOP:

I can see what you mean. I am a professor with a doctorate degree, so I know I have mental strengths. Physical ones not so much, I never got chosen for the kickball team and never played any sports or did anything physical outside. But I am kind of intrigued about this and if I’d feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards and if it’s not nearly as difficult as it looks AND if I am overspending.

ratsocks:

Rhetorical question but can you walk a quarter mile? If so, you can mow 5,000 sf.

If your entire lot is 5,000 sf, that’ll be even less. Will probably take less than 20-30 mins.

A battery powered mower and maybe a battery weed whacker is likely all you need for this.

Fun-Squirrel7132:

The battery mowers with self-propel is really easy to push, you just kind of guide it and it pushes itself and no electric wires, no fuel, no oil, no real maintenance.

And if you’re mulching or side discharging it’s even easier then you don’t have to bag the grass

FishlockRoadblock:

This needs to be higher. I’m about OPs size and I switch from a gas self-propelled to a battery, auto start, self propelled.

The gas was hokey, I had to deal with fuel line gunk, empty the gas at the end of the year, transport gas INSIDE MY STUPID CAR, it leaked oil, etc.

The electric mower is like butter. Cuts over 1,500sqft on one charge, was on sale at Costco, and has mulch and bag features. Starts with a button, no liquids to deal with, and the speed and HOC (height of cut) are easily adjustable. Plus it folds up! It’s too easy to mow now 😎

boilergal47:

No I’m afraid our fragile female constitutions will not allow us to operate a lawn mower only menfolk can handle such complex machinery

1CharlieMike:

It’s the penis button. We can’t operate lawn mowers because we don’t have a penis to hold down the penis button.

lorlorlor666:

You could also look into de-lawning, maybe replacing the grass with another ground cover like clover or wood sorrel. Or, if you don’t have anyone who plays in your lawn/uses it in another way, why not just let it grow? Get yourself a personal wildflower field

Enochian-Dreams:

Honestly I don’t know why more people don’t do this. I think people feel some sort of obligation to have grass and then maintain it despite the cost and the time. There’s definitely better alternatives.

I don’t really know of anyone who just particularly loves grass and really enjoys cutting it once a week. But those people should definitely keep a grass lawn. Anyone who considers it a burden should probably consider alternatives. Some of them are not only visually appealing but also can help provide a more natural environment for wildlife as well.

Editor’s Note: I’m all for this idea. Feed the pollinators! Save the bees!

Update June 18, 2024

Hi everyone. I posted here about 1.5 weeks ago asking for advice on if I, as a small framed woman, could mow my own yard. I got a lot of helpful and motivational comments and a few that were sarcastic, but generally y’all were overwhelmingly supportive. A few days after I made that post, I received ~$1,300 unexpectedly via inheritance (life is weird sometimes). So I took it to Home Depot and bought an electric self-propelled lawn mower and the lightest weight electric trimmer/edger. I am happy to say that I mowed and trimmed the backyard this evening. It took me 16 minutes to mow it and 22 minutes to finish the trimming. In my adventures, I realized that I don’t have a ton of upper body strength (why the trimming took so long)… so perhaps doing this every other week will help with that. The self-propelled function is super easy… although someone commented on my original post about the speed - I originally had it set to medium, but had to change it to the lowest setting because my short legs don’t go very fast and it was trying to get away from me. :-) Once I got that set and got my rhythm down… it was really easy. Before and after pics are attached (not perfect, but fine for me). :-)

Before

[picture of a shaggy, fenced-in backyard, lawn is probably about 2 inches high]

After

[picture of same backyard an hour later freshly mowed and trimmed]

Relevant Comments:

Momentofclarity_2022:

Awesome job! I admire your willingness to give it a go! Good for you. I hope you’re proud!

OOP:

I am! I just had to jump in and do it, quit overthinking it. Also, my rock playlist with headphones was motivational.

urbz102385:

This is the absolute key to yard work for me. Even earbuds wasn’t cutting it because they come loose after a few steps and I couldn’t hear the music very well over the mower. So I got some over the ear, noise cancelling headphones. What a major difference, and honestly it makes the 2hrs of yard work a week actually enjoyable now. Great job and keep rockin!

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