I've spent the last several days researching lawn mowers...I know, it's not a very sexy purchase like a chain saw would be, but I had no choice; I have to mow my lawn.
For the last five years Faith and I have had a grass-guy mow our lawn every three weeks; It started more from the fact that we struggled to find the time due to our jobs, and when we found the time we wanted to do something else with it...So we paid for the guy at $40 per cut, edge and tidy up. That's $3,400 over the five years. A fair old chunk of cash huh?
A couple weeks ago, prompted by some future-planning conversations and desire to save some bucks, we decided to cancel the guy and get a new guy...Namely me.
I'm the new grass guy. The only problem was lack of appropriate equipment.
Your eyes are feasting upon the G-dog's new lawn mower. It's a Masport ST620 which I was able to score for $469, reduced from $549 from a local lawn mower place yesterday.
It's what is called a mulching mower as it not only catches the clippings in the rear catcher, but can also mulch the grass and leave on the ground as required, for mulch. It also has a four-blade cutting system for a better cut and pick up (of the clippings) which means it throws them more efficiently into the catcher. It's powered by a 159cc Briggs and Stratton engine made in the US of A so it's gotta be good right?
It's got a heap of other features but those are what swayed me, along with the 19" cutting blade diameter and edge-to-edge cut meaning it cuts right to the edge of the wheels on both sides.
I've been told the unit will last for over ten years with proper care, which I can provide of course. Considering we would spend $6,800 paying the other grass-guy over the next ten years not counting price-inflation I think it's a great investment.
I'll have to buy some fuel, a spark plug or two and possibly have it serviced a couple of times, but we'll be thousands of dollars in front over a ten year span; Money that can by crypto, gold or Lego some other wise investment option.
This has been a purely financial decision and one not made lightly. It will mean I'll have to find the time to mow the lawn every couple of weeks but I think that's a small price to pay to save some money each year.
We've been assessing many aspects of our life to see if we can shave some cost off our budget. We always evaluate but have tended to hold on to a few luxury-spend items like the lawn mowing guy for instance...We've just been thinking a little differently due to the pain that we know will come in the next 12-18 months from the virus scenario and thought this was a no-brainer.
Anyway, where on Wednesday y'all?
Well, in my yard with my new lawn mower cutting grass. That's where!
I wanted to document what my lawn mower looked like on day one, all shiny and new...It won't look like that for long though.
It's early morning right now and not quite lawn mowing hour...I don't want to piss my neighbours off...So I'll have some eggs on toast and a coffee in a bit and plan my strategy...Long rows up and down the lawn or start at the edges and work my way inwards...Weighty decisions to have to make this early in the day.
Have a great hump day y'all.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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