Another Way I Saved Some Money
This week I’m saving over $100 by trimming my own bushes, and I’m saving at least $80 this month by cutting the grass myself. I also got plenty of free exercise. That’s more money to put toward the debt.
When I had money, and was working 50-60 hours a week for a 40 hr a week salary, I didn’t have time to cut the grass and take care of the bushes and flower beds. I also didn’t have time to clean my house. So I paid someone to clean my house every other week and someone else to take care of my lawn. Before that, I was married and my husband took care of the outside work alone after our son was born. We divorced when our son was 3 1/2 . After my lay-off I had roommates who liked doing outside work, so they cut grass and trimmed bushes as a way to reduce their cash rent costs. I haven’t done yard work on a regular basis for 13 years. That means I stopped when I was 33. A lot happens to your body in 13 years, especially between thirtysomething and mid-40. But I digress….
I bought some trimming shears and a pair of small cutters (I don’t know what they’re called, but you use them to cut flowers and small weeds). They cost me less than $18 total. My son went “trash picking” last week and came home with an electric edger that works very well, so he’s doing the edging and helping me cut grass.
I cut the grass last week and I wasn’t too sore or too tired afterwards. It wasn’t too hot or humid so I wasn’t overheated either. I took that as a good sign that maybe I’m not as out of shape as I thought, but I judged too soon.
Yesterday was a nice, hot, sunny, humid day. All my bushes need trimming and all my flower beds need weeding. There are oak trees coming up everywhere from where the squirrels buried their acorns last fall, and thus, there is a lot of yard work to do. The grass doesn’t need cutting yet this week, so I started on the first flower bed by the driveway. It’s small and has three Indian Hawthorne bushes in it. I used the small cutters to cut the oak trees off at ground level and to cut some of the weeds growing over the bushes. Then I got out the trimming shears to trim the bushes. I chopped and chopped, and the bushes were finally the size and shape they should be. I was hot, but not too tired. It was getting close to dinner time and the trash and recycleables had to be taken out, so I finished picking up the cut pieces and bagging them. Then I took the garbage and the recycleables carts to the curb. (We have automated trucks that have arms that pick the carts up and dump them and put them back down. That was how the mayor found money in the city budget to give the police and firefighters a raise. He bought automated trash trucks and downsized the humanpower needed for trash and recycle collection. Now there is only one person per garbage truck and two per recycle truck. They haven’t gotten the automated recycle trucks in yet, but we already have the carts).
When I got done with that, my son asked me to help him finish peeling the potatos for dinner, and I could barely hold up a potato with my left arm! The chopping had taken all the strength out of my left arm, and I was suddenly very tired all over. After eating, I took a hot bath and went to bed! I drank 64 oz of iced tea in 3 hours, so I had to get up during the night, but otherwise I would have been dehydrated.
Today I’ve spent a lot of time on the computer because my arms, chest and back are so sore and weak I can hardly move. I found I have muscles I didn’t know about. As soon as I’m not sore anymore I’ll do another section of bushes and hopefully I won’t be so sore the next time. I’ll probably have to split the whole job into about 6 parts unless I grow some hard muscle really fast. I’ve done about 1/6 of the bushes and trimming. I just have some weed cutting to do in the back yard. I also have some large downed limbs to cut up for fire wood for the iron pot on the porch. The boys like to build a fire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows in it. And the grass will need cutting by the middle of the week, so I’ll have to take a day off from trimming to mow. That’s assuming I can trim another day this week. I’m really sore.
I used to be able to do this stuff and not feel it, or feel a little sore the next day, but not so sore I could hardly move. But having to do all this manual labor will help to get me back into shape and strong again while I save money doing it myself. Now I understand why those guys charge so much to take care of your lawn. It’s very hard work! I just don’t remember it being this hard when I was younger and stronger. They also have better tools than I do — gas-powered trimmers, weedeaters, and edgers; and big, riding mowers with a zero-turn radius. I have a push mower, an electric edger (wow, luxury!) and hand trimmers. Sweat equity.
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