How Do We save Money on Lawn Mowing? and More.

My parents have just shy of an acre to cut and it has to be push mowed. Their lawn guy charges them $40 per cut. Maybe because he charges them an arm and a leg for all of the landscaping, but still.

Find a teenager to do it for next to nothing. Or invest in a ride-on.

My neighbor just had her 8th baby a month ago and she always mows her own grass while the kids are sleeping or playing inside or something, I don't know - but she cuts it 90% of the time. I think I've seen her husband do it twice in 5 years.

And I think grass needs cut once a week on average, depends on rainfall and heat.

That's outrageous for one acre. I only pay $45 and do not live that far from you. We do it every other week. Get a teenager to do it. Do you have a mower? Buy a riding mower. Won't take long to do an acre.

If that's the going rate, that's the going rate. Weekly is easier for them, for you, and for billing purposes. It is probably also good for the grass as you don't want to take off more than 1/3 of the leaf at any time.

Think hard about your intended backyard use. Will you be having picnics, playing ball, putting down sprinklers, using lawn toys, playing, croquet, a garden, making a fire pit, installing a swing set and fort etc? Think about the footprint of grass or other walkable surface you need for that activity.

Allow yourself a few extra feet, then you can either let the rest "revert" to natural, or you can purpose plant with alternatives like - Meadow/ wildflower seed. Perrenials, Shrubs, low lying ground covers, trees.

Call your local politician and ask to be put in touch with someone from the agg extension, they'll do soil testing and let you know what you are fit to grow and if your garden soil is safe for food production.

Also, observe, observe, observe. Table the project for a year, draw a map of your yard, overlay with quadrants and walk the property at least weekly making observations and jotting them down. Do certain areas get a lot of sun, dappled shade, afternoon sun, are some prone to pooling, do some get muddier than others, are some soft underfoot, does ice set in in certain places etc. With careful notes, you'll have a better understanding of your own particular "micro-climate" and can buy plants accordingly. Buy the "wrong plant" for the "wrong spot" and you'll either loose it, or once again long for the days when it was all lawn and you were paying $400 a month to cut it.

As for the composting, its as easy as pie. Decomposition happens naturally, jut pile up your lawn waste, leaves, branches. It will turn to compost on its own, with enough time, even if you do nothing at all to it.
keep it moist not wet, turn it with a rake to get some air working through it, and it will compost faster. If you are concerned about inviting vermin, don't add any food waste, and buy or make something out of a metal drum.

Ratios of browns/greens what to include what not to include, how to know if its done, how much to apply and when are available on the internet, at botanical gardens, and through your county agg extension.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

We mow almost 5 acres with our ride on tractor/mower. It cost us about $1,500. We can mow a lot of lawn for a lot of years and haul a bunch of stuff with it as well.
We mow our lawn when it needs it.
Sometimes it's once a week, sometimes it is once every 2 weeks. It depends on the rain...
I think you are being taken...

Find a local teen or tween. We pay our 15 yo neighbor $30 a week to mow the grass and have about 1/3 of an acre.

Did you call around to more than one place? If that's the going rate, then short of doing it yourself that's what you are going to pay... location, location, location and all that........

You definitely aren't being "taken" and for those who threw out that they pay much less... they are comparing less amount of yard --> $30 a week for 1/3 of an acre is ALMOST the same as $100 for a little over one acre.

To further compare.... I live in a LOW LOW LOW cost of living area..... before we bought a lawn mower I paid $20 every week for about 1/5 of an acre duplex (so only 1/2) of the entire yard. That would be the same as what you are paying. If we didn't cut it every week we got weeds and it looked scraggly. Plus we want to be outside and if it gets longer we noticed more bugs and stuff....

So - $400 per month sounds completely reasonable for that amount of space, not even in an expensive area.

mowing lawns IS expensive! $400 seems a little high for an acre 4 times a month, but not that bad. in spring ours needs to be cut a couple of times a week, but at this time of year it's slowing down to once a week or less.
we like mowing so it was a no-brainer for us to buy a tractor (two actually, one for the pastures and one for the yard) but they're not cheap for sure. you'll probably spend a grand or so (but hey, that's just a few months of mowing, isn't it?), but an acre can be done in an hour at the most.
but YES, you have alternatives! you can let your lawn go to meadow. just leave it alone, only taking out trees when they start to take off (assuming you want an open meadow, that is.) it'll die off in the winter, and come back thicker and more wild every spring. bunnies and birds will come nest in it. it's not much use for playing games, but you can weed-whack (or just tromp if you walk a lot) walking paths through it, and maybe put in a few interest factors like a wind-spinner, or deer feeder, or pond, or tree house.
or if you're really ambitious, turn it back into productive land. if a big kitchen garden is too much work, plant an ancient grain, or talk to a local farmer about using your yard for hay that they plant and cut, or fence it and get goats.
i compost, both kitchen and horse manure. i keep a metal bowl on the counter for kitchen scraps and coffee grounds, which i take out to a compost bin every couple of days. i'm very lazy with the bin, i don't turn it or water it or anything, i just let it accumulate over the year, and in the spring i open the bottom door and rake out what i need for my kitchen garden and flower beds and pots.
the horse manure has longer cycles. i have two piles, one that's being added to, and one that's composting down. i'll be switching up soon, and i'm so glad there were several people who came by this spring and summer and helped themselves to the rich, gorgeous 4 year old + black gold at the bottom of the old site. it gets mixed in a wheelbarrow with my kitchen compost when i'm working on my beds and pots, and grows plants like magic.
enjoy your big space!
ETA omg, please don't heed the advice to spray round-up where you might put in a garden. that stuff is an environmental nightmare. don't let it ANYWHERE near something you might eat!
:) khairete
S.

You'll want to keep the acre maintained to cut down on mosquitos, ticks, etc. That's pretty standard for acreage property. It would be more economical to buy your own mower. They start to go on sale this time of year. How long it will take to mow will depend on the deck of your mower. The larger the deck, the less time it will take but the more expensive the mower.

It doesn't sound outrageous. I grew up not too far from you so I know you're in an expensive area so $100 a cut isn't a surprise. I also grew up with about an acre of grass and when my dad retired, he went back to doing it himself and then I took over a lot. I was single etc and had the time. I found it very theraputic but it took a long time with a regular push mower vs those huge ones the lawn guys have. I think 2 steady hours. My parents are very very frugal and even they had a service when my dad was working FT and he didn't work crazy hours. He was home by 6ish. It'd become a huge chore. It's not all year at least you're paying. And I do remember if it was really dry, my mom would once in awhile call and say don't come, it doesn't need it and they let her get away with it. You could try that. Otherwise maybe there's a kid but that seems less common nowadays in your area. If you can excuse your husband for 2+ hours on weekends to cut it and he'd kind of enjoy it - it's satisfying to see the lawn look all nice - it could be his exercise... Otherwise is there a local mother's group you could look at for recommendations? Maybe there's someone at $75 a cut.

Towards the end of summer for buy one it'll run you a 1000+ we have a cub cadet zero turn n we love it easy to use it'd probably take an hr or so to mow. But you'll get a lot of years out of it if maintained right

Just a few months of the service could buy you a good riding mower. That's what I'd look into (or a teenager until then).

Just be extremely careful with your kids and around a riding mower.

So I started crunching some numbers for you. I'm assuming your acre that you will need to mow is pretty much open space that can be mowed with a riding mower, and not a highly landscaped area where there would be a lot of small spaces to navigate.

The riding lawn mowers I priced a lowes.com ranged from $1000 - $5000. So average cost would be, what, $2500.

For $2500 dollars your lawn service will mow your lawn for just over 6 months. Of course, they say they have to come once a week because the company would like your money once a week, thankyouverymuch. I'd say twice a week at most, so even if you tell him to come only every other week, $2500 is a years worth of mowing.

So any payment you make to them after 1 year is money wasted, IMO. Mowing an acre with a riding lawn mower shouldn't take long, should be relatively easy for you physically, and you can fit it in when hubbie is home.

I would get a riding lawn mower. They cost around $1300 and up, but for an acre yard that would to the trick. For an acre it would take around 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour weekly to mow, granted you don't have a lot of things to mow around. $400 does seem crazy to me, but lawn care people are a dime a dozen around where I live so competition keeps the rates low.
Also you should judge it for how long it takes them to mow. If it's only an hour, essentially you are paying $100/hour to mow grass. That wouldn't be so bad if they are doing other things like weed-eating and edging. Also, in the winter, you won't need grass cutting services. It's just a seasonal thing.
We live on 1 1/3 acre- mostly grass, and we can't go for more than a week before it gets long. My son is allergic to grass so we have to keep it short. If you live in drier climates, you can probably get away with once every other week.

Just wanted to share that in my area, for a "typical" lawn in a subdivision, guys won't pull their mowers of the truck for under $75.
Sounds like you're getting a fair price.
There are times ours needs done MORE than once every 7 days...
Long run, you'd probably be better off investing in a riding mower & O. of you doing it yourself.

Hire a teenager! They need jobs, and will be a lot cheaper. Want environmentally friendly? Get rid of the lawn. Lawns require way too much water.

I would NEVER pay $400/month to have my grass cut, unless perhaps I were a multi-millionaire. Who has that kind of money for a patch of green? Over time, that would pay for your child's college education, and then some.

I would do it myself, but I assume you don't have time to do it yourself or you wouldn't ask this question.

We have 10 acres, with about 3.5 that needs mowing. We have a Kubota zero turn wide deck mower, it cost several thousand, but you can get a decent ride on for 2000. I LOVE to mow, it takes me a few hours, but it's relaxing and kind of fun zipping around. Certain times of the year, here in TX it needs mowing once a week, usually in Spring. But now, in the height of summer, only about every other week. In the winter not at all.

If it rains with any consistency up there, you need once a week. So $100. a week for mow and trim of 3.5 acres sounds good.

You could get a mower but do you have time to mow it yourself with 2 children? That is a lot of work. Then the trimming. Yikes.. Maybe borrow a lawn mower and try it yourself. At the lake they use a riding mower.. But they still need a trimmer to get close to the edges of the gardens and between walls.. etc.

Down here during droughts, we have it mowed only once every 2 weeks. But since we have been blessed with beautiful rain, once a week is really needed to keep the insects.. mosquitos.. down. We do not have our grass bagged. I have the guys leave the clippings. It makes our yards thicker, but not sure about your grass.

3.5 acres on a riding mower (YES you need a riding mower for that much yard) will probably take about 3 -3.5 hours.

The grass needs mowed as often as you say it needs mowed. We sometimes go ten day between mowings, but really every week sounds reasonable.

Call around to tons of other places - see if the quotes are about the same. If they are, then you know what you are looking at.

Assuming all quotes are comparable, then you have a decision to make. You either make it work with one of you mowing (my husband and I work 50+ hours per week and have 3 kids and we mow our own 1.5 acres right now) or you budget for the cost to pay the mowers.

I would definitely look into hiring a teenager in the neighborhood. I know you would get much cheaper prices that way.

We have some friends with 3 acres, same size lawn as yours. They have a riding mower. I think that's the only way to go with a lawn that big. Yes, you do have to mow the lawn weekly during the summer (maybe every other week during the winter around here - but I'm guessing once it starts snowing, you won't have to do it at all where you live). I'm guessing the reason it's so expensive to have a lawn service is that not only will you have to mow, but you also have to edge all of that grass, too.

My parents recently ripped out their lawn and put in raised beds to grow a garden. What you have to do is spray Roundup all over the lawn, wait for it to die, water it some more (weeds will grow), spray Roundup again, repeat until nothing grows. Then rip the entire thing up. Raised beds are probably the easiest way to go (that way you can get the right kind of soil in there). With a property that size, maybe you can even put in a greenhouse for the winter?

We have 5 acres with 2 houses and a couple of out buildings. It takes hubby about 3 hours to mow it completely. He has a 36" cutting blade I think, it's also one of those that turn in a circle. It might be wider, we got it at the local home supply store, Lowes.

If you do get a riding lawn mower you MUST get one that turns off immediately when the seat is vacated. So this way if someone gets too hot and passes out they don't get run over by the lawn mower.

That is the most important feature I can press. The next one is the width of the mower. The wider it is the quicker you can get it done. This one mulches as it mows so it's healthier for everything.

I suggest you get a lawn mower and start doing the mowing yourself. In don't know if you are having the heat we are having in Oklahoma but if you are then plan on mowing at 6:30 or 7 so you can do at least half before the kiddos wake up.

You don't have to do the whole lawn in one setting either. You can do half an hour then stop and go do another hour late in the evening. Then the next morning do another section. And so forth. It does not have to be done all at once.

The weed-eating and edging can be done in an hour unless you have a ton of area that has to be done. We weed-eat around both houses and garden areas in less than an hour.

Yes, $400 is way too much and no a lawn should definately not be mowed every week. You'd be better off hiring a neighbor's kid. If you mow a lawn too much or too short, you will "burn it." Here we call a lawn "burnt" when it is cut too short, which causes the lawn to turn brown/tan and even get rather crispy sounding under your feet. You're doing good with setting just a portion of the land around your house as lawn. We have 1 1/2 acres of lawn to mow, but are in the process of landscaping it so we don't have that much to mow. We mow our lawn every 2-3 weeks depending on how tall it gets. Grass grows faster during a wet spell. We use the ankle method to decide if it's time to mow or not....If the grass is higher than the bone on our ankle, it's time to mow. We have just a cheap clearance gas push mower with a bag attachment we got from Lowes. Walmart also has cheap push mowers to start out with. Later on we're planning to get a riding mower, but we have to save up for it. You can get a self propelled gas mower, which makes the job a lot easier than the regular one that we have and is great for hilly areas. Also you'll want to invest in a good gas powered weed wacker with comfortable goggles and a protective head set for your ears. I use the weed wacker for areas the lawn mower can't go and for hilly areas. Doing your own lawn is great exercise, so you don't have to worry about going to the gym, running, or doing extra exercise the day you mow the lawn. We've broken our lawn up into 3 sections in the back and 2 in the front. This means we take turns mowing the lawn and take a break after each section is finished, so we don't tire ourselves out. We start early in the morning and mow the sunny section first, since the sun can slow you down when you mow due to the heat. We save the shadey areas for the afternoon/evening hours. It depends on the temperature that day whether we mow in the afternoon or not.

What are we doing landscaping wise to reduce the size of the lawn and to help the environment? First you need to know not to put mulch too close to your house, because bugs like it. (We learned that from the cave crickets that were sneaking into the house..trust me, you do not want to know what a cave cricket is.) So we pulled up all the weeds, put down landscaping fabric, (You can get landscaping fabric at Home Depot, Lowes, Kmart, and Walmart.) and pebbles around the roses and bushes next to the house. We've started to build pathways through the yard, since it's big enough. Again, we made pebble pathways. (You can get lots of pebbles really cheap from stone quarries and they deliver.) We're in the process of learning what our deer do not like to eat and are making flower beds here and there. The stuff the deer do eat gets sprayed with a green deer repellent from Home Depot and a bar of soap hanging from it. We discovered that deer don't like spruce, daffodils, Japanese dog wood, and iris. I'm saying prayers for the apples trees, Japanese cherries, crabapples, and ornimental pear. We've made a huge garden and used mulch between the rows, so we don't get muddy feet. We put mulch around all the trees and framed the trees with the field stone we dug up. (It kind of looks like the trees have necklaces.) We save the grass clippings and put them around the garden plants to put the nitrogen back into the soil. We've made a raised garden last year that failed due to its location, but discovered it makes the perfect composting area. We just put our peelings, fish bones, etc. into it, cover it with dead leaves and turn it over every so often. You'd be surprised how many worms are in there and how big they are. (Worms are great at speeding up the composting process.) We have a large hill, so I'm in the process of using low ground cover so I won't have to weed wack it eventually. I planted red sedum there. I found some nice ivy I'd like to transplant there too when I get a chance. We've made a paver patio, so that's one less area to mow. Later on, we will make a court yard and a "resting station" for when we want to rest from working in the garden.

Bird habitats. That's the easy part. You'll want to plant trumpet shaped flower, ornimental grass, and bushes with berries. You can put up bird feeders and bird baths or small ponds if you don't have water near by. Birds just basically like food. You just throw out some bread and bird seed. They'll show up in droves. You could even put up blue bird houses.

So how do we find all this time? We have become the ultimate week-end warriors. I'll admit we only have one teenaged kid, so it's a little easier taking care of a teenager than a small child. They are more independant and help out more. Sometimes hubby will start mowing the lawn while I make super. After super we all go outside to work on the lawn and water the garden. That is our solice time to pull weeds and whatever else we need to do. I never thought I'd enjoy doing this stuff, but I discovered I do. Our old house only had a "postage stamp" yard, so hubby could handle it himself. There's just something about getting out there early in the morning in the peacefullness and fresh air. During the weekend,we spend most of our time outside. It just draws hubby and me out. We don't hire anyone if we can do it ourselves.

I feel your pain!

First of all, I'd shop around. Then I would see if I can cut a deal with someone - say 75 per cut every 10 days? Then, be certain that once fall comes, they are only coming every other week.

The other option is to get a ride on Mower. Go to Sears, they have awesome deals especially this time of year.

We have 3 acres and it's all lawn.
We hire our retired neighbor to mow it.
He mows lawns for several people, not just us and he charges for the time it takes him to get it done.
He mows (and trims around trees, the house and ditches) when it's needed which can be anywhere from about 10 days to 2 weeks (more rain means faster growing grass while drought means it will go dormant and not need cutting for almost a month).
When he mows it takes him about 4 hours on his riding mower.
The most he's ever charged is $138 and that was because he also sprays the gravel driveway with Roundup when it need it.
Most often he charges really close to $110 per mowing.
He really makes the yard look nice.
We love our yard guy!
BUT if we had to hire a lawn service, it would easily cost us $200-$300 a month.
We're not in a big metro area.
Living closer to a big city will drive prices up.

You can try to over seed your lawn with a dwarf grass which will need less mowing.
Once it's established, it'll only need mowing about once per month.

http://nomowgrass.com/plant1.htm

Then all you have to do is find someone who'll only charge you for when it actually needs mowing.

We live north of Albany, so our prices are CONSIDERABLY lower - I paid $35/week for mowing/weed whacking on 0.5 acre. (Of course, this guy started when he was 12, I was customer #2, and so I was paying less than new customers...) Yes, it really does need to be cut every week - you should cut off no more than 1/3 of the grass height with each cut, and when it's as wet as it has been this spring, we were doing ours every 5 or 6 days (which means twice in one week...). This year, however, our 10 year old (with my guidance!) started doing our yard - it takes us less than 2 hours to do street to fence, and we mulch it (no bagging, which takes more time, and if you do it frequently enough, it doesn't matter). When it's REALLY wet it takes the full 2 hours, but if it's not TOO bad, we can actually do it in 90 minutes.
HTH.
L.