We stopped doing it ourselves in about 2003. We then did it again for a few years in 2009-11. Then we gave our mower to a neighbor. About 1/3 of the people on our Bethesda street do it themselves although as some of the old guard move out that number is dropping. The younger (wealthier) families moving in don't do their own yardwork. We don't mow because we are away much of the summer so need it mowed regularly. We do a lot of other yardwork ourselves though.

I mow my own lawn and mowed every week until I was 9 months pregnant. But, if I was a single woman no way could I do it. Every spring our lawn mower needs a lot of work and has trouble starting up. DH just cleaned its carburetor out and did some flush. I'm just not mechanical like that.

We can't wait until dd is 10 and can start mowing the lawn. I do think it's good work for children.

2 acres in Great Falls. Love to mow the lawn...allows me to clear my head. I have solved some of the most complex business issues while on the tractor... We keep a real John Deere "tractor" with all of the attachments which come in handy with keeping a large, mature property looking good plus extensive gardening, etc. Given the cost of the expensive tractor, my time, annual maintenance, etc, it would be far cheaper to have someone just cut it...but no fund for me!!

Anonymous wrote:Cutting the grass is good exercise. I have one neighbor who frequents a gym and always comments that she just couldn't do what I do, she would never have the time!

I don't understand people who pay for a gym and also pay someone to do their lawn. If you cut your own grass, you get exercise and save money. Plus, you are out in the fresh air and sunshine instead of an indoors gym. Mowing your lawn and other general landscape care is good exercise that actually accomplishes something.

Ha!

Don't hire out or do it yourself... it's 2017 people!

https://usa.robomow.com/

In my neighborhood, the long-term residents (mostly retired) have lawn services.Their houses are paid off and they can afford it. Newcomers are younger and paid a lot more for the houses. They tend to do their own lawns.

Anonymous wrote:In our Arlington nieighborhood, the majority of folks mow thier lawns. This is families with two working adults and kids. I think we all spent our money buying our houses, so now we have to do our own labor : )

Same in my Arlington neighborhood. When DH hasn't been able to do it we hire a neighborhood teen.

Anonymous wrote:In our McLean neighborhood, nobody (literally) mows their own. Every single home has a lawn service. DS16 has a job, but I do prefer he do something a little less dangerous than mow lawns.

probably safer for DS to cut grass than to drive to his job in this area.

been cutting grass at my own houses for over 20 years, and ran a lawn service in florida for 5 with over 200 customers. never had any injuries, other than an employee who l hit a yellow jacket nest.

wear eye and ear protection and don't stick your hands/feet under the mower. you'll be fine...

Two years ago when DH went overseas and I have chronic Lyme disease and work. $25 per week, MoCo, big yard too.

We do all our own yard work (1 1/2 acres) and our own house cleaning. Dh washes his own car but I cheat and take mine through the car wash.

We just always have.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up in Spring Valley in the eighties and recall that most families mowed their own lawns. Today, nobody does. What changed? And for that matter we used to trim our own hedges and plant our own shrubs. Now we don't do any of that. I feel like my children would have benefited from some menial labor.[/quote]


Isn't SV far richer now that it was back in the day?[/quote]

No, just a different kind of wealth. Back in the day people were wealthy but very modest......very few flashy cars and that sort of thing. Now it's more transient with families only staying for 4-5 years.

We are about half and half in Vienna. We had a lawn service for years but we both enjoy mowing the lawn. It's more about time. Now that the kids are getting older we may cancel it starting this year and do it ourselves again. We started outsourcing when we both WOTH and we had an infant and a toddler.

We stopped when we bought a weekend place. We do mow it ourselves there - 2/3 my husband and 1/3 me - but the yard there is a lot smaller.

[quote=Anonymous]I grew up in Spring Valley in the eighties and recall that most families mowed their own lawns. Today, nobody does. What changed? And for that matter we used to trim our own hedges and plant our own shrubs. Now we don't do any of that. I feel like my children would have benefited from some menial labor.[/quote]


Isn't SV far richer now that it was back in the day?

Illegal immigration has made everything less expensive. People are also lazy. Ergo, lawn cutting done by someone else.

In a few more weeks the area will be flooded with Eastern European young adults who will be working at swimming pools, beaches, and all the places American kids once worked. American kids are now sitting on their ever expanding asses in front of screens whilst mum and dads pay for their silence by indulging their whims.

Universal basic income is next for the States.