I’m cheap. I hate spending money on anything that…
- …I can do myself or
- …doesn’t bring me joy.
I think about the first one quite often. (I actually thought I’d written about it before, but if I have, I can’t find that post.) I call it the “tyranny of ability.” If I can do something, because of knowledge, ability, or having the equipment, I feel obligated to do it myself. I do my own maintenance on my cars and motorcycles. I build things and fix things around the house. I maintain my own lawn.
I'm cheap. I hate spending money on anything I can do myself. If I can do something, I feel obligated to do it. Click To TweetIt’s this last one that I want to talk about. I hate mowing the lawn.
There are lots of opinions on the return on investment of mowing your own lawn versus hiring a service, particularly based on your income level. The assumption they’re making, however, is that you’re using the time you gain to make money. If that were actually the case, this would be a no-brainer. But I’m not necessarily going to do that. I’m more likely to spend that time with my family, or riding my motorcycle. While there’s value in that beyond dollars, neither of those things pay for the lawn service.
I’m also not a lawn guy. If it’s green and reasonable-looking, I’m good. I’m not looking for “golf course,” I’m looking for “keep code enforcement off my ass.” But that’s not the major issue in my hatred of cutting the grass.
I’ve always had minor allergies to grass and a few other things. (Though strangely, I don’t suffer from seasonal allergies like many people do here in the southeast.) In the last couple years, however, those allergies seem to have grown worse. I can’t seem to mow the lawn without three days of allergic reaction. I’ve fought off this misery for the last couple years, but yesterday, after cutting the lawn at the house we’re giving back to the rental company, I realized something. I was guaranteed to be sick for three days, and I was doing it to myself.
I don’t like the idea of making myself sick, and I have a little experience with that. They type of cancer I’ve been lucky enough to have survived is caused only by two things – hepatitis, which I don’t have, and industrial solvent exposure. I spent years painting cars and cleaning my paint guns with xylene without any safety equipment. In essence, I gave myself cancer.
I’m not going to do things that make me sick anymore. No, three days of allergic reaction are not the same as lymphoma, and cutting the grass isn’t the same as breathing xylene. But in the end, I’m making myself sick when there are other options.
Anyone wanna buy a lawnmower?