Yard Tools aka The Worst Things to Spend Money On

You know I bought a house which is an awesome thing to be able to do, but there are things I didn't know when I bought a house. Okay, let me rephrase that, there are things I didn't think about before I bought a house. How I would care for my yard was one of those things.

I bought my house in January so yard work was very far from my mind when I signed all my paperwork, but spring came soon enough and I found myself with an overgrown yard and no tools to care for it.

I started to research lawnmowers and checking craigslist for used ones, but nothing was catching my eye so I decided to buy a new one. After much internal debating I decided to buy an electric mower as opposed to a gas powered one. I make a lot of bad environmental choices (I drive an SUV), but I try to do my part in other ways like recycling so I figured buying an electric mower would be an easy way for me to be conscientious.

I decided to buy this one:

It is a Task Force 12-amp electric push mower (available for purchase here). It was $169 which was by far the most boring $169 I have ever spent. Despite how annoying it was to pay that much for something, I seriously love this mower. I don't particularly love mowing the grass but it's not that bad really, it just takes a lot of time. The reason I love this mower is because it is lightweight and easy for me to maneuver  The limit to using an electric mower is that you are literally tied down with a cord so this only works for smaller lawns. My lawn is about 4,000 square feet which is just about the perfect size to use an electric mower. 

I honestly don't remember how long the cord I got is, but I think it's like 100 ft or something. 

Once I got a lawnmower I felt empowered about what yard work I could accomplish so I got more yard tools!

The next item on my list was a weed wacker. I decided on this one:

It is a Toro 8" cordless trimmer (not sure what the 8" refers to... the length of the plastic string maybe?). It was $49.99 (available here) and it was the most boring $49.99 I've ever spent. But even though it was boring money to spend I do like this trimmer. It has a chargeable battery, so it's cordless which is very convenient. It may not be powerful enough for a guy but for me it is the perfect size and amount of power.

After I bought these two large and expensive tools I was tapped out but then after a few weeks I decided I needed a few more things.

It is probably overkill but I actually find it satisfying to sweep my porch and sidewalks after I mow. I feel old-timey. 

I do not rake up my grass clippings because that is insane. But I do use my rake a few times a year after I trim the front bushes. 

This is the trimmer I got a few weeks ago:

I wrote about it here. While it is helpful to an extent, this little trimmer was definitely not worth $49.99. I am still debating about whether or not I should return this tool, but for now I still have it. 

So those are all of the yard tools I had to buy. It was nearly $300 worth of merchandise that I totally didn't even budget for. Yikes! That is my big piece of advice for the day: If you are new to homeownership don't forget to budget for yard tools!

Do you feel the same way I do about buying yard tools?