Among Friends

[Desert Lily]

I'm glad to hear you've chosen not to worry. My brother lives back east and recently retired. He has a large lot, a riding lawn mower, and lots of plantings to keep trimmed. He has often told me about having the mower maintained, how he couldn't cut the shrubs due to rain, etc. He finally hired a lawn service that comes every 2 weeks. He said they get everything done quickly, and it's inexpensive. 

[151949]

The main reason we moved into a plan with an HOA was that they do the yard care.That leaves us free to come up to Pa. and not have to worry about it.

[BadWolf]

That may work fine in the country, in the city, however, I am sick of lazy neighbors who do not pick up their leaves.  Naturally, they all blow over into my land.  So tired of being the unpaid neighborhood gardener!

[KarenQVC]

Last week DH made a peep about doing the lawn.  I hired a lawn service the next day and now he is so happy.  When you are in the mood make the change.

My grandmother stroked out while doing the lawn--no joke.

[Laura14]

@hoosieroriginal  Raising my broken wrist courtesy of caring what the neighbors thought about an untamed bush and yelling "You go girl!!"  

[AuntG]

You have the right idea.  I literally need to pull our blinds when my OCD neighbor starts mowing her lawn.  She mows twice as often as the rest of us, and is so particular.  We mow when it needs it, and I only trim around the landcaping once a month.

[onlyshopsonline]

@hoosieroriginal  I came to the exact same conclusion several years ago.  I stopped obsessing over the little details...and some big ones, LOL!

Life's too short.  My house is neat and clean.  Our grass is mowed.  I didn't get around to planting flowers in my flower boxes this year, AND I'm ok with that.  

I spent the afternoon chatting online and sewing. Because that's exactly what I felt like doing!

[granny me]

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@Puppy Lips wrote:

Good for you!  I know I spend too much time doing stupid things that don't matter in the long run.  I need to get out more and expand my horizons a bit and get involved in some community activities.

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I just signed up to help out in two Boys and Girls Club events. One will be to help shop for school clothes and they other keeping score at one of their golf trips.

[Group 5 minus 1]

One of the first things that attracted me to DH was the fact that he didn't mow.

[Financialgrl]

As you age, I think it's easy to adapt to your present situation.  I lived in a large home on 3.5 acres - that home needed to serve a purpose (dad lived with me when he could not live alone and I had siblings there on and off to help me with him) but situations change (dad died, brothers eventually moved).  When that happened I adapted in steps - first hired someone for yardwork/clean the house once a month.  Then I did something I swore I'd NEVER do  - move to an over 55 community.  This is NOT a continual care facility - I selected a home model and had it built - here it's all single family homes, no townhomes or villas but homes are very close (as in most all over 55's).  

I travel a lot and the HOA fees here include snow removal in individual driveways/sidewalks and each homeowner has the ability to pay $56/month to have your yardwork done (mow/weed/fertilize/aerate/mulch) - so I pay for that.  Most ppl here moved from out of state to be closer to their children and to make life easier and simpler.  There are a LOT of single women here - many moved here as couples but stayed when they lost husbands bc its a much easier way of life.  Once situations change (medical issues or things become overwhelming as you age) there will be options out there.  I love it here bc everything I hate to do is done for me but for that I gave up living in a gorgeous rural quiet setting.