Spending To Save Money

Some of the spending that we do is to buy things that save us money in the long run. Hubby made just such a purchase yesterday. 

As long time readers know, we have a landscape company come once a month, after the spring cleanup, right through October. They spend 3 hours here doing whatever needs to be done on our property. They plant perennials and bushes that we order through them. They do all the weeding, trimming of bushes, raking the lawn, raking leaves, splitting bulb plants, etc. One job that we added on last year was weed whacking around all of the stonework that we have around all of our garden beds. This weed whacking job only takes them 15 minutes a month. However at their hourly rate it is an expensive job that could free up time for something more important. 

The reason for this is two fold. Hubby always did his own work and has always loved working outside. But his back no longer lets him do it for any length of time. Prior to the landscape company doing this job, the neighborhood teenager offered to do the weed whacking around the stonework for $5.00 per time. Hubby said no that was too cheap and he offered him $15.00 every time he did it. It needs it every second mowing which is about once a week. Hubby also told him he could use our weed whacker and gasoline and oil. We were happy to give this teenager the job so that he could make some money. Plus this boy was planning on starting his own landscape company when he graduates and was very interested.

The teenager started out doing a good job. We would always pay him right away after he was done.  However after the first couple of times he came, he told us that he would rather use his Dad’s weed wacker because he was used to it. After a couple of months, he started do a lousy job. He would miss gardens and then one day he quit and went home without a peep to us. He had only done one side of the yard. Hubby called his house and found out that his weed whacker had broken and it needed to be repaired. It would have been nice if he had knocked on the door and told us why he left after only doing 1/2 the job. That took a month and he didn’t want to use ours in the interim. 

He started back up again and then he told us he was going away to work at a camp for a few weeks. Well okay, we would wait for him to come back. Then he returned and everything went smoothly. 

The last time he came, he told us that he and his family were going on a month long vacation in the southwest. Well when they returned, he never came again to do the job. Not a word from him. Our lesson was that he evidently did not want to work. We would never hire him again.

So we added this job on to the landscape company’s list. We are paying a lot just to get this job done and because they only come once a month, the stonework wasn’t getting trimmed as often as it should be.

So Hubby has been looking and researching weed whackers. He wanted a battery operated lighter weight one. One that he could easily use and not have it hurt his back too much.The gasoline and oil one we have is very heavy. He found this one pictured above that he had been researching at a great price in this week’s Home Depot ad. It not only included a battery operated weed whacker but a blower also for cleaning the edge of the stonework and driveway after he trims them. And it was only $149.00 for both. The cheapest price he had seen before this was $179.

So he went and purchased it and figured he would see if it was lightweight enough for him but would get the job done. After charging the battery, he went out to do the weed whacking of the gardens and trim the grass on the edges of the driveway. He also used the blower. He is very happy that both were light enough that he can do it once a week. I also think he enjoyed being able to do it. 

The $149. will pay for itself in just two trimmings by the landscape company. They will be freed up to do more tedious jobs. And Hubby is happy, so it is a win win.