The Grass is Greener on the South Side

We don't have a whole lot of grass in the backyard due to our gigantic maple that shades our house and backyard (which is great for helping keep our house cooler, meaning less running of the central AC) but also makes growing grass a bit of a challenge. We have made some huge strides in that we have some grass now, as last summer it was all dirt. Our house was rented for a period of time before we purchased it and therefore the lawn was slightly neglected so slowly but surely we are literally sitting back and waiting for the grass to grow in (more). We still have lots of grass that needs mowing though!

Last summer we found a pretty decent Honda lawn mower on Craig's list for about 40 bucks. The only problem was that the self propel part did not work which meant a heavier piece of machine to push without the help of the self propel option. Also we lost a piece that helped hold the handle up, so this year Keith was struggling to mow trying to get the handle to keep up. But we broke down and made a green change!

ahh..Noel is keeping you in suspense!

We bought this! 

"Great States" Reel Mower

It has awesome reviews and we even got to test one out before we took the plunge ourselves (since our friends down the street lent us theirs after our gas mower went south). 

We actually ordered it on accident. Keith was doing a little online searching and when we went back in to look at this beauty on Amazon we somehow had our account set up to "one click" shopping and bam it was on it's way to South Side! But it was only $99 and we got free shipping, so it would have been the way we would have gone anyway. 

Some assembly was required, which did not need the use of any tools. Of course Moose always around to lend a helping paw

And there we have it! Our new human powered lawn mower...GO GREEN!! We even read that the emissions from a gas powered lawn mower can equal up to that of 11 cars!! YIKES! so earth...here's your hug from us :) 

So it's obvious why this was a eco-friendly green move for us. But it was also a wallet friendly move. As these baby's are way cheaper than the typical gas powered mower. But we held off on making this purchase until we had a yard sale to see some extra cash come in.

Last weekend we did a yard sale on Saturday only from 8am-1pm and got rid of a TON of stuff (recycle and reuse people!) and we pocketed some nice cash. Enough for us to purchase this and stock some away for some other things. So we got rid of a bunch of junk (one man's junk is another man's treasure) and got to buy something great! Happy Yard Sale season! 

Tangent Post:

One day it occurred to me how many throw away paper towels I was going through during Noel's meals! So I cleaned out the linen closet and grabbed a huge handful of wash cloths (that we have way too many of anyway) and they are now stashed in the kitchen so be easily wet and ready to wipe and I can use one for a whole day and then just toss it in the wash! Simple green solution for free :)

You can see how useful this can be!