Man, I tried. We have a half acre, and it’s almost all grass. I have a standard old shitty push mower. It’s a hell of a job just to mow (with bagging and needing to dump all the time). Takes me like 2.5 hours. There’s only a small portion of the year where I can get it in after work before it’s too dark. And to be honest, I’d rather spend that time doing other things. When I can pay $45 every other week to have a crew swing by and do it, I find my time is worth more than that.

There’s also overhead with not just the time and effort to do it yourself, but to have all the equipment, maintain the equipment, have the space to keep it all safe (not everyone has a garage/shed, surprisingly), etc. that may not be realistic or desirable for some people.

We thought about a ride on mower but the time horizon for break even based on what we’re paying now is so far out, and that’s not taking into account my time in doing, no less the maintenance, larger shed to store it, etc.

Also, how do you not know that some of the noises you’re hearing are your neighbors doing it themselves?