I have about an acre of property that I have been maintaining myself for the past 5 years. I have a tractor that I can use on about 80% of it but the other 20% is on too sleep of a slope so I push mow that. For my birthday/Father's Day my lovely wife said she would pay a lawn service to cut the grass for the remainder of the summer - this will not only save about 3 hours of my life every time I mow but removes the stress over when my schedule and the weather will allow me to do it.

So I get the estimate today and the guy says his company will mow 3 times per month through Thanksgiving (plenty, especially in July-Sep) for $105 and the last month is free. So essentially 15 mowings for $420 ... or $28 per effort. Again, this is an acre with about 80 trees to deal with.

Then he says he will do all lawn treatments (fertilizer, Grub-Ex) for $68 per application. I do it myself right now and the fertilizer alone costs me $100. So I can save $32 and watch someone else do it.

Has this industry gotten THAT competitive? How stupid have I been to do it myself for this long ... I run almost daily so the exercise benefit is minimal.