4/26/08

4 Acres - No Mule

There are days when havin a whole bunch of yard is a whole bunch of pain in the azz. With land, big A house, a driveway that is 1/4 mile long comes MAINTENANCE. For future reference, when choosing a home, there is more than just if you can afford the note to consider. You need to find out if , in addition to the mortgage, can you afford the utilities, water & MAINTENANCE that goes along with the BIG A house. Plus you DO wanna be able to eat sometimes.

Let me give you some examples that goes with this 4 Acres with No Mule:
- Lawn mowing: Do it yourself every weekend at about 4 hours+ (industrial riding mower 6K+) OR hire a service at $70/week

- Lawn Maintenance: Weeding, Fertilizing, Edging. Spring Cleanup (remove leaves, weeding, planting & removal, new mulch (approx 70-100 bags)) - DON'T EVEN ASK or Do it yourself. Manual Labor SUCKS.

- Repave/Seal Driveway every 5+ years: Not even a question about doing it yourself. We just had to have it done and shared the cost with our neighbors. Total $3800.

- Well & Septic - clean it/condition ever 3 years. Approx. $500/service and your eyebrows will fall off from the stench every time.

- Window Washing - 30 Windows + all glass sun room. AWE HELL. I simply cringe at the thought.

There are more things (not including just maintaining the inside) but I'm exhausted just thinking about it. (Roof, well pump, caulking, appliances, just plain cleaning, whew!) Now don't get me wrong, we love our home, but there are days like today as I'm sucking down some painkiller and Ron is stinkin' up the house with B.en.Ga.y that I miss the days of a homeowners association. Out here in the country - we don't have a HOA. We have covenants, but nobody is really going around putting a sticker on your door about to fine you for have a green door vs a beige door. You can't put your car engine on blocks out here, but you can have a tractor or horse if ya wanna. N E WAY.

We spent the day cleaning up the yard. We did hire a up & coming young man who needed some quick cash to help us out today and we got to it. I unveiled the grill and scrubbed, cleaned and wiped until it was gleaming. Tested it and we are ready to go. Prolly gonna fire it up tomorrow and do some shrimp on the barbie. Ron cleared debris from the edge of "the forest" and piled up wood/kindling for the outdoor patio. We cleaned the deck, and got all the furniture ready for use (and used it). We washed down the patio furniture covers and let them dry for summer storage. Our young helper weeded and got all of the fall leaves out, trimmed all the bushes and reeds and cleaned up all the mess (put it out in "the forest") - that back acre is good for something.

We were done before the sun went down. Ate dinner on the deck and are now relaxing. Next time, I hire an entire team and work on mastering my supervisory skills.

5 comments:

  1. And you wonder why we sold the 150 acre farm....LOL!

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  2. Anonymous8:32 PM

    Wow! My homestead is 3 acres smaller and I know my pain so I can only imagine yours! I miss those days of just calling the landlord. We had to have our septic system cleaned last year and the smell was even more painful than the costs. Lawn service just went up because of the rising fuel costs so my hubby WAS determined to do it himself. That all changed when he learned that zero turn mowers are ALMOST the same price as his Harley!

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  3. Working together in the yard, sitting back enjoying the fruits of your labor. PRICELESS!!!

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  4. I can so feel you on this post! The yard that made us fall in love with our house, is the same yard that's taunting us to get out there and WORK. I'm looking for a nice local teenager who wants to make a few bucks, but no luck yet. Enjoy the bbq!

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