Sitters How Do You Feel About Mowing lawns?

Our first experience with a swimming pool wasn’t a good one - I won’t go into detail. We had two more housesits with swimming pool where the homeowners had a pool person come in to take care of the pools and we felt much more comfortable with that.

It’s that time of year when grass seems to grow overnight!! I delegate mowing and strimming to Ian. I’m the weeder and tend to the plants and shrubs which I really enjoy. It’s something I’ve grown to love since we began house sitting because it doesn’t feel such a chore as when it was my own garden and I was working full-time :slight_smile: In this garden we are very pleased to have the ride-on especially as it collects the cut grass very efficiently.

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No problem at all, as long as the owner has appropriate equipment to do the job. We’ve done postage stamp-sized lawns with a push mower, larger ones with an electric rotary mower and up to an acre with a sitting tractor-style mower. Pools, lawns, gardens, etc. are usually within scope if sitters have experienced them with their own homes. My wife refers to it as my “alone time.” :slight_smile:

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I’ve not had to mow a lawn yet, but if the right equipment is provided, would, of course depending on the size.
Also, clearing snow - I’ve had a few sits where its been a possibility, but fortunately for me, have only had to sweep away a light dusting.

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Hi @toml Wait to you get to use a super charged snow blower … Alberta, Canada in the middle of winter, it can be a challenge to get the car out of the driveway.

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I LOVE mowing the lawn, being outside and being active. The bigger the lawn, the better. But I get that not everyone enjoys it as much as I do. :slight_smile:

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Are you a mower of perfect lines @MonicaS and who doesn’t love the smell of newly cut grass? Except poor people with allergies of course.

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Boys toys

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I’m happy to do gardening, and include that in my profile.

I once saw a sit in a location that appeals to me, which was a B&B, and the sit included some management of the business. I draw the line at that.

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Always strive for the perfect straight line but never quite achieve it.

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If my husband is with me, then no problem. If it’s just me, I’ll do it if they have an electric mower, but I don’t want to break anything. I would much rather they have someone else do the mowing. So far, I haven’t run into the situation.

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I have no experience mowing lawns and my husband does not enjoy it so we wouldn’t take a sit that included that and be rather put-out if we were asked after arriving.
We paid someone to cut our lawn for years and would personally never ask anyone to do it for no pay.

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It depends how big the lawn is. I’ve done it on long term sits w a regular sized lawn. I enjoy it! But short term I wouldn’t. Large scale yard only if it’s a ride on. Yeehaw!

Depends on the size of the lawn, whether it is steep, and the kind of mower. I sold a house in Minnesota that I had to cut the lawn on in 1991. When I owned house after that with lawns, I paid people to do it. And then I decided to live in condos and coops so I wouldn’t have to cut a lawn or shovel snow again! :wink:

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I have also had a few come up that wanted me to take care of an B&B full time. I felt like they really needed to hire someone as they also stated that you had to stay because of the business. But I also had another B&B that was closing during the time of the sit and offered to be available for their regular customers only.

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I have had 2 sits where the HO had a regular “lawn guy” come, and I found myself red-eyed and hardly to breathe for a couple days afterwards even though I was peacefully inside while the work was done. So unfortunately between newly-discovered allergies, and the risk that I would probably stick my foot under it and wind up in the hospital, lawncare is definitely not for me!

I still think it’s wonderful that so many other sitters enjoy and volunteer for this. Collectively, we should try to maintain a balance between generosity with our time and energy and making sure that HOs have realistic expectations of a voluntary sitter. The best HOs are the ones who appreciate but do not expect (or give negative reviews for the lack of) extras like lawncare from their sitters.

We have no problem with mowing lawns, gardening or even pool maintenance. To us, it’s all part of the package of house sitting. Works for us.

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Same here @anon1411559

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I do not apply for Sits of more than a 2 week duration, so I dont think that there should be the necessity, or stipulation for lawn cutting.
However, when one of my sits stated that “grass cutting would be appreciated”, I discussed the task with the Owner so that we were clear about expectations. We agreed that I would not undertake any grass cutting after finding out that the garden lawned areas contained sloped & terraced areas.
I enjoy gardening & have no problem in cutting a small - medium sized level lawn, provided that I can start the lawn mower. I am aware that often petrol lawn mowers in particular can be quite difficult to start.

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I guess it depends on where the sit is located. Where I live, the lawn needs to be cut at least once a week, often sooner. If it was left for 2 weeks, we would need a baler. :joy:

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