The Reel Benefits of Push Mowing

Saving green by cutting greens with something green.

As I briefly mentioned yesterday, I am a proud push reel lawn mower. Hmm, that doesn't sound right. Makes it seem like you're reading the blog of a lawn tool which would make you a crazy person. How about I am a proud user of a push reel lawnmower. That's better.

I'm not sure what got me interested in getting (permanently borrowing) one. Maybe it was an episode of Mad Men or maybe it was me trying to keep up with Mrs. K's hippie transformation. Whatever the case, we're over halfway through the mowing season and still going strong.

The main reason I'm still into it is that it's a time saver. Stay with me here. It does take about twice as long to mow the lawn BUT at the same time that I'm mowing the lawn I'm also getting my exercise, enjoying the outdoors, catching up on my favorite podcasts, and saving money. That's some awesome multitasking. Now it's gotten to the point where I actually look forward to going out and push mowing the lawn. Crazy, right?

As far as money saving, I figure I'm saving about $3 in gas per mowing which works out to maybe $60 per mowing season. Not that much by itself, but when you factor in that I'm keeping fat K at bay, it's definitely worth it. Plus, once I've convinced myself that I can keep up with it, I may even sell the rider, then we'd be talking serious savings.

After doing a bit of research for this post, that's right I don't pull all of this out of my keester (most, but not all), I found out there are some other benefits to push mowing that I didn't even realize.

No Air Pollution - I guess this is kind of obvious, I just never thought about it. Apparently I'm not as far along in my hippie transformation as Mrs. K. Yay environment.

No Noise Pollution - Now when I mow I don't have to look like I'm landing planes on a runway with my big ear protection head thing. I'm not sure if my neighbors appreciate the quietness of it, but in my mind I see them standing up and politely clapping whenever I break out the push mower.

Better Cut Grass - Supposedly the way a reel mower cuts is better for the grass because it is snipping it like a scissors instead of chopping or tearing it like rotary blade would. Pretend the grass is your hair or is it your hair is the grass...either way I think you'd rather have a scissors than a helicopter blade.

Lower Cost - I touched on my gas savings, but there's also savings on maintenance. Plus, if you are looking to purchase a new mower, a reel push mower is obviously much much cheaper.

It's not all rainbows and unicorns though. There's no skipping a mowing. Long grass + push reel mower = sad face. Keep that in mind. Also, you can't bag your lawn clippings. However, you shouldn't be doing that anyway because those clippings are free fertilizer.

Is a push mower for you? Well, according to people who know these things, if your lawn is less than 8,000 square feet which is 1/5 of an acre, then it just might be. I'm not so good with acres and square feet, but I can say that if it takes you less than 45 minutes to mow with a rider, you could do it with a push mower. If you fall within one of those categories, you might want to join me in the lawn mower devolution.

What do you use to mow your lawn? Do you have a lawn? Do you wish you had a lawn?