Four years later, we now have two out of three kids who mow the lawn! I still highly recommend getting one of these reel push mowers. The 5 reasons below still apply. Happy #TBT day! ~Aimee, TFF p.s. I need to add this item to my list on this previous post I did with Marilyn about quality items we own! Continue reading “#TBT: 5 Reasons to Own a Reel Push Mower (Including Teach Your Kid to Mow the Lawn!)”
In two years of using our push mower, we have not only saved gas, but added more frugal exercise to our already frugal regimen of running. Mowing the lawn with this thing on our .22 acre lot is quite the cross-training workout. In the summer, I can work up a great sweat.
I love it because it is nice and quiet. Most of all, it is an environmentally sustainable practice.
Have we gotten rid of our Circa 1980 Honda gas mower? No. Especially since you won’t find a more well-made Honda mower brand new! We have it for those stretches of summer days when the lawn grows faster than we can get to it. But with the price of a gallon of gas going up and up, you may want to look into stretching out your dollars with a good manual reel push mower.
Here’s an excerpt from Mother Earth News in 2002:
Reel Mowers: $100 to $225
Hand-pushed reel mowers offer multiple advantages over gas-powered mowers: no noise, no noxious air pollution, no danger of flying rocks, low maintenance and no worries about getting them started. Plus you get a great aerobic workout every time you use them, burning about 300 calories an hour.
The secret to easy cutting with these mowers is frequent mowing. If you let the grass get too long, the reel mower blades will tend to bind up or take an inordinate amount of pushing to get the mower through long grass. Cut when the grass is no more than an inch longer than you want it. A quarter acre (100 feet by 160 feet) of lawn can be cut in about an hour with a reel mower. For areas larger than that, you may want to go to a walk-behind, gas-powered cutter, either push or self-propelled.
As always, do the research before buying. As you can tell, I am partial to Mother Earth News, the Original Guide to Living Wisely.
~Aimee, TFF
Related links:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/Push-Reel-Lawn-Mower.aspx
Two Frugal Fairfielders 