Bring On the $avings

As I talked about earlier, I found great motivation to go out and do some yard work after receiving a quote from a local landscaper. So, last Saturday I got up at a reasonable hour, had some breakfast and headed out to trim the privacy hedges in the back yard and the vines that grow over our deck.
The privacy hedges have basically gone untouched since we moved into the house except for my husband cutting back a few branches here and there so he could mow the lawn. Needless to say they needed a LOT of trimming.

before

after

Clearly there's still more work to be done, but it's definitely better. Will is going to have to trim the tops of the hedges - I'm not tall enough. Also, right toward the end I accidentally got the extension cord caught in the hedge trimmer.

Oops!

I took it as a sign that I should stop trimming those hedges. So, I decided to move on to trimming the vines.

before

after

I don't think the second picture shows just how many vines I cut back. Most of the trimming happened underneath so there weren't vines hanging down onto the deck. And I know it's important to make sure the vines don't reach the house (otherwise they could wreak havoc in any number of ways) so I cut back the vines that were getting unsettlingly close to the house.

Thinking about the quote from the landscaper kept me going. And now I'm glad I did the work. Who knows, maybe this will inspire me to do more work in the yard.

Considering that it only took me about an hour and a half to trim the hedges and the vines I'd definitely say I saved us some money (I think somewhere around $400!) - even if I did ruin an extension cord.