Junk mail is a problem. Not only does it create a tremendous waste of wood and water to produce, but most of it is transferred straight from our mailboxes to a landfill.

Perhaps you are lucky and barely receive any [...]]]> I’m referring to the tangible kind here, not the virtual junk mail known as SPAM.

Junk mail is a problem. Not only does it create a tremendous waste of wood and water to produce, but most of it is transferred straight from our mailboxes to a landfill.

Perhaps you are lucky and barely receive any junk mail, but if you’re like most of us, you receive several pieces a day. No thank you BoA, I don’t want a loan for my child’s education (which is especially funny since I have no children). No thanks, Terminex. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. What’s this? A group who will pray for me if I pay them $20? Um… I’ll pass.

So, that begs the question:

For myself, I have arrived at the perfect answer. My wife and I own a house, and especially when the weather cools we like to sit on our back porch next to our lovely fire pit. All the junk mail that we receive, plus the remains of legitimate mail, become kindling for a nice evening fire.

There is nothing quite like sipping a glass of red wine while basking in the warm glow of all of those magazine and worthless credit card offers.

To be fair, I always scan the junk mail, as some of my best credit card sign-up bonus offers have been in the form of targeted mail. Anything that fails inspection goes straight to the burn pile!

As an ancillary benefit, I can take the ashen remains of the junk mail and use it as fertilizer for our garden.

So, dear reader, what do YOU do with your junk mail?

The [...]]]> I have owned a home now for a little over a year. One “joy” that most homeowners have is that of mowing the lawn. In the Midwest anyway, grass-mowing season usually begins in April and can last until October. When it rains frequently, I usually have to mow my grass at least once a week.

The Problem

As I am sure you know, gas prices have steadily been on the rise for a long time now, so why waste extra gas money each week on a lawnmower? Last year my wife and I decided to buy a “reel” mower instead.

Yes, a reel mower is like those “old-timey” mowers that your great, great grandfather complained about, but they have advanced much since then. When I bought mine last year (like the one pictured), the checkout clerk surprisingly swore that I would hate it. Well, I admit that it took me a while to get used to it, but now I have no desire to go back to the gas-powered kind.

Usage

The model I bought is the 5 Blade16″Reel Mower (pictured). It has a 16-Inch wide cutting blade. For a residential area, my lawn is medium-sized. It takes me roughly 60 – 75 minutes to mow my entire lawn. With a gas-powered push mower, it took me roughly 45 minutes to mow my lawn. Considering that I’m not burning any gas, I’m alright with a few extra mowing minutes each week.

Does it cut well? Yes and No. For starters, you have to make sure that your lawn is free of most debris, such as sticks, because the blade will lock if it encounters something that it cannot cut. Provided that the lawn is clean, it cuts like a charm. I very rarely have to go over a section again. When I first bought it, I was skeptical that it would cut grass at all, but I was pleasantly surprised at how effective it was.

Is it hard to push? Not really. It’s certainly more difficult than a self-propelled push mower, but its light weight is an advantage. If I skip a week or two of mowing and the grass is really thick, then it’s more difficult, but I’ve never had to give up in frustration.

Really Tall Grass

The main difficulty with a reel mower is cutting grass taller than about eight inches, such as bahaya grass, or grass stalks that are seeding. These tall stalks just tend to bend over while the blade goes over them. The first time I encountered this, I rolled over a patch, then watched helplessly as the stalks rolled back up to their original posture. Thankfully my grass only seeds for a couple of weeks each spring, so I just attacked the stalks with a pair of shears.

Savings

Gas in my area is currently about $3.30 a gallon. My little reel mower cost me at least $50 less than a decent gas-powered push mower, plus I’d estimate that it saves me at least two gallons of gas a month. If each mowing season is roughly six months long, that means I’m saving roughly $35-40 each year in gas alone. Plus, I never have to worry about oil changes in the mower, or changing the spark plug, and other common maintenance tasks.

When I bought my reel mower, I simply walked into a hardware store and bought the cheapest one I could find. If I could do it again now, I think I would opt for one with a wider cutting blade, such as this Scotts 20-Inch Push Reel Mower. It has a 20-Inch cutting blade, which should trim the time it takes to cover my lawn versus my current 16-Inch mower.

As a side benefit, I get some exercise as well as the comfort that I am not spending any more money on gas.