What’s Gotta Stay

Yesterday we had some landscaping rock delivered to our house. After moving in to our new home we built a couple of years ago, we have slowly been working on different parts of our yard. To the side of our home we have some raised garden boxes and paver stone paths that we wanted to fill in with gravel. I took a few snapshots to show the finished product so you can visualize what I am talking about.

A little history is in order here to give background to the situation. Doing our own landscaping has been a budgeting decision, allowing us to save on the cost of paying a company to get the work done, and also to do it in stages when finances allow. We also do (generally) enjoy doing it, though at times it can be fairly taxing, especially when the work is just a matter of lugging dirt and rock from the street to where we want it placed. We have had so many yards of dirt, manure, and who knows what else placed I shudder to recall all the wheelbarrow trips I have made.

So, with this background in mind, when the almost 5 cubic yards of rock was dropped at our curb, you can image I was someone less than excited at the prospect of lugging it all to its final destination. We had heard from some neighbors of their hiring a couple of teenage brothers, ages 16 and 14, to help them with some of the manual labor tasks. The boys were represented as hard workers and eager to earn money, so we were ready to give them a try. If they could help us get the job done quicker at a reasonable cost, we figured it was well worth it.

I am happy to report that they cut what would have been an entire afternoon of effort into just over an hour. As the saying goes, “Many hands make light work.” Large tasks become small when divided among several people. These boys worked hard, and even a little harder when I was working right beside them of course, and the job went fast. We paid them well, which made them eager to return for future work, but it was worth every dollar. It was by far cheaper than hiring “professionals” for the job, yet these boys likely worked harder and accomplished more in the time than someone who did that kind of work every day.

There was good karma to be had all around. We benefitted from their efforts. They were happy to earn the money. These boys are learning the value of hard work and the ability to earn money. They left our house to go just down the street to another house with some other yard work to be done. I admire these boys for their willingness to get a little sweat on their brow to earn some money, and it reminded me of my youth where my parents encouraged me to the do the same. I look back fondly on my entrepreneurial lawn business at 13 years old that brought in a surprising profitability for someone of my age.

So next time you look at your yard and see a need for a variety of things to be done, consider hiring a local kid for at least part of what needs to be accomplished. You will reap the rewards, and so will they.