Should I hire a lawn service to buy back time with my kids – or is that just frivolous spending?

No matter how much money you earn or how you like to spend, it’s perfectly okay to question whether something is considered frivolous or not. For many people, the need to avoid spending on things they can do themselves, such as lawn care, raises the question of what constitutes a necessary expense and what does not. 

This is exactly the decision one Redditor posting in r/DaveRamsey is talking themselves through. Taking multiple hours to mow his lawn every Saturday means he’s spending time away from his young kids on the weekend, rather than spending money on hiring someone else to do it. 

Getting Back Time

For the Redditor, it currently takes around 2-3 hours to mow his lawn, and as a result, he feels guilty about not spending this time with his two young children, who are under four. Because of his guilt, he’s explored what a lawn service would cost for mowing, trimming, and edging. The cost, he learned, is around $75 per week, which isn’t all that awful, all things considered, depending on the size of his lawn. 

However, as is typically the case with those who subscribe to Dave Ramsey’s financial advice, there is also a sense of guilt about unnecessary spending. He reasons that because he is physically capable of doing the lawn himself, he shouldn’t pay someone else to do it.

Working his way through Dave Ramsey’s “Baby Steps,” the Redditor is currently on step number 5, which is to save for his children’s college fund. With a household income of $380,000, there doesn’t appear to be a spending concern over this money, but whether or not it would be considered wasteful. Ultimately, this expense would be around $3,600 per year, which is money that could otherwise be invested. 

The Cost of Paying Someone

Knowing that Dave Ramsey wants you to invest in your retirement fund as part of the baby steps, the Redditor might be looking at this expense as what he would lose over time. For example, if the Redditor invests $3,600 annually into an investment account earning 6% interest, in 20 years, they would have $143,000. 

There is no question that this is a significant amount of money to lose over time, and it only grows in value if the Redditor is more aggressive with their investment strategy. However, there is another question that needs to be answered around the “cost” of paying someone. 

As multiple Redditors in the comment section point out, there is also the cost of missing out on time with family. There is no price tag you can put on the time spent with young children, and there is no way to get it back. The compounded investment in spending an additional 2-3 hours with young children during the week will be paid off in smiles, happiness, and love, something money cannot buy. 

For this Redditor, there is a huge difference here in hiring someone because he doesn’t want to do the work out of laziness rather than anything else. He knows exactly how this time can be better spent, and given that the cost of paying someone wouldn’t dramatically affect their household income, it’s okay to hire “help” so that this Redditor can do something else that is more meaningful. 

Give It a Try

The good news is that most lawn services don’t have any kind of contract, and you pay month-to-month, so the Redditor can give himself three months of paying and see how things go. If he finds that the time spent with the children fills his heart with joy and that the family can go out and do activities, then he knows it’s money well spent. 

Alternatively, if the Redditor learns that they have a three-hour window right now while the kids are napping, eating, or on a playdate, then it’s okay to do the lawn care themselves. Still, the likelihood is that this will be money well spent and that it will open the door for the family to do more on the weekends. 

Ultimately, this wouldn’t be considered frivolous spending by Dave Ramsey’s standards, since the Redditor has more than enough income to cover it. It would be one thing if the Redditor had to give up something else, like groceries, to pay for the lawn care. In this scenario, Dave would say it’s a bad idea. Thankfully, this isn’t the scenario, so the Redditor should try out the hired help and see how things go.