5 Reasons RYOBI Outdoors Will Save Your Sanity

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As tough as I may seem with a power tool in hand, the truth is that I used to be pretty wimpy when it came to having the courage to use lawn tools. I know….hard to believe, but it’s true! But something happened with RYOBI Outdoors that turned me from a scared little girl into an “Outdoor Ninja,” and saved my sanity right along with it. 🙂

 

5 Reasons Ryobi Will Save Your Sanity - RYOBI Outdoors - Thrift Diving

 

Before we moved into this single-family home, we used to live in a beautiful 3rd-floor condo. READ: the only thing that needed grooming was the curly bush on top of my head. HA!

We had absolutely no concept of what it meant to take care of a single-family home. I laugh at that 33-year-old version of myself years ago, so naive to think we’d move into this house and somehow turn it into some magical Wonderland called “HOME” so quickly. So naive! {{{insert palm slap here HERE}}}.

In these 4 years since living here, though, I’ve learned a few “basics” about how to care for the outside of my home, even if I don’t have the time to do it as often as I should.

(You should also check out my furniture makeover Project Gallery to see how I’ve turned my house into a home).

Sanity Saver #1 – You don’t have to wait for your spouse.

I kid you not….I was a lawn mower virgin. They scared the heck out of me! How in the world do you even start one? I could only envision yanking some exhausting string until the motor would turn over. And don’t get me started on the sound…  I hated the loud, obnoxious sound of lawnmowers. When RYOBI sent me their 40-volt electric lawnmower, I’m proud to say that I didn’t have to wait for my husband to get the job done! Weekends when he’s working, the kids and I can go outside and I can knock it out quickly (and much more quietly!)

 

Sanity Saver #2 – You never run out of gasoline.

The RYOBI 40V series of outdoor equipment runs on battery only! Seriously, I can’t tell you how awesome this is. Gasoline scares me. I’m always afraid the kids will get their hands on it, or it will spill over in the garage. I don’t have to worry about that with the 40V battery-powered lawnmower, chainsaw, string trimmer, etc. And no trips to the gas station to fill up the gasoline can just to finish a job because of running out of gas. The electric lawn mower comes with two batteries–one to power it and the other onboard battery to switch out when the other battery dies. LOVE THAT. And each battery runs about 30 minutes. When you own several RYOBI tools, you’ve got spare batteries around. Just make sure they’re all charged in case one runs out.

 

Battery powered lawn mower from RYOBI Outdoors - Thrift DIving

 

Sanity Saver #3 – It doesn’t make you feel like you’ve just climbed Mount Everest.

One thing I hate about traditional lawn mowers is that they’re heavy and difficult to push. But my RYOBI electric lawn mower is very light and it just goes. I have a slight slope to my front yard and pushing the lawn mower up and down it doesn’t make me feel like I just competed in the Olympics or climbed Mount Everest. 🙂

 

Sanity Saver #4 – They’re Easy to Start!

This……is so important. I hate the thought of pulling a lawn mower cord until my arm feels like it’s hanging by a rubber band because it’s so exhausting. With the electric lawn mower, you just push the button, pull the handle, and you’re in business. The other tools have simple starts, too. Even better, that come ready-to-use out of the box without much assembly! That gets 5 stars in my book.

 

Sanity Saver – They’re Made for Women

Well, not trying to be a sexist idiot here, but I sincerely believe this: RYOBI Outdoor tools are made for women. They’ll probably hate me for saying that. We don’t want to exclude men. And clearly, some woman are very capable of using gas-powered tools. But this woman here much prefers the battery-operated, easy to start tools over the gas-powered one. They have just as much power, while still being easy to maneuver. Plus, they’re good for the environment. Environmentally-conscious men and women will appreciate that.

 

Curb Appeal??……..WHAT Curb Appeal??!

I admit that my house has very little curb appeal, though. Before I jump in and tell you how RYOBI sort of saved my sanity, let me show you the unpretty side of my outdoors. Actually, that would encompass all sides of my house…but you know what I mean….. I spent all day cleaning up the whole front yard, clearing the leaves, and mowing.

This, my friends, is how my house looked “before,” and how well it’s cleaned up after about an hour and a half of clean-up. There’s nothing pretty here, except the painted front doors in a punch of red. But otherwise, this is the time of year that it’s THE.WORSE.MESS.EVER.

BEFORE

 

5 reasons you should use RYOBI outdoors lawn equipment - Thrift Diving

AFTER – In Progress!

I still need to pressure wash the walk-way and hang a wreath.

 

RYOBI Outdoors lawn equipment cleans porch - Thrift Diving

Thank God for the RYOBI 40V leaf blower! This thing is a godsend. Just make sure you have more than one 40-volt battery on hand. I went through three batteries clearing the front yard.

RYOBI Outdoors leaf blower - Thrift Diving

I ran out of leaf bags, so I was left with big piles of leaves.

But the good thing about big piles of leaves is that they make awesome backdrops for beautiful toddler boys that like to help with yard work 😉

 

Lying in the leaves - Thrift Diving

 

BEFORE

Leaves covering the driveway - Thrift Diving

AFTER

Whew….. Now I don’t feel like the worse house on the block! My RYOBI pressure washer is broken, so as soon as I get a new one, I’ll finish the clean-up of our driveway.

Leaves cleaned up from the driveway - Thrift Diving

I stashed and stored pallets next to the house and they’ve been sitting there for…..oohh….just 2 months or more…… But aside from that, see how the leaves just congregate all over my property? Ugh…

BEFORE

Leaves in the yard - Thrift Diving

AFTER

I need more lawn bags!

Leaf pile in the yard - Thrift Diving

The only thing cute here are my cozy socks, swallowed in the sea full leaves….

Leaves in the driveway with feet - Thrift Diving

Our yard isn’t that big, but with the number of trees we have surrounding our house and lining our street, it’s hard to keep up with it.

Yard with lots of leaves. - Thrift Diving

 

Mommy’s little helper.

 

Son helping to clear the leaves - Thrift Diving

 

My House Overwhelms Me

So enter RYOBI Outdoors…. I was blessed to have an opportunity to partner up with them to learn about some of the amazing outdoor tools they offer. They flew me and a handful of other bloggers to their Headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina to see their whole operations and to test out their tools. Talk about honored!

The opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time. We had a lawn mower, but it scared me. LOL. I had never used gas-powered anything (other than my car, HA!), so the thought of using our gas-powered lawn mower, well….I just didn’t. I left all the yard work to hubby. And when he was busy, it just didn’t get done.

(Lately, have been busy, too, so that’s why our outdoors is looked so raggedly…but I digress….).

Ryobi had sent me a bunch of their outdoor tools to try out (blogger benefits!), and then write about them. I showed you in the spring how the Ryobi hedge trimmers were so awesome at shaping up my bushes. But I haven’t had an opportunity until now to really show you how amazing some of the other tools are, like their Ryobi 40-volt electric lawn mower.

Serena with RYOBI Hedge Sweeper - Thrift Diving

And I’m not just saying they’re amazing because they gave me tools to try out. I’m saying it because it’s the truth.

I don’t think I could clean up my yard the way I do without Ryobi tools. 🙂

 

One More Project on the Horizon

This past weekend I was trying out the RYOBI 14-in. 40V chainsaw. I admit–I HAVE NEVER USED A CHAINSAW UNTIL THIS WEEKEND. It was yet another tool that scared the living crap out of me. But somehow, take away the gas and complexity of starting it, and it was a breeze! I felt like an Outdoor Ninja 🙂

Serena with RYOBI Chainsaw - Thrift Diving

 

I even got an idea of what to do with these hunks of old tree trunks in my yard……Can you guess? 🙂

 

Serena with RYOBI Chainsaw cutting tree trunk - Thrift Diving

This chainsaw runs on the same 40V battery as the lawnmower. Pretty cool, huh? You can switch them back and forth, from job to job.

Ryobi chainsaw

 

 Don’t Forget Safety!!

And, of course, I have to remind you, that even though these tools are much easier to use than gas-powered tools, they’re still tools, and they’re dangerous. Keep these things in mind when using any type of lawn equipment:

  • Wear long sleeves
  • Keep your hands covered with gloves
  • Take off your jewelry
  • Pull back long hair
  • If it’s loud, wear ear protection
  • ALWAYS wear eye protection, like my cute little almost 3-year-old, Kojo, demonstrates here :).

 

Son with safety googles - Thrift Diving

 

Keep Reading

So what kind of outdoor tools do you use? Do you use gas-powered outdoor tools or electric? How do you manage to keep your outdoors looking clean and tidy? Leave a comment below and add to the discussion!

Disclaimer: Ryobi Outdoors gave me some of their lawn tools to use, but all writing and opinions are my own. You know it!

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5 Comments

  1. Hi Serena. Ryobi is so cool brand for this type of jobs. Thank you so much, sharing this cool post with us.

  2. Anna Ibarra says:

    That is great work Serena, you make it look easy enough. I also live in a treelike neighborhood. Our Oaks are what sell our homes. They are wonderful during summer, but holy moly, our FALL comes during the early spring when the leaves fall so much. So much work. I had a leaf mower, but my yard is on a slant and didn’t work well. I have a yard service, mainly cause I have so many islands and when I edged I mutilated the grass. The edges were so hard to handle or heavy. And since my hubby is a disabled vet he couldn’t do at all. Got my son to do it, he did okay ( on his defense, being military we rarely had a yard to mow- so he didn’t always get the training as your little one here showing us the way to do it.) But my son also had severe allergies, so reason why I got the lawn service. I still rake the leafs and bagged them, doing some trimming, but I love the that Ryobi chainsaw, I got one but barely cuts a Mountain laurel, and those are small trees. Have you seen on Pinterest what you can do with those thin cut tree trunks. Cute pumpkins. However, if Roybi get a leaf lawnmower, I’d love to see one.

    1. YES, a leaf lawn mower! That’s what I want. Something to suck up the leaves. I can totally understand you paying for leaf service. I wish I could afford it. Then again, it seems like a waste of money on my part. I did all that work yesterday and wouldn’t you know when I came home today, they were all back! HAHA!

  3. We live in the country, surrounded by corn fields on 3 sides. So we don’t worry about raking leaves, as they typically blow away. And crap from the corn field blows in. 🙁

    Love the look of that lawnmower! It looks like a little sports car! LOL

    1. You’re lucky you don’t have to, Kathy! You probably don’t have many people riding by either, so you can get away with it. I wish we could! Lol

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