As I was mulling over my article topic of choice on this crisp, sunny, beautiful fall Sunday in December in Michigan, something profound hit me: the high pitch whine from a chorus of dastardly leaf blowers. And it got me thinking…
“Why in the world would anyone buy a leaf blower?”
Yet, many people do. In fact, most people with leaves and a yard do. But why?
Before you question my criticism of this “life changing” device without having ever used one, you should know that one of the worst gifts I’ve ever received in my life was… you guessed it: a leaf blower.
I begrudgingly tried to give it a shot out of guilt, thinking “Perhaps I am missing something profound here. Perhaps this false wind machine could dramatically enhance my life. Perhaps it could fill the emptiness inside of me – allow me to transcend my yard work and finally become a completely whole spiritual being” – or something like that.
It didn’t. Nothing of the sort. In fact, I found the entire experience of using a leaf blower to be absolutely miserable in EVERY SINGLE WAY.
- I had to pay for a toxic mix of fossil fuels to power the device.
- I had to spew toxic fossil fuels in to the atmosphere during its use.
- I don’t have noise-cancelling ear muffs, so I probably lost a little bit of my hearing.
- I smelled like a gas station when done and had to immediately shower and wash my clothes.
- I got less physical activity (some may see this as a good thing?).
- I blew dirt, pollen, and other particulates in to the air.
- I ruined the quiet peace on fine-weathered fall days for myself and for the neighbors around me.
- I may have caused a bit of nerve damage in my hand from the ridiculous vibration levels created by the machine.
- I was left with upkeep maintenance on the machine to keep it working.
But here’s the kicker: that stupid thing didn’t even save me any time! And I still had to go over parts of the yard to remove stubborn leaves with a rake. YES, a “rake”. You know… that silly piece of wood with plastic teeth on the end of it. That simple peasant’s too that that burns zero fossil fuels, that is incredibly quiet, that results in a feel-good workout, that causes no nerve damage, that has no upkeep, and that actually picks up and moves all the leaves exactly where you want them to go. That costs just $10 or less. A rake.
The leaf blower is the object of my consumerism gone wrong scorn today, but we are all surrounded by similarly wasteful devices every single day. Devices that were never considered to be a “need” 100 years ago, and aren’t even imagined in present times in the large majority of countries, many without clean running water or electricity. Devices such as popcorn poppers, ice cream makers, egg cookers, gas mowers, wine fridges, robotic vacuums, the slightly newer/thinner mobile device, giant SUV’s to haul around groceries once a week… you get the idea.
Some of these devices may not be as glaringly ridiculous as the leaf blower, and if you’re not careful, you may justify their purchase. Or, worse, conformity may lead you to see the item as a rite of passage (“device of passage”, if you will) for any person with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, need to transport, deck, bathroom, or yard with leaves. Lifestyle inflation (aka lifestyle creep) is often a slow creep – not something that smacks you in the face with its obviousness. It’s a constant battle between contentment vs consumerism.
The message I’d like to leave you with is this: Question. Every. Purchase.
No purchase in your life should be a given. No purchase should be assumed to be beneficial just because other people buy it. Ask yourself if this purchase is really, and I mean REALLY going to improve your life. If not – don’t buy it.
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I understand why you don’t see the need for a leaf blower, it reminds me of people that promote using a non-powered push mower for their lawns. And if I had a tiny city people lot I might understand but I’ve got a two acre plot surrounded by 800 acres of wooded wetlands and you probably don’t understand the enormity of the winter leaf fall for us. A gasoline leaf blower and lawnmower are better than sliced bread for us. We can’t even go play tennis on the free courts in town without taking a blower and as a FIRE achieved couple who are competitive tennis players that’s serious for us. Please don’t judge us for saving hours every week of the only truly precious resource we have, time. We don’t avoid exercise, We’ve distance run tens of thousands of miles and played many hundreds of tennis matches. But we’d rather not waste time inefficiently moving leaves around when we deal with them by the ton.
There are battery powered blowers now.
Right, I’ve got a lot of cordless tools and I am familiar with their capabilities and lack of power. They are nice for situations where you can put up with a weak blower that only lasts a few minutes. It might have enough juice for a tennis court but it wouldn’t stand a chance in our yard.
I LOVE my leaf blower.
It electric and it converts over to a mulcher too..
As a single woman who has now owned 2 properties I would have had to hire men to clean my yard, and that would have meant to spend more money than if I did the lawn work myself.
My first yard was 0.33 acres and it would take me every weekend throughout fall to get every leaf out of my yard. That’s why I bought …
my 2nd home and 0.1 acres, I was able to clean the yard and finally got it all done this weekend.
The author was merely giving an example of a consumer good that was gifted to him for which he had zero utility for and was a net drag on his efficiency and productivity. I don’t think he was hating on those who do use such devices. It might be snarky but this is a millennial finance blog after all. The point of his post should not be lost – certain goods have a high utility for done and zero for others and as buyers we need to honestly and frankly assess where on that spectrum a potential purchase will fall.
Bingo. What is one man’s ‘junk’ is another man’s ‘treasure’. Items have different utility for different people. A leaf blower is not only a useless device for me, but it’s a negative in every single way over a much simpler, cheaper, more pleasant device. And I have more trees in my yard than anyone else in my neighborhood. But that’s not the point of this article. The point is that when we sleepwalk through purchases, without question, we often end up with an army of expensive, unnecessary, high maintenance junk that we think we need – but really don’t.
Good point, I stand corrected. I often think why would anyone have an indoor dog or cat, yuck, but the fact is many people get great enjoyment from them and just because I don’t get it doesn’t make them wrong. I’m in the tiny minority of boomer, rural, flyover state readers. I needed that Drake!
I think it comes down to doing what’s right for you. I’ve always thought leaf blowers were silly. Mostly because people tend to just blow the leaves off their property and stick neighbors with their leaves. Kinda rude!
I have a corded leaf blower that is quiet and not very powerful, but it’s more than adequate. It’s the only thing that’s worked to get the leaves out of the river rocks surrounding our house. Each property is different. This is my second house and we’ve converted the first to a rental… Given the rental’s landscaping I would laugh if my renters asked for a leaf blower, then I’d ask which neighbor they planned to blow the leaves to :)
I have to take umbridge with the popcorn popper! My wife and I have one that we use every few weeks because we opt not to have a microwave. It makes perfect popcorn without all of the nasty chemicals you get in bagged popcorn. It has definitely improved our lives.
I pop it on top of my stove in a pot. Works great. No added device needed. But to each his own. ;-)
Serious question for the leaf blower lovers: why not mulch the leaves? I’ve done this every year for the last 5 years. Works great. I just rake the leaves out of the gardens on to the lawn and then mow. Great for the lawn – adds nutrients back to the ground. Sometimes it takes 2 passes if the leaves are real thick… but despite having three massive trees in a small yard, it’s never been too much.
Our mower won’t grind them up enough to not smother the grass. Our neighbor hires a lawn service and their industrial mowers will do that but those things cost 4 times what our Snapper did. And we still need a way to blow the leaves off the concrete surfaces which at our place are extensive. But what you are saying is definitely a great idea if your equipment can handle it. We get leaves from hundreds of acres surrounding our yard so our situation is likely not typical.
It is not just about leaf blower, one should not buy on impulse. In most cases, we buy things that are not actually necessary.
The leaf blower is so you can get more leaves on your yard from neighbors. And I love my gas mower….some might say you might like it.
Leaf blowers generally make a bloody annoying noise – whining on and on for hours on a nice day when you could have enjoyed the bright autumn day in the fall.