Archimedes’ Lever A collection of Ideas that could move the world

Don’t buy a lawn mower – share one

Isn't it funny that each home owner in north america has somehow been convinced that we need to buy our own lawn mower? I bought mine right after I bought my first house. I checked out all the models. Shopped around for the best price and weighted the choice of gas v. electric v. push mower. In the end, I bought my one. After all, the lawn needed cutting!

But then, as all dutiful home owners do, I stored it in the shed, and pulled it out once a week for 45 minutes. It's kind of silly that I would spend that much money on something but only use it for so little time.

Here's my proposition - buy only one community lawn mower for all the houses on your street. One mower to share. Each person chips in a few dollars for maintenance and (gasp!) gas. When you add it up, that's a lot of money saved and one less thing to clutter your garage.

There are other benefits from sharing a lawn mower too:

• the number of lawn mowing gas engines leaking oil into the ground is reduced
• save space in the shed / garage
• you meet your neighbours

Think of all the other power tools that we could probably share amongst neighbours instead of each person buying their own!