I mow my own lawns too. Mrs had some guy come in and do it once every 3 weeks. Charged $30 a pop. So worked out that that was about $400 per year. Takes me 20 mins to mow the lawn, its good exercise and gets you outside. Got rid of that guy quick pronto. Lawnmower only cost $280 from mitre 10 so in a year its paid itself off. Been painting the house this morning too, second coat on this afternoon, in between spreadsheet analysis and other work. Why pay a painter $40 per hour with all the other costs of getting up high on scaffolds etc when you can do it yourself and not have to worry at all about H&S legislation. Just be sensible up on the ladder