Father’s Day was Sunday. This year, Hubby got a new mower! Toro happens to have a really cool one that takes up significantly less storage space AND we needed a new mower AND it just so happened to be Father’s Day.
Translation: This is a sponsored post for Toro that came at just the perfect time!
This was the Lawn Equipment Storage (etc. etc.) section of our garage.
Scary, huh?
Way back in there, you can see the mower we had been using. It was borrowed, and was a TORO. We borrowed it when our other one died. Hubby loved it, and was therefore ecstatic when he found out he was getting a TORO of his very own.
But his new one, the Toro Recycler with SmartStow has a special feature. It can be folded up and stored standing upright, taking up significantly LESS space. LESS storage space.
And that part makes ME happy.
In my head, before I actually went out and looked (really, really looked) at the space, this was going to be a simple matter of taking out the old, borrowed, space-taking mower and replacing it with the new, compact one.
But to get the old mower out, I couldn’t ignore/avoid-moving all the other stuff other junk.
Really. I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried.
So I decided I might as well declutter that space. It was as good an opportunity as any to clear my Slob Vision and tackle a corner of the garage that I generally ignore.
What I purged:
Top Left: Kitchen Cabinet Doors that I totally believed I’d use to make something cool. Behind those, the kitchen vent I kept for some strange reason when we got a new one. Those things are in the Donate Pile now.
Top Right: The Thing I Don’t Want to Talk About.
Fine.
It’s a crazy contraption I bought off a random website after finding mouse poop in the garage right after we moved into this house 9 years ago. Hubby communicated his skepticism about this item non-verbally when I bought it. Hubby’s raised eyebrows and smirky mouth were right. It was a VERY stupid purchase.
Bottom Left: A kiddie rake. Our kids are big enough for big people rakes now. (And they no longer view raking as a game.)
Bottom Right: An edger given to us by someone who tried to sell it in his garage sale. We couldn’t get it to work. But we kept it. For, like, four years.
Ahhhhhh. Fewer things, and less ground surface covered.
Mama’s happy about that. Daddy’s happy about his mower.
So what does Hubby think of the Toro Recycler with SmartStow? He really loves it. While my own favorite feature is the shiny redness, he got a little more specific.
- It’s easy to start. No priming (I think that’s what he called it) required. Just pull the start cord.
- The gas cap is attached. No losing possible. Evidently, this has been an issue in the past . . .
- It’s very easy to adjust height.
- There’s a place to hook up the water hose on top so you can wash off the blades without awkward positioning.
- It’s self-propelled. My 13yo is most excited about this. The old one wasn’t, and he’s in love with this feature.
- It is specially designed to be stored upright and takes less floor space in the garage. (Hubby doesn’t care about this feature nearly as much as I do, but he does think it’s cool.)
And here are Hubby’s thoughts on video:
(If you can’t see the video, click here.)
And, as promised in the video, a more realistic, panned-out view of the result:
Right. This was just a small chunk of the work needed. Unfortunately, my kids have talked me into having a garage sale to get rid of their old bikes and SO much more. I’m thinking of ways to get out of that . . .
And in case anyone notices the big difference in winding-up techniques of the green cord vs. the orange cord, the orange cord was wound by Hubby. The green by me. Yes. I have issues. Never even noticed until I saw it in the photo.
Disclosure: This was a sponsored post. Toro provided us with the mower and I’m being paid for my time creating this post. All experiences, opinions, messy garages and lame cord-winding techniques are mine.
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--Nony
This one hurt me to read it. In fact, I almost DIDN’T read it, because I thought it would cause too much guilt. There is barely room to walk in our garage even though its a 2 car and actually long enough to fit 4 in there (of course that’d be ridiculous because you’d be forever needing the car that was blocked in by the other car).
I have a plan to get it decluttered, dejunked, and organized. However, my plan stipulates that it be a rainy weekend, because I’m not wasting my weekend stuck inside the garage. LOL
BTW, I had a Toro self propelled push mower when I was single and loved it. NEVER had any problem starting it.
My garage scares me. There’s 8 years worth of my stuff in that garage, combined with almost 40 years worth of my parent’s stuff. Then add in my husband’s stuff. I want to purge, get rid of, and reorganize. Plus, I need my garage in the winter – getting 2 kids in the car when there’s snow and ice on the ground is very hard. Some day.
Nony…wanna make a trip to Rochester NY and cheer me on? I will cook (i mean order pizza) for you!
Hmmm, in the video it says you wound the green cord; that admission goes by very quickly. In the written post, you claim to have wound the orange cord, right there for everyone to see and see again. Issues??? I know which one I believe. 😉
Hahaha!!! Yay for observant readers/watchers who keep me honest! Not that I meant to tell a fib, but maybe I’m color-blind! The green one (the MESSY one) was definitely me!! It’s changed now! I’m blaming Summer Brain!
They’re back to front in the podcast too ;0)
I have been a reader for a while now and absolutely LOVE your blog and your honest approach to homemaking.
I wanted you to know that I wrote a blog about laundry and shared the link to your description of your laundry method because it inspired me.
Thank you for being you and keep up the awesome posts!
http://homeschooltypo.blogspot.com/2015/06/how-i-keep-laundry-under-control.html