I think I'm going to do his fix. I mean I've had the mower how long? For $180. It's not that big of a lot to get cut, should I do it once a week? Maybe 20 minutes, a push mower. If I get another couple of years out of it, it's well worth it.

If I get a couple months out of it, that won't be the best.

I admit, it probably needs for the blade to be sharpened. I will have to think about getting a new mower, either next year or the year after. I'm not sure how much more I'm going to put into it, but another $65 or $70 (I mean it's four bolts, so how long can it possibly take him?. Not to mention that he's a block over and a block across, which means a 5-minute walk. We're not New York).

This ain't no electric or powerful model. My question was more academic.

How much has to go wrong with your car, for you to get a new car? Is that a better question? I meant more like that. 😉

It isn't a percentage as much as comparing repair costs of an old item to the cost and benefits of a new item. If the new item offers benefits (new functions, speed, cost, size, etc) that I would like, that weighs against repairs, even if they're inexpensive. If it doesn't offer anything I want other than being new, then I reconsider the repairs. Also, I have to consider the other pieces that could fail, because I'm not wanting to put repair costs in to one piece if I can expect other pieces to fail soon.

Living in an apartment I no longer have to mow, but I recall the years of mower woes. Since I had a fairly small yard, I decided one time to buy a reel mower. I sharpened the blades myself, so there was no ongoing expense.

But after a while I wanted something easier and got a rechargeable electric and really liked it. My final stage, since I was getting older, was just to hire it done. It was a little more expensive but to me at that time well worth it.

I think the philosophy of repair vs buying new, or is ending better than mending, involves many factors so that it is really a situation by situation decision. One has to weigh the cost of the repair, the likelihood of further repairs, against the costs of buying new, and whether the new item by virtue of manufacturing improvements might be better or whether the old one after repair might be perfectly adequate for one's needs.

Well there are some things I didn't think about. The amount of time and effort, the amount of aggravation... I give up. I'm buying a new mower. With a whole 8 weeks left of cutting grass, which means I would have used it four more times. But my new mower will be able to adjust height, without having to take it apart, I can mulch with the mower, or use a bag which I couldn't do before, and it is self-propelled. When you have a quarter acre lot, you don't really need very much, but I think these things are going to make this chore a little easier. Which is another cost I hadn't considered. So I guess there's more to it than the price.

If you lived near me you could have mine. It got buried in the garage several years ago, I recently dug it out and it started after just a few pulls. Old gas and all.

That's actually what I think is wrong with my current mower. I even have the tool to pump out the old gas and put in new. But do I really want to spend my effort on that? 😉 I'll do that next year at the beginning of the season and give it to some kid.

P.S. when I'm over this BS illness. I know that's assuming something, but I'm going to assume. It's nice to have a fun new toy sometimes, and that's part of it too

Did you look into buying a battery oporated mower? I would never buy another ICE push mower. JMO

I've had my old 42" Craftsman lawn tractor for about 17 years now and have done some repairs over the years. Annual maintenance is changing the oil and oil filter, gas filter, and cleaning or replacing the air filter. Have replaced some steering linkages, the starter gear, the starter solenoid, 2 front tires, the blades belt and twin blades at least 4 times, and the battery 3 or 4 times.

I have about 3/4th an acre to mow. It sold for about $1400 back then and a new one will be around $2500+ today. It'll need a new transmission belt soon and 2 new rear tires but I'm getting too old to do this stuff so I will buy a new one next Spring even though this one still runs ok, mostly, just hope it gets me through the rest of this summer/fall.

That's exactly what I was trying to do. Get through to next spring.

Dude that worked on the mower, didn't need to replace the carburetor. He trimmed down my air filter, upped it so that it ran higher, and he found something in the gas tank, charging me a whole $25. And then I stupidly used the same gas can, and the same gas. It worked the first day, but not the second day. I honestly think it's the gas, but I don't want to fiddle with it anymore.

And the one thing I have found out after having electric cars running around for a while, no one knows how to dispose of batteries in a way that's good for the environment. Neither gas nor electric is very good for the environment. At this point, it's just preference. Both are awful. Unless you just get a push mirror that has razor blades that you sharpen constantly, and I know I ain't going to do that! I'm too old

vgkg, keep an eye out for an estate sale. My niece picked up a nice riding mower for cheap!! She loves it.

I bought the battery powered mower (Greenworks 16"). It's smaller than my 21" gas mower but the people I was using to do the yearly maintenance now wanted $179 to do that. It's different if you know how and can do the maintenance yourself but that isn't me. I like the smaller, much lighter mower. I can do my whole yard on one battery charge and then to recharge the battery takes about 1-1/2 hours. It's terrific.

I switched to a battery mower (and trimmer and edger and blower and hedge clippers and chainsaw) about 5 years ago. All use the same battery - and these batteries also work in our drill, circular saw, lanterns, fan, and various other tools.

Yup, about 4 years ago I went electric for my outdoor tools: mower, snow blower, leaf blower, and string trimmer, and have been very happy with them.

“ I would never buy another ICE push mower. JMO”

Lonejack, recycle your ICE mower into a real ice mower.

“How much has to go wrong with your car, for you to get a new car? Is that a better question? I meant more like that.”

We bought this house brand new in 1990. It came with gas forced air heat and central air conditioning. Winter 2011 we woke up one morning and the house felt really cold - thermostat said it was 53°F. Between 1990 and 2011 we’d had to have the heater serviced three times, and since it was then over 20 years old we decided to replace it. That meant replacing the air conditioner condenser, too. Can’t recall what we paid, but I think it was in the $11,000 range.

Two or three years ago, during a summer heat wave, the air conditioner quit. Turned out to be a fuse at the condenser that needed to be replaced. Inexpensive fix. This year, in mid-July, the air conditioner quit again. On a Wednesday. Service tech couldn’t come out until Monday. We were hoping it was just going to be another fuse replacement, but it wasn’t. It involved the motor for the fan, and the part was no longer made. So, we had to replace the entire condenser. And, since our entire system was 15 years old, it made more sense to replace everything. To the tune of $14,500. And we had to wait another week. In July. But we have cold air again, and it was just in time for the triple digit temps we are having now. Worth it.

I just did that Lindsey! But it was last March. I think I paid $9,000 total. At some point I signed up for an averaged monthly electrical bill. My system is electrical. I don't have gas at this house, because they hadn't installed it (the house was built in 1918, and I turned down installation when they came around)... So I didn't see savings until this year. I went from $240 a month to $111 a month. Totally worth it to be ultra cool.

Yes, Rob! I keep seeing articles that say to keep the thermostat at 78°F in the summer. Ours was always set at 79° and sometimes I would feel cold. A new thermostat was installed, and this one has an app. Normally I don’t want to use an app for anything, but I have to admit it is pretty cool to not have to stop what I’m doing and go to the thermostat to make adjustments. And Hubs and I agree that 79°F with the new system is too cold - we usually have it at 81°. They did install new ducts, so that seems to have made a difference, but I would think 79° would be 79° but i guess not.

You are saving more than 50% so your new system is paying for itself!