Saw a total flip in how my neighbors treat yard work over 5 years

Moved into my street in Cedar Rapids back in 2019 and everyone was out mowing their own lawns every Saturday, real quiet and keeping to themselves. Then around 2021 I noticed three houses hired the same landscaping crew, and now by 2024 almost half the block pays a service to do it. I think it started because the older couple sold their place and the new owners just had no interest in mowing, then it spread like a social permission slip. Has anyone else seen their whole neighborhood shift on something like this, or is my street just weird?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver_wilson491mo ago

Oh man, this is totally a thing. Honestly, I've seen the same slow switch happen with basic stuff like who shovels their own snow or who even washes their own car. It's like once one person does it, everyone else feels like they can too without looking lazy. I bet in your neighborhood it's the same unspoken rule breaking. It's less about the money and more about just getting permission to stop doing something nobody actually enjoys. The older folks felt like they had to do it, but now the social pressure is totally gone.

the_cole1mo ago

That guy on my street, Mr. Patterson at 42 Maple, he was the first one who stopped mowing his own lawn about three years back. He hired a kid from down the block and suddenly everyone on the street just stopped doing it themselves. Now I swear half the houses pay someone to do it. It was like a switch flipped and nobody wanted to be the sucker doing the work for free anymore.