Products for new home owners

Since I have just purchased a new home, and being a first time home owner, I though I might share some of my experiences and product reviews with you. Hopefully these tips and impressions will help others that are starting out.

There are 2 products I want to mention right now. One is Murphy’s Oil and the other is the Task Force Reel Mower.

Murphy’s Oil is no new product by any means. There have been many commercials about the product and reviews going back decades. So I’ll be brief. If you have hardwood floors I recommend this.

My house is an old 1910 brick house. The wood is American Cherry wood. Being well preserved over the years the floors have held up well. But time and use wears on any surface. Yet, I can say that the dullness of the floors in my house disappeared with just one thin coat of the Murphy’s Oil diluted in water. I had previously swept the floors and then applied the Oil. The years seemed to just peel off and the luster of the wood came right out. You can see one example here



Another product that I bought was a lawn mower. I didn’t buy a gas nor electric mover, as my yard is not very large. I’d say it’s about 1/10th of an acre. Not a lot but enough in a urban setting. Considering the relatively small area, my age – 40 – and the fact that gasoline prices are high and going higher I picked a reel mower.

If you are not familiar with a reel mower, its a simple push manual mower. No gas or electric costs involved and good exercise. And for those that are into the whole save the environment idea it’s eco-safe. But they are expensive, or at least this one was.

I bought the Task Force mower. It was the only manual mower in Lowe’s and it cost $89. Not cheap but the recurring cost is non-existent really. There was minimal assembly needed, and I was able to put it together in about 10 easy minutes (including getting the handle bar on backwards).

The use of the mower is the real issue though. Does it work effectively. The answer is yes, definitely. There are 3 settings for the mower height. My grass had not been mowed in a couple of months and was about 12” in height. The mowewr went right thru the grass with ease. Of course there were a couple of spots where I had to go over the same spot more than once to get all the grass cut, and weeds have an annoying habit of bending, but it got the job done well. I recommend pushing the mover, then pulling it back and pushing again. This will generally get most grass and weeds cut.

One thing to keep in mind, watch your line. I mowed the back yard with precision. My front yard was a bit more difficult as there is a slight incline. I missed my line slightly and after raking noticed that I missed a couple of inches of a strip of grass. Not a big deal but not as nice as it all being level.

I have not used other manual mowers, but I can say this it’s effective and the cost really won’t go up. Also I found this bit of information online

“Reel mowers stir up the least amount of dust and pollen, and they have an excellent safety record. (By contrast, emergency rooms reported 80,000 lawn mower injuries in 2004 alone, which is the latest report available.)”

So there you go. I hope it helps some new home owners out there.