Just do it

some people find mowing the lawn, weeding the garden and pruning the hedges a Zen experience — a chance to un-plug from the grid and get in tune with nature. Others loathe it and put it off until their backyard is about to reach jungle status. There are some outdoor maintenance tasks no-one really looks forward to doing, like cleaning the gutters or oiling the deck, but they need to be done.

You can outsource your garden upkeep and outdoor maintenance, but if you don’t have deep pockets, the trick is to work smarter, not harder. And to not procrastinate. The longer you put off something, like cleaning the barbecue, weeding the lawn, trimming the edges or pruning an unruly shrub, the harder and more time-consuming the job becomes. The best idea is to tackle problems as you discover them and for all other jobs, make them part of your regular routine, just like vacuuming the carpet or cleaning the oven.

HIT THE DECKS

Hardwoods such as ironbark, spotted gum, yellow stringybark or