Mom shares common household item that can help maintain leaf-free lawns: 'Clear your yard in seconds'

If you look at a rake with as much fondness as your dentist appointments, a TikToker has just the hack for you.

The scoop

Creator and mom Virginia Mitchell (@virginiahlane) has a tip to keep your lawn leaf-free — no rake required.

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"Throw out your rake!" Mitchell instructs. "... Grab a cardboard box and clear your yard in seconds!"

The simple hack takes nothing but a cardboard box and some hustle. Mitchell demonstrates how she employs the cardboard box like a snow shovel, quickly funneling leaves into a pile.

Even though the video is slightly sped up, you can't help but notice how much faster and less labor-intensive it is than using a conventional rake.

How it's helping

Mitchell's hack offers serious time-saving benefits for busy parents and homeowners. If you don't have a rake and have been thinking about buying one, it can save you money, too.

Cardboard boxes are cheap, and many homeowners often have plenty laying around. This can provide a way to reuse them. There are many other options for wielding cardboard, including in the garden. 

The hack also avoids the use of a gas-powered leaf blower. Those yard tools pack a ton of noise and air pollution into their small frames, which has led multiple municipalities to ban their use. 

Fortunately, there are electric options on the market that are quieter and pollution-free. They can similarly save homeowners a lot of time.

What everyone's saying

The method had supporters on TikTok.

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"That is a great idea!" a user wrote.

Others had one concern with a physical aspect of the hack.

"My back hurt just watching," a viewer said in a sentiment many others expressed. 

Fortunately, there's another alternative besides a rake or an electric leaf-blower. That is using a lawn mower — preferably an electric one — with a mulching feature to turn your leaves into mulch.

"Mowing it is better. Mulches up the leaves and that makes fertilizer for your lawn," one commenter wrote. That practice can also set the stage for composting, creating a fertile territory for home gardening.

From there, homeowners can tap into the benefits of gardening, which include savings on produce, better-tasting food, and health improvements.

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