Stop Mowing On The Weekends: The Movement That's Changing Yard Work

A perfectly manicured lawn was a hallmark of European manors in the 17th and 18th centuries. By the 1870s, it began to be widely adopted by many everyday land-owning Americans as a symbol of the democratization of wealth and the importance of community. These days, homeowners devote a significant amount of time mowing their lawn and keeping it in shape. But according to the Thursday Night Mowing League (TNML) they just shouldn't be doing that on their weekends: Those precious days are for relaxing.

The league isn't exclusive or snobby: Anyone can access TNML through its accounts at X, Facebook, or Instagram. Those who join become part of a cultural movement with the motto "we mow on Thursdays so our weekends are wide open." That's according to Joe Kinsey, who created the movement in 2020 on the sports site OutKick (owned by Fox News Media). Through OutKick and TNML's social media accounts, participants can collaborate, get news about drought reports and mowing conditions, share photos of their lawns, and even buy merch, like branded stickers and T-shirts. 

Why would anyone join TNML? One reason would be to be part of a community that offers support for keeping your mowing routine well organized. Another would be to take advantage of mowing and lawnmower maintenance tips, and a third might be just to show off pictures of your lawn. You might even win the TNML Mower of the Year award, although the qualifications for this achievement aren't very clear. But the main reason to join is to promote a stress-free weekend.

In the period following the second World War, home ownership increased from 44% to 62%, and a home that conformed to the American Dream had a lawn. Keeping the lawn watered and fixing brown spots became a civic responsibility, much like paying taxes. Homeowners who couldn't hire workers had to split their time between work and home maintenance, and for many, the weekend was the only time available for lawn care.

Today, although plenty of people have brick-and-mortar, nine-to-five jobs, an increasing number work online and are able to set their own hours. Despite that ongoing shift, Kinsey laments that more people (41%) do housework on weekends than on weekdays (36%), and he created TNML to reverse those statistics. He speaks of the relaxation people feel as Friday turns into the weekend, allowing them to forget about work for two whole days. 

That very relaxation was one of the perks achieved when Congress established an official work weekend in the first place, when it passed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. TNML aims to protect the weekend by urging homeowners to do their mowing on Thursday, leaving three days for relaxation. "Yes," says Kinsey, "I understand you're busy. I get that you have to work and there are kid activities, but Thursday Night Mowing League is more than just some online mowing group. It's a movement." It can benefit not only those mowing their lawns, but also those who just want to sleep in without being bothered by the noises of a lawnmower.