Fall can be one of the most beautiful times of the year, but it comes with an overbearing chore: raking leaves. Because you’d rather spend your time with friends and family, and fall weather can often be unpredictable, it’s important to rake your leaves as efficiently as possible. Here are 8 tips on how to make this task less time-consuming, and easier on your back.

Tips from the Experts

• Rake with the wind and rake downhill. Raking is hard enough, so try to make it easy on yourself if that’s a possibility. Leaves are light, but it’s still helpful to have gravity on your side.
• Using a tarp will help save your back. Rather than bending over every few seconds to pick up leaves and place them in a bag or wheelbarrow, rake your leaves onto a tarp and pull it to where you dump them.
• Stomp on piles of leaves if you can’t finish. If you get called away, this will prevent them from blowing across your lawn.
• As you rake, pull the leaves toward you. Don’t turn or twist, and tighten your abdominal muscles to help keep stress off of your back.
• Divide your lawn into sections. Take one section of your lawn at a time. If you have a large lawn, don’t try to do it all in one day.
• Mow your lawn until the grass has stopped growing for the season. If your lawn mower has an attachment that collects clippings, use that to help collect leaves before they all fall. This can substantially cut down on the amount of leaves you will have to rake.
• Shred your leaves with a lawn mower and leave them where they’ll be needed. If you think your lawn will need mulch come spring, this is an easy way to cut down on the amount of raking you have to do. Not only will you have to rake less leaves, but your lawn will benefit from the nutrients of shredded leaves.
• Make sure all of your leaves are off of the grass before snowfall or frost. Not only are leaves harder to rake up after winter, but your grass can die from being underneath the weight of leaves for months.