Hiring a Snow Plow Service or Buying a Snow Blower

Every fall, my husband and I have the same conversation.  Should we hire a company to plow our driveway this year or should we buy a snow blower?

I am always on the side of hiring a company to plow our driveway.  We live in Cleveland, Ohio and we get a lot of snow every year.  It may come all at once, or be spread out throughout the winter season, but in Cleveland winter lasts about 3 to 3 1/2 months, so snow is serious business.

The reason I always argue for the snow plow is because when we were only married about 1 year, my husband insisted that he could shovel the driveway himself, and I was pregnant at the time, so I really couldn't help.  Of course, the one weekend we got a huge storm, he was not in town, so I ended up having to hire a plow for a one time push.  The plow services always charge a lot for a special job like that because they know you can't get out of your driveway, and I needed to get to work.

Now that we have been living in the same house for 20 years, we still have the discussion because frankly, I don't think either of us is fit enough to shovel our entire driveway every day, and many times more than one time a day.

Our driveway is actually short enough to clear with a snow blower.  However, I really think that my husband secretly has no desire to blow the snow out himself.  He just thinks that he should argue with me, so that it is my fault we hire a snow plow.

The way things usually go is that the big snows come down during the most inconvenient times: overnight, right before work, or right as we need to come home from work.  We are so busy that I am not sure when he thinks that we would get the snow blowing done.

Both of us work full time, and even if I wanted to use a snow blower (and I don't because I am allergic to cold), a snow plow gets the job down so much more quickly.  We still have to shovel out the end of our driveway, the walkways, and stairs, because they get plowed in either by our plow service or the city's plows.

It is a toss up whether we are saving money by hiring a snow plow.  While we may be paying more for the plowing service, we are definitely saving on medical bills, and Motrin.

I think that hiring a snow plow is the right decision for us.  My husband?  I am still not sure what he thinks.