Snow Shovelling Tips to Make Winter More Enjoyable
If anyone has ever told you they enjoy shovelling snow, they weren’t telling the truth. Sure, they may enjoy the chance to breathe some fresh air, getting the time to listen to their favourite musician or podcast, or even getting a little bit of exercise. But the actual shovelling? That’s never fun.
That’s why, when it comes to shovelling (and snow removal in general), we want to help you as much as we can.
Below we’ve laid out four of our best snow shovelling tips so that you can spend less time clearing your driveway this winter and more time doing things you actually enjoy.
Tip #1 – Planning Makes Perfect
Clearing snow from your driveway or walkway will always be easier if you have a plan of attack. If you just head out into the cold and start shovelling with no real strategy, you could end up taking a lot more time than you want to spend shovelling snow.
Our go-to snow shovelling strategy is to start from the middle of the surface we’re clearing, like a driveway, and push the snow to each side. That way you’re not moving as much snow with every pass as you would be if you were shovelling the snow from top to bottom or vice versa. Plus, pushing helps avoid potential back problems or other injuries that can be caused by the hazards of lifting snow.
Tip #2 – Push Snow, Not Yourself
Like a solid snow shovelling strategy, using a good snow shovelling technique can go a long way in not only saving you time and energy but protecting you from possible injury that can come as a result of incorrectly lifting heavy, wet snow.
If lifting the snow while shovelling around your property is your preferred method, be sure to make a conscious effort to clear snow the right way. That means lifting with your legs and bending your knees rather than your back. It’s also a good idea to keep the shovel close to your body while you shovel.
But lifting the snow isn’t your only option. The best snow shovelling technique? Pushing the snow. If you push the snow across the areas you need to clear instead of lifting the snow and walking to dump it on your lawn, you significantly lower the risk of accidentally hurting yourself.
Tip #3 – Get the Jump on Snow
During a snowfall, it’s our tendency to wait for the snow to stop falling before we get out into the elements and begin clearing our driveways or walkways. The better approach, however, is to head out there while the snow is still falling, which makes it easier to shovel.
If you wait for the snow to stop falling, it can become more difficult to remove from the surfaces around your property, either because the snow gets heavier or because it freezes. No matter what, waiting for the snow to stop or delaying the inevitable shovelling will only make the job tougher on you in the long run.
Sure, you may have to clear your property of snow again later if more falls but it’s going to be a much less gruelling task than removing all the wet, heavy or frozen snow all at once.
Tip #4 – Blow Off Winter
Winter is hard enough without having to worry about shovelling yourself and your family out of a raging blizzard once a week, let alone the valuable time and energy it takes. If you have a snow blower, you can blow off winter in no time.
No matter what size driveway you have or how much snow you get, there’s a snow blower out there to get the job done. For example, Troy-Bilt offers a trio of options that can help you tackle every winter climate.
Single-stage snow blowers can clear up to six inches of light, powdery snow from small driveways and sidewalks. Meanwhile, the two-stage snow blower is designed to handle deep, heavy and wet snow on a variety of surfaces. Finally, the three-stage snow blower is made to tackle whatever weather that winter throws at you.
Regardless of your snow-clearing needs, using a snow blower will make your winter more enjoyable.
