Fall is one of our favorite season, maybe even our favorite of all. Cozy sweaters, gorgeous foliage, pumpkin spice everything, and the approach of the holiday season! But, like anything, fall has its downsides, too.

Namely? Raking leaves.

Has there ever been a chore more tedious and dreaded than trying to clear your yard of heaps of leaves? We think not. They looked so pretty up on the trees, but when they’re cluttering your yard by the bag-full? Not so much.

If trying to make fallen leaves disappear is one of your biggest gripes of the season, never fear! Crazy Russian Hacker has some brilliant tips and tricks to make this chore more simple than we ever imagined — we doubt you’ve ever gotten your yard this clean, this quickly.

1. Clear Your Gutters

Gutters are prime areas to get an impossible build-up of leaves. Due to their shape, gutters easily catch any leaves coming their way, and their typical height makes them very difficult to clean. However, with a little ingenuity, you can get the job done.

Take a PVC pipe; the one used here is 5 ft. long, but you can use one that will work for the height of your gutters. On the end, put a curved pipe attachment; the whole thing should look like a giant pipe candy cane when you’re done.

Hook up the non-curved end of the pipe to a shop vacuum or a leaf blower. If you’re using a vacuum, make sure it’s on the “blow” setting.

Lift your creation, hooked end first, putting the curve of the pipe right in the gutter. The air coming through will blown the leaves out of the gutters onto the ground, where you don’t need a precarious ladder to reach them!

2. Use a Recycling Bin

When you’re raking your yard like normal, use two buckets. One will have a bag inside, ready to collect the leaves, but the other should be something like a plastic recycling bin.

This bin will go on its side and kind of act like a dustpan; you’ll rake right into it and it will collect ten times more leaves than you could pick up with your hands! Then, dump this bucket into the other and keep going until you’re done.

3. Clear Your Porch Quickly

If you don’t have a leaf blower, you’re probably rolling your eyes at the thought of sweeping leaves off your porch. The perfect lazy hack? Use a window fan!

You can get one of these for about $10 at Walmart and all you have to do is plug it in and aim it at the pesky leaves. They’ll blow right into your yard, where you can rake them as normal. Then you can save the fan and use it when you’re sweltering in summer!

4. Cover More Ground

You’ve probably seen people using tarps to quickly pick up heaps of leaves. This hack takes that idea one step further!

Use zip ties to connect a pipe to each side of your tarp. Rake the leaves onto the tarp, as usual, but when you go to pick it up, you can simply grab the two pipes! This will help you form a funnel, from which you can neatly pour all the leaves from tarp to trash.

5. Keep Your Pool Net Clean

If you have a pool that stays open during the fall, you know that leaves getting in the water are such a pain in the neck. You probably use your net you fish them out and then dump them in the compost or trash…you also probably get annoyed by the leaves getting stuck in the corners.

To avoid this, flip your net inside out once it dries. Use it this way the next time you need to clean the pool, and when you go to empty the net, all you have to do is turn it right-side in again. No more stubborn leaves getting left behind!

 

What do you think of these fall hacks? Do you clear your yard of leaves in a creative way? Share your techniques in the comments section below.