10 Snow Shoveling Tips — Call me crazy, but I actually love shoveling snow. It’s an awesome workout and there is something kind of picturesque about seeing all of the neighbors out armed with hats, gloves and a snow shovel {or blower} to clear the driveways.
You yell things across the street like, “Hey, why don’t you come do mine when you’re done!” and then everyone chuckles. It’s winter at its finest.
But if you live in {or have just moved to} a part of the country where the novelty wears off quickly, here’s a couple of tips to get your walkways/driveways cleared and on your way to work faster. Here are my 10 snow shoveling tips.
Spray your snow shovel with cooking spray.
I know, I know, this sounds crazy. But the snow will slide off easily as you shovel it aside. Trust me.
Don’t risk an injury, make sure to bend your knees and lift with your legs.
One long drive-way can have you cozying up to a bottle of Aleve with some nasty back pain if you don’t take care in shoveling correctly. Along the same lines, make sure to stretch before you start.
Don’t drive over snow.
It might be tempting to drive into the garage and then start shoveling, but resist. Driving and even walking on freshly fallen snow packs it down, making shoveling a much harder task.
If you want to be basically the coolest parent ever, shovel all of your snow into one big pile.
It will give the kids hours of homemade sledding entertainment.
Dress in layers.
I swear, shoveling snow requires me to use muscles I didn’t even know I had, so I work up a sweat pretty fast. I can slowly strip off layers as I get warmer.
Take care of the edges of your snow shovel.
If you have a metal snow shovel, hammer it straight each time it gets bent. If you have a plastic one, carve off all of the little shavings that inevitably form.
Start closest to where you will be dumping your snow and work your way out.
That way, you don’t trample down the snow as you walk to dump your shovel.
Take frequent breaks.
Seriously, shoveling is a workout. If you are out of practice or it’s the first snow of the season, it will make you vow to hit the gym more often. Frequent breaks will ensure your muscles can go the distance {and by distance, I mean from the garage to the sidewalk. Ha!}
If you get more than a foot of snow:
Don’t try to clean all the way down to the driveway in one swoop. Take the first 6 inches off, dump your shovel, and then go back for the rest. You’ll wear out really quickly if you try to get all the way down with one shovel full.
Make friends with a teenager in the neighborhood.
That way, you can call them when it snows and avoid having to know any other snow shoveling tips 🙂
Happy Shoveling,
~Mavis
Jennifer says
We lived in the mountains of NC for a few years and lucked out. Our driveway was in the sun all day, so if we got 3″ – 4″, which was several times each winter, no problem. We would wait it out and since it was blacktop, it would melt in one day. We had a neighbor with an honest to goodness snow blower. We laughed at him until Christmas Eve of 2019. We got 16″ and his drive was cleared the next day. I think we were snowed in a week. I laughed no more.
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes! The snowblower does come in handy in a big storm, that’s for sure.
Dawn says
This snow was a joy to deal with! We’ve had multiple storms lately where it turns to rain and the snow ends up as heavy as cement. Almost made us giddy to have a bunch of the light, fluffy stuff after dealing with that. Looking like winter at your house now!!
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes! We are off to a fluffy start this winter. 🙂 I love it.
Vy says
A good solid metal shovel is FAR more effective than a plastic one. When I moved into my house 15 years ago the prior owners left one that looked like it was carved out of a 57 Chevy and that thing is a beast. I’ve been gifted two plastic ones since then that each cracked and were barely effective (we were tandem shovelling) but that metal one is still going strong.
Mary says
Here in the interior of British Columbia we were wondering if we were ever going to get snow!. Well… yes… two days of steady flake falling! The highway isn’t pleasant driving but I just keep reminding myself that the area has been in a drought for the past year so snow is good and maybe summer won’t be smoke filled and fire ready! As to shovelling, it takes the two of us about an hour (it’s a long driveway) until this year… because after 40 years of shoveling, we got old and found a really good deal on a quad with a plow blade!
HollyG says
We had crazy snow the first day of the storm here in Oregon – it swept away like granulated sugar. Two days later we covered it all with freezing rain and suddenly it was like concrete. Nothing to do now but wait it out, be thankful no trees came down, and enjoy having electricity.
Linda B says
And don’t forget to help out your elderly neighbors. Shovel for them. During inclimate weather, check in on them.