So the idea of "buy it for life" is to buy items that are durable and last for a long time, things you could buy once and have your whole life, which can save money and be good for the environment
What are some of the top items you recommend for this?
Oh, here's another one. For people who do yard work, I'm a big fan of using a machete instead of a weed whacker machine. So much fun to let out your inner Star Wars Kid. I bought a cheapo $7 Walmart machete a few years ago and haven't used the weed whacker since. And I expect the blade to last forever, unlike the string trimmers.
Scythes are awesome, but you need to get the hang of it. They’re best for something like a meadow.
If you have an actual lawn I‘d recommend a manual lawnmower. You have to look what the quality product in your country is, sadly they’ve become cheap trash mostly. And you need to take some time to align the blades properly, but then these things are so much fun actually.
I saw a video of someone cutting their lawn so I think it may be possible, but tedious, so from seeing that vid I figured weed whacking here and there might be doable (this was my thought process anyway, they do look like a challenge and easier to use on a meadow like you say)
manual lawnmowers seem like a cool idea, or allowing grass to grow in to meadows (no mowing) or letting animals graze, where that kind of thing can be done
Beats sitting on a screaming hell machine by a long stretch.
But here you’d also want to get a handmade fitted one, not the one from home depot. In Central Europe that’s not too hard, don’t know about US for example.
Manual lawnmowers only work for lawn though, anything high and/or weedy they can’t do.