My
Our non-toxic solution was to move to a condo almost 9 years ago, where all the gardening is done by contractors hired by the Board. No more snow to shovel, leaves to rake, dead trees to fall on our house, etc. We priced-out what we had paid for home maintenance for the 2 years before we moved compared to what the HOA was for the same time period for the unit we purchased. We have only 9 square feet less floor space now but pay within $100/year for HOA compared to our annual maintenance costs were before we moved. And, in the almost 40 years that the condo has existed, there's never been a special assessment. We should have made the move years earlier.