I was sort of stealthy about getting rid of all our lawn. Just kept expanding the perennial and groundcover areas a chunk or two at a time until there was no grass left . . . except the strip next to the road outside the fence. That is strictly speaking County property but we are supposed to maintain. It's "mow what grows" weeds/grasses so no water, fert, insecticide, fungicide, or any other maintenance is required. My neighbor mows that part for me with his rider mower, and in exchange I give him free well water for his garden. It's a win-win.
As a County-trained volunteer Master Gardener, I'm firmly on the side of encouraging residents to eliminate as much lawn as possible. It's high-maintenance, expensive groundcover and the worst possible thing to grow, given that everything you have to do to grow nice grass here is SO bad for the environment. Not to mention expensive and work intensive.
It was truly a painful experience when we had two cold winters in a row, to see people's lawns die completely from the cold weather, and then they immediately went out and bought truckloads of sod to replace it. Thousands of dollars worth of sod when the same money spent on perennials, shrubs, ground cover and mulch would have produced a much more resilient, chemical free, lower water use, low maintenance yard.
My DH is very project-oriented so as long as I ask him to help with a specific 'project' he's great. Solve a problem? Done deal. Build something? Loves to. Chores, "meh, hire someone to help you, willya?"
