True that. On the up side, yours will outshine theirs in spring. :-)

Plus there's still time for leaf decay and for the newly-mown leaves to compact down to the soil surface.

I run them over with the side shoot attachment first. This basically gets them cut up into about 1/4 the original size.

The side shoot gives me more vacuum, meaning I can pull up even the wet ones that are stubbornly stuck on the low spots. It also prevents the ones in front of my mower from being blown away.

Then, I run them over a second time in mulching mode. This takes those pre-cut leaves and then shreds them to small little flakes. You can't even tell they are there.

When do you say that's enough and disguard the leaves? I mulched quit a bit of leaves and since it may take a while to decay I don't want my lawn looking like a recycle center.

If I going to mulch the leaves into my yard, I start on the outside and cut the grass so that I blow everything into the uncut area. By the time I finish the yard, it looks good and I only have a couple of strips to mow over a couple of time to get the remaining leaves. If I am not satisfied with the way it looks I take the leaf blows and work the remaining materials into the yard.

In fact this is the way I mow all year long. I never have a lot of grass/leaf debris showing in the yard.

Also when mowing near the street I plan it so that I am blowing the grass into the yard not in the street. It does not take much planning to keep the street clean with out blowing it clean. That is one of my grips with the people in this area. I think they want everyone to know they finally mowed their yards by blowing the cuttings into the road and leaving it there until it disperses naturally

The amount of time it takes for mulched leaves to decompose will be dependent on environmental factors (eg moisture), the population of your macroherd (eg worms), the availability of nitrogen to feed the microherd (eg bacteria), and the size of the mulched leaves. A dime sized mulched leaf clipping will decompose faster than a full sized leaf. The smaller, the faster.

If you normally return grass clippings to the soil, you should already have most of what you need in place. By mulching the leaves, you are increasing the soil's organic food supply. It may take a little longer for the soil to break down the leaves at first, but once it get things going it will be faster. (Especially if you feed the lawn organically throughout the year.)

You can speed things along to some some degree by adding nitrogen and a food source for the microrganisms. I broadcasted Jonathan Geen's Love your Lawn - Love your Soil and some Scotts's Fall Lawn Food, watering everything in afterwards to help things started.