Real Estate professionals stress the importance of “Curb Appeal” but it’s not just for selling your house. Your yard is the first impression you make on guests, neighbors, and yourself. When you simply want your house to stand out, your yard and curb appeal are what is going to make a big difference. Many people neglect their yards due to the cost involved. Fortunately, there are a few ways to fund a better yard on a budget when you want to give it a makeover.
Find Freebies
Reduce the cost to redo your yard by finding free items available in the local area. Big box stores and grocery stores who don’t have plant professionals on staff are often willing to give away plants that may still be salvageable but don’t look saleable. You can also ask a family member or friend who has a green thumb for cuttings from their favorite plants. Growing plants from cuttings is an easy and inexpensive way to get all the plants you want.
In addition to cuttings you can also get plants from neighbors who are thinning their gardens. Often if you have a groundcover like Pachysandra in a bed it will continue to grow and eventually hang over sidewalks and outgrow the area you want it contained in. If you have a friend or neighbor who is “edging” their garden you can take all these plants that they are going to throw away and about 75% of them will have the beginnings of roots on them. You can simply take them and stick them in the ground about 6″ apart and before you know it you will have your own bed of ground cover.
Shopping off-season for certain plants can also allow you to obtain a discount.
Mix Soil with Handmade Compost
Cut your soil costs in half by mixing soil with handmade compost and avoid paying a significant amount of money for expensive potting soil at a home improvement store. Use your family’s leftover organic scraps to mix with a bag of potting soil that will allow your plants to thrive due to the many nutrients available.
Divide the Project into Multiple Chunks
It can be easy to overspend on your landscaping project if you attempt to do everything at once. Consider dividing the project into multiple chunks and pace yourself to avoid splurging. Spreading out the project throughout the year will allow you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the cost and accumulate debt. By searching your project on YouTube you can often find tips on how to do it yourself much cheaper than you thought possible.
Create Homemade Stepping Stones
Instead of cutting into your budget by hiring someone to add hardscape to your outside property, you can make your own stepping stones by purchasing a 40-pound bag of quick-setting cement. The cement can be mixed with water and poured into a cardboard box to create a stepping stone that can lead to a garden or the backyard. Add marbles or shells to the mixture to create a decorative feature that looks unique. The cement can also be painted a color that matches the trim or shutters on the home. You can also get stones that are flat to use or even buy discount stones from a landscape company.
When you want to feel proud and show off your yard without spending thousands of dollars, you can follow a few tips that will create a more attractive environment. By improving the yard, you’ll enjoy spending more time in it and boosting your home’s curb appeal.
You may also like:
- How to Have a Beautiful Wedding on a Budget
- Traveling on a Budget
- Tips on Eating Right on a Limited Budget
- Money Moves for a Happy Marriage
Recommended by Amazon:
- Landscaping with Stone– The first section of the book provides readers with a framework for incorporating stone in their landscape designs, including a look at the different types of stone used in landscapes, sources of inspiration, and ways to think about stone in relation to other landscape elements. The second part provides readers with tips on working with stone, from transporting to cutting and setting. There is also step-by-step instruction on some of the most popular stone projects, including patios, walls, and rock gardens.
- Landscaping For Dummies – A beautiful landscape reflects well on your house, making it a welcome part of a neighborhood or native terrain. And it dramatically increases your home’s value. Landscaping also makes your house and yard more useful and better able to complement your family’s lifestyle. Trees shade your home to reduce energy use. Thorny shrubs deter prowlers. Lawns reduce dust from bare ground and give children the perfect play area. Patios and decks are great for entertaining. And a vegetable garden can yield fresh, delicious salads to eat on that patio or deck. Landscaping for Dummies has everything you need to turn the little patch of earth you call your own into a personal paradise.
- Step-by-Step Landscaping – More than 700 stunning photographs and 100 complete step-by-step projects show you how to improve grading, plant successfully, build a deck, and much more. Plus an all-new plant encyclopedia with 95 plant photos! It’s everything you need to know to improve your view. Step-by-step plans for patios, edging, walls, fences, water gardens, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, garden sculpture, and more. Cost estimate, time needed to complete, skill level, and material list included with every project. Hundreds of inspiring photographs, ideas, and plans.
