Not Made Of Money

Now that the weather is turning nice again, it’s time to turn your attention back to the outside of your house. Even if you’re lucky enough to live in a climate with a milder winter, there are some things that just get forgotten during the winter months. The driveway needs a hosing. My front porch needs a strong sweeping. After spending way too many days stuck in the house, I’m ready to get out of the house and give it a good spring cleaning.

Once you’ve started working outside, though, it’s easy to start dreaming about landscaping projects. After all, you’d like your home’s exterior to look as nice as your home’s interior, right? Even on a budget there are many things you can do to your yard to make your home the nicest looking one on the block.

The easiest and most inexpensive thing you can do to improve the appearance of your yard is to clean up the clutter that’s found its way into it. Debris tends to blow in with the winter winds and become lodged against your fences. In addition, now that the kids are playing in the yard again they tend to leave things lying around out there. Take a trash bag outside with you and go crazy. Your yard will look better in less than an hour.

Now that you’ve cleared out all of the stuff that doesn’t belong in your yard, your next step is to do a little maintenance on the landscaping you already have. If you didn’t get the leaves raked last fall, now is the time to finish that project. Trim bushes and trees back if they need to be trimmed. And pull any weeds that have started to show up.

Adding a few perennials to your yard is another good way to improve your landscaping. We tend to work on an extended plan. We know what we want the yard to look like eventually, so we take a few steps each year to get a little closer to that goal. By working in steps we don’t break the bank in any given year.

Remember when choosing your perennials, though, to choose ones that work well in your environment. If you have a sunny yard, hostas probably aren’t the plants for you. Take a look at the tag on the plants you like to see if they are good matches for your yard. It’s easier to work within the constraints of your yard than to try to make your yard over into a completely different environment.

Finally, for a cheap burst of color, you can always add a few annuals. Maybe you’ll dig a little garden area close to the house. Perhaps you’d rather you placed a garden plot against your fence. Since these plants are inexpensive, you can afford to experiment a little. Your work in caring for these plants will be the real investment.

• Spending Plan and Budget Calculators - Help Jump Start The Budgeting Process
• Christmas Traditions - Easy and Inexpensive

• What a Difference Control Makes As there are so many people seemingly trapped under big...
• Twelve bargains that aren't bargains Getting something you need or want for a good price...