How To Frugally Enhance Your Home’s Curb Appeal

How To Frugally Enhance Your Curb Appeal

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We tried to make this post as informative as possible. So, along with each idea, you’ll find out how often you need to do it (like how often you should mow to keep a well-maintained yard) plus the average cost. Of course, costs can vary, but we wanted to give you an estimate since this is a list filled with affordable curb appeal ideas.

Mow your lawn

The easiest and most common way to enhance your curb appeal is to mow your lawn on a regular basis. We have a home near us that doesn’t mow very often, and it really stands out — in a bad way.

Mowing your lawn isn’t the most fun house chore (honestly, it’s kind of the worst), but it’s such an easy way to make your home look well taken care of.

We are really lucky to have an Automower, so we actually just push a button and our lawn mows itself. Well, the Automower mows it, but you know what I mean.

If you have the money, and you hate mowing the lawn, invest in an Automower. If not, just mow your lawn on a regular basis.

How often should you mow your lawn?

Never up to weekly. There isn’t an exact timeline as to when you should mow your lawn. It depends on grass height and rainfall.

But, in general, in an area with four seasons, follow this schedule: In the spring, you should mow every 1 to 2 weeks; in the summer, mow every week; in the fall, you can mow once a month; in the winter, you can leave it alone.

What’s the cost to mowing your lawn?

Basically $0.

If you already have the mower, all your cost could be is the bit of gas or electricity to run the mower. So, very frugal.

Water your lawn

We get so much rain here this time of year that we don’t need to water our lawn ourselves (it has literally rained every day for the last seven days). But we do have an irrigation system built in and a high tech sprinkler system for the times when we need to water.

Watering keeps your grass nice and healthy. Just be sure to water in the early morning or late at night, when it’s cooler. If you water during the day when it’s hot, the water will just evaporate and won’t actually replenish your lawn.

And, if you have dormant grass like us (which is grass that basically hibernates for the winter), don’t water until the grass is green again. And don’t plant seed until then either.

How often should you water your lawn?

Two to three times weekly. You should water your lawn two to three times a week, if you’re not getting any rain.

Your grass needs about an inch of water a week, year round. If you have a smart sprinkler system with water detection capabilities like we do, you can set it to assess the moisture in the lawn before running. So, if it senses recent rain and your lawn is saturated enough, it will skip its scheduled run.

What’s the cost for watering your lawn?

The cost is based on how much water you use and what the price of water is in your town.

Our rate for water through our irrigation system is less than the rate for the water that runs through our house, so it’s cheaper for us to run our sprinkler system than it would be to water with a hose.

Edge your driveway and curb

Have you ever driven past a home and been so impressed with how perfectly polished their lawn looks? Most of that appeal has to do with edging. When you edge along your driveway and curb, you create these perfect lines that sort of “box in” your lawn.

When you don’t do that, your lawn grows wild. It sort of hangs over the curb. And if you don’t edge your driveway, the lawn will actually grow over your driveway, making your driveway smaller. You’d actually be surprised at how much of your driveway can just be taken over by long grass and weeds.

If you have a sidewalk at your home, you’ll have to edge that too. And that means a little more edging for you, but a little less mowing, so it works out.

How often should you edge your lawn?

Never up to every two weeks. This is also a little more dependent on the weather than on the calendar.

But, a good generalization: In the spring and summer, edge every two to three mows; in the fall, edge every mow (since you’re only mowing once a month); in the winter, you can skip edging.

What’s the cost for edging your lawn?

Basically $0.

This is again based on the fact that you already have an edger (or a combination trimmer/edger, which is what we use). As with mowing, your only potential is the bit of gas or electricity to run the edger. So, again, very frugal.

Reseed

My parents’ lawn is terrible. There are so many spots where there’s too much sandy ground and water puddles up and the grass dies. So they have to reseed those spots.

And, when Pete has a bit of free time, he reseeds for them.

The seed doesn’t always take, no matter what type or brand we use, but we try.

And if you have spots in your lawn, you should try to reseed them too.

How often should you reseed?

Annually. Once a year, usually in the spring (but that really depends on your climate).

What’s the cost for reseeding?

It really depends on what type of grass seed you’re buying and how much of your lawn needs to be reseeded. On average, I’d say you’re gonna buy a $50 bag a year, but honestly, that can vary so much.

Remulch

We have a flower beds in front of our home for plants and bushes. My goal in life is to pull up all the bushes that are currently there and plant fruit trees and bushes. I originally said as soon as we replant there, we’ll add new mulch because too many storms and hurricanes had pretty much wiped out what was there.

But after a year of repeating that, and never deciding on the fruit trees I want to plant, we just remulched. It made such a difference. Instead of staring out from our porch, looking at dirt and mulch debris, we have a beautiful garden bed to look out at.

Since then, I’ve added a grapevine and a blueberry bush, but we still have the original bushes from the house in the front. So good thing we remulched.

How often should you remulch?

Annually. At the beginning of the spring season, or after the last frost depending on where you live, take a look at your mulch and judge how it fared through the elements.

You may only need a couple bags of mulch fill in the gaps or you may need to redo the entire thing.

What’s the cost for remulching?

Bags of mulch run between $2 and $3, on the low end, for 2 cubic feet of mulch if you shop during spring or Memorial Day sales. Your cost will vary based on how many garden beds you have.

We have a large garden bed that runs the full length of our house (minus the garage) plus two smaller beds. We also decided to mulch around the mailbox, and it takes us 13 bags of mulch, or about $26, to remulch our entire front yard.

Add edging

If you have garden beds to remulch, you’ll definitely want to add edging around them. That will actually help to keep the mulch from flying away during storms. So edging is basically protecting your investment.

When you’re choosing edging, look for something that fits your aesthetic, but also something that is tall. If you can’t see it from the curb, it doesn’t add curb appeal.

You can go with concrete edging, which is what Pete gravitated towards when we were choosing our edging. But I wanted more of a Japanese feel (since I’m Japanese), so we went with a wooden, bamboo-esque edging. It looked amazing and really does stand out from the curb.

However, after a few years of the automower running into it, it’s really falling apart. So, Pete was right. We should have went with concrete (and we will end up redoing it all eventually).

How often should you add edging?

Once. All you need to do is add edging once, and as long as you choose something that was specifically designed to be edging, it should last you until you move — or until you change your aesthetic.

If you’re like our neighbor and just decide to edge with found bricks, those bricks may sink into the ground (theirs did). So if you like the brick look, look at paving stones.

What’s the cost for edging?

The cost of edging really depends on what you choose to edge.

I tried to talk myself into something cheaper, just to be more frugal, but I knew I would end up wanting to replace it eventually. So that would end up costing me more in the long run. Since you’re only going to do this once, it’s worth it to pay a little more for what you really like.

With all that being said, to edge the two aforementioned garden beds and around our mailbox, it cost about $250 in edging (but, like I said, we’ll end up having to replace it eventually, which will cost us more).

Trim your hedges

Our hedges used to be the bane of my existence. Like I said, my goal in life is to pull them out. I pulled one out when we were remulching and replaced it with a grapevine. But, for now, the rest are still there. I think they drive me so insane because even though they were all planted simultaneously, they’re not growing at the same rate. And there’s nothing I can do to fix that.

Left to their own devices, hedges will just grow any which way. So get your Edward Scissorhands on and trim the hedges into a manageable shape. They’ll look better from the curb that way.

Pete does such a great job of shaping the hedges and making them look amazing from the curb. So, even though we do want to pull them all eventually, they look really great when they’re manicured.

How often should you trim your hedges?

Two to three times a year. The timing of trimming your hedges depends on what type you have, honestly.

But, in general, trim them to shape them two to three times a year, once in the spring and once in the summer. And then, if they’re getting unruly, trim them back as needed.

What’s the cost for trimming your hedges?

Nothing, as long as you already have the hedge trimmer.

Buy cute patio furniture

Cute patio furniture can make your home so inviting. And that’s exactly what curb appeal is. You want people driving by to see a home they want to visit, a porch they want to sit on. And cute patio furniture does that.

A pair of chairs and a table with a tabletop decoration are perfect. Or you can be like us and have four outdoor chairs and a table.

We get a lot of company.

I blame the chairs.

I also blame the fact that we sit on our porch all Saturday afternoon and basically sun up to sun down on Sunday. So that’s just magnetic. We never invite people (except my dad; Pete always invites him); everyone just invites themselves.

But you know what? We always wanted to have that house where everyone is comfortable and everyone always has an open invitation. And our two sets of patio chairs did that.

How often should you buy cute patio furniture?

Once. Buying patio furniture is another of those one and done purchase, unless your style changes.

What’s the cost for buying cute patio furniture?

Just like I mentioned with the edging, buy what you like and pay whatever it costs. You don’t want to talk yourself into something cheap just because it’s cheap, and be unhappy with it.

But, you can look for sales. My parents bought us a set of our patio chairs as an anniversary gift a few years ago. I found the set on sale for under $60 for two chairs, and I absolutely love them.

They perfectly match the style of table we already had on the porch, but the color didn’t match. So it cost me a can of spray paint to update the table. And now I’m obsessed with how it looks.

Get a front door wreath

I’m a big fan of seasonal décor. It’s why I change the kitchen towels every season and every holiday, and why I have outdoor pillows for every season. So, if we had a different door (one with less windows), I would get a front door wreath for every holiday and season. Or, knowing me, I would make one.

Homes with front door wreaths really enhance curb appeal. The wreath draws someone’s eyes in and makes your home stand out.

How often should you get a front door wreath?

Once. Or two dozen times. Okay. So for argument’s sake, you really only need one front door wreath. Get a monogram wreath with the first letter of your last name on it, a Welcome wreath, or just some pretty colors that match your home.

But, if you like changing with the season, you’ll want more.

What’s the cost for a front door wreath?

The cost of a front door wreath can vary so much.

In a Facebook group I’m in, people make beautiful mesh wreaths using dollar store materials for under $10. And there’s a woman at the farmers’ market we worked at who sold these exact same wreaths for $55 to $75.

And then cost depends on what kind of wreath you want. A personalized wooden one, a personalized metal one, a generic wooden or metal one, a large one, a small one, on and on.

And then, if you’re like me and want a seasonal wreath for each season, you’ll be paying that cost times four (or more, if you change for holidays too).

Power wash your house and driveway

A couple weeks ago, we paid someone to power wash our house. I can’t even begin to explain to you how different it looks. I wish I thought to take before and after photos. So much junk and dirt accumulates on the siding.

A good pressure wash makes such a difference.

We had the guy do our porch too, but not the driveway. Pete does that and it makes the driveaway look brand new. It’s such a stark difference from when you don’t power wash it. So if you want to enhance your curb appeal, that’s the way to go.

If you can do it all yourself, that’s gonna save you so much money. We don’t have a ladder high enough to reach the top of our second story, so we paid someone to do it this year. But my parents have a single story house and my dad can reach the top with his ladder, so he does it himself.

In New York, we never had to power wash. And if you have bricks, you don’t need to either. But you definitely need to if your house is made from vinyl siding.

How often should you power wash?

Annually. You should be able to get away with power washing your house annually or every other year. You should power wash your driveway and patio annually as well.

What’s the cost for power washing?

The cost for power washing really varies.

You need to hook your pressure washer up to your hose, so you are paying for water every time you power wash. If you only power wash with water, that’s all your cost is. But if you have a pressure washer that has a detergent section or if you spray a cleaner down before you power wash, you have to factor that into your cost.

But it’s a lot cheaper to do it yourself than to hire someone to do it.