Financial Hack

My husband and I have spent the last two years of homeownership cleaning, fixing-up, and repairing the inside of our home.

OK… my HUSBAND has been working on the inside of the house for two years. I, um, shopped for drapes?

We are finally moving our focus to the exterior (since the neighbors ‘tease’ us relentlessly about it). Apparently our weed lawn isn’t as attractive to others as it is to us.

We attended a free spring garden festival at our local community college and were surprised at the amount of low budget, low water options for landscaping.

We were lucky enough to get a free 20 minute consultation with a landscape architect (funded by the state of course – so THAT is where all our taxes are going! They had about 10 landscape architects onsite for consultation) and were shocked when he spent not only the promised 20 minutes but 50 additional minutes of his personal time. He drew a design so beautiful that I wanted to visit my own yard. He asked us to e-mail him photos when we finished the work and gave us a beautiful plant as a parting gift.

I never knew my community funded these sorts of shows. We learned an amazing amount about our area and how to cut costs yet still have a beautiful yard.

For those who are looking for some help, check into community and local college events. You may be pleasantly surprised!