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Top Ways to Spend Your Tax Returns to Improve Backyards

Written by Suzie Canale | Fri, Apr 10, 2015

Are your pockets bulging from your recent IRS tax returns?  Is it burning a whole through your wallets?  Are you wondering what to do with this windfall of cash? Unfortunately, that trip to the Keys or shopping spree to the mall might have to hold off until next year…

 

For homeowners, many of us suffered a pretty hefty handling of damage from this winter’s blizzards and need to do a ton of clean up and repairs to get things back to where they used to be.  Gardens and landscaping particularly took a hard hit destroying sheds, pool coverings and recent shrubbery plantings.

                                               photo credit: marthastewart.com

 It’s not as depressing as it sounds, I promise.  Purchasing supplies that will rebuild your surrounding property will not only increase its value but also provide a visually appealing oasis for you and your family to enjoy during the summer months. 

 

But where should you start?

 

The first thing you should do is to take a walk around your house and write down everything that looks like it needs to be replaced.  Include broken fences, rotted raised flowerbed wood, tree destruction, shrub decay and lawn tile breakage.  Once you’ve got everything listed, go through and mark the estimated cost for repair.  Choose one issue that is on the more expensive side and one that is less expensive.  That’s where you want to begin buying materials to fix these impairments.  If there is something that you know you just can’t wait to see new again, go ahead and put it as the top priority.  After all, it is your money!  

 

                                 photo credit: williams-sonoma.com

Patio and lawn furniture is unfortunately one of the most commonly replaced summer products for New England homeowners.  Although they are supposed to be stored once the snowfall arrives, we sometimes get bogged down with other winter chores and preparations and simply forget to.  That’s why its so important to find places in your area that sell second hand tables and chairs for the outdoors so that you don’t have to spend a ton of your tax return replacing the originals.  If you don’t have any of these treasure troves located close by, seek out confinement or reparation stores that might carry these items at a bargain price.  You’ll love the retro feel and be pleasantly surprised as to the money you’ll save!

 

  photo credit:Flower Factor

Unfortunately, we’re all going to be replanting many of our favorite perennials this year due to the severity of the ice that Bostonians experienced but that doesn’t mean we have to blow our wad entirely!  There are plenty of deals for these blossoming beauties; you just have to find them.  Try visiting garden club sales where you can usually pick up stunning clippings from other people’s gardens at a low cost.  Lamb’s ear and lady’s mantle in particular are fabulous specimens to be on the lookout for.  Don’t forget to drop by local farm stands too because often, they carry samplings from their own harvests and sell them at cheaper prices than larger greenhouses.

Suzie Canale

Westwood, MA 

Suzie will be spending the spring at our Westwood home rehabilitating her garden.