We haven’t had to mow our grass since we moved in last summer. Why? Because we didn’t really have any. The yard consisted of weeds and moss. It was ugly. We decided to do something about it. We started collecting quotes from landscaping companies. We contacted one from an ad in a coupon magazine, another from a Google search and the last one was a referral. The quotes ranged from expensive to mega-expensive. We just couldn’t imagine spending thousands of dollars on our small yard. So we decided to DIY. Here are a few tricks we learned through the process:

Craigslist is a Great Source. We used the site to hire someone to haul the old dirt away. It would have taken us many hours and several trips using our neighbors small trailer to get the job done. Instead we gave someone $150 to do it. We also found our sod on Craiglist. We saved more than 50% off what it would have cost at a store like Home Depot.

Rent a Truck. We don’t own a truck or a trailer. And rather than burden our neighbor by constantly asking to borrow there trailer, we rented a heavy duty truck from Home Depot. It was just $20 for the first hour and $7 for each hour after that. We drove it to a discount lawn supply place to buy fill dirt. We’ll probably rent it again to pick up mulch. The fee for renting the truck was much less than a delivery charge would have been.

Find Free Stuff. Our county offers free mulch for residents. All you have to do is go pick it up. We don’t feel comfortable putting this near our home as it may have termites in it, but for a bed along the edge of the property it’s OK. We also received a great gift from another neighbor– dozens of free plants! They were taking out a bed and just going to throw them away. Instead we replanted them in a flower bed near our home.

Work Hard. After we finished sodding our yard I realized why companies charge so much to do it– it’s backbreaking work! But it felt good knowing we did it ourselves and saved thousands of dollars. In the end we only spent about $900 for everything which was a savings of at least 60%.