How to Save on Cleaning, Gardening and Home Repair This Spring

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Gardening

1. Get tools for less. On sites like Freecycle.org and Craigslist, and apps like OfferUp, Letgo and Nextdoor, you can dig up new or used gardening supplies at low cost or maybe even for free. And search the internet to see if there's a “tool library” in your area — either gratis or subscription based.
2. Reap deals at garden shows. Many regions hold these in the early spring. Show up near closing time, when vendors often are willing to sell display plants at huge discounts, advises Kerry Ann Mendez, author of The Budget-Wise Gardener.
3. Split and swap. April is a great time to divide and replant perennials and ornamental grasses, says Adam Dooling, a curator at the New York Botanical Garden. Collect more free plants by swapping cuttings through local garden clubs and plant societies or through Facebook groups.
4. Cut your losses. In 2014, my husband promised me a rose garden — literally! Unfortunately, the plants he bought at the local home center died. So we returned all of the brown thorny sticks for store credit. You can probably do the same if your garden doesn't grow: Home Depot and Lowe's, for example, offer one-year guarantees on many varieties of plants with a receipt.

Home improvements

1. Touch it up. Inspect your home for cracked, chipped or peeling paint. Scrape, prime and repaint those areas so you can put off really big paint jobs, says Ron Hazelton, host of the television series Ron Hazelton's HouseCalls. Another small task that can save you big is checking sealant and caulk around windows and doorways. Scrape out and reseal areas where they are breaking down to keep water from destroying wood and getting inside walls.
2. Wash and seal. Save hundreds of dollars by prolonging the life of fences and decks. Start by cleaning wood with trisodium phosphate or a substitute (TSP is not permitted in all areas). Next apply a wood brightener, says Hazelton, then a sealant to minimize the wood's expansion and contraction.
3. Get some gadgets. Check out some of the time- and money-saving accessories on the market. The favorite of Katie and Gene Hamilton, two coauthors of Carpentry for Dummies and Plumbing for Dummies: a $20 spinner for cleaning paint rollers and brushes. “You can reuse rollers for years,” Katie says.
4. Reuse, recycle ... renovate! Hit Habitat for Humanity's ReStores and architectural salvage yards for amazing deals on surplus or used items: cabinets, lighting fixtures and more. These stores can be hit or miss; go shopping before you start a project so you can integrate your finds into your plan.

Lisa Lee Freeman, cohost of the Hot Shopping Tips podcast, was founder and editor in chief of ShopSmart magazine from Consumer Reports and an investigative reporter for The Dr Oz Show.