You are right...first impressions are important.
My suggestion to you would be to contact your alumnae and ask if any of them (or their husbands) can donate landscaping materials and/or labor to help spruce up the house.
Clean off the porch, buy some inexpensive (but nice-looking!) large pots and plant them with simple but showy flowers - I like geraniums with spikes and asparagus fern. Or get Impatiens (if shady) or Vinca (if sunny). Marigolds are also nice and heat tolerant and very showy. Set the pots on the porch - you can buy window boxes and line the porch with them or use smaller pots spaced more infrequently.
Make sure the door (and the porch) gets a fresh coat of paint (your boyfriends should be able to handle that - buy them a pizza and supply the paint) and polish the brass on the door.
A $10 gallon of paint can be used to paint the cement walkway up to your house. Your creative sisters can stencil a border along the walkway - cheaper than buying flowers.
Next year, vote on a small dues increase to cover the cost of hiring a lawncare service.
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