Beginner Gardening: Help!!!! Cost effective landscaping, 2 by Brandigizzle

Brandigizzle wrote:
I live in a rental and we had an option of getting new carpets or having the landscaping finished when we moved in. We chose new carpets because we had a 6 month old. Now we're stuck with a big eye sore in front of our rental. It's multched but that's it. Weeds are starting to grow out of it and it's driving me crazy. It's just a rental so I want to keep my cost as low as possible. What you yall suggest?

We live in kansas and the area gets direct sunlight all day long.