I’ve been noticing many people using garden plaques in their landscaping schemes. They bring an interesting focus to an otherwise bare wall and make an ordinary home a conversation piece. On a recent walk I took some pictures to share some of the neat ways they are being used. This picture doesn’t do this house justice. It is located on a main street in my housing development and is more or less a landmark. The sun plaque is so attractive and fits their color scheme so well t... Read Full Story

Image via Wikipedia Find It Free When you are seriously working on stretching your budget, you can’t beat free.  You can join the Free Cycle Network.  In it, people who have something they no longer want offer it free for the taking to anyone who wants it.  The problem is that things move quickly and it’s hard to connect for what you want. The Second Rule of Couponing My local store doubles coupons up to $2.00.  That means that if you have a manufacturer coupon for $2.00 an... Read Full Story

Image via Wikipedia Plan Ahead and Shop Around Running from store to store to compare prices makes no sense.  You will use up more gas and time than you will save.  With the internet at your fingertips, there’s no need and comparison shopping is easier than ever before. Last December I was in the market for a small countertop convection oven.  I wanted it to be big enough to hold a casserole or even bake a chicken or pan of muffins.  By searching Google, I found several sites th... Read Full Story

Last Friday (9/4/09) the Associated Press headline read, “Recovery difficult as jobless rate hits 9.7 pct”. When you realize that people working part-time because they can’t find a full time job or people who have stopped trying to look for work aren’t even included in those figures, it’s clear that many of us are having a hard time stretching what there is of our finances. Even if you have been lucky enough to keep your job, chances of getting a raise this yea... Read Full Story

I’ve read more and more instances of garden statues being stolen.  If they were made of a metal like  copper, they can be melted down and sold with no one able to trace them.  Otherwise, people steal the statue that you so lovingly bought and resell it someplace like  Craigs List or a fleamarket.  With the economy the way it is, don’t put anything near the street that you can’t afford to lose. Conversely, if you install an expensive  statue or fountain, you might want to tak... Read Full Story

I read a great article about a lady named Patrina. Her small home was cozy but hard to arrange. Once she examined her lifestyle to determine how she needed the space to function, everything came together. Now she has a home that she and her guests enjoy. She is using the same out of the box approach to her gardening. Although she hasn’t written out a garden plan, she has thought about what her outdoor garden should be like. Now she is recreating her landscape to match her inner wit... Read Full Story

When you’ve spent a lot of time on your garden, it’s nice to see it taking shape. Sometimes everything may be growing well but something still seems to be lacking. Maybe your outdoor garden looks nice but lacks character. Buying a statue or a fountain can help but before you go to that expense, why not take a step back and figure out what kind of garden you really want. Looking at what someone else has done is a wonderful way to find what you like or don’t like. This mi... Read Full Story

Every year my garden starts off neatly raked and ready to go. By August, the almost daily Florida rains have everything growing so fast that if you blink the weeds take over. Look at my poor tree garden. Mowing is getting hard because I can’t tell where the garden starts and the lawn ends. We have had a lot of rain with hot muggy weather. It didn’t make me want to do anything outside. To make matters worse, my husband’s sliding glass office doors look out onto this mes... Read Full Story

A lot of people come to my blog looking for yet another way to make chicken. Of course it is an easy cheap meal but we want it to be nourishing, easy and something our children will eat. After all, you can’t serve them chicken fingers all the time. Since my husband doesn’t like “spicy hot” dishes, I make my curried chicken very mild. The raisins and apples are a nice balance to the curry spice and seem to cut the heat a little. You can certainly spice it up to yo... Read Full Story

This is the third post in our series on cheap ideas that the average householder can use to save money. We have been focusing on good solid ideas to stretch your budget. Sometimes hearing someone else’s ideas will spark some of your own. My daughter wants a new baby sling so we are planning a yard sale. By ourselves we don’t have that much to sell so we are asking some of our neighbors to join with us. That’s too big of a subject to cover here but I will let you know h... Read Full Story