Have you ever explored some of the deals you can find if you buy through a liquidation outlet? Perhaps being a wholesale distributor could provide good deals not only for your family, but you could profit from them as well if you could find items to market. Especially online, selling can be lucrative and easy to achieve. My city has a liquidation distributor come and set up its wares in a parking lot every summer and it’s always interesting to visit and see what unusual deals you can find.
One of the reasons people garden is to save money…right? Not only can you have the best of the best growing right outside your back door, but for less than it would cost you to purchase it from the store. Well…let’s make sure about that!
By the time you add everything up… the costs of plants, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, lawn mower and trimmer maintenance, weed eater cord, mulch, watering your garden…and even your time and effort, this can add up to substantial spending.
One of the best ways to save money in the garden is to make use of your own organic waste. By this I mean…start a compost pile and add all of your organic kitchen refuse as well as your yard waste. Before you know it, you will have a thriving compost pile ready to improve your garden soil.
- Pare down the gardening tools you purchase and use. The must-have’s include a good shovel, a hose, a spade, pruning shears and gardening gloves. Beyond this…only purchase what you really consider a requirement for gardening.
- Start plants by seeds instead of seedlings. Although seeds require more patience, they are much cheaper than seedlings. Start seeds indoors in late winter to have them ready to transplant outdoors.
- Use naturally occurring materials in your garden. Mulch with grass clippings instead of purchasing bags of mulch. Lay down sheets of newspaper beneath the clippings as a weed block.
- Apply white vinegar to weeds for an effective an inexpensive weed killer that does not contain all of the toxins of regular weed killer.
- Collect rain water for watering instead of watering from a hose.
What are your favorites?
Living in the upper Midwest with no family living in Texas, I have only been to the Lonestar State one time in all my years and that was driving through a corner of it at night. I have no idea where I would venture for Houston auto repair if I were in the Houston area, but I hope I would be able to find something suitable for an unpleasant situation like a breakdown. I do not own an Acura Integra, but coincidentally, my husband has always wanted to own one – you might say it is his “dream car.” I hope someday his dream comes true.
When one of our vehicles needs an oil change, you will find my husband out in the driveway doing the dirty deed. Same for most of the tune up work that needs to be done on our vehicles. Yes, I am blessed to have married a handy man as far as automobile maintenance goes.
Happy Birthday to me! Yes…today is my birthday and in honor of this occasion I have something special to share.
Recently, I was sent a copy of a book to review. The book is called
and it is written by Mark St. Germain and illustrated by April Willy. Three Cups is a children’s book presents an adaptation of a true story of teaching children the skill of money management by using an allowance system. Not only does the book present this system of money management in a way that will appeal to both children and parents, but it does it with endearing text and beautiful illustrations.
Through the system presented in the story, children learn how to save, spend and have a giving spirit with money (the three-cup method). This book is not only enjoyable to read with the text and illustrations, but the lesson and story are expertly presented. I heartily endorse the method the author presents as well – it will teach children a thoroughly useful and positive approach to managing money that will serve them over a lifetime.
So…would you like to win a copy of this beautiful hard cover book? Of course you would!
Entry details and rules:
1. Leave me a comment and tell me what you find interesting about this book (mandatory entry – counts as one entry)
2. Blog about this contest and link back to this post (extra entry – counts as five entries)
3. Subscribe to this blog in a feed or email (extra entry – counts as five entries)
This contest will run between now and May 3, 2010 (midnight CST). Include an email in your mandatory comment entry for me to contact you if you are the winner. I will choose a winner using random.org and I will email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond with contact information. If you do not respond within this time, another winner will be randomly chosen. Sorry – open to US residents only.
I have the best auto mechanic…I have known him for over 20 years and he is a whiz beneath the hood of a vehicle. In fact, I happen to think he’s a whiz at many different things and I love him to pieces…yeah, I’m talking about my hubby. My hubby is a self-taught home mechanic who has a knack about being able to tinker on a car and make it hum. From oil changes to tune ups, I couldn’t even begin to think about how much money we’ve saved over the years with his knowledge and expertise.
No, I wouldn’t say he’s in the same league as those professionals that work at Houston auto repair on a fancy Acura Integra, but he’s more than capable of handling most of our automobile needs.
It’s nice to know there are websites out there like Repairpal for those more serious issues, too!
I purchase many things online out of convenience and thriftiness. Last week I was browsing, looking for an external DVD/CD drive for the kids’ laptop because they seem to have broken the internal one on their laptop. After much looking, reading, and researching (a must when you are purchasing electronics online), I finally found one that was reasonably priced and should have worked on their computer.
Well, it came and guess what…doesn’t work! Not only this, but the retailer is inaccessible – will not answer phones or emails. So…I contacted Amazon and thankfully I have recourse and protection from having purchased it through Amazon.
Moral of the story: Purchase from reputable dealers or through a website like Amazon that will enable you to recover your money in the event that something goes wrong with your transaction.
I unexpectedly found myself wandering around in the library the other day. After checking out, I walked past the cart where they invariably have a selection of books for sale. Suddenly, my eye caught something and I screeched my brakes to a halt. The entire 15-volume set of 1967 Childcraft Books for sale! $10!!!!! Unbelievable! I thumbed through them and they are in perfect condition…hardly even used!
I hurriedly scooped up my treasure and trotted back to the circulation desk to pay for these beauties before they slipped through my hands. Ah…what a find!
They are now home and my project for the day is finding the perfect home for these – probably right next to our World Book set.
Made my week!
I have a newly-acquired friend who is Amish. Although we have some fundamental differences in beliefs, it’s interesting and enjoyable how many similarities we have. We seem to be two of those “kindred spirits” that can finish each other’s sentences and each time we visit we find new things we have in common. Although, obviously I am not Amish…I definitely gravitate toward the simpler lifestyle and there is a common thread that we have to share.
Every time I enter my friend’s home during cold weather, her wood-burning Amish fireplace is crackling away in her kitchen. Actually, it is a cook stove that they use successfully to heat their entire home. One day I even had to bring my husband to her home so he could see and feel for himself how toasty their home is just by burning wood in their cook stove.
Some day…we are going to make the transition to wood heat.
Hey…have you seen any good sales on outdoor furniture? If you are like me…you start looking at all of the end-of-the-season sales for outdoor items right now. There are some beautiful things out there right now, too.
My wicker furniture is still in good shape, so I’m good there. I would really like a pair of new chaise lounges, though. Hubby and I love to sit out under the stars on autumn evenings with a cozy fire going in the fire pit. Chaise lounges would make this ideal, I think.
End of the summer sales are the perfect time to shop for new outdoor furniture.
I am trying to teach my children some of the basics about natural skin care. Along with this goes teaching them techniques for making our own products whenever possible.
The kids and I had fun this afternoon creating a batch of lip balm created with all natural ingredients. They were fascinated by the concoction of natural ingredients that we melted. After it was all melted and everyone had poured at least one thing into the sauce pan, we flavored it with natural almond flavoring and poured it into the lip balm tubes. Absolutely neat!
We now have a sizable supply of all natural lip balm that should last us a long time. Not only is it all natural, it was an economical process also. Lip balm…at least the good stuff…isn’t cheap!
