Tips on Shopping Garage Sales – Part One

October 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My husband and I looooove to garage sale!  And since we live in the sunny state of Florida, we can usually hit the sales year round!

There are tons of reasons why we choose to spend our Saturday mornings driving around town with a pocketful of cash, checking out people’s junk.  The main reason being that shopping garage sales is a huge money saver!  We have scored beautiful decor for our house, our children’s entire wardrobe, organizing essentials, and never-opened gifts for other people for just a fraction of retail prices.  And I mean a very small fraction!

I also think my husband lives off the haggling!  ;)

If you haven’t tried your hand at garage saling yet, here are some tips to get you started…

Wake Up Early

In order to get the best deals, you have to wake up early!  This is sooo not fun for me and hubby usually has to drag me out of bed.  Find something that will motivate you to get up and then make sure you are up and out the door at sunrise.  Seriously.  By 9am, the best items at the best prices are usually gone.

Plan Your Route

Hunting down the best garage sales on Craigslist has become a Friday night routine at our household.  Once we get a good idea of where some of the best sales are, we head over to Google Maps to start putting in each address to plan our driving route.  We try not to drive all around town, but select the best garage sales that are within a good distance of each other.  Really, community and neighborhood sales are the best along with church rummage sales.  You will get the most out of your time at these kinds of sales, since there is a lot more being sold in such a short distance!

Know How To Haggle

This one has always been hard for me.  Now, for my husband, it comes very naturally.  A little too natural sometimes.  I am always worried he is on the border of offending someone with his low offers.  My approach is a bit more neutral and usually goes like this, “What’s the best you can do on…?”  Then if I am comfortable with that price, I take it.  Or if my price is just a tad lower, I will offer that.  It’s all about being respectful.  Even if I have to walk away empty handed, I always smile, say thank you and wish them luck!

Be Willing to Dig

My husband and I love pulling up to a house that has everything just piled together in boxes.  This usually means the owners don’t really care too much about what they are selling, which means a lower cost out of pocket for you!  We have found some real treasures getting down low and taking the time to sift through some boxes.

These are just a few of the many garage sale tips I have to share with you.  Make sure to check back next week for some more!  :)

Photo Source

Visit Carolyn over at A Purpose Driven Home!

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Filed Under: Frugal Living, Moms Living Green, On A Budget

Organic Gardening: The Return of The Victory Garden

July 9, 2011 By 5 Comments

 

During WWII there was a shortage of fresh produce throughout the United States due to an overall lack of fuel for cultivating, harvesting and shipping the produce.

Having a Victory Garden was a way of showing your support for the war effort and doing your part to help the country in its time of need. The Victory Garden, however, has seen resurgence in its popularity in recent years. In fact, some say that a home-grown revolution is taking place for many reasons.

 

1.    Growing organic fruits and vegetables in your own backyard makes for easier access to healthy food. Imagine how easy it would be to grab all the ingredients for a quick and healthy salad instead of making a run through the nearest drive-thru when hunger hits. You could save fat grams, calories and money.

 

2.    Gaining independence from what many call corporate food systems is another common reason for the rebirth of the Victory Garden in this country. In fact, it is also the reason for the rise in popularity Community Supported Agriculture. CSA involves direct contact between small, local growers and individuals. Instead of traveling to the Farmer’s Market to sell their produce, the food is picked fresh and delivered right to your door every week.

 

3.    A Victory Garden can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Many people are concerned about the carbon footprint left from planting, harvesting, processing and shipping the fruits and vegetables grown in other parts of the country. Planting a Victory Garden helps reduce that impact.

 

4.    Saving money is another great reason to implement a Victory Garden in your backyard. The cost of produce can be ridiculously high, especially when two or three children can work their way through an overpriced quart of strawberries in one sitting. Being able to simply go in your backyard for some basil with dinner or berries for dessert can really cut costs for families.

 

5.    Growing plants in a chemical-free environment is proving to be more important than once thought but, unfortunately, the cost of organic vegetables at the store is extremely expensive for most families, unless they grow them on their own.

 

Whatever the motivation, Victory Gardens are great way to get fresh produce, re-connect with the land and save money. Even First Lady Michelle Obama planted a Victory Garden on the White House lawn in a gesture to encourage Americans to eat more fresh, chemical-free produce grown with their own two hands.  She is the first to do so since Eleanor Roosevelt but she is committed to helping children fight the rising cases of obesity and diabetes. In fact, the First Lady’s press release stated that organic, locally grown produce is the first step to healthier eating.

 

Find out more about creating your own Victory Garden by subscribing to our free 7-Day Organic Gardening ecourse below

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Go Green And Frugal At The Same Time – Baking Soda To The Rescue

February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s outrageous the money we spend on products that literally go down the drains.  The analogy is too powerful to miss.

When we use expensive cleaners to scrub our sinks, flours, countertops, or to boost our laundry detergent, we are sending our hard-earned money right down the drain with the dirty water.

Not only are we spending too much money on cleaners, but they are often toxic.

There is another way that’s cheap and safe.  Baking Soda.  You are probably already familiar with this powerhouse of a cleaner/deodorizer.  Just in case you have forgotten a few of its uses, let’s review here with a few basic ways to use baking soda in your own home:

Refrigerator

The refrigerator is a good place to become familiar with using Baking Soda.  Deodorize your refrigerator by opening up a box and setting in the door.  Be sure to replace the box about every 30 days so it keeps working at its best.  I set it in the door so I don’t forget to replace it.

Drains

After your box of Baking Soda has deodorized your refrigerator for 30 days, take it out and use it to clean your kitchen or bathroom drains.  Sprinkle it down the drain, let it sit for 10 minutes, then run warm water down the drain.  This will help clean those nasty pipes and keep them smelling fresh.

Bathroom

Scrub up your bathtub, shower, and bathroom sink with Baking Soda.  Dampen the surface, then sprinkle the Baking Soda all over.  Let it sit for a minute, then with a clean, damp sponge, scrub the surface.  You don’t have to worry about scratching, so this is great cleanser for fiberglass.  Now, give the surface a good rinse and you can enjoy your bathroom without worrying about toxic residues touching your skin.

Laundry

I love my laundry goodies, but hate the expense.  So, Baking Soda has become my new favorite in the laundry room.  I add about a half cup of Baking Soda in with my detergent in a full load to balance the pH of the water.  This makes the detergent work better.  The final rinse is another perfect place to give my laundry a little boost.  Again I add about a quarter to a half cup of Baking Soda in the rinse water to sweeten and freshen my laundry.

Food Safe Cleaner

Rather than spraying toxic cleaning products in your food preparation areas, dissolve a half cup of Baking Soda in a gallon of warm water.  Using clean dishcloths or paper towels, wipe down the counters, stove top, cutting boards, and any other areas or appliances that come in contact with food.  Then, rinse thoroughly and you’ll be left with a grease-free, shiny surface that is non-toxic.

These are just a few ways that I use Baking Soda.  You can find Baking Soda in bigger boxes or bags now, so you don’t have to fill your pantry with those little boxes.  Give it a try and I’ll bet you will get rid of your old habit of buying expensive, and toxic, cleaners.

Please stop by often here at MomsInABlog to read more frugal tips for the home and family.  Be sure to comment when you do so we can learn more about what you would like to see here.  And visit me at HillbillyHousewife.com when you get a few minutes to browse my other frugal tips, ideas, and recipes.

Warmly,
Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife

www.HillbillyHousewife.com

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Green Living For Kids

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Kids with the Earth at the Big Green Gathering
Image by gavinandrewstewart via Flickr

Green living for kids can be so easy.  There are so many ways to incorporate a green lifestyle into everyday living when you have kids in school.  As a parent you can help guide your children into a lifetime of responsible green living.

Need some ideas to get you started?

Recycle

Children have homework, and often like to spend time practicing their coloring, alphabet and numbers. Go green by reusing scrap paper that you find lying around the house, or old pieces of paper that your child may bring home. You can even create notebooks by stapling the blank sides into a makeshift notebook. Use these throughout the year to help keep the waste of paper products to a minimum.

Natural Materials

Kids need backpacks for school, and you can now buy all natural, organic backpacks for your child. Vinyl backpacks, the most common form, are made from PVC, polyvinyl chloride. This is the extremely environmentally hazardous material, so go green with your child by opting for an organic hemp backpack or even a recycled rubber backpack. The materials that make up these backpacks are strong and sturdy, and will last your child all year. Your child will not only be stylish, but also eco-friendly.

Go Organic

Cotton clothing can contain pesticides, as 84 million pounds of pesticides were reported to be sprayed onto the 14.4 millions of areas of cotton fields in the year 2000. So what can you do to go green with your child’s clothing? You can buy pesticide-free organic cotton clothing, as well as wool clothing that has not had pesticides used on it. Another way to be a green parent to a school age child is to buy second-hand clothing. Check your local consignment shops, thrift stores, church sales and yard sales for gently used clothing that your child can wear again.

Reuse

School age children may carry their lunch to school. The best way to go green is to use all reusable materials when you pack a lunch. Paper bags and plastic bags that get thrown out every day are out- reusable containers and lunch box are in. Send your child to school with a stylish lunch box or even a reusable sack that they can use the rest of the year. Use reusable plastic containers to pack food in, and avoid buying prepackaged food such as puddings and jello. Instead, make your own and pack it yourself. You’ll not only save the earth some garbage, you’ll also save yourself money. Send real spoons and forks with your child and have them bring them back every day- no more plastic utensils that get thrown away. Juices and drinks can also be sent off in reusable thermos or spill-proof cups, saving a great deal on unnecessary garbage.

Children love being part of a solution so if you sit down with them to discuss what you’re doing and the reasons why, then helping your child to make a conscious choice to “live green” will become second nature.

What other ideas do you and your children put into practice in an effort to establish a “green routine” in your home?

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WALL-E is green

June 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

DisneyWALL-E, the Disney film, has a great message for all of us. In the movie, the humans have moved to space.

Why? Because after years of not taking care of their garbage, trash has taken over the earth.

Wall-e is a trash compactor and he continues his job on earth by scooping garbage, making it into cubes and creating buildings with those cubes. It must reek like nothing you or I have ever smelled before.

“Why is there so much garbage?” My seven year old whispered loudly, when we watched it in the movie theater.

“Because they didn’t recycle,” I answered.

Yes indeed. Dramatic perhaps, but a great example of WHY we must make changes in our lives to implement green living and sustainability.

Wall-E is happy scooping and packing because he has not known anything else. But then he meets Eva, a probe sent to earth to determine if life could be sustained there once again, and things change. He falls in love, and when Eva shuts down and is later removed from Earth, he moves mountains to go with her. All of the sudden, garbage isn’t so satisfying after all.

On the planet that humans now live in, they are fed and clothed while sitting (and being transported) in their chairs. Everything happens at voice command and they continually have a screen in front of their face with media and pictures. Some have the screen removed during the movie and realize there is actually life around them. A couple discover that there is a swimming pool and that talking to another person is actually pleasant.  Each one of the humans are fat because they don’t move, and their muscles can’t take standing.

The movie is both a message of green and a message of inactivity and where it could lead. Inspiring on both accounts.  It’s not so hard to take care of our world so that our Earth’s landfills don’t take over. And it’s not so hard to make a commitment to take our faces out of media each day and MOVE-enjoying the planet that we do have.

Do this and reap tremendous results. You will feel better. Demand this of your children too, and someday they will thank you.

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Paper alternatives

June 9, 2009 By 3 Comments

amazon-rain-forestIt’s scary really.

Rainforests used to cover abour 14% of our world.  Now Rain-Tree estimates that they cover only 6%.

Why? Because in the world of development and “progress”, they are only considered as valuable as the timber enclosed within the forest.

We are still using trees at an alarming rate. Although there has been true progress in finding other options for paper products in particular, we still buy the ones from the trees, and to make those they take wood from the forests.

I used to think that trees, as a natural resource, could be replanted, and therefore it was OK to use them for anything and everything.  (I do think that replanting should be a requirement). But I have since realized that trees take many years (about 30) to grow to the point where they are valuable-and the rate of growth does not keep up with the rate that we cut them.

Here are some alternatives to using trees for paper. I hope that you will consider purchasing and supporting the companies who make products from tree alternatives.  If we don’t buy the ones made from trees-they won’t make them. Period.

  1. Recycled Paper-Look for companies with green processes. Less chemicals are used for them.
  2. Hemp- Regrows in abotu15 months.
  3. Kenaf- A high-yield plant that grows extremely well.
  4. Agricultural By-Products- According to Information Distillery, paper is also made from agricultural byproducts left over from the harvesting and processing of sugar cane, bananas, coffee, tobacco, lemons, and other fibres.
  5. Elephant Dung- Yes, it sounds weird. But it is viable and it doesn’t even smell.

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Julie Bonn Heath is a freelance writer, author and public relations/marketing professional who has three kids, four pets and lives on the Oregon Coast. Follow Julie on Twitter.

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Grow your own greens

June 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

avocadoGrowing your own garden can save you money and insure that you are feeding your family in a healthy matter.

I was uncomfortable with chemicals and what-have-you on our veggies. I grew tired of wax on apples and carrots that tasted bad no matter how many times that I washed them.

My taste runs green, as you know, and I set out this year to make my garden more green. More environmentally friendly, that is.

  1. I purchased a compost bin and am adding everything to it that I can.
  2. I grow our food organically.
  3. I refuse to waste any food. If there is too much at one time for some reason, I get it to someone else who needs it.
  4. I bartered food for needs- a friend built me another planter box to plant veggies in and we are sharing veggies with their family as payment for it.
  5. I am using environmentally-friendly materials. My garden stakes are bamboo.
  6. I am picking off and relocating snails instead of using chemicals.

It’s not too late to sow some seeds and reap some benefits.  If you haven’t done it before, start slow and small. It’s OK to just try one planter of lettuce or other easy-to-grow crop. Sweet peas are another easy one to try.

And then make a goal next year to try a little more.

Eat green! It’s worth it! And yummy!

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The Celebrity Experience – A Book Review

May 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to 10 Days of Business Book Reviews, a power series of sorts. This should be a lot of fun especially for people like me who enjoy the following:

Books that make you think
Books that provide powerful case studies
Books that offer straightforward guidance and are structured in a “how to” fashion
Books that appeal to your entrepreneurial spirit

The first book up for review is called The Celebrity Experience. This book is all about a topic that is near and dear to my heart: Customer Service. But really, it’s more than that. It’s about going above and beyond for your customers.

Call it what you want: customer service, client attention, patron appreciation… it doesn’t matter. What does matter is how your customer base perceives the way that you treat them. It’s true. And 99% of your customers LOVE it when you go above and beyond for them. (Let’s face it; about 1% of your customers will never be happy no matter what you do.)

This book by Donna Cutting (who told me about this book on Twitter several months ago) is fantastic. The case studies are outstanding and intelligently placed within the context of the book. The tips are simple and well thought out and the concept behind the whole book is completely relevant to almost every type of business out there. Regardless of whether your entire business is online or if you have a brick and mortar establishment, you can take the concepts of this book and apply them to how you handle and work with your clients. Not to mention the fact that I really want to stay at the Gaylord Opryland Resort after reading what they do for guests.

I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to anyone who has a business, is in management, or is interested in making a revolution in their workplace.

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Green Mother’s Day Gifts

May 8, 2009 By 1 Comment

Top eco-tips for Mother’s Day

1. Don’t assume you know what mom wants to do or as a gift. She may prefer a picnic over brunch in a fancy restaurant.

2. When buying gifts, think locally made.

3. Avoid using wrapping paper. Substitute fabric wraps you make yourself from scarves or other fabric you have on hand, or purchase from a mom-owned company like Bobowrap. These can be used over and over again.

4. Give the gift of yourself. Whatever you can do for mom most certainly will be appreciated whether it’s washing her car, cleaning her gutters, or sorting and organizing old photos. Find something you can do that costs nothing but your time. Repeat once a month for a year!

Top eco-picks for Mother’s Day

1. Many moms appreciate receiving gifts that give. Give her a gift card from www.tisbest.com and she can donate to any of more than 300 non-profits.

2. Organic flowers are best for mom and the planet. Order from a local farm or online from www.OrganicBouquet.com

3. If you don’t have a store nearby that offers sustainable gifts, try any of these:

About the authors:

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net

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Tumbleweed Compost Tumbler by Clean Air Gardening

April 25, 2009 By 3 Comments

garden09-004I was so excited to get started on my garden this year. In the interest of helping to green our earth, save money on groceries and more, we have doubled the size of our garden this year. Another green move-we bought a real compost bin.

I have composted in the past somewhat but developed a real passion for it this past year after I realized that much of the scraps we were throwing away could be both returned to the earth and benefit our future harvest in great ways.

But I ran into challenges.

I have medical issues with my back and as a result, I have always had to adapt my gardening. For instance, my garden beds are in waist-high boxes so I don’t have to bend when weeding, planting, etc. The boxes are quite a bit of work (for someone else) to build, paint and fill with dirt but it’s garden09-011the only way that I can garden so it is worth it to me.

So as you can imagine, hand-turning compost contents with a shovel is a no-no for me. And therefore I was excited when Jayme at Nest in Style reviewed a compost tumbler by Tumbleweed. All you do to break down the compost is spin the barrel.  It’s rust resistant, which I need here in the Northwest, and it has openings at both ends to add and remove the contents. The bar that runs through the middle assists in breaking matter down.

We assembled it yesterday and it is already halfway full from what I had saved to compost. We have already added water a couple of times and tumbled it several times. And it is already well mixed. I can’t wait to add it to my plants.

You can help green our earth too by composting and using the result to enrich new growth. To get the best mix, you need layers of both green and brown colored items. You can compost:

  1. Paper after it has been shredded
  2. Produce scraps, skins and seeds
  3. Eggshells
  4. Mowed grass
  5. Shrub and tree trimmings (cut small)
  6. Leaves

Stop throwing it away! Compost instead and enrich the earth for all of us.

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