I checked the local nursery’s sale ad online (no need to get the paper to check their ads) and found out that they were having manure 10% off when you bought 10 or more bags. We had been planning to purchase manure to fertilize our lawn and the timing was perfect! I have never seen the nursery have a sale on manure before, but I was happy to spend less money on something I was planning to purchase. They also had grass seed on sale. I picked up a bag to overseed dead areas in our grass (before I put down the manure).
We have found that manure greens up a lawn faster than other fertilizers. We put down manure when the weather warms up in the spring, and again in the fall before it turns cold, to keep the grass greener in the winter. In between that we use a granulated fertilizer a couple of times. We have found that using the manure in the spring cuts our need to fertilize as often in the summer.
I used our manure spreader to spread the manure on the lawn. You can rent one if you need one, or you can sprinkle by hand. My husband looked into renting one years ago, as we had done it by hand and it was quite tedious that way. He saw that the local nursery had a used one on sale for less than the cost of renting one! It had a broken hinge on the door, which was why they were selling it for so little. I just keep the door closed with a bit of baling wire. We’ve used it for several years now.
After you spread the manure, you use a leaf rake to rake in down into the grass.
In two to three weeks, the grass will be a deep green.
Some other things I did this week to save money:
I mended a shirt.
My husband cut his own hair.
My husband purchased 50 pounds of potatoes at 16.8 cents a pound. This is our first food purchase this month.
We had several meals using the turkey I cooked last Saturday.
My husband took Ezrom to go bowling using two “bowl 2 games free” coupons that came in the mail. They only had to pay for shoe rental.
I continued to use free samples of facial moisturizer.
I received a free magazine in the mail.
I planted more seeds in the garden. Most of these were seeds I had leftover from last year’s seed purchases.
I reevaluated the water in the white garden. Some areas seem to be too wet, as the garden is still in the shade (come summer it will be in sun again). I changed the programming on the irrigation clock to only have them water one minute at a time. It goes on twice on Friday and twice on Monday. By watching the ground and checking the needs of the plants more often than I have in the past, I have found that I am able to use less water. I am mostly making changes to the white garden, as it is my first time watering it through the cooler months. It appears to use less water than what our previous kidney shaped piece of grass and bushes used. We did not know if it would use less or not, but I am setting it for less time as it is all drip emitters and no sprinklers.
I printed some Beatrix Potter coloring pages (from Peter Rabbit), some rather complicated dot to dot pages (2nd to 3rd grade level–but complicated enough that my 7th and 5th graders asked for some, too!), and some kindergarten letter pages for from this week’s Dover Children’s Sampler.
You can sign up to receive emails for their samplers to get free pages to print from their books. I find it best to save each picture first (I right click on the image and choose “save image”) and then make sure to unclick “fit picture to frame” so that nothing is cut off by printing margins. By saving the images, you can also use them again when your younger children are old enough to use them. I have a large number of Dover Sampler pages that I have saved over the the years to use for school and for fun.
On Saturday night my sister-in-law invited us to send off sky lanterns with her family to celebrate the finalization of the adoption of 5 children that she has fostered for 4 years. (She is now the mother of 12 children, some of whom are grown with families of their own).
We had a large family gathering and sent off 78 total.
It was amazing.
What did you do to save money last week?
Leticia, I take a head of green cabbage, good size if you make a lot of cabbage rolls. I cut out the core, you don’t have to. Then just seal it up tight…I use freezer paper but you could use foil. If you use foil, probably stick it in a plastic bag too, since foil can rip. They when you are ready to use it take it our a couple days before and put in fridge in cake pan or such, core side down to start thawing. The leaves are now pliable and you don’t have to try and steam them off which is always messy and hot. There are also freezer recipes for cabbage slaw (cole slaw) if you are interested. Where you decide to freeze it is important because you don’t want it rolling out of an upright freezer on to your foot…is like a bowling ball!
Oh, Paula, I know what you mean about missing soda SO BAD. When I take a hot pizza bubbling out of the oven I think wouldn’t a cold, cold soda be so good right now. I miss the carbonation though I have become much better about drinking water. I gave it up too because of pain that we thought was ulcer, but still had after a year. Had a real bad episode that turned out to be acute pancreatitis due to gallstone blocking some duct. Ended up 5 days in the hospital. Even though it turned out to not be an ulcer I decided it was better to be off the soda anyways due to the phosphorous and bone damage.
Andrea, this is what my youngest does when sweeping…she is in charge of it. We have all wood or linoleum…she sweeps all with the broom, then uses the dust pan to pick up as much as she can. Then she takes the dustbuster and sucks up the line of dirt that the dustpan always misses and then she dustbusts off the broom bristles.
Oh my, I am going to assure a good place to freeze it and prevent a bowling ball falling onto my foot! There are just two of us here, but I really like to make cabbage rolls (we call them “charutos” or “cigars”, in English). It is really going to save my fingers for being burned, thank you!
I do have the toolbar, but I did not even realize the e was clickable, lol. Thank you so much for the tip! I really appreciate it.
Susan, another common culprit is rhubarb. Rhubarb juice has more calcium per cup than milk, so it is a common item to eliminate with kidney stones.
What a great idea! I don’t have a dustbuster, but I could take the vacuum out at the end and use it the way your daughter uses the dustbuster. Sometimes it’s soothing to just sweep without the loud noise of the vacuum. The vacuum is obviously faster and better at getting the dust, but if I have the time, I don’t mind the broom.
Rebecca, Congratulations on your graduation! It’s a great accomplishment and I’m sure you’re glad it over! :-)Susan
Heidi… Do u continually go back once the swagbucks run is over to restart or is there a simplier way ;)?u have really inspired me to work on my swagbucks!-Adriana
Athanasia, other things that I’ve done to protect my digestive system are taking acidipholous capsules daily, eating yogurt several times a week, and drinking chamomile tea sweetened with raw honey daily. My doctor had me taking ranitidine daily for acid reflux. My reading told me that chewing antacid tablets was stopping the action of the ranitidine, so I gave them up, but take the ranitidine twice daily. Also, bananas, apples, beets, pears, and cabbage are supposed to be good, so I include plenty of these, and try to go easy on fats and sugars.
You do have to continue to go back and run it again. I have my computer in a central part of my house so I run it all day.Sat. starts a new month so a new chance to make your daily goal. You just need to make your first goal to receive the monthly bonus. You can click on the “my winning streak” to see how much it pays to make you daily bonus. I always go for my second bonus also. My first goal is usually 150 so that gives me an extra 15SB’s and my second goal is usually 350 so that gives me an extra 35 SB. Those post on the evening of the 5th the following month. So I earn about 50 SB’s in bonuses a day. I love the 5th of the month when bonuses hit.Good luck. I just got to cash out a $50 Target Gift Card today.
Athanasia, Thanks so much for posting this. I had never thought of freezing cabbage or coleslaw! It gives me an additional way to stretch my garden into the winter months. Also, cabbage is going to be at it’s lowest price of the year in a few weeks, in my part of the country anyway. (St. Patrick’s Day).
Brandy, thank you for your thoughtful reply. Where I live it is currently 16 degrees and snowing, so the issue of surfaces being too hot for play doesn’t arise here often.
Wow! My first goal is 30/40. Laughable compared to urs. Lol but i have been trying to hit both. Is there a reward that u get quicker than another… Say paypal vs gc?also when will our bday team pts post? Thanks again in advance. -adriana
Sadly it takes a long time for Gift cards to post. They verify ever gift card that comes through to make sure there is no fraud. I only ever get gift cards and they all take about 10 days to post to your account.I think they said the birthday bonus will post by the 7th of next month. If you have been making your goals you will bonuses on the 5th.If you keep making your goal it will not be long before your goals will get higher.
Athanasia, I am not Rebecca, but I googled it, & it appears to be some sort of chocolate sprinkles. http://www.food.com/recipe/typical-dutch-breakfast-vlokken-kwinkslag-en-hagel-278713
Marivene, thanks for the answer. I did try the google, but I came up with nothing. I am not telling my youngest and husband about this though or they will be trying to put chocolate sprinkles on their toast…they have such a sweet tooth.
Brandy I just love that when you have a chance to do something with just one child (as in your husband took one son bowling) you go for it. I believe that in large families one on one time is very important. Even allowing a child to stay up late for one on one time is such an wonderful thing. Very in wise of you!
http://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2014/02/frugal-week-feb-22-feb-28.html My week of savings is posted here.
If your husband has the non-calcium type of stone, the cause is excess uric acid because the body cannot process purine properly. This leads to a buildup of uric acid crystals which can cause gout and/or kidney stones. High protein foods, beer, insufficient water intake, and genetics can all be causes. My husband would never give up meat or beer and did not want to take medication. However, after 2 hospitalizations in 2 months he finally agreed with the doctor’s recommendation to take allopurinol. It’s an inexpensive generic (it should not be difficult to find a 90 day supply for $10 cash). He started on 300 mg daily of this medication over 20 years ago and has not had a kidney stone episode since. I hope that it all works out for you.
I love your comment Andrea that all readers have tips for each and everyone of us and it is indeed a corner we can sit in to browse to our hearts content, and come back again and again…no need for any glossy magazines. With thanks to BrandyFrom Australia http://www.Alexa-asimplelife.com
Our money saving tip we shared with friends this weekend was my Ooma telo VOIP system. I had bought it inDecember and now pay only $3.70 month for my home phone bill, free local and long distance calls. We had discontinued cable tv and installed an antenna on our roof at a cost of $60 and receive 12 channels. So we pay for cable internet at $40 a month rather than what a friend was paying over $250 for her bundled “good deal” and get plenty of entertainment for our dollars.
Thank you Susan. I’m very glad it’s over
Where in Vegas do you live? I have been looking to move to the southwest (Arizona or Nevada). I was in Las Vegas last week to look at some homes and didn’t find any with yards as large as this. There were plenty of wonderful, beautiful homes in Henderson, but the yards are so tiny! Maybe being a Minnesota girl used to large, plush lawns has ruined me? I’m hoping to find something that would suit two large dogs (and children in the future).
Meg,You’re right; our .24 acre lot is large here in the land of zero-lot lines and .15 acre average lots.The house across the street from me is for sale 🙂 The size of the lot is the main reason we were first interested in this house.If you need a Realtor or some help in finding a place with a bigger yard, I’d love to have my husband help you find a place (he is a Real Estate Broker). Send me an email if you don’t have an agent and I can also tell you where we are in town.