Friday, April 20, 2012

Plants for 15 Cents!


If you have a large space to fill with plants, starting them by seed could save you a bundle of money. For less than $6.00 ($2.00 for seeds and less than $4.00 in peat pots and we had the potting soil left over from last year) we should end up with over 40 zinnia plants (God willing, of course). That brings the per plant price to less than 15 cents! My local dollar store didn't have the kinds of seeds I wanted for landscaping my front yard but they did have sunflower seeds, vegetable seeds and more for 25 cents a package. That would bring your costs down even more.

There's also a certain indescribable (and priceless) joy that comes with growing plants from seed. It's truly exciting to see them sprout above the ground, grow their first true leaves and eventually flower in your garden. I like to save the seed packet and write the date I planted them (the above packet's seeds were planted on the 16th) right on the packet. I used to tape them into a notebook but it got too messy. I think pictures will be much neater.


These Mexican blanket flower seeds were packaged to be planted in 2010 but they were free (can't get cheaper than that!), courtesy of the Maryland Master Gardeners at the 2011 Montgomery County Fair. I figured that if they grow it'll be a bonus and if they don't I can always reuse the soil and pots.


I also planted this package of purple zinnias today. I think the red and purple will look nice together. The purple will go in a full sun area and the red on the border between sun and shade and even a bit into the shady area.

Have you ever planted anything from seed? Did you enjoy the process? May your gardens be bountiful and may God bless you dear reader!


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

$14.99 Spring Reading Nook Makeover

Our living room is still under construction from last November's flood but work is stalled and life goes on and I decided my reading nook (currently a loveseat, and a tv tray which you can't see in the photos) needed a spring makeover. The beige fleece pillows had gotten lumpy and needed to be replaced and I wanted some more color around me when I read.

My dear friend Renee knit me this fantastic lap afghan which is perfect for reading so first I added that to the area. It's like getting a big hug from her every time I use it (thank you Renee!). I also had the blue and yellow pillow with pink embroidery from a previous year so the only money I spent out of pocket was $14.99 at Target for a two pack of the solid blue pillows. One is pictured above.

 The two pillow look didn't quite do it for me so I got one of my non lumpy beige pillows and sandwiched it between the two bright blue pillows.

Then I decided the brighter pillow would look nice over on the left, and I could pop it on my lap to support whatever book I'm reading in the nook. My little cat approved and decided it was also a great sleeping nook.

When my cute little black cat is awake she prefers the higher ground atop Renee's afghan.

Hope you enjoyed my frugal decorating process! Have you done any frugal redecorating you're proud of? Please share if you have!

PS I'll probably re-purpose the lumpy pillows into some craft project so they're in my sewing pile now until inspiration strikes.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Simply Said Giveaway Contest

Image source
My friend Taylor is having a giveaway a day this week in celebration of her 25th birthday. Today's featured giveaway is a neat set of Simply Said products. There's no cost to enter but you get different number of entries for different tasks (I'll get 3 for blogging about the giveaway) and you have to be a follower Taylor's blog in order to enter (see source link below for more information). There were only 7 entries when I started writing this so unless that changes dramatically your odds of winning are pretty good. Also, you still have time to enter yesterday's Scentsy giveaway and there are four hours left (as of this moment) to enter the previous day's custom made tutu giveaway. Good luck to you if you enter!

Source: http://www.ourmilitaryhome.com/2012/04/10/simply-said-giveaway/

Monday, April 9, 2012

Enter to Win $40 in Scentsy Products

Image source
My friend Taylor is having a giveaway a day this week in celebration of her 25th birthday. Today's featured giveaway is a Scentsy Sampler valued at $40. There's no cost to enter but you get different number of entries for different tasks (I'll get 3 for blogging about the giveaway) and you have to be a follower Taylor's blog in order to enter (see source link below for more information). There were only 36 entries when I started writing this so unless that changes dramatically your odds of winning are pretty good. Good luck to you if you enter!

Source: http://www.ourmilitaryhome.com/2012/04/09/scent-surplus-giveaway/