Fun and Cheap Ways to Spend Time with Your Honey

Let’s face it: the whole pizza-and-a-movie-at-home bit gets old really fast. So don’t let it get to the point of cholesterol problems from pepperoni grease or multiple viewings of Date Night. Your body, your mind, and your significant other will thank you. Simply browse through the following ideas for ways to spend time with your special someone that will get you out and about, learning more about each other, and having fun while nurturing your wallets.

Group or Double Date with Board and Video Games
This is a great idea if you know some other couples in your area who’d rather not break the bank over one night at a fancy restaurant. Schedule some group or double dates at each other’s houses or apartments, playing a new board game or trying out a new Wii challenge together. It will get you out of your own place, so it’s a change of scenery, and you’ll get to interact with other fun couples. Chances are that you’ll learn something new about each other, such as a hidden talent for singing Rock Band solos. You might still order some pizza, but changing one out of two tired dating habits isn’t too shabby.

Go Local
Try checking out your city’s website to find out if you have some of these events or venues in your area:

Farmer’s market: Reasonably priced and fresh, it’s also a fun place to go if you want to simply look around together. You can look up recipes beforehand, pick up the perfect ingredients at a budget-friendly rate, and enjoy cooking a meal together later in the day.

Art, history, or science museums: These are often free or very reasonably priced for admission. You’ll learn something about the world around you and might even discover a special interest or hobby that your date is passionate about.

Used bookstores: If you’re of the literary persuasion, this is fun, interesting, and expands your book collection for next to nothing. Find out what kinds of books you both enjoy, then get double the value by reading each other’s purchases.

Consignment shops: If you ever do go out on a “real” dinner date, dress each other up for the special occasion by shopping together at consignment shops. Make a deal that you’ll set up a budget for the outfits and that you each have to wear what the other one picks out.

College and university exhibitions: Students in all kinds of arts programs often set up events that are free and open to the public, such as art exhibitions, dance and music recitals, and theatre productions. If there’s a charge, it’s usually minimal and goes to support higher education, so you’re not throwing your money away. You might enjoy the experience and find that you’re frugal patrons of the arts.

State or national parks: Make a day trip of it, bring a picnic, and have a great time. You might invest in some good trail shoes, but otherwise, you won’t have to buy anything. Most parks have free admission, and if not, the fee should be low (around $10). If the park you choose does charge too much, try gardens at universities and colleges for your picnic location.



This article was written by guest blogger Alexis Bonari of www.collegescholarships.org. Thanks for the ideas, Alexis!

Frugal Home Decor: Add seating and color to your patio with a DIY recycled patio bench

We have pretty magnificent sunsets here. And there's nothing like relaxing on the porch and having a couple drinks in the evening. All we used to have for seating, though, were a couple of ugly plastic chairs, and those finally cracked and broke. So I set about gathering materials to build some deck furniture. I'm no expert carpenter, mind you, so I kept it simple for my first project: a wooden bench (cushions to come as soon as I can get by the fabric store). This is about the most simple bench you can build and it requires very few tools. It's a super quick, super easy, and super cheap, afternoon or weekend project.

All the materials used to build this bench were recycled, except the paint, and we got that on sale because it was already mixed. Even if you had to buy the wood, too, you'd spend less than $15.


Supplies:

4 2x4s, the desired length of your bench (we got these from a neighbor who had them left over)
hammer and nails
a hand saw or circular saw
1/2 quart of indoor/outdoor wood paint (if you have some leftover from another project, all the better)
a paintbrush
concrete cinderblocks or other support (leveled tree stumps, upside-down metal buckets, etc.)



Directions:

1. Take one of your 2x4s and cut from it 2 11" lengths. These are the pieces that will hold the your bench seat together. Scrap the rest of that plank and keep it for another project.
   
   
2. Using an electric sander (unless you want really sore hands and arms), sand one side of the 3 long 2x4s until very smooth. Don't forget the edges and corners.
   
   
3. Prop all 3 planks, smooth side down, atop your supports (or two sawhorses, etc.) and align them carefully. Place the two shorter pieces across them at either side, 5-6 inches from the edges, and mark around them with a pencil. If you have C clamps, you can skip the pencil marking and just clamp them together.
   
   
4. Flip everything over, realign, and place one nail in the center of each long plank, aligned with the center of the short support pieces. (See image below.)
   
   
   
   
5. Flip everything back over and hammer the sharp ends of the nails sideways so that they're flat against the wood.
   
   
6. Paint! Follow the directions on the can as to how long to wait between coats; you'll probably want at least 2.

Et voila! Your new patio bench.


Tip: Use leftover paint to color other accent pieces on the porch or around the yard for a unified look. I used mine on some upcycled flower pots.

The fence that makes good neighbors needs a gate to make good friends

I've never really had friendly neighbors before.

The house where I grew up was in a small neighborhood of mostly elderly people who rarely left their houses. The couple next door was friendly. My father and they would exchange garden produce and they'd invite my sisters and I to swim in their pool. But most of my exchanges with the other neighbors were limited to waves and hellos.

In my adult life I've lived in four cities: St. Louis, New Orleans, London, and Boston. In none of them did I even know my neighbors. I couldn't have told you their names. No one came by to introduce themselves when I moved in, and few even had a smile to offer when passing.

What ever happened to the days when new neighbors showed up on your doorstep with a casserole or invited each other for dinner or just to chat on the front porch? I wondered. Didn't I see that on Leave It to Beaver or Little House on the Prairie?

I don't want to slag on Americans in general (There are plenty of other people to do that, right?), but what's the deal? I made attempts to get to know and befriend the people in my neighborhood in every place I lived, but without luck. Nobody was interested. And look, I'm a pretty damn interesting person. I don't smell. I'm not insane, annoying, or pushy. I don't have any weird tics or a third eyeball or anything. So what gives? I don't have trouble meeting people or making friends elsewhere, but I'll be damned if I can make friends with the people who live 50 feet away from me and whom I see nearly every day.

Until now, that is. Since MDT and I have been in Costa Rica (a little over a month), not only have we met all our immediate neighbors (and their extended families), but we even consider them our friends.

The couple across the street is awesome. They have been incredibly helpful. The guy is a contractor, and has come over to help us fix several things around the house that had us stumped (the frighteningly named "suicide shower" that is endemic to Central America, for one), and given us lifts to town, etc. His girlfriend made us rice pudding, her parents brought us Guanabana shakes, and her daughter stops by almost daily to practice her English and play with the cats and often brings us oranges or bananas that she's picked. They're like our adoptive family. It's pretty cool.

Plantains brought to us (and wrapped with birthday paper) by Angelica, age 7.

An entire branch of bananas from our friend Pablo.

Our landlady and her daughter live next door and two doors down, respectively. They've also brought us fruit and given us rides, and her seven-year-old granddaughter is always running around playing and bringing me flowers.

Flowers, picked and delivered by Angelica. Yes, that's a giant tin of tomatoes. We didn't have a vase.

Another neighbor, a guy MDT plays fútbol with, has invited us for drinks at the bar next door and to his upcoming birthday bash, and others routinely give us a lift to or from town if they're passing by. We know everyone's names (and their dogs', cats', and horses').

It's always difficult when you're new in town, but this time we're new in the country, and the language is new, too. I can't even believe how much at home they've made us feel here, in so little time. When our time comes to move on, we'll be very sad to leave them.

Um. . . so where are you going with this?
I know this post isn't exactly about personal finances or being thrifty, unless of course you count my passing mention of us walking everywhere (not owning a car) or the fact that we've saved money on food because people keep bringing us stuff. But the whole point of being frugal and minding your financial situation is, ultimately, to be more comfortable, right? I'm not saying having money makes you happy. But I am saying that life's a hell of a lot easier when you don't have a huge debt hanging over your head or when you don't have to worry about how you're going to pay your bills at the end of the month or how you'll ever be able to afford your own home (seriously, can someone fill me in on how the hell people do this?).

I've talked a lot about sharing garden produce, tools, rides, etc., in other posts. And I hate to take things back to the kindergarten level, but you know what? It's nice to share. And to be friendly. It's makes everyone more happy.

So go make a casserole, already. Pick a neighbor you don't know very well, knock on their door, and make their day. Go ahead. You'll feel good afterward, and you just might make a new friend.


Thanks to One Mint for including this post in the Economy and Your Finances Carnival.

Hello October, goodbye summer vegetable garden

So, the garden's pretty much done. There are still a ton of smallish green tomatoes on the vines, but they're growing pretty slowly. Since MDT and I are leaving for Costa Rica next week (!!!!), we might have to just eat a bunch of fried green tomatoes before we go.

The peppers are slowing down too, but there are still several growing, even a few red ones, which is surprising since it's been so cool lately.


The compost pile, on the other hand, is doing fantastically. We've been mixing in ashes from the fire along with the usual food scraps, coffee grounds, and grass clippings.


In fact, the compost is so fertile, apparently, that things we don't plan spontaneously grow from it, e.g., this tomato plant that apparently grew from a miscellaneous clipping thrown in the pile sometime this summer. Pretty cool, but a bit late. It's even flowering!


I'll leave you lovely readers with part of our dinner tonight: green beans from the garden (frozen since we had such an abundance last month). Yum.

Guest Post: Save a bob when you travel abroad

More travel tips from the pros. Sorry, we've been bitten by the bug. We just can't stop . . .

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you know what it’s like to be fresh out of school and loaded down with about a million dollars in debt that you can look forward to paying off for the next thirty years.

If you’re also like me, you refuse to let a little thing like a lack of funds get in the way of having fun. Certainly, there are plenty of cheap ways to stay home and have fun—but what about those of us with the travel bug? The desire to see the world? The need to see different cultures? A rabid desire to sit in a stuffy container full of obnoxious people for hours on end in order to reach this aim?

Well, we must figure out ways to travel on a budget.

I recently took a sojourn “across the pond” to Oxford, England, so I feel highly qualified to report on the subject. What, what!

First, when buying tickets, it’s important to look at your options. Do you have frequent flyer miles with a certain company? Maybe you can use some of them to help you on your way. No brand loyalty? Aggregate sites such as www.kayak.com collect data from many different airlines to let you compare prices. For those who haven’t seen the commercials, bing.com now offers a unique price-tracking service. You can sign up for emails that show trends or tell you when prices hit a low point. You can also sometimes get better prices by going to a different airport than you might ordinarily. For example, I live in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area and, while it takes much longer and an extra bus ride to get to there, I usually fly out of the Baltimore airport because the tickets are substantially ($100+) cheaper than flying out of DCA.

So there you are, you’ve bought your ticket, taken the trip, and arrived at the hallowed foreign (or domestic) port. If your destination is a foreign country, be sure to have brought a bit of currency with you that you bought at your bank back home. This is much cheaper than the foreign exchange companies at the airport, and trying to take cash out at a foreign ATM can be just as costly. While you can use credit cards abroad, there is usually a charge involved. Check at your bank before you leave to see what it is. In addition, be sure to tell your bank when and where you’re going abroad so they don’t block your card, thinking someone has made off with it!

When it comes to lodging, maybe you’re lucky, as I was, and have friends or family or distant fifth cousins twice removed with whom you might stay. Jolly good! For those of you without such good fortune, there are always cheaper options than a five-star hotel. Most cities have hostels for those who aren’t too picky about sharing rooms and bathrooms. Let’s be honest, you aren’t picky because you are POOR. Look into information for students visiting the city, because often the suggestions don’t require you to actually be a student. The internet is a wonderful resource, but you can also . . . buy books, Shoestring guides, and whatnot.

Getting around in new place can be challenging. Research forms of transportation first. Is it easy to walk around? Stick to the sidewalks. Need to go further? Try trains and buses instead of cabs. It’s always easier to take a taxi when laden with luggage, of course, but the truly spirited (and bereft of currency) can make do on public transportation. I have wandered many a city with two giant suitcases and other sundry bags. Sure it’s a pain, but then you can afford something else . . . like food!

Sustenance, if not debauchery, is always required when traveling. Every meal needn’t be a blowout. Find a grocery store and buy some cereal, fruit, and granola bars or crackers for breakfast and snacks. Dying to try the local cuisine? Decide on a few things you cannot live without tasting and save your money for those. Limit the amount of alcohol you buy—unless, as was my case, alcohol is a primary interest in your visit. Yes, I visited a different pub (or two) every day whilst in England. I limited myself to one or two beers, tried to always get something different so as to get the most out of the experience, and bought the cheapest food on the menu. Let’s face it—no one goes to England for the food. Okay, maybe some food, but there’s only so much fish and chips you can eat in one go.

Of course, seeing the sights is what it’s really all about. Every place has the things you can do for free and the things that cost an arm and a leg. I had quite a fine time walking around Oxford, seeing the colleges, the free museums, the “dreaming spires.” One tourbook I’d bought featured a selection of walks through the city or surrounding countryside. At one point, I spent an entire day wandering along canals and through fields, getting a bit lost here and there along the way, but having a smashing time nonetheless.

But what about when something you simply must do costs money? Sometimes, there’s no choice—you didn’t travel four thousand miles to not do things. Find out if there are discounts, cheaper hours, rush tickets, or other ways to get in on the cheap. It might take some digging, or perhaps the usage of that student ID that conveniently has no date on it. . . . In the end, decide what it is you absolutely cannot miss out on and budget for it.

Finally, what to do about all those people who want presents when you get back? Perhaps you can’t afford to buy everyone a T-shirt, and who knows if they’d really wear it all that often anyway. But, you can be almost certain, everyone loves a good postcard. Postcards are a great way to let the friends you’ve left behind know that, even though you’re a fabulous globetrotter, you remember them. They get to see a bit of where you are and have a personal message to match. For those for whom you absolutely must get gifts, be thoughtful and practical. Very few people really want that model of the biggest ball of twine.

With a little research and some self-control, traveling on a budget can be fun and easy. Decide on a maximum amount you’re willing to spend, and stick to it. Figure out what’s important for you to see and experience on your trip, and what frivolities can be lived without. Keep this in mind whenever you’re making a purchase and you’ll come home with a guilt-free conscience, a bank account with some wiggle room, and amazing memories.

Thanks to the brilliant Miss Elana Devereux for this fabulously helpful article. We can only hope she keeps TAiMH in her favor and writes more for us.

Thanks to Military Finance for including this post in the Money Hacks Carnival.

Backyard Gardening: Starting Your First Vegetable Garden

A few weeks ago, as soon as MDT and I got settled in our new place, one of the first things we did was start a garden in the backyard. It was already June, a bit late to be starting a summer vegetable garden, but we were determined to have one for what could be our last Midwest summer for quite a while.

For the reasons why we wanted to have our own backyard vegetable garden, see our previous post titled Save Money on Food: Grow Your Own!

Many people spend hours or even days planning the layout of their gardens, but for the beginning gardener, it's best to start small and simple.

Step 1: Choose your seeds and/or seedlings. Make a list of what vegetables and herbs you like best. If the list is too long to plant everything, choose the ones that are most expensive to buy at the grocery store. Plants like green beans, peas, beets, carrots, turnips, swiss chard, lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, and other melons and squashes grow easily from seeds. Others like eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower are better planted outside in the garden as seedlings.

Make sure you check the back of your seed packet to determine the best time to plant that vegetable in your zone. For planning purposes, see this map of U.S. hardiness zones. Remember that some plants thrive in warm and hot weather, while others, mostly green leafy vegetables and root vegetables, prefer cooler weather. Lettuce, for instance, can bolt (stop producing leaves) in hot weather, so it's called a cool-weather crop. Here's a list of warm- and cool-weather crops. Though not extensive, it'll get you started.

Cool weather crops	Warm weather crops
Lettuce Chard Spinach Cabbage Broccoli Cauliflower Peas Kale Carrots Turnips Parsnips Onions	Cucumber Tomato Okra Strawberries Summer squashes Radishes Zucchini Eggplant Melons Peppers Green beans

Where do you get seeds and seedlings? You could purchase them online (and pay via PayPal or credit card), from a seed catalog, or from your local home and garden store. Seeds are usually least expensive at the beginning of the year and at the end of summer. When purchasing seeds, make sure the package is dated for this year. Old seeds can be duds.

If you plan ahead, you can start seeds for the more difficult plants indoors in early spring, so they'll be ready as seedlings to transplant outside when it's time. Or if you know other gardeners, you can ask if they'd like to share or trade seeds/seedlings with you. Remember to save the seeds from this year's best garden produce to plant next year!

Since seeds are much less expensive than seedlings, try to minimize the number of seedlings you buy. For instance, MDT and I really wanted bell peppers and tomatoes, but we didn't have time to start them from seeds, so we bought the peppers and tomatoes as seedlings and stuck with seeds for the rest of our garden. We were lucky enough to have a bunch of seed packs that my father had given us: string beans, carrots, swiss chard, cucumber, and marigold. The only seeds we bought were cilantro, MDT's all-time-favorite herb. The marigold seeds were a couple years old, so we didn't have high hopes for them, but we decided we'd plant them anyway just to see what happens.

Step 2: Prepare the bed. If your soil is really infertile or you have particularly pesky pests (say that three times fast) like moles, you might try a raised-bed garden, where you build a wood frame with a bottom layer made out of netting, screen, or--best of all--heavy fabric like sackcloth.


Another handy thing about raised-bed gardening is that you don't need to till it because its soil is pretty, and new, and non-clumpy. Most people seem to use wood for the border of a raised garden bed, but that can get pretty pricey. Cinder blocks are much, much cheaper (and sometimes you can find them free). Arrange the cinder blocks hole-side up and in a rectangle, and voila! You have a cheap border that lasts pretty much forever. And you can even use the holes in the blocks to plant flowers, herbs, or more veggies!


Since the soil where we live seems fairly rich, and since we didn't want to spend the money for potting soil to fill it, we opted to forgo the raised bed and get to tilling. We found the sunniest spot in the yard and tilled an area roughly fifteen feet square. We wanted to have enough room for all our veggies but not to bite off more than we could chew. It is our first vegetable garden in a new location, and there's always a learning curve while you figure out exactly what type of soil (and "varmints," as my father likes to call them) you're dealing with.

I should point out for those who are new to vegetable gardening that tillers are dangerous and expensive machines. That said, I happen to think that buying one is totally worth it if you plan to have a garden every year. If you're not ready to invest just yet, try asking family, friends, or neighbors if they have a tiller you can borrow. We borrowed my father's. He's definitely come in handy this year. Thanks, Dad!

Till when the soil is fairly dry because you don't want clumps of mud flying everywhere, and always wear work gloves. If you think you don't need them, ask MDT. He didn't think he needed gloves either and, despite his callused mitts, wound up with two nasty blisters between his thumbs and forefingers. The blisters turned to big skinless spots that took over a week to heal. So wear gloves. And if you don't have any, a cheap pair from the dollar store will do. Work gloves are also something you can borrow pretty easily.

After we tilled a few times to make sure all the clumps were broken up and the grass that had been there was shredded and turned under, it was time to fertilize. There are many options for fertilizing and preparing your soil, some of which can be combined easily for optimum growing power. Here are a few:

• Add a few bags of potting soil or top soil and till it in to mix well.
  
  
• Mix in a bag or two of peat moss. You can get this at most home/garden stores, and it's fairly inexpensive. We got a huge bag for $3.
  
  
• If you've been composting, throw in a bucketful or two of compost and till right through it to mix it in. Compost is best as an underneath layer, though, so you'll need to add at least a couple of inches of soil on top after you mix it in.
  
  
• Mix some powdered Miracle Gro Organic Choice for Vegetables (follow the directions) into buckets of water. Pour over garden. Mix. Note: Regular Miracle Gro is not organic and may contain chemicals that harm the earth in the long run. See below.
  
  
• Buy a small bag of commercial fertilizer, like 10-10-10 or 5-10-10, sprinkle it sparingly over the garden, and till to mix in. Note: these are simple chemical fertilizers made from naturally occurring deposits, but they are not organic because they've been chemically altered. I don't really recommend using them since, according to Wikipedia, "chemical fertilizers may have long-term adverse impact on the organisms living in soil and a detrimental long term effect on soil productivity of the soil."
  
  
• If you happen to have horses, cows, goats, or rabbits, mix in some good-old manure (with a hoe, not a tiller--you don't want this stuff flying). Note: Rabbit manure can be mixed right in; the others are best composted first. Dog and cat wastes are not recommended since they can contain parasites harmful to humans even if your pet is healthy.
  

Sadly, we'd only been composting at the new house for a few weeks and our sludge wasn't quite primed to mix in yet, so we opted for peat moss and a bit of Miracle Gro I had lying around (left over from last year's tiny lettuce and tomato garden at my old apartment). We tilled in the peat moss, used a garden rake (not a regular leaf rake!) to even out the soil, and prepared to plant our veggies.

Step 3: Plant! Actually, there is a little planning involved first. Some plants grow well in groups; others are best separated and planted in rows. Some grow low to the ground and spread or sprawl out quickly; others, like tomatoes, can be trained to climb on a trellis or can be grown vertically on a stake. Check the back of your seed packet (or the little guidestick in your seedling flat) to find out which you've got.

If you've got climbers, like tomatoes, cucumbers, or pole beans, you can save garden space--and you can save your vegetables from sitting on the ground, where they can rot--by planting them along one edge of your garden bed and growing them vertically. There are several options for trellises, including your standard wooden trellis, large-square netting, wire cages, and stakes. All of these are fairly easy to make yourself, so don't waste your money buying them from the store. If you can't make them from scratch, improvise! I once used a couple of rectangular grill grates I found in a dumpster, duct-taped them together, and leaned them against the side of the house. Tada! Instant trellis! Or, find three long, sturdy sticks or pieces of wood, tie them together near one end, and you've got a tepee cage! The possibilities really are endless.

Although I've been wanting to try out the net method, we found some old pieces of wood lying around that were perfect for tomato stakes, so we just went with that. When the tomato plants are big enough to start drooping, we'll tie them up with strips of scrap cloth. As simple as it gets.

To maximize your spacial economy, you can "interplant" slow-growing vegetables with quick-growing ones and vertical-growers with low-growers. For instance, you could plant cantaloupe, which sprawls out rather than up when it grows, under climbing tomatoes. Or you could plant quick-growing radishes among slow-growing carrots by spacing out your carrot seeds (according to the package) in a row, and then placing a radish seed between each carrot seed.

Some plants even seem to help each other grow because they use complementary nutrients. Check out this companion planting list, and layout your plants accordingly.

For more help with planning, GrowVeg.com has an awesome piece of online software that helps you visually plan your garden's layout and tells you exactly when and how to plant each vegetable. It's free if you sign up for their 30-day free trial.

We had plenty of space for what we wanted to plant, so we just decided on one row of each of following: bell peppers (seedlings), carrots (seeds), string beans (seeds), swiss chard (seeds), and cucumber (seeds).

Spare bricks mark our five rows; bell pepper seedlings are in the first row.

The nine tomato seedlings, which were a bit shriveled when we got them (on sale), got their own little square patch next to the main bed. Hopefully they'll perk up quickly. And we planted the marigold seeds around the perimeter since they supposedly deter varmints. We'll see.

Stakes and tomato seedlings (seedlings not yet tied to the stakes).

The cilantro got its own pot since it's such flimsy little thing when it comes up, and we didn't want it to be taken over by the vegetables. But you can definitely plant herbs in your garden right along with everything else, if you'd like.

I love, love, love watermelon, and we happened to find five seedlings for a good price. So the next day we tilled a new patch just for them on top of the hill in our backyard, where there's plenty of room for them to sprawl out.

Watermelon patch and seedlings.

The first watering
When planting seedlings, I like to dig the hole, pour in a cup of water, and then set the seedling in and fill around it. See the wet spot in the picture above? This ensure the roots have plenty of water right away to ease the shock of transplantation. For seed rows, when you're finished planting, just water them until they're nice and soaked (but before you start getting puddles).

That's it!

MDT has never gardened before, aside from a bit of cat grass he'd planted for Ed, so everything's been a learning experience for him. I think his favorite part was tilling; it's so manly. Except that I had show him how it's done by tilling the first round, which is always the hardest.

Now we wait and see.

Be sure to keep your garden moist. Veggies need plenty of water to grow. It's pretty steadily hot and sunny here in St. Louis right now, so we water every evening. You don't want to water during the heat of the day because the sun is magnified through the water droplets and your leaves can get scorched--not good since that's how our little green friends make food. It's best to water around sundown, when it's still warm enough for the leaves to dry before night. If leaves sit wet overnight, they can develop mold, which can kill a whole garden quicker than a hiccup.

Until next time. . . .

If you've got any tips for beginners planning or starting a garden, or any ideas for creative DIY planting accouterments, leave them in a comment below!

Save Money on Food: Grow Your Own!

Or: Gardening for Fun and Profit or The Glory of Backyard Gardening or Green Your Dinner Table or Forget Victory Gardens; These are Peace Gardens!

Coupons are great and all, but we all know grocery shopping sucks and even with a load of coupons, you're still spending a lot of money on food. Why not grow your own instead? No matter where you live (city, suburbs, country), or in what climate, or how much space you have, you can grown your own vegetables, herbs, and even fruit. This is the inaugural article of TAiMH's new organic gardening series, where we'll walk you through planning, planting, growing, harvesting, preserving, and more. And the best part is we'll do it as cheaply as possible—and because we're poor, that means really cheap. No fancy planters or fertilizers, no $3 seed packs, no expensive (and toxic) pesticides, nada. We'll focus on vegetable and herb gardening, but later in the series we'll branch out into fruits and flowers. As you know, there are entire blogs, books, and magazines devoted to just vegetable gardening. There's a lot of ground to cover, especially since we're starting from the extreme newb level. I'm going to be as informative and comprehensive as I can without completely transforming TAiMH into a gardening blog.

Why grow your own?
The plethora of reasons to start growing your own food include:

• You know what your getting. When you grow your own food, you know it's safe. You know you didn't spray toxic pesticides on them or bioengineer them or use harsh chemical fertilizers. You know you're getting safe, healthy food for yourself and your family.
  
  
• It's fun. Whether you garden alone or with a friends or family, just the act of gardening—of being outside in the sunshine, of nurturing another living being and watching it grow—is worth it. I find gardening not only enjoyable but therapeutic. It's odd how calming simple outside tasks like weeding, tilling, and planting can be.
  
  
• Home gardens help the environment. When you grow your own food, you're not supporting factory farms that end up harming the planet more than helping it [1], you're helping preserve the ozone by growing plants that process CO2 and produce oxygen, and you're not buying food from a grocery chain that ships their food in from all over the country (and globe), thereby creating pollution.
  
  
• Besides saving you money, gardening can be a supplemental source of income if you plant a surplus. You could have a vegetable or fruit stand in front of your home during the harvest months. Plus, you'll be helping others eat organic and local.
  
  
• Homegrown just tastes better.
  

But isn't having a garden time-consuming?
Gardening does take time and effort, though probably much less than you think. You can spend as much or as little time gardening as you want. MDT and I planted a garden at our new house a couple of weeks ago, and after the planting and preparation, we only spend a few minutes per day watering and pulling a few weeds. It's easy to tailor a garden to your lifestyle. You can always start small and expand your garden as you learn.

Is it really cost-effective?
Whether growing your own food is cost-effective depends on how you go about it. If you buy your seeds, plants, materials, planters, soil, fertilizers, etc., etc. at normal retail price, you can spend a whole lot of money—probably more than you'll recoup. There are people out there who enjoy gardening so much that they're fine with that, but since this is a blog about money-hacking, we're going to show you how to do it so cheaply it'll save you quite a bit of grocery money. In fact, we're keeping track of everything we spend on the garden and everything we grow, and we'll post the final results after our final harvest this year.

I hope this has been a helpful introduction to home vegetable gardening and that it's inspired some of you to start your own garden and begin growing your own safe, healthy, delicious food. Stay tuned for the rest of our series, which will continue all summer long.

Next time: Planning and starting your first garden.

Safety First: Bike Safety for Commuters

We're back! Thanks for your patience during our move.

We’ve spent a while talking about commuting by bike, and I promised an article on bike safety and advocacy, so here it is.


You all know you need to wear a helmet, protect your eyes with sunglasses, and your skin with sunscreen, but there’s more to bike safety than that when you’re riding among cars.

1. Signaling: Learn and use hand signals when you’re turning. Yes, they’re dorky, and yes, I hate using them—but sometimes it’s necessary. I’ve never felt the need to use the “stop” signal, however, but I suppose it’s good to know.
   
   
2. Watching out for parked cars: They may be parked, but they’re still dangerous. You’ve probably heard about a cyclist being “doored.” That’s when someone in a parked car opens a door just as a cyclist is approaching, usually causing the cyclist (and sometimes the door) some injury. People can’t seem to understand that they need to look before getting out of a car parked on the street, and for that reason, it’s best to ride at least 3-4 feet away from parked cars. If there’s no bike lane or the shoulder’s small, this means you’ll have to take the nearest lane. And that’s totally fine. Cars can go around you if they want.
   
   
3. Speaking of cars going around you and tight shoulders... If a car gets too close to you, don’t be afraid to give their hood/door, etc. a smack. If a car is driving close enough to you that you can touch it, it’s too close. Let them know.
   
   
4. Watch out for the dreaded right-hook: According to the MassBike website, “A ‘right-hook’ is when a motorist makes an abrupt right turn too close to a bicyclist, causing the cyclist to crash or make an emergency maneuver to avoid crashing.” In Massachusetts, this is illegal, but whether it’s legal or not, cars will still do it. Be especially aware at intersections of cars that may be turning right and keep a safe distance in case they’re not paying attention.
   
   

Resources
What the New Bicycle Law Means for you: A Practical Guide

NYC Bicycle Safety Coalition

League of American Bicyclists
Loads of information on bike security, safety, and gear, commuting tips, and more.

Mike’s Bikes: Riding Tips
Even more information and tutorials on pretty much anything you could think of involving bikes. Awesome site, and it’s all free. The “Maintenance and Repair” section is especially helpful.

Books I Recommend (PS, If anyone can tell me how to format so that the following books don't appear vertically, please e-mail me or leave a comment.)











Tune in next week for the final article in our commuting by bike series: bike maintenance for beginners.

I am the Queen of Free

Friday:

List of things I got free this morning at Bay State Bike Week's Bike Breakfast:

1. 2 bakery-fresh whole wheat rolls
2. 1 bakery-fresh everything bagel
3. 2 bakery-fresh corn muffins
4. 1 bottle of purple PowerAde
5. 2 huge oranges
6. some sample Clif bars that I will pass on to MDT since they're banana bread flavored. Yuck.
7. a bag of surprisingly good caramel corn
8. a vegetarian breakfast burrito
9. a yogurt and granola fruit parfait made with Bare Naked granola and Stonyfield Farms yogurt. Awesome.
10. randomly, 2 brand spanking new copies of FridayBeth Kobliner's new book (NY Times Bestseller) Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties--which I will selflessly pass on to our beloved readers--look out for a giveaway in the next day or two.
    
11. a new water bottle
12. 2 reflectors
13. 1 blinky safety light
14. 1 tire gauge
15. 1 mini-tire gauge on a keychain

I didn't make out too badly considering I missed the convoy from Allston because I was too hungover to wake up on time. See below for the explanation as to why I got drunk enough to have a hangover on a weeknight. Seriously, I can probably eat all weekend on this stuff. Normally, I wouldn't like if people threw food at me, but when they give me a bag to put it in and it's delicious...


Thursday:

So Thursday night, Jane and I had a fabulous time being fabulous lushes at StyleFixx Boston's Girls' Night Out. For obvious reasons (cough-we're broke-cough), we usually don't attend these sort of soirees, but we got a mad deal from Groupon--$10 for a ticket that includes 5 free drinks. Now that's about a third of what you'd normally spend for 5 drinks at a Boston bar (not including tips!), and even if we didn't get 5 drinks, we usually spend way more than $10 on a night out. Why not, right? Besides, we were looking for an excuse to get dolled up.

List of free schwag from StyleFixx:

1. Red vinyl tote bag from Lola.
2. sparkly pink lip gloss
3. purple liquid eyeliner
4. 4 cans of Bustelo Cool (delicious espresso beverage)
5. a bunch of Lindt chocolates
6. a huge can of salon moisturizing hairspray
7. a big tub of vitamin C hair and scalp mud mask
8. some high-heel scuff protectors
9. weird stick-on nightime wrinkle remover patches
10. various coffee, cake, and brownie samples from Finale (the highlight of the evening, as far as I'm concerned)
11. a dumb magazine and a bunch of coupons for high-end salons that are still too expensive for me to ever visit

Tada. Not bad for less than 24 hrs.

Take notes, kids.

DIY Project: Bike Panniers

Last week, I wrote about how to make bike baskets. This week, I'm going to give you some options for making your own panniers (on the cheap).

There are a variety of items that can be transformed fairly easily into bike panniers. A fellow Bostonian made some out of 5 gallon water jugs (the kind that are used in water coolers) and was nice enough to share an instructable about it.

Brian Huntley, of crazyguyonabike.com, wrote a great tutorial about how he made some slightly heavier and sturdier ones out of kitty litter buckets.

You could recycle some old messenger bags or backpacks into removable panniers; this instructable shows you how to do it for under $10.

Or you could pick up a couple of old army bags from your local Army Surplus store to make backpack panniers. These can also be made with regular non-army backpacks.

Backpack panniers are by far my favorite because not only are they removable, but you can still use them as backpacks, thereby eliminating the need to switch the items you're carrying from bag to bag when you get off the bike.

If you have any more ideas for homemade bike panniers, let us know by leaving a comment. Feel free to send pictures; we'd love to see your work.

Update: Thanks to Suburban Dollar for including this post in the 179th Festival of Frugality.

DIY Project: Bike Baskets

So, if you've been following my recent posts, we've got a little themed section going on about bike commuting, and I thought I'd provide a series of tutorials on how to accessorize your bike on the cheap. Today, the ubiquitous bike basket.

First of all, determine where you want the basket: front, back, or both. If your decide to go with a front basket, make sure to leave enough room so that your brake cords aren't cramped--this can lead to trouble. It's also best to only carry light items in front baskets, as heavy things can make it difficult to steer.

Front baskets: The best baskets for your handlebars are lightweight ones: wire or the traditional woven sort. You don't need to buy an expensive one made especially for bikes; anything with at least one fairly flat side will do. I've even seen repurposed (wicker) bathroom trashcans. You can attach the basket easily by tying the handles or the top edge to your handlebars with a sturdy ribbon, but for more stability, I recommend zip ties. The more you add, the more sturdy your basket will be, and the less pressure each holding point will be supporting. Again, be sure to position your basket so that pressure is not exerted on the brake cables.

Rear baskets: For these, you'll first need to acquire a rear carrier. Check Craigslist for cheap used ones, but make sure they come with all the hardware you'll need to attach it. You have more choices here as far as what kind of baskets you can use. You can still go with woven or wire, but you can also use less traditional bike baskets. I use a plastic milk crate, but you can use pretty much any container that's not solid (so you have holes through which to thread your zip ties). Take a look around the house; you're bound to have some sort of plastic organizer or something that you could use.

Keep in mind that you don't want the basket to be terribly wide because then your mobility will be impaired (i.e. you won't be able to fit between parked cars or through other tight spaces. Also, if you mount and dismount your bike by swinging your leg over the seat (like most people do), you'll need to make sure your basket isn't going to be too high for you to be able to do that comfortably.

To attach the basket, zip ties are your best bet; they hold really well, they're weather proof, and they're lighter than metal hardware. Make sure you used enough ties in various places that your basket can't move at all. Even a little play can be dangerous as it causes repeated stress to the ties.

Holding it all in
If you have an overflowing basket and you're worried about your stuff falling out, bungee cords are a quick, easy way to secure your stuff. Just stretch a cord or two from your handlebars or rear carrier, up and over your basket. If you're carrying smaller items, use your jacket or an old piece of cloth/plastic, etc. to drape across the top and then pull the bungee cords over that.

Weather proofing
The worst thing is to arrive home with a wet basket full of soaked stuff, so if it rains much in your area and you're concerned about getting caught in it, rain proof your basket. You could just drape an old poncho over everything and tuck it in, but for a more stable and permanent solution, you might consider an attached cover. You could fashion a hard lid with some small hinges, but for something lighter weight, I made a flexible cover with a couple old shoelaces and plastic grocery bags. Use some wax paper and an iron to fuse several layers of grocery bag plastic (tutorials here and here) into a sheet large enough to cover the top of your basket, fold the side edges over about an inch and fuse again (for durability), and cut small slits through which to string the shoelaces. Then tie one side of the cover to the side of your basket (tight knots--you won't be untying them), and you're set. Drape the plastic over the basket to find a good fit, and fold over and sew the hinge-side corners so they lay nicely. Secure closed by tying the other shoestrings (loose knots or a bow tie) to the handle area on the other side.

Alternatives to the shoestrings include snaps or buckles (recycled from an old woven belt or the straps of a backpack. These you'll have to sew on, so they'll require a bit more time, but they're more durable than the shoestrings and make for quicker attaching and detaching. For the side that remains attached to the basket, you could use keychain O rings in place of the shoestrings for more durability and ease of movement. Note that woven/wicker baskets themselves aren't very weather proof. They could even mold eventually.

Here's mine. It uses shoestring on the hinge side and a piece of an old belt on the closing side. If I had it to do over, I'd use O rings instead of shoestrings.


Some inspiration:

Front baskets

Rear baskets

Creative baskets

Groupon How I love Thee

What is a Groupon you ask? Essentially it is a coupon, a deal, a steal, a magic cheese wheel. Companies approach the website (http://editorial.thepoint.com/) with a proposition that goes something like this, “If you guys can get 20 people to sign up to get LlamaRides©, we’ll give them 60% off.” Then the website puts this amazing opportunity up and waits to see if there are 20 people interested in riding llamas. Here’s the catch, if only 19 people sign up for the Groupon, the deal is cancelled, no one is charged anything, but they also don’t get their quality time with a member of the Camelidae family.

Unfortunately Groupon is only catering to Chicago, Boston, and New York. But if you live in one of these cities (and probably others soon, the Boston site has only been operating since mid-March) there are some opportunities to get awesome deals on activities and services you use anyway.

I find there are great ways to treat myself without breaking my budget. A haircut and mani-pedi for 70% off at a shi-shi salon? Comes out to about what I’d normally be willing to pay for just a cut at the place in the strip mall. I’m not paying more, but I’m vastly increasing the quality of services that I’m getting. Now, 40% off radial tires? Not my thing, but if you need radial tires I bet you’d be stoked.

As always don’t get caught up in the deal. Just because something is cheap that doesn’t mean you need it. If, however, you need it and it’s cheap then you’re golden. Happy saving!

How to Commute By Bike

Image by denali2001 via Flickr

Getting started

1. Plan your route. There are several bike route mapping websites out there.¹ Or you can buy a foldout bike map; you can get one for Boston here. Planning your route is important not only so you don’t get lost but also because you should know the kind of terrain you’ll need to negotiate before you purchase a bike. If you’ll only be on smooth roads, you won’t want a mountain bike (they’re slower than road bikes). Likewise, road bikes aren’t safe off-road. Hybrids (aka "comfort" bikes) are the best of both worlds, and I highly recommend them. Most of my day-to-day rides are on decent roads, but there are some crappy roads and a few gravel paths that I’m glad to have my hybrid for. The Sports Authority website has some good info about the different bike styles.
   
   This is my bike. I heart it.
   
2. Related to above.... choose a bike! Craigslist will get you one cheap, but you can’t be sure that it’s in great condition. I bought a shitty mountain bike super cheap off Craigslist when I first started riding because I didn’t want to spend a ton on a bike if I decided riding everywhere wasn’t for me. After a few months, though, I sold that one (again on Craigslist) and got a beautiful, new Dutch hybrid (photo coming soon) that I adore. I got my bike at a great price from BikesDirect.com—but I just checked their site and it doesn’t look like they carry the Gazelle anymore. A good bike is vital to a good riding experience, and as much as I hate to spend money, I think it’s worth it to invest in a good bike. It’s also imperative to get the right size bike for your stature. Most bike shops will do a bike “fitting” for free, even if you don’t end up buying from them. Do not, I repeat do not, buy a bike (or anything else for that matter) from Wal-mart, no matter how cheap it is; the stock they carry, at least as far as adult bikes, is notoriously low-quality.
   
   
3. Acquire the necessary accessories. There are tons of bike accessories out there; many of them completely frivolous. These are not:
   
   
   • a good helmet –Full-coverage helmets like this one are fine, but a helmet designed especially for cyclists, like this one, is safest. Nashbar.com has nice ones for $20 or you can just get one at your local bike shop. Proper helmet fitting is more important and more complicated than you might think. Almost any bike shop will help you adjust your helmet for the best fit and comfort, no charge. Yes, cycling caps are cute and stylish, but road rash on your face and a cracked skull are not. Wear a helmet over it while you’re riding.
     
     
   • a good lock—if you’re riding in a city, you’ll want a U-lock and a cable. The U-lock is for your back tire/frame and you use the cable in conjunction with it to secure your front tire, helmet, seatpost, etc., like this or this. The less space between the U-lock and the bike, the better--it's harder for thieves to get cutters in there. Many will recommend the mini u-locks for this reason, but I've found that a lot of bike racks make it nearly impossible to use those.
     
     If you’re in a small town or someplace you consider super safe, you could try using just a cable lock, but you’re taking a risk. Those are obviously much easier to cut than a 1” thick steel bar. See this article on C.I.C.L.E. for more locking suggestions.
     
     
   • lights—if you’ll be riding at night, you need lights. In addition to reflectors. You need a white headlight, red taillight, and orange reflectors for your spokes and pedals. The color-coding is standard to that people can easily and quickly tell in the dark which direction you’re facing and thereby avoid smooshing you like a pancake. If you’re not going to be riding at night, reflectors will suffice. Most bikes come with sufficient reflectors.
     
     
   • travel pump—you may not ever need this, but you’ll be really glad you’re carrying it if you do. ‘Nuff said.
     
     
   • rear carrier, baskets, and panniers—if you’ll be carting groceries, pets, or briefcases around, you’ll want to check into acquiring some sort of carrying system.
     
     
   • water bottle—You probably already have one that’ll work just fine. Stick it in your backpack, basket, or attach it to your bike with a cheap bottle cage. A word of caution: cages take up valuable lock space and often require drilling a hole in your bike frame. Consider this before buying one. If you still decide to go for it, bring your bottle when you buy it to make sure it fits.
     
     
   • If you’re game for riding in the rain, a cheap waterproof jacket and a set of fenders will make it much more comfortable. Your tires will kick up a lot of water. No fenders=soaked butt. And don’t be fooled into buying those cheap flat fenders that just attach to your seatpost. They’re useless. If you're hardcore, you might to invest in a pair of rain trousers also.
     
     
   • I’d also recommend a full-size pump for at home. It takes a lot of time and muscle to fill a new tube with a travel pump.
     
     
   • Keep in mind, a lot of this stuff can be made or improvised for little or no cost. I’ll be posting some DIY bike accessory tutorials in the coming weeks, so check back.
   
   
4. Do a test run on a weekend and time it. This way you’ll know how long it will take you to get to work and you won’t be late. Bring a friend and a picnic and make an outing of it. Don’t forget to check for a safe place near work to lock your bike. Many companies, mine included, provide employee bike racks or garage space. Check with your boss or HR department to see if they offer anything similar. If not, suggest that they think about providing bike parking in the future.

[1] MapMyRide.com, Veloroutes.org, GMap's Pedometer, etc. For a list of city and regional maps, see BikeHacks.com

First Guest Post

Image via Wikipedia

Happy Spring! Wren's first guest post is up at Converting a Spendthrift. Head over and check it out, leave a comment, and show Shai some love. You can follow us both on Twitter for updates and Freebie/Deal Alerts.

First Bike Commute of the Year!

I was planning to post this on Saturday, but I've been so swamped by the end of the semester/graduation rush that couldn't get to it. I'm posting now only because my brain is too dead to actually work on my thesis. Three more weeks and I'll have my master's and be done with it all! I'm still deciding whether to go for a PhD or not. If I do decide to get my doctorate, it won't be for a while; I need a breather.

So I've been waiting anxiously all year to start commuting by bike again. There are those hardcore cyclists who bike year-round, but I don't know how they do it. Cold and I just don't get on well. Actually, I despise it. (Yes, I know I'm in the wrong city. I'm working on it.)

Last was the first week that the weather here hasn't been below freezing. Naturally it's f*ing freezing again today, but Friday was sunny and beautiful. Those of you who take public transport regularly know that there's nothing worse than being stuck in a noisy bus/train crammed between possibly smelly strangers in lovely spring weather. That was my case Thursday, the first really nice, nearly warm!, day here this year: there I was standing on the train breathing other people's halitosis and whatnot and gazing dejectedly out the grimy windows when a line of cyclists zooms past (yes, my train is ridiculously slow), wind in their hair, sun on their faces. I resolved then that I would ride to work the next day whether it was nice out or not. Then I went out that night and got drunk. Brilliant.

So Friday morning, very tired and slightly hungover, I dusted off my bike, aired up the tires, and headed out into the sunshine. It was great. Not only did I beat the train by 10 minutes, but I had loads of energy the rest of the day.

The way home was a different story. The ride itself was good, but my body decided to pay me back at the end for letting it rot all winter. (I hate to exercise just for the sake of exercising. I really have to get past that.) Apparently, my leg muscles turned to mush over the past few months because when I arrived home and dismounted (as usual, hopping off the side while the bike’s still moving a bit), they couldn’t support me and I sunk like a deflated balloon slow-mo to the ground. No joke. It would have been really embarrassing if anyone besides my senile, non-English-speaking neighbor had seen me. It was the wimpiest fall I’ve ever taken. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it a fall. I felt more like the Wicked Witch of the West when she got water thrown on her. I just sort of melted to the pavement.

Then, naturally, as I’m still sitting sidesaddle on the curb and holding the handlebars of my now-horizontal bike, I picture said melting witch and start laughing, out loud, somewhat insanely. Classic.

The moral of the story here, if you must have one, is that you should not assume your calves of steel survived the long New England winter. In other words, take it easy in the beginning.

More about biking to work/school and other frugal, green ways to commute: here.

Update: Check us out on the Festival of Frugality.

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