HOMEMADE SAVINGS

   We planted tomato seeds about 3 days ago. I peeked beneath the greenhouse cover this morning to check the water level and was surprised by a bunch of little tomato shoots.

   Looks like the jiffy tomato greenhouse works.

 If you are looking for a super simple cleaner that kills germs and doesn't leave a lingering smell you can make it with 2 ingredients, one that is free and the other is likely in your pantry.

1 cup White Distilled Vinegar
1 cup warm water

mix in spray bottle.

Cost is 12 cents and it is a great deodorizer and bacteria killer due to the acid content.  If you are serious about killing germs you can also use straight vinegar in a spray bottle.

   I use this cleaner for most of the household cleaning.  It does a great job with the everyday stuff. I have omitted the lemon juice a couple of times and it still cleaned very well. This homemade cleaner costs 14 cents for a 16 ounce spray bottle with the lemon juice and about 2 cents without.If I buy Formula 409 at Dollar General it is $2.00 and needs to be replaced weekly so I save $96.72   a year with lemon juice and $102.96 a year without lemon juice.


2 tsp borax
1 tsp washing soda
4 TBS lemon juice

In a pint spray bottle, combine ingredients. Add 2 cup very hot water and shake to dissolve. Store indefinitely.

   I love strawberries and will often spend a pretty penny for them. This year I have decided to grow a garden to cut down on grocery costs as well as teach my children the lost art of "Eat What You Grow".

   I planted tomatoes in an indoor greenhouse a few days ago and I am anxiously awaiting a nice fresh tomato sandwich. While waiting for that I am continuing on with the planting. Today I planted 3 strawberry plants 2 of them were a gift from my sweet momma.

   Strawberries seem to come in only one form a dirty messy ball of dirt and roots. I searched high and low for strawberry seeds, no luck. Strawberries seem to be pretty fail proof (watch mine not grow now) you just put the root thingy in some dirt and let her go.

   All I really have to work with is red clay here in the south, but I read that strawberries aren't picky about soil, so I just went with it.

• add dirt to pot
• make hole
• put root ball in root side down, if there is a plant visible leave it above ground level
• cover all but plant with dirt
• water
• wait for strawberries.

invested $2.00 per pot and the strawberry roots were $3.00 each. The pretty red dirt was dug from our yard by my daughter= free.  Total invested $15.00 or same cost as 4 packages of strawberries at grocery store. Will see how much I save when it is time to pick them.

   I love to get out of the house. I work from home & homeschool the kids so I don't really go anywhere except to church or the store. I used to shop nearly everyday, if there was money in the bank or in my pocket.. I was looking for a place to spend it. Since starting Dave Ramseys Total Money Make Over I save all of my shopping, library & bank trips for once a week, sometimes once every 2 weeks. This saves me about a tank of gas a month and with the price of gas going nowhere but up I believe I will continue to save more money by planning my shopping trips. For this month 1 tank of gas equals $56.00 or $672.00 a year.

•  go to grocery store one a week
• go to bank once a week, use the teller instead of ATM to avoid fees
• go to library once a week, or even once a month if yours allows you that long to read the books
• pay bills online or over the phone instead of in store- save gas and stamps
• call ahead to stores if you are looking for something, instead of going to every store in town
• know the traffic patterns of your town and go when the traffic is light like school hours avoid lunch rush

   This one should have been a no brainer, but it took me a long time to learn it. I love to read, I can easily get through a 400 page novel in a day. I spent between 8 and 19 dollars for each book I bought. As you can imagine this is a pretty expensive hobby costing more than cable t.v. with all the bells and whistles. In a normal week I would read 4 books, if they were all older ones they would cost me $8.96 each at Walmart. That is $37.99 including tax every week. Which adds up to $1975.48 a year!!! Are you kidding me????

   Borrow books from friends, check them out at the library, my library allows me to check out 20 books at a time. So I can go once a month and read for FREE! If you absolutely have to buy a book, don't pay full price, you can buy new and used books for great discounts at online stores like half.com and ebay.com

  

   This glass cleaner really works it smells like windex when yuo use it but as soon as the alcohol evaporates the odor is gone. I use it on my oven and microwave doors as well as mirrors and glass. Windex costs about $3.00 and I can make glass cleaner for 26 cents.


Mix in a sprayer bottle:

1 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
1 cup water
1 tablespoon white vinegar