Gardening

I love to garden. There's nothing quite like the taste of a home-grown tomato or the feeling of serving your family cucumbers, squash or corn from your own garden. But growing a garden doesn't have to cost alot of money.

Here's some ways to save money on your garden:

Think Freecyle. When we needed tomato cages the first year of our garden, we didn't want to buy the cages. So I just posted on our local freecycle group that I needed them. I ended up getting 30 free from a freecycle member who was no longer planning to use them. Cost? FREE

Get free seeds. Red Robin is giving away free tomato seeds here for a limited time.

Swap for tilling. In the early years of gardening, we didn't own a tiller but we needed the garden tilled so we could plant. We arranged for a family member to come till the garden in exchange for supper. Find a local friend who has a garden and see if you can barter for the service. Most gardeners love to spread the love for gardening and would be willing to make an arrangement. Maybe you could babysit their kids one night or "pay" them with your excess toothpaste and shampoo products?

Order a seed catalog...or 2 or 3 I rarely order seeds from catalogs, but sometimes these catalogs come with great coupons the first time you request it.
Free Gardeners Idea Book
Burpee Seed Catalog
Here’s a link with 45 different seed catalogs links.

Start small If you have never had a vegetable garden, don't plan a huge one. Instead, feel free to start with a couple of tomato plants and 1 or 2 other plants.

Participate in a Community/Neighborhood Garden Don't have a community garden in your area? Just find a local neighbor who already has an established garden and ask them if you can be the helper. This is a great way to 'apprentice' yourself to an expert. You will get to enjoy all the benefits and responsibilities but will not have to shoulder it all by yourself the first year. (Of course, you would have to work out the details with the gardener. You would need to do the weeding, planting and maintenance in order to earn the privilige of sharing in the harvest.)

What about you? Do you have ideas on how to save money while growing a vegetable garden? I'd love to hear!

Tips - Yahoo Groups

Here's a great hobby tip from Melonie - Yahoo Groups!

One of the biggest savings for me is to go out to yahoo groups and find groups that have similar interests as myself. For instance, I am a member of a kids clothing group….and they buy/sell clothing within the group which saves me $$ from posting my items on eBay and also I can find EXACTLY what I want for a cheaper price from a fellow group member.

Another example, is that I have a embroidery machine. I found several groups that I was able to join. The benefit to me is that being a member of the group allowed me to read what other people were doing when they had a problem, ideas for projects, and a wealth of information for newbies like myself. Best part is it was all FREE!

So how do you find a yahoo group that matches your interest/hobby?

Click here to go to Yahoo Groups.
Type your hobby interest in the search box.
You will get the results of matching groups.
If you find one that looks interesting, just click on 'join this group'.
***You will need a Yahoo login (free of course)

I have belonged to several different Yahoo groups over the past 8 years. Great resource!

Thanks Melonie!

Tips - Find a Blog

Do you have a hobby that you are passionate about? Chances are that there are at least 100 people out there blogging on that subject. One great way to stay 'in the loop' about your hobby is to read about others who are out there pursuing the same passion. This involves absolutely no money and only as much time as you give it.

I tried it. I just googled the words "I love sailing blog" to see what came up. There were tons of blogs about people who love to sail.

You can find a blog for almost any hobby or pursuit.

Most blogs give you the option of signing up for a daily or weekly e-newsletter. That way you don't even have to take the time to go to the blog. You will just get an email anytime they post an update.

Have you found any blogs that focus on your hobby? I'd love to hear how you found them!

Writing

Are you an aspiring writer.... but don't have the money or time to really pursue your passion? Here's a few ways to pursue this hobby without spending money.

Why not enter a free, low-entry, essay contest? I just googled for free essay contest and got tons of results.

Find a blog that is writing about something you are passionate about and volunteer to write a guest post. You can google your subject with the word blog. You will probably get hundreds of results. Take a look at several of the blogs then just volunteer. Most bloggers would love to work with guest writers. This would give you an outlet for writing and start to build name recognition.

Buy a journal and a pen. This doesn't have to cost alot of money. Just go to the Dollar Tree or Big Lots and buy a notebook for a couple dollars and an ink pen or pencil that you enjoy writing with. I have talked to several budding writers who insist that they only 'get inspired' when they sit down with a brand new sharpened pencil or particular kind of pen.

Consider blogging There are personal blogs about everything from grandkids, cooking, travel, exercise, family....... You can build a blog in less than 20 minutes and just start writing. Wordpress and Blogger offer blogs for FREE of course. This would be a great place to just start writing.

Whatever you do... just get started writing!

Stamp Collecting

Stamp Collecting is a hobby that many people have participated in at some point in their life.  Many kids find this to be a great first collection.  Here's a few tips to pursuing this hobby while not spending alot of money.

Save all your stamps.  Anytime you get a letter in the mail, check to see what the stamp is  There are so many cool US stamps now that you will be able to have quite a collection just by saving the envelopes.

Ask friends and family to save their stamps. (Use Facebook - If you have facebook friends that live overseas, ask them to save their stamps for you!)

Make friends with a local church secretary.  Many churches correspond regularly with missionaries around the world.  Many missionaries even send regular prayer letters to the churches.  This is a great way to collect foreign stamps!

Buy lots on Ebay  - I just did a search and found quite a few lots of 1000 US stamps that sold for less than $10.00  That's alot of stamps!  Make it even better by shopping through Mr Rebates or use money earned from swagbucks.

Try one (or more) of these free offers:  (I have not ordered stamps from any of these vendors since I don't personally collect stamps.)

• To receive a free packet of stamps send a self addressed stamped envelope to:
  
  The Midnight Soaker
  
  PO Box 51
  
  Old Greenwich, CT 06870
  
  United States Of America
• Free stamps for Youngsters - just send a self addressed stamped envelope - no membership
• Arpin Stamp Company  This company will send you free stamps plus extra that you either have to return or pay for.  I have done offers like this before but not with this company.  Just make sure you read carefully to make sure you don't end up having to pay for extras!

Do you collect stamps? What are some other ways to build your collection while sticking to a tight budget? I'd love to hear!