Springtime is here and that means you can finally cure that cabin fever and get outside! Some will go biking, others will read in the park, but some will decide to spend their sunny days coloring their fingers, well thumbs to be exact.
A lot of people are excited to see the chilly weather go because now it’s time to put their green thumbs into action. As with any hobby, you can sink a lot of money into this botanical past time, but not with MoneyLounge by your side! Here are some great money saving tips to keep the green on your thumbs and in your wallet.

Tool time: No need to go out and purchase new watering cans, knee pads, or flower labels. A milk jug makes a great watering can and the best part is you most likely already have one! Grab some old towels to kneel on while tending your plants much cheaper than buying a new gardening pad. For the plant labels, pick up some popsicle sticks and use them as an inexpensive alternative to labels.

Feed me Seymour: Feeding those little green babies of your can be a costly endeavor but not if you cook from home. Dry out banana peels, grind them up and mix it in with the mulch. This is a great way to get nutrients to the plants. Save up your egg shells too because those can be added into the mix to add calcium and that’s great for your vegetables.

Quit bugging me: To get rid of those unwanted winged guests, don’t spend money on
harmful pesticides, mix black pepper with some flower, then sprinkle it around the plants. Plants being a bit sluggish? Make a slug trap by placing a plastic margarine tub in a small hole, fill it with beer or salted water, then place cut potatoes around the rim to attract them. Slugs check in, but they don’t check out!

Gardening is a great way to relax and enjoy the outdoors, so there’s no reason to stress about how much it costs!

What penny pinching secrets do you have in your garden?

Photo by: 22863752@N06 // CC 2.0

Well looks like spring has sprung, and unfortunately it sprung a few leaks in your house due to all that melted snow and ice. Water damage in a home is not a cheap fix and if undetected, it can destroy carpet, ceiling tiles, floors, walls, and cause harmful mold growth that could get you really sick. Now that the weather has turned for the better, take the time to follow this check list to make sure your home won’t turn into a fishbowl this spring.

Top to bottom: Make sure your home’s hair piece made it through the winter and check that roof for any leaks. Check out the attic to find any leaks that need to be fixed, just be careful for any unwanted guests that may have taken shelter in there over the winter!

Off the walls: Time to take in that spring air and get outside! Check the exterior of your home for any cracks or holes that need to be filled. Grab a tube of exterior caulk and patch those guys up. This not only saves you from potential water damage, but keeps out unwanted critters.

Interior investigation: Take a stroll around the inside of your home and take a look for water spots on the walls and ceiling. These give a great indication of where the leak is coming from and you can patch up from there.

Say no to crack: If you find there are cracks in the basement walls that water is seeping through, mix one part cement and two parts fine sand to make mortar to fill up the crack. Then follow these steps from ACE and you can say good bye to all your basement leaks.

The time it takes you to inspect your house every spring is defiantly worth it when it prevents all that melted snow from coming in. So leave the water for the fishbowl and keep your house nice and dry.

What do you do to prepare your house for the spring melt?

Photo by: 22287673@N05 // CC 2.0

An electronic oscillator creates a repetitive electronic signal. A portmanteau holds your clothes on vacation. A parasol keeps you dry. Now does anyone know what a freezer does?

No it’s not a trick question. A freezer keeps things frozen. Easy, right? What most people don’t realize is a freezer can be used for more than making ice, keeping steaks cold, and exploding pop cans.

Lights on: If you’re one to use candles, store them in the freezer when you’re not using them. This makes the candle burn slower and the candle last longer!

Power up: Keep your batteries juiced up longer by tossing them in the ice box. NiMH and NiCd batteries lose a few percent of power a day when not in use, but storing them in the freezer will allow them to retain 90% of their unused charge for over a month! Unfortunately this trick doesn’t work as well with alkaline batteries.

Dry time: Ever spill water on a stack of papers? Throw them in the freezer for minutes then pull them apart. This saves the paper from being destroyed when you separate them.

0110100001100100: Some people have found that if your computer hard drive fails, you can put it in a zip lock bag in the freezer and it just may give you enough time to boot up and recover the information.

Bonus freezer saver tip: Your freezer works hard all day, so why not give it a break. Fill some milk jugs with 75% water and leave them in the freezer. This helps your freezer not have to work so hard and keeps it at a level temperature.

Even though it’s pretty obvious what a freezer does, that doesn’t mean you have to use it for just that.

What other uses do you have for your contained frozen tundra?

Photo by:Thelugash // CC 2.0

Depending on where you live, you just about have to tunnel your way out of the house due to all the snow. Washington D.C. was covered with a total of 32.4 inches of snow; not over the whole winter, that was just in two days! That kind of coverage makes it a little difficult just to run to the corner store and back in under ten hours.

Since you can’t really control how the roads are plowed, you can take some satisfaction in being able to cheaply control your commute up the sidewalk and driveway.

SAFETY WARNING If you are not in the best of cardiac condition, it’s wise to spend a few dollars and have it done for you. People who are elderly or out of shape, run a 1 in 10,000 risk of having a heart attack after shoveling snow for an hour.

Early defense: If you’re like most people, clearing the driveway isn’t on your top five things to spend your time on, but it’s time to buck up and get it done. Get out there a few hours after it starts snowing and scrape away. You will have to shovel more times, but it’s better to do it a few easy times than one really really really hard time.

Grab a shovel: This is your first line of defense against the snowflake invaders. It’s the cheapest way to clear your path because the only thing it costs is the price of the shovel and elbow grease.

No new blowers: Don’t waste your money at a snow blower shop, spending thousands of dollars on a brand new snow blower, check out Craigslist for used blowers and you could get one in really good condition for around fifty to a hundred bucks!

Have fun: Shoveling snow is not fun. If you think it is, I will forward you my address. For the rest of you this chore doesn’t have to be such a bore, grab a mp3 player or radio and blast some tunes while you shovel, this way you’ll be done before you know it!

Break free of that snow and ice prison that is holding you hostage and start the battle against the Snowpocalypse. Next time that white stuff will be too afraid to fall on your driveway.

How long does it take you to clear off the driveway?

Photo by: Littledebbie11 // CC 2.0

Everyone knows the old saying “talk is cheap”. Well guess what? It’s not. These days, communication is one of our most expensive bills. You have bills for the internet, landline service, cell phone service, and internet package on your cell phone. All of these bills add up to a pretty hefty burden every month and the yearly costs can be astronomical! Try some of these communication cost cutting tips and see how low you can get your bills.

No land lovers here: Just about every person has a cell phone these days and if you are one of them what’s the use in hanging on to a landline. It’s time to ditch the landline and the bills. If you just want it for emergencies then consider calling your phone provider and removing some extra features like voice mail or three-way calling to reduce your monthly payments.

VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol services are a popular alternative to landlines if you have to have a phone in the house. These types of phones transmit your voice over the internet instead of a landline. This is a much cheaper alternative because VoIPs are billed by the megabyte not the minute and other features such as caller id, automatic redial, and call forwarding are free of charge.

Some people have an issue with these types of phones because the emergency services such as 911 have a difficult time locating your address if you do not register your address with Enhanced 911 feature most providers support.

Reduce your use: Put yourself on a strict minute diet and stay off the cell phone! Find a plan that gives you free nights and weekends and indulge in long chat sessions at those times. Most cellular providers allow free calls and texts to others in their network, so see what your friends and loved ones have to cut even more minutes. Once you get used to using a minimal amount of minutes, cut the minutes on your plan. Just be careful not to go over after the cut.

A big cost to cell phone users is the data plan. Any internet ready smart phone is required to have a data plan which can cost around thirty dollars a month. It really isn’t necessary to have the internet in your pocket at all times, so downgrade to a regular phone. After all, you bought a cell phone to make phone calls!

You’re out of the band: Bandwidth that is. Look at how much bandwidth you are paying for each month and assess if you really download that much. If you are using the internet to just read entertaining and informative blogs like MoneyLounge, then you really don’t need to be paying for enough bandwidth to download music, play games online, and watch streaming movies at the same time.

You could easily save over a hundred dollars a month by taking a communication diet and reassessing your connectivity needs. So make talk cheap again, your wallet will thank you.

What’s the cheapest or most expensive phone bill you’ve received?

Photo By: Nichollsphotos // CC 2.0

An under-furnished home can feel pretty empty, but getting your place decorated can get expensive right? There are a lot of people that have the same problem, but some have found ways around spending huge amounts of money. By just adding a little bit of DIY to your walls, it can make your house feel like a home.

Cardboard – A lot of people are making fancy cardboard furniture strong enough to hold up a person, but if you’re just looking to decorate, you can make anything you want and replace it with the real thing later!

Photo and Project by: WhiMSy love

Pixelate – A little bit can go a long way. You can pixelate any image and use small squares to create an image. You can use small squares like the ones you find for paint samples or create your own.

Photo and Project by: Kevin and Dop @ Apartment Therapy

Rasterbate – Have a photo on your computer that you wish you could decorate your wall with? Rasterbate it! This turns your photo into multiple pages so you can display it on any empty wall.

Photo and Project by: Flynnwynn @ Flickr

Photos – If you have lots of photos laying around, you can use them to give your room a personal style to it.

Photo and Project by: Nateone @ Flickr

Newsprint – Hot off the presses and onto your wall. What better to keep your place up do date than with current events?

Photo and Project by: Fabulously{Green}

The number one resolution for New Year’s 2010 was to become healthier and lose some weight. But getting healthy can be tough, and eating healthy can get expensive. So just how healthy are you able to eat? It can cost a lot just to eat healthy foods every single day, but it doesn’t have to. While some ingredients are expensive, others can be rather inexpensive. Here are some cheap and healthy foods that can be prepared quickly:

Brown Rice: Brown rice is one of the more nutritious kinds of rice that you can buy. You can buy most rice in bulk to cut down on costs.

Multigrain/Wheat Pasta: Pasta is extremely fast to cook, and very versatile, so you can incorporate it into various recipes. You can also buy most pasta in bulk and dry pasta has a long shelf life so you don’t have to worry about it going bad.

Wheat Bread: There are lots of selections for bread nowadays, but sticking with a traditional whole wheat bread is the healthiest choice. You can change they type of bread if you want some variation, try pita breads or tortillas.

Frozen Vegetables: Most frozen vegetables are blanched before they are frozen, keeping vitamins and nutrients inside them. You can find big bags of them at your local grocery store. They’ll save you time and effort with preparation, and you’ll still get all the good stuff.

Frozen Fruits: Frozen fruits go through the same process as vegetables as well, so you can enjoy them as a guiltless summer treat!

Canned Tuna: Canned tuna can be a quick and easy meal for most people. Just because it’s prepackaged doesn’t mean that it’s unhealthy.

Eggs: You can eat eggs in many ways, and they are able to be used in many recipes.

Turkey: If you like your meat, but still want to keep healthy, turkey is one of the healthiest meats around. It’s not just for Thanksgiving!

You won’t burn a hole in your pocket while you’re trying to burn off your gut. How do you eat cheap and healthy?

A gym membership can get quite expensive. These membership fees charge you for the entire facility, equipment, basketball courts, pools, locker rooms, etc. It doesn’t matter if you use them or not, you will be charged for them. If you choose to work out from home, you’ll only have to worry about grabbing some equipment.

Being Resourceful: It’s possible to make your own weights out of some household items. You can use milk jugs, tennis ball cans, or duffel bags and fill them with however much weight you want.

I’ll Just Buy It: If you’re just not the crafty type, you can choose to buy your equipment. Basic equipment can be inexpensive and will last you a long time. So even if you don’t work out regularly, it will still be a good investment.

Second-hand: Many people start up a workout routine, and end up giving it up. You can spot some almost new equipment at various garage sales or thrift stores. You can capitalize on some of these second-hand items and pay only a fraction of the price!

Videos: If you’re not sure on how to make your own workout routine at home, you can always buy a video from the store and follow along. There’s varying types of workout from relaxing yoga to intense tae bo lessons.

Video Games: With the Wii becoming more popular, it’s getting people to get off the couch and be more active. The Wii Fit continues this by getting people to exercise on one of their platforms.

You don’t have to have an expensive gym membership to get fit. There are cheap alternatives you can do at your 24/7 home gym. Would you rather get the gym membership or workout at home?

What’s the first thing you do when you first move in a home? It’s an exciting time, and maybe all you can think about is getting all your stuff inside. But wait! There are things you can do before you bring your first box into your new home. Doing a few simple checks around the house before you move in can help you settle into your home later on.

Changing the Locks: Security and safety should be a priority in your new house. Getting the locks changed to any place you move into will make sure that a previous tenant with a spare key can enter in your home.

Plan your Layout: Figure out where all your furniture is going to go. This will make less work for you when you’re moving — you’ll know where things are going, so they can be placed in their proper place. You’ll also know if you have enough space for all your furniture.

Get it Cleaned: The previous tenants or landlords may have cleaned your apartment, but doing it yourself will ensure that everything is thoroughly clean. It will also give you a chance to closely inspect every spot of your home before you bring in all of your stuff.

Check the Plumbing: Leaky pipes can cost you a lot of money, and can lead to other household problems. Run your faucets and toilets to make sure they’re running properly, and to make sure any leaks are taken care of.

Check the Circuits: Make sure all the lights and electrical sockets are working. It would also be an opportune time to label your circuit breaker, so you won’t have to figure it out later on when a problem arises.

Painting: If you moved into a place with some funky colors that you’re looking to get rid of, it’s the perfect time to repaint the walls. This will save you a lot of hassle, time, and money.

After everything is said and done, you’ll have a home you can really feel at home in. Is there anything you do before you move into a home?