Even though I love to travel, I can also be a homebody.  My fave channels are HGTV and TLC and the main reason I wanted to buy a home was to have my own piece of land to garden.

I am a sucker for gardening stuff.  We have a pretty big yard, for an urban neighborhood and we had to pretty much start from scratch when we moved here.

The yard was in poor shape with the entire back yard filled with pea gravel and bamboo and the front yard surrounded by very badly kept privet hedge.  There were lots of other invasive plants that we ripped up as well and very little that we kept other than the trees.

Now that all that pea gravel is gone (after digging up 36 pickup loads full ourselves) and we have grass (from seed) and a beautiful fenced in yard (front and back, no more privet), we have been turning our efforts (and wallet!) to making it more beautiful and serene with perennials and shrubs and other gardening hardscape.

But, since we are limited on funds and have a lot of ground to cover (literally), we are learning ways to do this more frugally.

1.  Be Patient. Buy smaller plants, that are less expensive.  It will take a year or two longer for it to grow to a mature size, but as you know, the years go by quicker than you think it will.  And, it’s fun to watch your plants mature in your yard.

2.  Go Native. If you, like me, were not blessed with a green thumb or the natural ability to nurture nature, then buy plants that are native to your area.  They will grow because they belong, not because you baby them.

3.  Befriend people with big gardens who divide and give away plants. One of my best friend’s mother divides her plants all the time.  I am on her “list” of people to give plants to.  Love it.  My Dad does this too.  He has given me loads of Hostas and has a Red Bud tree and Crepe Myrtle tree that he is giving me too.

4.  Experiment with some of your own plants. I took cuttings of three of my plants last year and replanted them, just to see if they would grow if I did this.  And they did!  So, this year, when I trim them, I am going to replant all of the cuttings and watch my garden expand for free!  My Dad does this all the time too, hence the Crepe Myrtle tree I’m getting.

5.  Know when your favorite nursery is having sales. I am on the email list of my favorite nursery.  They have a reward program and I get emails when they have special sales for reward program members.  They have great sales too!  Many nurseries often also have sales during the hottest month (when nobody wants to plant) and at the end of the season.

6.  Check Craiglist, Freecycle and yard sales. Craigslist has a ‘farm and garden’ area (where we found our fabulous Compos Tumbler!) and I have seen many plants posted on Freecycle, but they go fast!  I bought a stone planter with a Plantation Lily in it for $5 years ago from a yard sale.  It’s beautiful and the Lily comes back every year.

7.  Look for perennials that drop seeds and spread. New plants every year for free!  You can even dig them up and replant them in different spots.  Of course you don’t want them to be invasive plants, but self-seeding isn’t always a bad thing.

8.  Focus on perennials. I had to stop buying annuals.  I just can’t afford to buy plants every year that don’t make a reappearance each year.  It’s hard sometimes as there are some wonderful plants, that I love, that are considered annuals in my area due not being able to withstand our winters.

9.  Learn to love foliage as well as flowers. There are a lot of beautiful plants out there that are not super showy in terms of flowers.  Since we have a lot of shade due to huge Sugar Maple trees in our yard, I had to learn more about shade plants, which don’t usually have much in terms of flowers.  Some of my favorites are Heucheras (coral bells) and Sedums.  Their foliage is beautiful and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.  And, they are pretty economical.

10.  Put the word out for what you are looking for. If you are looking for rocks for example, for some hardscaping, you’d be surprised who is out there looking to get rid of some rocks!  We  had all sorts of people come and help us dig out our pea gravel so they could take it home and put it in their own yards.

11.  Go on garden tours. If you have residential garden tours in your area, this is a fantastic way to discover new plants and landscaping ideas, as well as what grows well in your area.   My Mom and I go on these for Mother’s Day.

12.  Look for drought tolerant plants. Save time, money and the environment with plants that don’t require a lot of extra watering.  Plus, they have a better chance of surviving a hot, dry summer.

Help me save some money!  What are your frugal gardening tips?

Find more tips of all kinds at Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

After our recent spending spree, I have vowed to cut back for the rest of the summer, as hard as that may be for me.  One way I was thinking of doing this is to refocus on my grocery budget, that I sort of gave up on the last couple of months.

There are a few website I like to view for inspiration in this department, however many of them tend to make a lot from scratch, of which I’m not great at doing.  I would like to, I just don’t make the time.

I found this blog today, These Mommy Moments, which talks about saving money while still eating healthy.  She shares my gripe about people boasting about only spending $40 a week on food for their family, yet often sacrificing on health in the meantime.  I want so badly to save that kind of money,  yet just can’t find those kinds of deals on the foods we eat.  However, in her post she lists another blog called, The Good Deal Gal.  This blogger does what I often do too, which is to email companies I buy from and ask for coupons.  She has gone one step further however and has listed all the companies she has had luck with!  Score!  What a great list!

So, I’m going to go down her list and start contacting the ones that I like!  So excited.  Looking forward to having the deals hit my mailbox.

Another helpful blog is Bargain Briana.  She has only recently started listing deals for Whole Foods, which is why I subscribed to her site.  She has a great post full of tips on saving money at Whole Foods.  And for those who think that Whole Foods is too expensive, I have priced many items at both Kroger and Whole Foods and Whole Foods is almost always cheaper.  Many just assume that it’s “Whole Paycheck”, when in fact it’s the better deal.  It just depends on the kind of food you normally buy.

Bargain Briana also has a 15 Days of Couponing to help newbies (like myself) through the art of couponing.  Think I need to go study up!

I am also going to have a baking day coming up and start menu planning again (not my favorite thing to do).

Summer is an easy time to save some money with all the fresh fruit and veg growing like mad and waiting to be either picked yourself (from a pick your own farm or out of your own garden).  I will be using my freezer to utilize this time for freezing fruit and veg that I can get cheap and in season.

If you have any grocery tips for saving on healthy, organic foods, please share them!!

I read an article recently on doing home exchanges for vacations.  Of course, I can’t find the article now, but I found this one, which was quite good.

I’ve always been interested in this.  It seems like a fantastic way to see some fabulous places while also cutting down on expenses for travel.  And if you do an international exchange it would be a great way to really get the feel of how people live in that country.

I think my biggest hurdle is my thinking that who in the world would want to stay in my house?!   I mean, I guess I just always assume that my quirky, inner-city, historic house with Ikea furniture and only one bathroom wouldn’t appeal to many or be a very good exchange with someone’s more upscale offerings.  I look at some of the listings on the beach or in some exotic country next to vinyards or whatever and they just seem like such better offers!  Of course, I will say that the city I live in is a very attractive destination to certain people.  We have tons of tourists.

But, then there is the whole strangers in my house and in my bed (We don’t have a guest room and I just don’t know if I’m up for the thought of strangers well…being intimate, in my bed).  Plus, having to hide all the personal documents/info and having to get everything super clean before leaving.  And then there are all the instructions about quirky things about our house.

Our house is old, there are a lots of quirks.  For example, we are used to the fact that we don’t have a key to our front door and that nobody else but us knows how to open or close it.  I guess we would just have to tell someone…”don’t use the front door”.  Weird, but they might never get it closed again.  It’s not easy.  It involves lots of pushing and twisting and a knee in just the right spot.

And then there is the fact that we live in a “transitional” neighborhood.  If you don’t know what that means, it’s a neighborhood that used to be the ‘hood’.  Still is in some aspects, but it’s also the “hot and trendy” real estate area with renovated historic homes and loads of fantastic, independant restaurants and bars.  It’s also very walkable and close to parks and greenways.

However, people have been known to hear the occasional gunshot.   It’s rare nowadays, but it happens.  Should I mention that?  Hmmmm….maybe we could just say that sometimes neighborhood kids like to shoot fireworks?  Uh…yeah.

I am not sure I’m ready for it yet.  I think I will definately keep it in mind though.  Here are some additional links (there are more in the article link above) if you think this might be for you.

Seniors Home Exchange

HomeLink International

Holiday Home Exchange

Aussie House Swap

What about you?  Have you ever done it before or would you consider it?  If you’ve done it, I’d love to hear about it.

I had a wonderful weekend.  Went to visit my parents on Saturday morning to give my Dad his birthday present, which consisted of goodies and liquor.  He loves it when I get him exotic goodies and some cool bottle of something he wouldn’t think to buy himself.  We got him some Sangria from Spain, which is great over ice in hot weather.

Saturday afternoon we went to a party at a friend’s house.  It was pretty fun.  Though parties where you take your kids are just not quite the same as parties in our younger days, are they?

You can’t drink too much, always have to keep an eye on where your kid is, make sure they eat something decent so they don’t have a total meltdown because of all the sugary drinks and snacks your host has on offer, and leave to put them to bed before the real partying starts.  Oh well, I can’t party like I used to anyway.  I get tired and want to get into my pajamas and watch a movie.  How sad am I?

Sunday I went to lunch and on a garden tour of 9 beautiful gardens with my Mom…my Mother’s Day gift to her.  We had a lovely time.  Some of the gardens had little treats, like strawberries and champagne, tea punch and cookies, a plant sale, and several had music.  It was a beautiful day and I got loads of new ideas for my own landscaping.

I managed to get a bit of reading in too, but mostly this is what I liked from last week.  Enjoy!

First of all, Christian PF is running a contest giving away a Nintendo Wii and an Ipod Nano.  You blog about the contest to get in the running for the Wii and twitter about the Ipod Nano.  Well, I twittered…and now I’ve blogged.  Fingers crossed!  I would LOVE to win the Wii so I could get the Wii Fit package to help with goal to get back in shape.

The Happiness Project has a great interview with Alex Fayle from another of my fave blogs, Someday Syndrome, titled Decide To Be Happier NOW, Not Someday.  This post really resonated with me.  I had recently read a quote somewhere about this very thing.  About how if you can’t be happy where you are NOW, what makes you think you will be happy somewhere else.

I am very guilty of this…thinking, “I will be happier when…”.  This is something I have been working on for the last few years actually and I have found myself to be more content and happier than I have ever been.

I love food blogs too.  I don’t ever really cook much of what I find on them, but reading them and looking at the food photos is pure eye candy.  I love Cookie Madness.  She has a lot of yummy recipes on her blog!

She just posted her version of a Wheat Free, Vegan, Chocolate Chip Cookie that looks pretty darn good.  I have a soft spot for allergen-free recipes, so I like to post good looking ones when I see them.  Although for true allergen free, I would leave out the nuts, use Smart Balance butter and Enjoy Life chocolate chips.

I have also recently stumbled onto another expat blog that I’m having a lot of fun looking around.  It’s called Making This Home.  Katie (American) and Martin (German) live between America and Germany.  They are currently living in the US in this cool tire house.  Katie writes about all sorts of cool things pertaining to green living, which I love.  She is very crafty at being green too!!

I was also honored to be listed in two roundups this week.  Both Man vs. Debt and The Centsible Life featured two of my articles in their weekend reading round-ups! I read both of these blogs, so I was really pleased to find they enjoyed my articles.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.  I’m still looking for some new blogs to read, so feel free to leave any ideas of great stuff you’ve read lately.

I have not worried about my weight since I was in college.  I drastically changed my eating habits years ago and never looked back.

I learned to recognize certain things about myself and know my weaknesses.  It’s not always easy to be healthy, but it doesn’t have to be hard or as limiting as people think either.

I am no expert by any means, but I have found certain things that work well for me.

1. No unhealthy snacks or desserts in the house.

I do not keep chips or cookies or crackers or ice cream in our house.  Otherwise, I would eat them all the time.  I buy them occasionally, as a treat, or if we are having guests over, but  I would be as big as a house if I kept this sort of thing in our house.

The only snacks I have are whole wheat pretzels, fruit, nuts and dried fruit.

And, I don’t care if I can get something free using coupons or playing the CVS game or whatever, if it’s full of sugar and preservatives and a bunch of crap I can’t pronounce, I’ll pass.

2.  Drink mostly water.

I pretty much only drink water.  Except for coffee in the mornings.  I don’t drink sodas or juice, except occasionally. They both contain a lot of calories and sugar.  I would rather get vitamins from the actual fruit rather than fruit juice.  As for sodas, well, unless it has rum in it, I’d rather just eat chocolate if I’m going to consume all that sugar.  And, yes I know there are diet sodas, but what the hell is in those anyway?  No thanks.

I will say that I do drink alcoholic beverages, but this is pretty limited as well.  I also indulge in chocolate soy milk, however I have to limit these or I will drink 1/2 gallon in two days.  No control!!

3.  Eat More Veggies and Beans!

Veggies and beans are a great way to fill yourself up without adding to your waistline.  I used to be vegetarian and although I do eat meat now, I don’t eat it on a regular basis.  When I cook stir-fry or spaghetti or chili or stews, they are nearly always with loads of veggies and no meat.   “Hearty” veggies like mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes (regular and sweet) and carrots are staples in our house.

Last night we had roasted sweet potatoes and black beans over rice.  Yum!  I also made some blueberry muffins (no refined sugar) for snacks for this week.

4.  Listen to your body.

If I am really craving something, then I usually eat it.  Otherwise, I find myself eating my way through the house trying to satisfy that one craving, when I could have saved myself a bunch of calories and fat just eating that one thing.  Now, that’s not to say I would do this all the time, but I think an indulgence here and there is fine.

Moderation is the key to life.

However, I will also stop eating something if I start to notice that it causes me to feel bad or sluggish.  I had to stop eating dairy at one point and noticed that I felt a lot better for it (not to mention I lost weight!).  Now that I can eat it again, I still don’t consume nearly as much as I used to.

5.  Learn to read food labels and ingredients before you buy something.

I don’t know how many times that I put things back after reading the ingredients and the sugar content on food labels.

Claims of “100% All Natural” or “No Artificial Anything” or whatever are often misrepresented once you read the ingredients and see there is actually hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup (ingredients we avoid).

Many products that tout themselves as being healthy are not necessarily, once you have a closer look.

For example, many whole wheat and multi-grain breads are very high in sugar.  I’m sorry, but if I’m going to consume a bunch of sugar, I don’t want it to be in a sandwich or toast!  I would rather eat some chocolate!  So, read your labels and ingredients!

6. Be careful of “low fat” and “fat free” foods.

Many of the packaged “low fat” and “no fat” foods are full of all sorts of other junk/fillers and a often a lot more sugar than the original to make it taste decent.  Instead, I stopped worrying about the fat content and instead focus on eating healthier foods with real ingredients (i.e. ones I can pronounce).

I also make more things from scratch now.  Our food is fresher and contain more basic ingredients and less preservatives.

7.  Beware of sugar.

Sugar can be found in the most unlikely places, like bread, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and all sorts of other foods.  Sugar content can be especially high in foods like juices, cereal, cereal bars, fruit leathers, and all sorts of other snacks.  Snacks for kids are often the worst!

We check the sugar content of everything we buy and try to limit our consumption.

For example, we like sweet cereal (we all have sweet tooths!).  So, to keep it healthier, the majority of our cereal is a very low sugar cereal, like Cheerios/Toasted Oats (1 gram of sugar per cup).  Then, we add a little of another one that is sweeter and contains higher sugar (our favorite brands are Kashi and Nature’s Path).

Though, I try not buy cereal with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving, preferring to stick to around 5 or 6 grams per serving as the highest.

8.  Use natural sugar substitutes when cooking and adding sugar.

When baking, look for recipes that use natural sugar alternatives like honey, maple syrup or agave nectar instead of refined sugar.

When adding sugar to things like coffee or tea, try Stevia.

9. Get Active!

I’m not saying that you have to work out 5 days a week, but finding ways to incorporate more activity into your day can work wonders.

For example, when I was working on a University campus I used to walk documents over to different departments when I could rather than send them interoffice mail.  It got me out of the office and I was able to connect with colleagues while also getting more exercise.

Now, as a SAHM, being active is not really a problem with a very active 3  year old and 9 month old!  But, it is hard to find time (and energy after a long day) to get real exercise.   Now that the days are longer, my goals is to have dinner as soon as my husband gets home so we will have time for a walk around the neighborhood before the kid’s bedtime.  I’ve ordered a double stroller so hopefully we can start this next week!

10.  Know what type of exercise works best for you.

I enjoy walking outside rather than going inside a gym, especially when it’s nice outside.  Maybe you enjoy classes verses working out by yourself.

I also noticed a few years ago that I can do aerobic activity all day long, but Pilates and Yoga are the types of activity that work best for me the best in terms of how I feel and how I look.  Pilates flattened my stomach far better than anything I’ve ever done before, so naturally…I stick with it.

Plus, I love it.  You have to enjoy it if you are going to keep doing it.  Try different activities and find something that works for you.

My husband tried yoga and loves it…neither one of us would have ever guessed that, but there you go.  You have to try different things, whether it be exercise or food to see what works best for you!

So, there you have it.  My best tips.  Like I said…I’m no expert, but I’ve tried a lot of things and finally found what works best for me.   I do feel strongly that the biggest obstacle for most is unwillingness to make a change and make sacrifices.

I used to assist in teaching weight management classes and this was by far the biggest challenge.  You have to be ready to make a change and nobody can make you do anything.  You have to want it for yourself or it’s not going to work.

Be sure to check back as I will be posting some great low or no-sugar recipes and snacks and tricks in the coming weeks!  Better yet, sign up for my RSS Feed, so you don’t miss them!

What are your best tips for staying healthy and trim?

This post is linking to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.