Breaking Even, Inc.

Curb Appeal: You Can Grow Your Own Way

A Weeklong Series About Landscaping, Gardening, and Money

Yesterday, I talked about some inexpensive and perennial ornamental plants to boost your home value. You can also, however, use some more functional plants to grow your own food, even if (like me) you've killed an aloe plant.

Growing food has been a way to engage students and rehabilitate prisoners, not that those two are related... what I'm saying is that growing food is clearly something good for the emotional and physical health of a person big or small. (For way more about the social/societal benefits of growing your own food, check out the book Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, which is a great read.) Frugal Dad had a great post recently tying in lessons learned gardening with lessons to be learned in personal finance. There are clearly mental, social, and emotional benefits from the act of growing food.

And to look food growth purely as an investment, I'm betting that gardening is going to get really popular this year because of rising food prices. Growing your own food could be great way to save money and eat healthy (not to mention a way to use up some of those empty flowerbeds I have).

The resource you will most heavily invest in any food growth is your time. (Seeds aren't expensive and neither are bags of soil if you look around....some people may even be giving it away for free). Get Rich Slowly has carefully chronicled the time him and his wife spend gardening (as well as the money on supplies) and will be over the course of the next year.

So what is a tentative gardener like me who wants to save money at the grocery store and increase curb appeal to do? I need successful plants to boost my ego and to grow food at a small enough scale to be able to maintain the garden. I picked Sean's brain at breakfast this morning as he was a gardener in a former life. Here was, almost word for word, our conversation:

What's the easiest thing to grow? Tomatoes.

Why? Because all you have to do is plant them and water them. Not a lot of things attack them.

What else? Jerusalem artichokes.

Why? Because they are a root. They have the added benefit of coming back every year.

Oh, so potatoes would work too? Yup. I have to go to work now.

So as a new person to gardening, I'm going to do these easy plants and a little herb garden, which is what I had moderate success with last year (I love rosemary and basil!). And boy, will I have some good beds! Any other recommendations from real gardeners out to someone like me who is clueless and slightly lazy about living things that can't whine for food?

Curb Appeal: Good In Beds

A Weeklong Series About Landscaping, Gardening, and Money

Ah, flowerbeds. I get why people have them. They allow you to plant pops of color or small vegetable plots without commiting to a huge garden. They have the added benefit of making it so you don't have to mow as much of the lawn. They are the great pair of earrings to your house's outfit, the spring of your house's step. They create clean lines and borders. But why do we have ten huge beds on our property, anyway? That's a lot of pressure.

The good news is there are a lot of hostas in a few of the beds. At first I thought they were boring but now I have come to love them. Here's why:

1) They're perennial.
2) They're green and bushy so they take up a lot of room.
3) They do alright in some shade.
4) They flower in the late summer/early fall when not much else does.

So if you have a lot of beds, embrace the ease of the slightly boring hostas or hosta-like plants.

Because they don't have much color other times of the year, I planted some violets in between a few of the hostas. I picked perennials (I'm too lazy to replant) and Sean told me violets would reproduce like crazy. And sure enough they are coming back this year! So the hearty little violets will go inbetween the hostas, adding color the time of the year that the hostas are boring. Other little minxes of the plant world: cosmos. They are borderline invasive. We planted one seed pack in two barrels last year and they are already coming back for more. 

I planted a herb garden last year (ok, garden may be a generous word, maybe a plot?). The only thing that came back: chives. And the plant is already huge. So if you are looking for a spiky green plant you can cook with, I suggest a chive or two.

If you feel like breaking out and trying something new I haven't mentioned, keep a look out for plant sales and swaps this time of year. Sometimes colleges or nonprofits have sales in spring. (And they are usually cheaper than the greenhouse and the money goes to a cause.) On the swap side, ask friends, family, and coworkers. They may have extra plants that they just can't use. (One of my coworkers brought in some yesterday.) You may even see some on the side of the road. 

So hostas, violets, cosmos, and chives I recommend as far as varieties of plants to fill your beds. If I haven't killed them and they can grow on our acidic soil underneath partial shade, they're keepers as far as I'm concerned. Make sure to get perennial: they are the plants for us lazy people. But remember, just because you're lazy, doesn't mean you aren't good in beds.

Images of a hosta and a cosmo from www.wikipedia.com (sorry folks, left my camera at work) 

Has Your Curb Got Appeal?

A Weeklong Series About Landscaping, Gardening, And Money

I don't know if it's the HGTV marathon this past weekend (mom has cable and that's our favorite channel to watch together) or some links I've been collecting these last few weeks but I've been thinking a lot about landscaping/gardening lately. I feel like a lot of people want a nice home but don't have gardening experience or money to do the necessary projects and maintain them. Thinking about beautifying the yard is daunting to me but is clearly necessary to add value to the house and avoid judgement from the neighbors. I will devote this whole week to outdoor beauty and value. Today's topic: groundcover.

The house I currently live in has little curb appeal mostly due to the lack of lawn. It is spotty with lots of leaves. Sean mowed it a total of three times last year because that's all the mowing it needed. Our lawn makes it look like we don't care, which we do. We just don't know where to start.

What you plant seems to be determined by your climate zone (see the map at this link to figure out yours if you live in the US), your soil type, and what is immediately underground. (In our case, we live in zone 5, have acidic soil, and have a lot of slate just under the surface.) You also may want to note if your yard gets a lot of shade, if the soil retains moisture well, if there are certain insects about (we've got a lot of ants) and you may want to calcuate the square footage you want covered so you can effectively budget your project. (In our case, about 10,000 square feet). This is all good information to take with you to the garden center, because the more information you have, the more likely you will be able to make good choices for your yard situation. 

Here are some ground cover options:

1) Reseeding the lawn with grass. According to my friend Jane, look for grass that works in the shade if you've got shaded areas and look for perennial grass (so it'll come back next year—I thought all grass was perennial but it isn't!). Prices seem to vary on variety so be prepared to shop around a bit.
2) Moss. I've noticed we have a lot of moss naturally growing on our lawn. The New York Times had an article about moss as ground cover just a couple weeks ago. It seems good for acidic and shaded soils (our issue) and it has the added benefit of not having to be mowed. This seems to be a little more expensive then grass seed but may be cost effective over time.
3) Astroturf. At $0.45 a square foot, for about $1,000 dollars, we could have an astroturf lawn. Ew.
4) Dig up the lawn for a huge garden. My friend Sue dug up her whole lawn and made a garden. A ton of work, but gorgeous.

I'm going to shop around for the first two options. In the meantime, does anyone have any tips for a pretty lawn that doesn't cost a lot of money? Stay tuned tomorrow for more about making the curb of yours more appealing!

First photo: This lawn looks better than ours! From http://www.rmnpforums.com/blogs/

Second photo: Sue's lawn is amazing and with a lot of work, yours could be, too. I'm impressed; I can't even keep a spider plant alive. From http://www.onestep-sue.blogspot.com/

Cheap Electronics and Electronic Accessories

Yesterday, I drove to my hometown and surprised my mom for Mother's Day. The five hours driving and taking half a day off work were completely worth it to see the look on her face when I walked in.

I like to be helpful when I come visit so I asked her if there was anything she needed help with. She needs a new laptop charger for her computer (I like being the tech person in her life, even though probably to many people, I'm low tech). I got on the case this morning.

I heard about Deal Extreme from Brown Eyed Girl And Her Money as a cheap way to get electronics. I was waiting to check it out until I had something to buy.

I found the laptop charger for my mom's specific computer in a quick Google search. The price looks good ($26) until you go and put it in your shopping cart. Ten dollars is the minimum amount in shipping, which brings the price to almost $40.

I then did a quick search on Deal Extreme for the same product. With shipping included, $21. Now that's a little better.

Brown-eyed Girl had good things to say about it (though I can't find her entry on it at the moment), saying she got the product quickly and it worked well. I believe her, I mean, she is on my blogroll.

So if you need a 4G flash drive ($21) or crystal soil balls for your plants ($2) it's worth a quick check to see if Deal Extreme has what you need. It's the best deal around as far as I can tell. And I mean, who doesn't love a slightly quirky Japanese company?

Story Of A Fort Kent Flood Victim

If Life Hands You FEMA Chicken Soup, Put It In Your Pantry

Optimism will always get you far. And so can a little sarcasm for that matter! The following guest post was written by one of my best friends, Robby. You can be Robby's "friend" and read his blog on his Myspace page.

So, I thought it would only be appropriate to write about the topic everyone is concerned with these few days....The flood! I for one, like Noah himself, predicted the flood would occur and had made preperations to build an ark...then I got lazy! j/k..No seriously, you can't have that much snow and not expect to see it turn to water.

4/30/08 Wednesday (4am)  My brother Derek says, "Robby, we got to get the BLEEP out of here!".  And the Grand Evacuation began...we grabbed our clothes, electronics, important papers, put stuff on blocks and fled to the higher grounds of Belone Hill (parent's house). Oh I got the cats too....in two trips...i couldn't find flav....

10am - pleasant street looks like the scene from the movie "The Day After Tommorow" when Jake gyllenhall is trying to get his friends to the NYC library for refuge. Of course you have your snoopy old bastards who clogged the main artery in Fort Kent just to "snoop".  I shouldn't complain....45 minutes is nothing to spend on Pleasant street....I was only trying to go find my cats..no biggy "Monsieur Nadeau" was curious about his AARP membership and felt compelled to try getting around town to the post office.

12pm - so the rumor that Maine Public was cutting the power in fort kent spread like wildfire....so...we went to Johns  Convenience and bought lots of useless coldcuts, water, flashlights...every other person in town had the same idea....cha-ching! for John's...they cashed in on the foolishness of we fort kenters!  I got a sweet meat and cheese platter though! YUM!

5/1/2008 thursday 12pm- so I went to my house via "big pickup" to assess the damage.  Not too bad....4 inches more and i would have had soggy furniture...it never made it into my house. Thank God! I then began the laborious task of cleanup....who comes down the street...an old lady from the American Red Cross....now I know they are here to help and thank god for people like that who will drop their day to help those affected by tragedy....but I don't need any more water...."Lady do you see my backyard?...Get me a beer!"...seriously though...i dont need anymore water...bring me some money!

5/2/2008 friday 3pm - The Department of Environmental Protection and FEMA made their preliminary rounds of the area.  A crazy weird guy with a truck load of what appear to be "gigantic maxi pads" drove in my driveway...reminescent of the way the storm chasers drove in the movie "twister".   He, essentially, walked right into my house and threw his maxi pads in my cellar...."nope no oil....why is your power on?!!" (really saying...are u stupid?)..I said...well this isn't MY house....my landlords fled...i dont know where they are.  "Here, take these pads....throw them in your cellar and don't drink the water!"

5pm- Laurie Lozier (a total sweetheart) asked me if I wanted FEMA foods from the Wallagrass school....now normally i would be like sure...but part of me today did not want to feel like a victim....I'm not broke or anything...I didn't even loose anything substantial....I'm just displaced!..but needless to say...i took them.... Holy Crap! FEMA feeds people well!  Its all organic food! Organic peanut butter, cereal, pasta, you name it! and i even got some sweet handwipes!  the ultimate though....24 cans of chicken noodle soup! SCORE!

well thats the timelime of significant events of my stint as a "survivor" of the great flood.   It had its ups and its downs...but at least everyone is okay....I can't move back till the heat, hotwater,  and electrical are fixed but at least my internet works!

I'll keep you updated with flood-related news as it happens. In the meantime, things to keep in mind when disaster strikes.

1) See the writing on the wall. If you know a disaster is coming (such as impending melting of the biggest snowfall on record), take steps to minimize the effects on your home and your life.
2 )Stay calm. It's best for everyone.
3) Know what you'd take if you had only five minutes to grab things. Keep a list, physical or mental, of where it is.
4) Keep some food (a few days worth) in your pantry to keep from unnecessary purchases (and in case FEMA takes a couple of days to get to you).
5) Rely on the help of family, friends, and FEMA. They'd do the same for you, right?
6) Stay optimistic. Robby has always had a great attitude and in coping with disaster, I bet it has come in really handy.

Top Image: Robby's house is the one behind the trees. Keep in mind he normally has a backyard.
Bottom Image: Robby's backyard. As he said "Maybe I shouldn't have raked my lawn. Oh well, at least I have firewood now!"

Best Advice You Ever Got?

A Little Philosophy About Money And Life

CNN Money recently had a slideshow of financially successful people all answering the same question "What was the best advice you ever got?" The answers are what you'd expect: kind of general, a little profound, and applicable to money and life in general. Here are a few favorites:

Focus on things you do different than others. (Peter G. Peterson)
Get out of your comfort zone (David Petraeus)
Always be the person who signs your checks (Tina Fey)

To be honest, a lot of other people I didn't know. A lot of older white guys who run large companies (at least I'm assuming, a lot of the companies were not recognizable to me). I would have liked to see a broader spectrum of different types of successful people.

Most of the advice that was stated came from fathers or bosses. I wish I could remember advice my father gave me. He was pretty tight lipped on finances in general. (According to the New York Times, it's a movement among young people to not keep their finances to themselves but with the popularity of personal finance blogs, I'm highly doubting it's just younger people.) I had long wanted to pick my dad's brain for financial advice in particular because he ran a successful business and was loved by his family and community at the same time. How did he build his money early on? What were the best things he did for the business and for his life? But sometimes you can't wait too long to ask... As far as bosses, I do remember an old boss who taught me how to "manage up", meaning to manage yourself when your direct supervisor can't or won't give you feedback.

The slideshow is a little superficial but does the job of getting your mind going on what you've gotten for financial advice (both good and bad).

What I always keep in mind, in finances and in life: 1) Everyone is doing the best they can. and 2) If it will make a good story, you should try it.

(And from the Freakonomics blog, some computer-related proverbs for these technological times.)

Have you gotten any really good advice? Maybe CNN Money forgot to ask you but I certainly won't.

The Zen And Art Of Coupon Clipping

There are some things we admittedly can't do much about. Gas prices and high taxes are two such things (though I suppose you could convert your car to biodiesel or work under the table but both those things require too much effort for me).

I've been looking for ways to further trim my budget, which is actually quite lean. I have made it a goal though of cutting off $50 a month from my $250 a month grocery bill (that's for two people).

There are a few tips related to grocery shopping that I seem to keep hearing over and over in my research and from talking to people: make a price book and cut coupons.

Price Book
If you look at your grocery list, you are probably buying the same things most every week. A price book is just a book you bring with you to the grocery store and write down the lowest prices you pay per item. This way, when you are shopping and wondering whether something is a good price or not, you can consult a reference specific to where you live and shop. I think I have one of these in my head but I really should formalize it. I may be surprised.

Coupons
Yes, I have been using the Grocery Game for a few months now and it is quite helpful but I really want to step up my game (plus it's $5 a month, I mean, can I do this myself?). I've also used coupons off their website to go with the sales. The idea with coupons is 1) that you wait until something is on sale and use a coupon to buy it and 2) you buy nonperishable things while they are on sale so as to "stockpile" them.

And here's an article if you want to get really serious about the coupons (From The Digerati Life).

Since I haven't given coupon cutting the chance it deserves, I went out on Sunday and bought the weekend paper for $1.50. I then proceeded to cut the coupons from it (probably at least $20 worth). I listened to the radio and had a coffee. I found myself quite relaxed after! I even took a photo to illustrate the experience.

So my financial goal is to reduce my grocery bill by $50 a month using a price book, coupons, and The Grocery Game.

Wish me luck and do feel free to share your own coupon cutting tips and tricks.

Five Tips To Commerce-Free Days

Going Whole Days Without Buying Anything Is Really Empowering

I was baking a cake when I lived out on Vinalhaven a couple years ago. An angelfood cake. From scratch. I didn't realize a springform pan was required until I was halfway through the recipe. What most of us would do at this point is run out and go buy a pan. But on a little island, there is no kitchen store. There was, however, Carla.

I called around amongst my friends for a springform pan. My friend Liz was living with Carla, who had enough cake pans for a cake pan museum. She even asked me what kind of springform pan I wanted. Incredible.

So on Vinalhaven, even when there were days I could have easily bought something, I was forced to improvise or wait until the next time I was in Rockland. There were multiple days were I bought nothing, often at least 3 or 4 in a row. I decided to carry on this practice into my non-island life.

Commerce-free days are days when I don't buy anything. Not a coffee, not a tube of lipstick. You'll be amazed when you see, "Wow, I've gone two days without spending any money!" You feel so disciplined and self reliant. Here are a few of my favorite tips to a commerce free day.

1. Make your own coffee/tea/iced tea/work treat. When I first moved to a town with a coffee shop, I got one everyday. It was a dollar and something I really had missed having access to. Then I realized one month that I spend $30. On coffee!

At the beginning of April, I bought a pound of my favorite coffee from my local coffee shop (in case you're curious Rock City Coffee's Jet roast) and some creamer. I used the french press in the company breakroom to make coffee whenever I felt like it. It's been over a month and about 1/4 of the bag is gone. I think I'm getting my money's worth, not to mention the chance to peruse a magazine while it brews.

Your weakness may not be coffee. But make that reward you give yourself during your work day something you can make yourself. (You'll see it really add up at the end of the month, trust me!)

2. Borrow, don't buy. I'm not a baker. I needed a springform cake pan once, so why go out and buy one? Borrowing from neighbors, friends, and the library is not only economical but a great way to meet people or learn more about people you already know. (For example, in talking to Carla, I found out why my baguettes never came out baguette-y... I apparently need a form!)

3. Have someone teach you. Michaela and my mom taught me to use a sewing machine so now I don't need a tailor. Sean taught me how to beat eggs to stiff peaks by hand so I've never bought a mixer. You are surrounded in your life by people who know how to do things. Rather than paying someone to "just do it", learn the skill yourself. Family and friends also accept a currency that is appreciated by many of us: pizza and never-ending gratitude.

4. Lead yourself not unto temptation. Don't shop recreationally. Stay away from stores, both online and in person. Make yourself stick to the list if you go in a large store where you need just one or two things. Do what you have to do to avoid the commercialism if you are tempted, even if it means taking a different route home from work to avoid stripmalls or taking your credit card out of your wallet before going with a friend to your favorite store.

5. Do what you have to do. This is your personal journey but if you need to buy cold medicine to sedate you enough to sleep through the fog, do it. Commerce-free days should allow you to think about your purchases, not to make you completely miserable.

I urge you to see how many commerce-free days you can get in. Try it in May then look at your budget at the end of the month. You may be amazed by yourself, which you probably should be more often. I mean, you are pretty great, and you don't need extra stuff to prove it.

Photo: No Willams Sonoma for you on your Maine island of choice.