How I planted my Hopi style veggie garden:

OK, so I planted my garden this weekend after much consideration. I love to have a garden, and have had one for the last 5 years and 3 different houses. I love having fresh veggies in my backyard and involving my kids in this fun process. There are, however, two things that I DON'T like about gardens and those would be: weeding and watering! So, I have a system that minimizes both of those that worked pretty well for me last year.
Now, I feel like I should give a disclaimer that I really have no idea what I am doing. I got all of my processes from my brother Adam who is a TRUE gardener, he's got the gift!! Last year, he helped me plant my garden so I just replicated what we did last year. Anyway, let's get started!

1. These are the supplies that you will need to buy:
- 50 ft. sprinkler/soaker Hose ($9.95)
- Tarp or weedproof paper. Last year I just used garbage bags and nails, but this year I got fancy when I found this stuff at Walmart. It is a heavy paper/plastic substance that seems pretty cool. This is the barrier that blocks the weeds from your garden.  ($14.95)
- steaks for your tarp or paper ($1.97)
- seeds/plants ($9.20)
- shovel ($1)
- scissors (not pictured)
- soil (not pictured) Organic if possible ($2.99 a bag, I got two bags)

2. If you are very thorough, dig up all the grass and till up the ground, mix in your soil in the area you plan to put your garden. If you are not, pull most of the grass.
Lay down your tarp/paper, and steak the edges in the ground

3. Cut out holes approximately 1-2 feet apart
Till up the exposed ground and mix in some of your soil.

4. Pile up soil over all of your holes, use a little water if the dirt is falling down.

5. Plant your goodies according to package directions. I planted tomatoes, parsley, and basil from plant (I need to get two more, they didn't have the variety I wanted) But, I planted cucumber, squash, and lettuce from seed. In my experience those do VERY well from seed, literally better than plant, I think because they are very established in the soil. The lettuce will start to sprout in a week or so.
NOW, this is the COOLEST thing about a Hopi style garden. You can have a smaller garden because each hill has three different plants on it. The three plants can be planted together because they each pull different nutrients from the ground so you don't need to space them as much. In a standard garden, you would have rows of each plant spaced pretty far apart. In a Hopi garden, you just have hills with each plant represented. The traditional plants they used were one corn on top, beans on the side to grow up the corn, and squash on the other side to go around the hill. You can swap out similar plants, like I swap out cucumber for squash.

The last step is to wind your soaker/sprinkler hose around your garden so it can water your plants each morning and all you have to do is remember to turn it on and off. Goodluck and Happy Gardening!!

This Weekend (4/24/2011) = NO COUPON INSERTS

Just a reminder, most holiday weekends there are no coupons, therefore there will be no coupon inserts this weekend. Have a Happy Easter weekend!

How to Vacation on a Budget!

We just got back from a much needed vacation to Arizona. It was an amazing trip, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't bust my booty beforehand to make sure we got the most bang for our buck!

I thought it would be great to share some of my strategies with my readers, so here goes!

We flew into Phoenix, got a rental car, drove to Tucson to see my brother for the weekend, drove back to Phoenix and stayed with my mom for a few days, left the kids, and then my husband and I went to Sedona and the Grand Canyon alone. We drove back to Phoenix, got the kiddos and flew out from Phoenix. Here are my top five tips for saving money when traveling, then I will detail the trip, what it would have cost if I did not shop around and get creative, and then what I paid.

Top Five Tips:

1. Check flight prices on Southwest every Tuesday when the new weekly rates come out, they will change drastically from week to week.

2. use rentalcars.com to get a rental car. Also, start shopping about a month before your trip. I had been searching nonstop and the rates were around $400 a week everywhere, and then, the week before we left, I found rentalcars.com and the price was $188! I don't know if it was just rentalcars.com or the proximity of the trip but it made me very happy!!

3. Use Restaurant.com to eat out!! Restaurant.com sells $25 gift certificates for $10 everyday, however, they often have codes that you can use to get 80% off, making the $25 gift certificates just $2! You can search whatever town you will be in to find restaurants and buy them ahead.

4. Use Priceline.com for your hotel! This was my first time using priceline and I could not be happier!! You name your price and what star hotel you want, and then priceline searches hotels that will accept your offer. I named a price of $100 a night for the best star available, which was four. It was a little scary because you don't know where you are staying until after you pay for the hotel! We ended up staying at a Resort, and they upgraded us to the best available room with a fireplace, terrace, view, and hottub which goes for $250 a night usually!

5. Make your own tours! There are so many tours available, but if you have a rental car and some creative know how, you can do it yourself! The tour from our hotel to the Grand Canyon was $135 a person. We ended up driving there ourselves, and it cost $25 a car to get into the national park, once you get in, they have a pretty elaborate bus system that takes you to different view points that you can ride for free!

List Price:
1. Flight $218 each way x 4 people x 2 ways = $1744
2. Rental Car = $400
3. 14 meals for four people = $490
4. Resort $250 x 2 nights = $500
5. Grand Canyon Tours = $270

TOTAL = $3404.00

Actually Paid:
1. Flight $89 each way x 4 people x 2 ways = $712
2. Rental Car = $188
3. 14 meals for four people using Restaurant.com certs = $168
4. Resort with Priceline $100 x 2 nights = $200
5. Grand Canyon gas and ticket into park with free bus tours = $45

TOTAL PAID = $1313.00

SAVED $2091.00!!

Hope this helped one person! Happy Traveling!!

HUGE 20 family BENEFIT garage sale!!!

20 families have joined together to help a friend in need. This sale LITERALLY has something for EVERYONE!!! LOTS of baby girl clothes, many new with tags, baby boy clothes, girl/boy toddler and kids clothes. Juniors, Womens, and some Men's clothing. Shoes for the family!

TONS of baby supplies and kids toys including:
pack and play, high chair, bumbo seat, jumparoo, walkers, hanging toys, floor toys, riding toys, tricycles, books, games, and so much more!!

FURNATURE too, including:
Contemporary glass top dining table with four black chairs, 2 wingback chairs, desk, and more!

Come check it out, make an offer, we have to get rid of EVERYTHING!!!

1102 W. Cleveland Street Alvin, TX

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY from 7am - ????

Below is a picture I took of ONE table while we were getting set up...just a little teaser for the moms! =-)

See you soon!!

OLD NAVY = $5 Fleece this Saturday!

Make the trip if you can, its never to early (or late) to start Christmas shopping!! =-)

Sunday coupon preview

check it! pretty nice weekend:

10/10 SmartSource Coupon Insert

10/10 P&G Coupon Insert

10/10 RedPlum Insert

FREE duct tape costume demo at Michaels!

 This is for you Melissa!! LOL

Saturday from 10am till 2pm

$1 for childcare at Flip-N-Out tonight only!!

I am attempting to get through y 400 emails (literally) and I just saw this one from Fip-N-Out on Cullen in Pearland. They are having a parents night out from 7pm to 10pm for 1st through 5th graders.

TAKING A BREAK!

Hey all! Sorry, I meant to let you all know yesterday, but I have gotten so excited about this blog, I have gotten behind on a lot. I am going to take today and tomorrow off so you can take a break from checking it too! =-) See ya'll on Wednesday! We'll have  a lot of catching up to do!!

This weekend's newspaper = LOTS O COUPONS!!

Go HERE to check out a complete list of coupons that will be in our papers this weekend!

REMINDER: DON'T BUY A PAPER THIS WEEKEND: no coupon inserts!

There are FEW times I will ever utter the words, "Don't buy a paper!" Those few times would be holiday weekends. Yes, it's true, on holiday weekends there are no coupon inserts. They usually make up for it the next weekend with at least two but until then you can take advantage of the great printable coupons available at Coupons.com , Red Plum, and Smartsource! And then, enjoy your weekend off- you worked hard for the savings! =-) 

NEW COUPON BOOKLET: $20 WORTH OF COUPONS! **UPDATE** $1/1 KEEBLER COOKIE PRINTABLE TO STACK WITH THESE!!

Look for this "Fuel for School"  display at your local store. This is a great way to save for those of you who do not yet have a stockpile of coupons! These coupons are good until 9/30/2010. Here is a rundown of the coupons included in this booklet:

Save $2.00 on one Gallon of Milk- when you purchase any two packages of Keebler Cookies 8.5 or larger.

Save $2.00 on one store brand Coffee- when you purchase any two packages of Kelloggs Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars 6ct or larger.

Save $2.00 on School Supplies- when you purchase any two packages of Sunshine Cheez-it bakes snack Crackers 11.5oz or larger.

Save $2.00 on one Gallon of milk- when you purchase any two packages of Keebler or Shinshine Multi-packs or Grips products 6 ct or lager.

Save $2.00 on one 12-24 pack of Store Brand Bottled Water- when you purchase andy one package of Kellogg’s special k Protein Product.

Save $2.00 on store brand bread- when you purchase any two packages of Kelloggs’s Rice Krispies Treats Crispy Marshmallow Squares 8ct or larger.

Save $2.00 on Ocean Spray - when you purchase any two packages of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats Cereals.

Save $2.00 on store brand baggies- when you purchase any two packages of Kelloggs Froot Loops Apple Jacks, Corn Pops and or Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal 10 oz or larger.

Save $2.00 on store Brand bread- when you purchase any two packages of Kellogg’s Fruit Flavored Snacks and or Kellogg’s Yogos bits or Yogos rollers snacks 6 ct or larger.

Save $2.00 on Fresh Fruit – when you purchase and two Packages or Keebler and or Sunshine Right Bites snacks 6 ct or larger.

*UPDATE* JUST SAW THIS PRINTABLE COUPON ON HIP2SAVE.COM FOR $1/1 KEEBLER COOKIE. YOU CAN USE THIS AND MILK COUPON TOGETHER!! (example: lets say for ease of numbers the cookies are $2 each and the milk is $2. You would buy 2 packages of cookies and one gallon of milk. Then, use two of the printable coupons for the cookies and the $2/1 milk for the milk. Out of pocket cost would be just $2! You always have to read the coupons. If this coupon said save $2 on milk AND cookies, you could not use the internet printable. But it is only for the milk and the restriction is that you must buy the cookies. Does this make sense? its a very important tidbit!! =-)

 

(Thanks A thrifty mom!)

TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL...

WOW! It has been a very eventful two weeks- I have learned SOOOO much! In speaking with some other bloggers today they told me about a few ways that you can generate a little income from your blog. I spend hours everyday working on this blog, so when I found this out, needless to say, I was interested.

So, today I added a couple of ad sponsors and affiliate links. I want to know how you all feel about this. Before today, I was using other sites links so THEY were actually getting paid when we used their links. Based on my blog size, I will probably not earn more than about $20 a month, but for some reason I feel sorta guilty about it. I just hope want to make sure that you are all OK with this.  I always want this blog to be classy...I have seen some very tacky advertizing on other blogs. My number one motivation is still to help you all save money and learn the process of couponing.

So let me know what you think! Would you still love my blog if I were getting compensated for my time? Leave a comment or email me at gingerzam@yahoo.com

HELP ME WITH MY FAQ PAGE

Thanks to all of you who have sent me e-mails or commented on my blog. It is great to know that others are sharing in the savings! I have gotten a few questions that I think would be helpful to post on the site because chances are someone else is asking them too. So, I was thinking it would probably be a good idea to have a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) tab. Sometimes I leave out the details when talking about couponing and I really need to hear from newbies where the holes in my explainations are. If you could, please leave a question in the comments section here or send me an email with a question you have or feel would be benificial to have on the FAQ page. Here are a couple that I already plan on including: "What does the "SS" mean by the coupon?", "When you get a raincheck do you have to use it at that specific store?"... PLEASE help me out with your fresh eyes!! Thank you everyone!

THREE COUPON INSERTS THIS WEEK!!

Just a friendly reminder to buy your papers this weekend, or ask family and friends for their coupon inserts if they do not use them, because there will be three coupon inserts this week. If you read my couponing 101 link, you know that I reccomend buying 1 paper for each member of the household that way you can stock up when prices are low (or free) and it will last you until the next sale. If you are new to couponing, I would really encourage you to get on board and buy that paper! =-) Hope ya'll are having a GREAT weekend!