Health & Fitness
Budget Mondays
Monday – 3/10/2014
It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.
Budget
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It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time, a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this – people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.
The tease of warm weather that we received this weekend in the Northeast was a welcome, albeit short-lived, respite from the bitter cold that has blanketed large areas of the country during this winter. The warm weather prompted some people to get out and enjoy the sun, some people got a jumpstart on spring cleaning, and others were finally able to see their backyards for the first time since the fall. Unfortunately, most yards look slightly the worse for the wear after this winter, so it might take a little extra work to get the yard back into entertaining shape.
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Let’s look at a few ways to help make these yard transformations both entertainment and budget friendly:
1) Have a plan – like any other endeavor, including personal finances, a plan is absolutely necessary to making things come in under budget while still satisfying your needs. Where do you want plants, pavers, and lighting? Draw up a plan first, and you might be surprised how much easier it is to make it happen.
2) Eliminate water worries – we have discussed this in previous Budget Monday,s but it is worth repeating. Water waste can be an enormous cost and strain on your household budget, so take advantage of rain barrels and grading to take advantage of rain water to irrigate your lawn.
3) Save on AC – air conditioning is an enormous cost, especially during a heat wave, but by planting a tree or bush to help shade the AC unit, you can increase efficiency by 10%.
Happy Reading!
