Indoor Garden

My favorite thing to do in the entire world is gardening. It's a passion, it makes my life complete.

Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment in the city with a very tiny balcony. You can barely turn around on it and I do not get much sun. Plus, I am so busy that I rarely have time to devote myself to it as much as I would like to.

There is something I love about having flowers in the house. It makes my house complete, plus makes it smell incredible if you choose the right ones.

I was grocery shopping the other day and noticed that it is time for the bulbs to be planted. If you are not familiar with bulbs, you should be. Tulips and lilies are some examples of a bulb. It is essentially self-contained plant with the most spectacular flowers you will ever see.

So, I noticed that they are selling some in the garden center for very cheap, around $2. I usually force bulbs indoors for the home but I just have not had time, nor do I want to spend all that money right now. Even the soil is going up in price!

I bought a lovely pink hyacinth that barely had its leaves popping out. It is held in a peat moss container (the best as that breaks down and fertilizes the plant- plus, no trash!!!) and put it in a tiny little planter that I spray painted to put plants in around the house.

I have it right next to the TV, which also gets a good angle for the light off the balcony. I bought a few to keep on the bedroom windowsill too. Make sure you put them in a place that gets bright light, does not have to be direct necessarily. I'm not sure if the warmth and gorgeous glow off the TV is helping, but it is growing well.

I love watching it all day and seeing the progress it has made. I turn mine every morning so that each side gets a good amount of light.

Here are my best bet for indoor bulbs: hyacinths, tulips (the cheapest and you can fit many into a pot), paperwhites (the most lovely smell), small varieties of lilies, ranunuculus (mainly for the summer), and freesia.

Plus, you can easily color coordinate with your house.

So you only have to spend about $2 to bring gorgeous flowers into your house that smell amazing, especially if you are trying to cut down on costs but do not want to sacrifice the loveliness that is your home.

Before I forget, PLEASE make sure that whatever flowers you get will not harm your pets, the best addition to any household.

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I love you more than StumbleUpon

I had this boyfriend a few years ago. He was a nerd but he knew his way around a computer, plus other things. I kept him around for a little bit. He introduced me to StumbleUpon. This little guy has changed my life. StumbleUpon, not the ex-boyfriend.

I am not really a big computer person, even though I have a blog, but I absolutely love Stumbling. You pick the categories you prefer, then a little button on your toolbar gives you sites you might like. You can rate them, go the next one, and so on.

I'm telling you, this thing is amazing. You can spend a whole day on it and learn so many things you may never have even known about.

I started a whole freelance business based on StumbleUpon. I learned about my favorite blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman from it.

Words cannot describe how much money you can save from it (you'll get addicted and not want to leave the house for starters) and how much you will learn from it.

You have to have Firefox to use it, but you should be using Firefox anyway.

Enjoy!

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From One TV Addict to Another

I am absolutely horribly addicted to TV. I am never inside my house without it on. I watch the news all day while working and then watch my shows at night.

And I watch trash too. Any kind of reality show about rich people, people in prison, or just watching plain ol' celebs go through their basic day. CNN is a constant everyday. I don't really agree with CNN all the time, but they are the only channel that has reputable programming on all day. I am a complete news junkie so I like to know what is going on, or how bad it is getting. Plus some of their reporters are good eye candy. I wish Andy Coop was on during the day.

But there are always those times when I go out and I am not home to watch my favorite shows. Of course you have to go out with friends on the weekend and go meet your guy (how many you might have) out for a quick drink. I sometimes think about what exactly I'm missing on the boob tube when I am out.

My friends tell me to get Tivo or DVR. Sure, I've had that before, but my goodness it is so expensive! I really would rather put that money into an IRA.

And that is exactly what I did.

Yes, I had DVR. We were together for about a year. I loved every single minute of it. I had the whole thing, HD, DVR, all the movie channels - -it. was. heaven.

But then I got the bill and added everything up, it was sick!

I mean really, go get your cable bill and look at how much it is with all of your add-ons.

I am telling you now, you DO NOT need all of that junk. Sure, keep the cable. I would never get rid of my cable. Oh gosh I get a lump in my throat and pain in my stomach just thinking about it.

Here is what you do:

I watch everything I miss online. If you are reading this, you can find the TV show you want online. Even a movie. The trick is to get smart searching. Try to look for the episode name of the show you watch. You can find episode lists anywhere. I like Wikipedia. Find it, google it, add the terms "watch online" or "watch full episode" when you search and try a few different links until you find what you need.

You may have to go to some random Japanese site, but at least you will get to watch your show. Oh but please, do not download anything. You're cruisin for a bruisin. Just do a stream from a website. Scariness.

I was at a Super Bowl party and saw the incredible Alec Baldwin doing a commercial for hulu.com. They completely revamped their website and it is amazing. Check it and set up an account, there are great shows and even some that you loved but were canceled.

Or the ones you have missed because you canceled all those cool HD channels you had before you decided retirement was a better way to go.

See, you can watch your shows and retire with a million bucks in the bank.

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Spongeworthy

I don't really consider myself, nor do I claim to be a "green" person but I do believe that some of my tips not only help your wallet, but can help the planet too. I don't like waste. I really hate the process of throwing things away because that just makes our planet, and the love of my life Texas, a very dirty place.

So I try to make it a point not to waste and find little ways around it.

Enter the sponge. I love sponges. They come in all shapes and colors. Some have the scrubby layer on top which is always a plus.

But Kathleen, you say, sponges are disgusting!

Well that's true if you are gross about it. I use sponges to clean my counter tops, range, fridge, pretty much anything in the kitchen and then use a separate one for the bathroom.

It saves on paper towels and I never buy those pre-soaked wipes, waste of money. I use kitchen cleaner or vinegar, your choice. I prefer the chemical smell in my clean kitchen (don't call me green!)

I keep my sponges very clean. I either disinfect them in the dishwasher or put it in a plate with a little water and half a lemon and microwave it for about one minute. The microwave blasts all the germs and the lemon gets all the smells out.

So there you go. Good smelling sponges without throwing away a dozen paper towels a day. I hate that.

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God help me I love Winter.

So if you are from the South, you either absolutely hate the cold or you keep checking to see when the next major cold front is coming in. I love the cold weather and when it comes to Texas, it is a big event for me. I plan my day around it. I change my bed sheets around it.

We got a big one today and apparently supposed to be getting ice. Love it.

There is nothing like the smell of cold weather, it is so incredibly clean. I wish they made a candle out of it.

If you really want your house to smell great but you are clenching to those last few dollars so you can hit up sushi happy hour in this horrendous economy, I urge you to open your windows.

No matter how your house smells, good or bad, it will smell even better once you open your windows on a cold windy day.

This crisp scent seems to linger in the house too. It's better than running to the store to get that $10 candle.

Keep checking back for my other ways to keep your house smelling "oh my gosh it smells so good in here. What is that?" good.

See, now you can go get sushi and keep your house smelling amazing. Just bundle up a little so your heater doesn't break the bank.

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Hello. My first post! Basically this little piece is to tell you about how I manage to keep a pretty fabulous home life with little money spent. I have little secrets that I tell no one out of sheer embarrassment, but I have no problem doing it here.

I'll talk about food, stupid little tips, and any home projects that I can think up. Call me crazy, but I like being home.

So take a gander and see if you like any of my brilliantness.