Tag Archives: spring

How to Start a Garden without Splurging

Save Money

Sunshine, flowering blooms, and the smell of something new, planting season is the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors and begin planting your summer garden. If you’re like most hobbyists, you find your plants each year at area greenhouses and nurseries searching for that perfect pop of color.  This year, Timberwood Bank challenges you to try something different and save both time and money with these helpful gardening savings hacks:

Start from Seed: Instead of purchasing six packs of blooms, enjoy entire plots of flowers at only a fraction of the cost. A packet of mixed annual seeds may run three to four dollars and can fill an entire garden with colorful and productive plants for years to come. For some varieties, you’ll want to start them indoor using seedling pots and potting soil. After a few weeks, they’ll be ready to transplant outdoors!

Direct Sow: For some heartier varieties of plants, you can skip the indoor growing and head straight to the outdoors. These cold-tolerant flowers grow best without the shock of transplant. Some great examples are sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, and nasturtiums. If you’re planning on using any of your flowers for indoor arrangements, be sure to plan to direct sow succession plantings as well.

Make Your Own Compost: Natural fertilizer is composed of decomposing organic matter. Avoid paying the high cost of produced compost and create an outdoor container for all your table scraps throughout the season. Allow them to deteriorate along with grass clippings and other yard waste to make a nitrogen-rich supplement to aid your garden’s growth. This added nutrition will help your plants blossom and produce more flowers throughout the year.

Save Your Seeds: To further save on costs, learn how to collect your garden’s own seeds. After harvesting several plants, collect and dry their seeds to use for planting next year. You can save them in handmade envelopes and categorize them to easily find them each year. Typically seeds that are properly dried can be successfully planted for up to three years.

What are you waiting for? Get out there and start gardening! If you have a true passion for gardening and are looking to start a small business or make some renovations to your outdoor area, our experienced team can lend a hand. We’d love to hear your next gardening goal and discover how we can help you achieve it.

10 Must-Try Tips for Every Spring Cleaner

Seasonal

You’ve decluttered your closets, rearranged the furniture, and thrown open the windows, and yet – you know your spring cleaning can go even deeper. With just a couple of simple tools you already have around your house, you can take your cleaning to the next level. Get your spring cleaning on with these easy hacks courtesy of Timberwood Bank.

  1. Dust blinds in a jiffy. To remove a winter’s build-up of dust and grime that’s settled on horizontal blinds, roll an old tube sock over your hand and spray it with a blast of vinegar before running it over the surface.
  2. Get streak-free windows. Clean smudged windows inside and out with an even mixture of vinegar, water, and dish soap. After scrubbing with a soft cloth, buff and remove streaks in a final once-over with a wadded piece of newspaper.
  3. Banish hard water build-up. To prevent unsightly water streaks on glass shower doors, rub a teaspoon of lemon oil over the surface twice a month and watch drops roll right off.
  4. Remove scratches naturally. To repair dinged or scratched wooden furniture, remove a walnut from its shell and rub it along the scratch. After rubbing the nut’s oils into the wood with your finger, let it sit for five minutes and buff it over with a soft cloth.
  5. De-gunk kitchen cabinets. Remove oil splatters and grime accumulation on kitchen cabinets with a simple scrub of one part vegetable oil to two parts baking soda. Scrub with an old tooth brush to reach extra-fine lines that make cabinetry look dark and dull.
  6. Sterilize Toys. By throwing fabric toys in a mesh laundry bag, you can disinfect and shine armfuls of plush toys in just one spin through the washing machine. Try this same trick in your dishwasher with those tough plastic toys!
  7. Remove pet hair. Grossed out by pet hair in the carpet the vacuum can’t seem to pick up? Run a window squeegee over your carpet by hand – the rubberized edge will pull up and collect hair in one easy-to-grab clump.
  8. Revamp your garbage disposal. Fill an ice cube tray with a mixture that’s eight parts water and one part vinegar, and drop a sliver of lemon rind in each slot. Drop a few frozen cubes down the drain to clean, deodorize, and sharpen your garbage disposal in one fell swoop.
  9. Rid grout of scum. With ¾ cup of baking soda and ¼ cup bleach, create a paste that you can apply between mildewed tile on showers and oven backsplashes. After 10 minutes, gently scrub off with a toothbrush and a damp rag to reveal clean and clear grout.
  10. Sanitize everything. From windows to tubs, hit areas in need of deep disinfectant easily by screwing a spray bottle head onto a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for an instant, even spray. Hydrogen peroxide is the perfect remedy to get tough stains out.

Is your spending plan in need of some spring cleaning? Our financial experts can help you clean up your expenses and make the most of your budget. Give us a call at (608) 372-2265 and learn how today!

 

Spring Into Spring

Spring Into Spring

Shake off colder temps, for spring has sprung! Squeeze the most out of this blooming season with these warmer weather activities to help you unthaw:

  1. Declutter your closet. To make it more open and airy, purge your wardrobe of all the clothes you didn’t wear over the winter. Donate the castoffs and make room for summer essentials.
  2. Try your hand at Frisbee golf. Running around on a grassy course soaking up the fresh air. Frisbee golf is the perfect cure to your winter blues. Grab some friends and some discs and you’re in business!
  3. Road trip to a bizarre local attraction. If famous landmarks like the World’s Largest Cheeto or Ice Cream Capital of the World are just an hour or two away, why not seize the day? Hop in your car, roll down your windows, and take a mini road trip to visit a nearby town’s pride and joy.
  4. Visit a greenhouse. Waiting until the summer to start your garden limits your options. Stretch your growing season by visiting a greenhouse, where you’ll find new plants, flowers, and produce seedlings to add to your bounty.
  5. Go mushroom hunting. Morel mushrooms grow all across the United States and sprout in the spring, making them a seasonal delicacy. Never gone hunting before? It’s easy!
  6. Get together for a grill fest. Dust off and light up your grill to celebrate warmer temperatures with friends and family. Challenge each guest to bring a dish designed for the grill so that every part of the meal – meat, veg, fruit, and dessert – is prepared outdoors.
  7. Catch a sunrise. With coffee and cocoa in tow, head to a nearby park or nature reserve to catch the sun as it rises over budding trees and new wildlife. Go all-out cooking up a delicious breakfast spread after the main event.
  8. Hit up flea markets and garage sales. One man’s trash is another man’s weekend discovery. As your neighbors spring clean, snap up items from the ridiculous to the sublime.
  9. Wash the cars. There’s something innately satisfying about watching months-worth of dust and sludge slide off a now-sparkling vehicle. Involve the whole family in the scrubbing and splashing, and reward them with ice cream at a local parlor afterwards.
  10. Get dirty. Whether it’s planting flowers, embarking on a DIY landscaping project, or simply sinking your hands and feet into gooey mud, nothing screams spring quite like dirt-streaked clothes. Embrace the mess!

Adventure is out there – go grab it! Be sure to share your favorite spring activity on our Facebook page and show us your favorite spring activity!