Tag Archives: summer

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.

Explore Wisconsin

Stay close to home and still have a great summer vacation by exploring Wisconsin.

Stay close to home and still have a great summer vacation by exploring Wisconsin.

 

You may be wanting to go on a last-minute summer vacation and are even trying some quick money-saving tricks to do so.  But when traveling long distances just won’t work with your finances, it may be time to consider traveling right here in Wisconsin! Continue reading →

7 Tips to Save Quick for a Family Trip

Hurry! There is still time to go on a vacation this summer by using these helpful tips to save quick.

Hurry! There is still time to go on a vacation this summer by using these helpful tips to save quick.

 

As the summer progresses, you’ve seen your friends and family take off and return home telling stories of how much fun they had on their summer vacation. As what’s left of summer turns into weeks rather than months, you may just now be realizing that you want to take a summer vacation of your own! Continue reading →

Inexpensive Date Ideas for the Summer

Have fun this summer with inexpensive dates and activities.

Have fun this summer with inexpensive dates and activities.

 

At Timberwood Bank, we are always looking for ways to help save you money.  Now that it is summertime, we want you and your special someone to get out and enjoy the warm summer months without spending lots of extra cash.  Here are few inexpensive date ideas that we put together to help you enjoy dating in the summertime while on a budget:

Have a picnic!  Tomah is fortunate enough to offer multiple beautiful parks.  Take a walk with your sweetie through one of Tomah’s many parks and have yourself a picnic!  Not only will you be able to get out and enjoy the weather, but preparing and having a meal with your significant other is always a great bonding experience.

Game night!  Whether you two are avid card players or board gamers, set up a night with your favorite games.  Make a wager and whoever loses has to clean the dishes!

Hit the lake!  Here in Wisconsin, we are fortunate enough to have lakes all around us.  Spend a day out fishing or floating on any available and safe lake near you.

Go for a ride! Take to the trails throughout Tomah on your bike, roller blades, or simply go for a walk.  Taking in the sites together will be a fun way to get some exercise and enjoy the summer sights.

Check for local fairs and events!  Summer is the time for fairs, parades and all sorts of events.  Check in your surrounding areas for event dates and schedules.

There is nothing better than a Wisconsin summer filled with fun activities spent with the one you love. These ideas are opportunities for having a great time without spending a lot of money on entertainment. Timberwood Bank wants your summertime to be cost effective, yet unforgettable with inexpensive dates and enjoyable outings.

 

Timberwood Bank

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Curbing Summer Spending

Follow these tips to keep your family happy and fiscally sound throughout the summer months.

Follow these tips to keep your family happy and fiscally sound throughout the summer months.

 

The warm summer months bring lighter days, busier schedules and maybe even a summer vacation or two. With your summer calendar filling up, it’s hard to not get excited for all of the season’s fun activities!

However, all these great things about summer can work against your wallet. In addition to bigger expenses like a summer vacation and increased utility bills, evenings out, entertainment and spur-of-the-moment spending can add up quickly. The best way to get ahead of the spending curve is to focus on saving money and reducing spending.

Here are some tips to keep your family fiscally sound throughout the summer:

  1. Clear out your mind and your home- kick off your savings quest with a spring cleaning session, recommends financial writer Kali Hawlk. Not only will this help you in selling things you need and finding things you forgot you had, but it will also help you re-tune your wants.
  2. Do more cooking at home- it’s so easy to “grab a quick bite to eat” somewhere or to take the kids out for dessert on long summer evenings. Instead, produce more meals at home. They are generally healthier, in smaller portions and more satisfying than a pricey a restaurant.
  3. Look for budget-friendly activities- church camps, library events and other activities put on by community organizations are often low in cost, so be on the watch for those. There are also plenty of festivals, markets, outdoor parties and other events during the summer that may cost little or nothing for an evening of family fun.
  4. Try out “no-spends”- build up your savings account by trying out a days, weeks, or, if you can, months of no spending. While you may not hit your goal of spending nothing, focusing on spending less will help.

Don’t let the costs of the season ruin your summer fun. Keep control of your finances throughout the summer to enjoy all that the season has to offer. If you do these things, your summer should be full of fun and financial freedom!

Timberwood Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender