A Lesson to be Learned

Just the other day, our wonderful lady neighbor over the fence (aka "Miss Jones," the one with the beautiful pond) and I were doing what seems to be our daily check-in with The Blooming House. I discovered something very new and intriguing about them. The two of us ladies were chirping away about how "patches of our grass won't grow", or "the front tree wasn't trimmed properly by the other one's fiance and now it's a sad excuse for a bonsai tree." Ya know, yadda, yadda, yadda. And when the topic of how this early Spring weather has brought on the need of early lawn mowing, I mentioned that as a new homeowner a lawn mower has been added to our ever-growing "dreading-to-buy list." She immediately replied with "Oh you can just borrow ours?"

This was a very kind and unexpected gesture, since the only thing we have to offer to them at this point is an old, pre-existing fence that they have to look at which we have every intent to tear down at some point. But this is what she followed with that shocked me. She continued on by saying "We bought it together with our other next door neighbor, so we share it." Again, as a new homeowner this is totally new to me, and maybe most of you "experienced homies" lets say,  are thinking "So what? We share (fill in the blank here) with our neighbors!" But I was really blown away by this!

For one thing, it says a lot about our neighborhood that we're finding out daily. But to me, it also says that our neighbors can appreciate saving a little here and there just as much as we'd like to on our house projects as newbies. Not only do they share their house hold items, (and we're not talking about an egg here or a cup of sugar there) but they also have shared their helpful tips and tricks to us. Just the other day "Miss Jones" leaned over and taught me that if I trim back on our new little infant of a crab-apple tree (planted before we moved into The Blooming House) that it will come back bigger and fuller the next time around. Never knew, but now I do! And she was pointing out what plants we had growing along our house which I can proudly identify them as Lilly of the Valley and two Bleeding Hearts, one white, one red, thanks to Miss Jones! I just love this little network of people enjoying their homes and the neighbors that surround it.

This side of our house is blooming quite nicely and what's even better is I haven't touched it! But at least I know what all that flourishing green stuff is with the help of a friendly lady neighbor.

So getting back to the subject, here was my thought for this post. After that little sharing session of going in on the cost of yard equipment and passing along house-hold tips, I wanted to be able to pass on something valuable to others that I found very helpful in cutting cost without holding anyone back from something that they enjoy. And as a top interest of mine, I found a site that provides a "Look 4 Less" section for interior decorating. I have to warn you, bc if you already own the (fill in the blank/expensive designer or high end retail store name item here) you might become a bit astounded at what you paid for when there's a clone of it out there for far less!

This lovely site is called "DecorPad" (click and I will show you the magic)

Some of you (whoever is out there following this silly blog) may have noticed that we included this site in our "What Keeps Us Blooming" links already, but I really want to stress the amazing concept that the "Look for Less" tab provides. For those of you who have not experienced "the magic" that people submit to this site as they discover the huge savings, please do your credit card a favor and check it out immediately. Your spouses will thank me. Home Interior Shopping 101: Class dismissed!