Spring HOME IMPROVEMENT Saving green in the garden BY JESSICA DAMIANO
Associated Press
With prices for many things creeping up this year, gardeners shopping for supplies might be looking to tighten their tool belts. Before heading to the garden center, take a look around your home, garage, shed and recycling bin. There might be some perfectly good gardening gear hiding in plain sight. From food containers to lamp shades Plastic yogurt containers with holes poked in their bottoms make wonderful seed-starting pots. So do plastic clamshell lettuce and berry containers. Do you grow peonies? The plants are beautiful — for about two weeks in spring, after which they give up and lie down on the lawn. I’ve seen peony plant supports selling for $10 for thin wire cages to well over $100 for sturdier, prettier options. But why buy them when large lampshade frames are the perfect height and shape to support the plants? Remove their fabric and place one upside down over each plant as soon as new growth pokes out of the ground, then bury their bases or use landscape pins to hold them in place. As the plants grow, their leaves will block the frames from view. Similarly, you can spend $50 to $100 for an obelisk trellis, or you can let your plants climb an old patio umbrella frame. Cut its legs down to size, if necessary, and sink Cherry tomato containers are repurposed to serve as seed-starting pots in Waitsfield, Vt., on Monday. them into the ground for stability. potassium, calcium, magnesium in nitrogen and other nutrients. both contain calcium carbonate. Use fish scraps and sulfur) by burying a whole fish Microwave empty shells for two Fish emulsion is a fantastic or- or fish scraps at least 10-12 inches Cooking water minutes to dehydrate them, then ganic fertilizer made from whole deep under planting beds. After boiling vegetables, cool the grind in a high-powered blender, fish and byproducts. You can make If you’re an angler, you may water and apply it to plants (as long coffee grinder or food processor. your own by soaking fish scales, have access to a boatload of these as you didn’t add salt). It contains Incorporate the resulting powder bones and entrails in a sealed amendments, but if you aren’t, vitamins and minerals that will give into the soil around plants. The 5-gallon bucket of water for at your local fishmonger may be will- them a boost. Water from boiled same can be done with banana least a month, then straining the ing to give you scraps and heads — eggs contains calcium, which to- peels. Dehydrated in an air fryer liquid and using it to water plants. or sell them at low cost. mato and pepper plants love. and and pulverized, they’ll provide Or give your plants the same Plants will also benefit from You can even use eggshells plant-boosting potassium. nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, used fish-tank water, which is rich in place of garden lime, as they Making free lawn fertilizer is
CAROLYN LESSARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
a zero-effort endeavor. Whether you use a push mower or a powered mulching mower, simply remove the bag and let the grass clippings remain on the lawn. As they break down, they’ll release nitrogen into the soil. Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter.
Variables to consider before downsizing a home in retirement
communities in which they are socially active should weigh the effects of leaving that social network behind. Retirees also can weigh the benefits of moving to 55 and over communities where they will be surrounded by people at a similar stage in life, and how living in such developments may improve their social lives.
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Aspiring to save money in retirement makes perfect sense. Once professionals call it a career and are no longer drawing a paycheck, cutting back on expenses can be a sound decision that ensures seniors won’t outlive their money. And housing remains a significant expense, even for retirees who own their homes and no longer have monthly mortgage payments to make. Many retirees seeking ways to save money consider downsizing their homes. According to the National Association of Retailers, 12% of people between the ages of 60 and 69 who move indicated their home was too large, and that%age grows among movers between the ages of 70 and 78 (16%) and those who move after turning 79 (18%). Downsizing a home in retirement can seem like an ideal means to saving money after calling it a career, but individuals pondering such a move should consider a number of variables before putting their homes up for sale.
Costs
Downsizing may help retirees lower their property tax obligations, reduce their utility bills and lower their monthly mortgage payments (for those who are still paying off a mortgage on their current homes), but that does not mean moving will not incur new expenses that ren-
Adjusting and adapting
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Downsizing a home might be a pathway to more financial freedom for many retirees. der such savings moot. Expenditures like closing costs, real estate commissions, moving-related expenses, and capital gains taxes can quickly add up. In addition, retirees who currently do not pay homeowner’s association fees may be subjected to such fees when moving into
a new home, and those fees can be substantial and hard to avoid. Indeed, recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that 71% of new constructions in the western and southern United States were built in communities with homeowner’s associations. Prior to downsizing,
current homeowners should calculate all of the costs related to relocating, including anticipated HOA fees, to see if downsizing is to their financial benefit.
impact that moving can have on seniors’ social lives. The World Health Organization reports that more than one in 10 seniors experiences loneliness, which can adversely affect their physical and Social benefits mental health and potentially Another variable that reduce their life expectancy. merits consideration is the Retirees currently living in
Downsizing will require an adjustment period and a willingness to adapt. Retirees may have an emotional attachment to their current homes, and leaving that behind can be a difficult adjustment. Adapting to life in a new community also can be challenging, particularly if retirees are moving from areas where there are no restrictions regarding their properties to communities where homeowners’ associations must approve of any changes to properties. Moving also may require finding new health care professionals, which can be a particularly difficult adjustment for retirees who have spent years building a strong rapport with their current health care team. Downsizing a home might be a pathway to more financial freedom for many retirees. Seniors considering such a move can consider a number of variables to determine if moving is in their best interest.