The Broke Girl Blog
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In DIY

Garden Series: Harvesting your Bounty!

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Harvesting your garden is the most fun part! Here in Edmonton, harvest season is nearing its end, but in other places, it continues. I wanted to chat with you guys today about how you can make the most of your harvest, keep your veggies good as long as possible, and what you can still have in the garden this time of year. Tomatoes are at the end of their growing cycle at this point in the year, unless you’re in a place where it is consistently over 15 degrees Celsius at night still. Otherwise, it is time to cut all of your fruit off, even if it appears immature, and put it in a warm, sunny window. They’ll ripen, I promise. I have a couple of posts coming up about how to use your eight million tomatoes when they all ripen at once. (They always do for me… so we…

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In DIY

Garden Series: Planting your Garden

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Hi Guys! This is actually an important post regarding how to choose what type of plants to plant a seeds, which to get pre-started, and how many plants you might actually need for your family’s needs. What to Buy Pre-Started In northern Alberta, we only get great growing weather from June-September, which isn’t very long to raise certain vegetables from seeds unless you have a lot of indoor or greenhouse space to start them early. This isn’t feasible for most people, so we usually purchase pre-started plants for: RosemaryAny TomatoAny pepper We will also occasionally purchase a basil plant started, and then plant seeds around it so that we have basil sooner rather than later. Admittedly, this may be related to my love of caprese salad and fresh tomato sauce. All of our pre-started plants are put in pots, as these types of plants are often more sensitive to wind…

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In DIY

Landscaping on a Budget Pt. 2

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Hi guys! Post 2 in the “Landscaping on a Budget” series is allllll about sod, decks/structures, shrubs and trees. These are like putting icing on the “cake” you just created with ground work, concrete work, etc. The final installment will be the decoration- furniture, accent plants and accessories and information about the type of fence my sister chose (and why!). You’ll be happy to hear that the majority of this post is DIY, if not all! Sod (Delivery + Do-it-Yourself) Oh God, the Sod. This was an ugly ugly day in the process of making my sister’s yard the beautiful retreat that it is, as it was cold, rainy, windy and 50% of my family had the flu or was coming down with the flu. I had a partially torn pec, which I would find out later (I thought my shoulder was just sore… it was not). And my poor sweet…

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In DIY

Landscaping on a Budget

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Hey Guys! If you’re like me and you’re living in one of the colder regions of the world, you’re going to see this post and laugh to yourself because there’s still like eight feet of snow, five snowstorms to come, a period of freezing and thawing combined with mud and some rain to make our ways through before spring even thinks about arriving. But, not everyone lives in places like this, and loads of people who do are still starting to think about and budget their landscaping. Recently my sister sold her last property and upgraded to a single family home that she had built- which meant a beautiful, dirt filled lot. Just kidding, it meant she either had to sell her soul to pay for landscaping orrrrr roll up her sleeves and get a bunch of the work done herself to save some money. She’s not the devil incarnate, so she…

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In Affordable Decor

How I spent $510 to Furnish and Decorate my Dining Room

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Hi Guys! It has been forever since I posted my last affordable home post! How I Spent $660 to Furnish and Decorate my Living Room was one of my most popular posts in 2016 and 2017, so I’m not sure why I haven’t done another since clearly people enjoy these posts! Again, let’s start with what I actually bought in this space: my walnut bar stools ($50 each, local store), my 4 black dining chairs ($60 each, local store), my mirror ($110, Costco), mirrored tray (~$35, Homesense, old) and my sea surf picture ($25, Superstore, old). This brings us to a total of $510 that I spent on the space. So, that obviously means a lot of items were free! My kitchen table was from my parent’s old study and was sitting unused in my dad’s loft. It was originally from Ikea and had a blond lacquered wood top… not really my…

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In cheap eats

How to: Make Chicken Stock

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Hey guys! I wanted to do a quick post about how I make my chicken stock for zero dollars! This sounds crazy, I know, but I take rotisserie chicken carcasses from family members and friends, herbs from mine and my mum’s herb gardens, the ends of my veggies (I freeze them when I chop them up) and regular pantry staples. Even if you don’t have access to free chicken carcasses or herbs, keep in mind that chicken carcasses are food waste you’d throw out otherwise. A rotisserie chicken is often cheaper than a roaster chicken! Not only do you get 4 meals (or so) from it, you can make stock which can be the base of other meals as well. I like to make my stock in my crock pot. I love that I can turn it on and (mostly) forget about it. I put it on high for 4-6 hours…

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In Cheap Housekeeping

How-to: Keep your house cool

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I live in a three story townhouse, and my bed is on the third floor. Sometimes, it can get so, so hot and I’m tempted to turn tail and hide at my parent’s place, where I not only sleep in the cool basement but also they have air conditioning! While that compulsion isn’t so bad on the weekends when I don’t have to get too much done, during the week that means I have to get up about 30 minutes earlier and spend time packing work clothes/makeup to get ready in the morning, as well as drive into my house on the highway to tuck my car into the garage before walking to the bus station. It’s a lot of variables to add to an already hectic average work day, so I really try to keep my house cool to avoid doing that, as much as I love midweek visits…

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In DIY

How To: Plant Your Own Flower Pots

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Hey! Today I wanted to talk about something I do pretty much every year with my mum- custom flower pots. While my mum probably could afford to purchase pre-made planters and pots of flowers, she makes her own each year and says that the best way to save money on having a nice yard is to take the time to learn how to do it yourself. The type-A’s amoungst us will also appreciate that these are 100% customizable to your own color and varietal preference. So lets get started! When you’re within a day or two of having time to plant, get to the local greenhouse or big box store and start looking at plants. As you are looking, keep in mind where you’re wanting to put these plants- if they’re going in a shady area, find some that are shade lovers by reading the tags inserted in the…

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