Creating Garden Spaces For Our New Home With Ecoscraps Available at Walmart

We moved into our home in October. To say that we started our gardens from scratch would be a lie. The previous owners had created some garden spaces around the house. There is one in the front, a small one on the side, and a large one created on a hillside, all of which had some perennials in it. I started to notice though that the small one near the mainly used door, only had some tiger lillies lining the back and a creeping perennial towards the back in the middle. Nothing really in the rest of the garden. The hill side garden and the front garden had purple creeping phlox and hostas but there were areas that seemed bare and lonely. Our front porch screamed for hanging baskets and I had visions of how I wanted potted plants going up the steps in the front and a potted plant arrangement near the main door.

This the main door that most people enter through when they come to our home. It’s plain. There’s no covering over the door (which we want to fix. Maybe put an awning or something) Not very welcoming. We wanted to change that.

We also wanted to take care of some of those spots that were lacking in the garden. So we took a trip to our local garden center. I picked up several pots, a bunch of potted plants, and some perennials for the gardens. A friend had given me some bulbs to plant in the smaller garden. Then youngest son brought home some flower bombs he made in school for Mother’s Day.

I also wanted to pick up some potting soil and garden soil. I wanted it to be organic, no crazy chemicals for the kids or the cats to get into. Plus I wanted to grow some herbs so I wanted something as organic as possible to grow herbs that would be used in our food and drinks. I had heard about EcoScraps at Walmart. I’m gonna tell you more about these organic gardening products in a few minutes because they’re pretty cool.

I used to work in a garden center years ago. I found that there is usually a clearance rack with plants that are dirt cheap (pun intended). Sure they’re a bit sickly looking but with the proper care they perk right up. Those are my favorite plants. I was putting some $1 plants in my cart to nurse back to health. One of the garden center workers saw me. She help up a 12 pack of pansies and said “These are only $1 too” I looked at her confused. I asked “For the whole 12 pack!?” She said “yep” so those little guys went home with me too. Don’t underestimate the bargain plants!

bargain plants ecoscraps

So after I bought all these neglected plants and a few pots I headed to Walmart to get the EcoScraps gardening products I was telling you about. To appreciate it, you have to know about it. EcoScraps recycles food scraps and turns them into organic, sustainable lawn and garden products. Here’s some food for thought:

In the US we waste 40% off food produced. That is enough to fill the Rose Bowl every day! It sits in landfills producing methane which is 20x more harmful thatn CO2
Between 2011 and 2015, EcoScraps recycled 75 million lbs of food waste. We are matching that number in 2016 with projected recycling of another 75 million lbs of food waste–this time in just 12 months.
Recycling 15 million lbs of food waste is equivalent to keeping 500,000 cars off the road for an entire day.

Does that have you thinking? EcoScraps has a number of lawn and garden products. You can check them all out HERE.I got the EcoScraps organic potting soil, EcoScraps organic garden soil, and EcoScraps organic plant food since I figured my scrawny little rescue plants could use all the help they could get. My kids love to help me garden so we set to work right away. First the potted plants.

EcoScraps organic potting soil collage

Then we decided to tackle the gardens. I had bought some lithodora and more creeping phlox for the hillside garden. The hill is a little bit of a challenge, it’s steeper than it looks but it doesn’t stop me from getting up there to weed and plant. My oldest son was happy to help. I love spending this time with my kids. The bag of garden soil was pretty heavy so we reused some of the pots. We filled them up and took them up the hill with us. It worked out much better. Sure we had to refill once or twice but it worked out fine.

Ecoscraps organic garden soil colage

My daughter loves to help. I put some little gardening gloves on her and let her help feed the plants with the EcoScraps organic plant food. You don’t need much to feed the plants. Even with all the plants we planted and all the ones that were already there this bag will last us a long time. You only have to feed the plants once a month. We decided to feed the fuschia hanging baskets along with the potted plants and some of our indoor plants. My daughter just loved helping.

ecoscraps organic plant food hanging baskets

So after all the fun of gardening. We finally got a main entrance door that is starting to look welcoming. At least I think so, what do you think?

I can’t wait to see our flowers blossom. We’ve had a lot of rain here lately so I’m sure that will help as well. Here’s a video to help you learn more about EcoScraps, available at Walmart.

GIVEAWAY

1 US Luv Saving Money reader will win

a $50 Walmart Gift Card

so you can try EcoScraps products for yourself!

Ecoscraps Organic Gardening

This post is sponsored by EcoScraps. However, all content presented in this
post represents my own opinions

Unique Gifts: JORD Wooden Watches

I received the below mentioned product in order to complete an honest review. Any opinions expressed are my own.

I’m gonna tell you the truth. I re-wrote this post. I had a whole post written then I posted a picture on my personal facebook page. My whole idea changed. I received a JORD wood watch to review. The Ely sandalwood to be specific. I wore it around. It fits great (they having a sizing tool you can use that works perfect, my watch couldn’t have fit better) I received several compliments “Is that watch made of wood? That’s really neat” to “I like that watch, where did you get it?”.

I tried to get some great pics to capture the warm color of my watch. The classic look. I got a great pic of my watch when I was in my garden. The reddish color of the sandalwood is a beautiful warm choice for the spring and summer. The wooden look makes it flow with the natural surroundings I think.

I had reviewed a maxi dress last week. I liked the dress a little more than I thought I would. I’m not a really a stripes girl but I loved the crisp white and navy blue of the dress. The dress flowed well and the top of it could be tied in different looks. I had my JORD wood watch on with it. It was just the accessory I needed for the dress. Which got me thinking, wouldn’t a watch like this be great for anniversary gifts ? The perfect accessory for a perfectly planned date night. Not only does it look nice (for both men and women styles) but you’ll get to the movie on time, you’ll make it on time for your dinner reservation, etc.

I took this pic too. But when I looked at it later, the thoughts to my day flowed through my head…

It might not mean a whole lot to you as you’re reading this. Maybe just a picture of a watch. A unique gift to give someone. But I’ll tell you what went on before and after this picture. See I work in a local hospital on the trauma floor. I use my drive home to de-compress. To push all my thoughts of work out of my head for the day. I don’t want to carry some of that home with me. This picture here. I stopped my car and hit my garage door opener. I knew my 3 year old would be bouncing up and down in the laundry room waiting for me to pull my car in as she does on each of my work days. I knew my husband would be in uniform waiting for me to come in so we could exchange necessary info and get a kiss before he starts his work day (we work opposite shifts). I knew as soon as that car went into park in the garage my mind switches to full-time mommy mode. My thoughts go from thinking about hip precautions, adapting feeding utensils, and dressing techniques to making lunch for my daughter, checking things off my housework list, and remembering which kid is going where for their sports that evening. This moment here represents my last few seconds of waking solitude on my work days. I don’t think I could ever look at my watch or this pic as some people do. When I see this picture I think “responsibility” I think “reflection” I think “professional”. So in my head when I want to give a gift like that, like for graduation gifts, I’m probably going to think of this watch.

You can see the Ely watches and all the other watches JORD watch styles at woodwatches.com You an also find them on these social media sites:

Twitter: @woodwatches_com

Facebook: facebook.com/JordWoodWatches

Instagram: @woodwatches_com

Pinterest: pinterest.com/jordwoodwatches

Watches Made From 100% Natural Wood by JORD

Purex with Clorox2 Stain Fighting Laundry Detergent

Purex plus clorox header image

I’ve long been a fan of Purex laundry detergents. For one, they’re affordable and for two they work. The newest detergent to the line up is Purex plus Clorox2. It come in two scents right now: Original Fresh and Sunny Linen.

Purex plus Clorox 2 works on 100 different stains. It’s safe for colors so it’s perfects for work uniforms, sports uniforms, aprons, and anything other clothing you might get tough stains on.

Right now it’s track and soccer season in our household. My youngest son has bright green socks and uniform shirt that can get dirty in soccer. My oldest son’s track uniform is blue, white and gray. I work in a hospital on the trauma floor and wear all kinds of different color scrubs. My husband is a corrections officer in state prison and his uniforms are gray and black. So this Purex plus Clorox2 is great for all of us. I won’t go into detail about some of the stains my hubby and I see.

We’ve used it a few times already. It works great. Of course we haven’t had any really bad stains to speak of or show in the time that I’ve had the detergent. But the clothes have been clean, bright, and smelling good so I’ll say it works lol.

One thing I’ve always done with Purex detergent when I have a bad stain is to dump a little directly onto the stain and rub it in to the stain. Leave it sit for about 5 min then wash. That almost always seems to work to get the stain out. Another tip, if you get ink marks from a pen on your clothes, try spraying the ink line with hair spray. Let it dry then wash. Almost always works to get a few scribbles out. I can’t say it totally works if you have a pen break or leak though.

Do you have any laundry tips or tricks?

Check out Purex plus Clorox 2 at Purex.com. You can also find Purex on these social media channels:

GIVEAWAY

3 Luv Saving Money readers will win

A coupon for a FREE bottle of Purex plus Clorox 2

US only

Purex Plus Clorox 2

Potty Training Child Number 4 With Huggies Pull-Ups® Training Pants

So we’ve been in the process of potty training our 4th and youngest child. One might think I was an expert at this by now but alas, I am not. Each kid had their own personality. Each kid had interests at different times. The one thing that’s been a constant and helps both me and my potty training kid are Huggies Pull-Ups® from Dollar General.

My youngest is my only daughter. The only girl I’ve had to work on potty training with. She started showing an interest in potty training about a year and a year ago. I’d start putting her on her little potty when I went to the potty. She didn’t do anything at first but pretty quickly she learned to pee on the potty. Peeing on the potty is not the issue right now, it’s doing #2. She’ll literally go and hid behind the couch or under a table and poop her pants. Some of my boys did that too and I have no idea why. Unfortunately she’s so quiet about it I don’t always know what she’s doing until I hear a grunt or smell her. If I catch her on time I’ll immediately carry her to the potty.

One thing I though might encourage her is getting her “big girl” Huggies Pull-Ups® training pants from Dollar General. (Just so you know they also have a $2 off coupon in the DG digital coupons section.) Huggies Pull-Ups® training pants have some of her favorite characters on them like Doc McStuffins, Sophia the First, and Cinderella for the overnight ones.

When it’s warm enough I let her just run around the house in a shirt and her Huggies Pull-Ups® so she’s ready when she has to go.

I also set the timer on the stove for 1 hour. Every time she goes I set the timer for an hour again. When she hears the timer go off she knows it’s time to go potty again. The funny part is now sometimes when I use the timer for cooking she hears it and heads right to the bathroom.

We have bathroom upstairs and a bathroom downstairs. I keep a seat insert for the downstairs toilet and a toddler potty for the upstairs bathroom. I can’t really say one works better for her than the other. Of all the things we use I think the Huggies Pull-Ups training pants and the timer are the key tools for her. I also took the Pull Ups Potty Training Personality Quiz because I could use all the help I can get. Just because I’m potty training my 4th kid doesn’t mean I don’t still needs some advice now and again.

If you’re working on potty training too, leave your potty training tips and tricks. And don’t forget to pick up Huggies Pull Ups at Dollar General and use the $2 off DG digital coupons to save even more! And here’s some fun potty training games to try.

Coupon valid: April 28th – May 19th, 2016

To redeem Digital Coupons:
1. Sign up here https://ooh.li/31cc286 or Text JOIN to 34898 to begin saving today!
2. Create account and load which Pull-Ups® coupons you would like to load
3. Visit your local Dollar General to redeem coupons at checkout. Find a Dollar General near you by using the store locator!

Thank you Pull-Ups training pants and Dollar General for sponsoring today’s post and helping me set the stage for potty training success!

New Magformers 26 Piece Neon Set

I had heard of Magformers before but my kids and I hadn’t tried them before. My kids love any kind of building materials so I figured they’d probably like the new Magformers 26 piece neon set.

magformers neon

For Easter I like to put a toy and an article of clothing in the kids baskets and just a little bit of candy. I put this Magformers set in my 6 year old son’s Easter basket. This was probably THE Easter item for the family. Everyone wanted to give them a try.

Magformers Easter Basket

You can see that was the first thing he pulled out of his basket when he found it. He couldn’t wait to get them open to play with them. The set comes with a project idea book too but my son wanted to make his own creation first.

magformers creation collage

My middle son is 12 years old. He was hovering waiting until my youngest son had his turn. Then he wanted to give it a try. He chose to use the project book. My 12 year old son has always been really good at putting things together so the projects in the book didn’t take him very long. He enjoyed himself though.

Magformers project complete

My 3 year old daughter tried them and I even played with them for a little while. You could get really creative with these. You wouldn’t necessarily have to build them in 3D. You could create a design on a metal surface like a door or refrigerator too. I like that the magnets are safely encapsulated inside the magformers so little ones couldn’t easily remove them and swallow them.

Stay Connected with Magformers:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/magformersllc
Twitter: www.twitter.com/magformersllc
Instagram: www.instagram.com/magformers
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/magformers

Want to get the New 26 pc Neon set or any other Magformers set? I have a 30% off coupon for you! Just use code Magformers30 at Magformers.com

I received the above mentioned product in order to complete an honest review as part of the US Family Guide blogger program. Any opinions expressed are my own.