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Unexpected Blessing

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Well, my goal of Two No Spend Months kind of flopped when my heat went out, my glasses broke, and so forth and so on. I didn’t exactly no spend. But I didn’t spend anything I didn’t HAVE TO!

Our Neighbors

I don’t know if I have written much about my neighbors here. When we first moved into our house, 4 of the 8 houses closest to us were rentals. Over the last, almost 7 years, there have been some changes. Now only 3 of them are rentals. But most of our neighbors are pretty up there in age. In fact, of the 5 non-rentals, 4 of them have been there longer than us. And we LOVE our long term neighbors and some of our newer neighbors as well.

However, the drawback to everyone having been here forever is that many of our neighbors are quite old. In fact, in the days between starting this post and now finishing it, one of them has died. His daughter called me today. (He’s the one who had run over my mailbox. I shared that, right?!?)

Anyways, as his health worsened we did what we could to help. We grocery shopped for him, answered his calls for help on whatever. I even got to climb through his bedroom window one day to let the EMTs in when they couldn’t find a house key. For the last couple of years, Gymnast worked on his yard. And we spent hours listening to him reminisce about  the “olden” days up in Illinois where he was from and raised his 5 children.

Unexpected Help

All that is to give some back story on how our cupboards and freezer got re-stocked. When he was admitted to the hospital for the last time and told that the end was imminent (heart issues,) he knew he would never come home again.

And he graciously had his grand-daughter clean out his food and give it to us and another neighbor. We received a freezer full of food – bread, meat, frozen meals, along with eggs, bread, and a few other canned items. Oh, and I failed to mention that he was Italian so this food is really good. I didn’t have to spend a dime on food for the previous two months.

I’m also confident that with a small re-stock in the next week or so, we can go another two No Spend months.

So this post is a gratitude post to our neighbor Mark. May he rest in peace.

 

4 Tips for Building a Playground in Your Backyard

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Every parent knows that one of the things that children will always want to do is to play. This means that setting up a playground in your backyard can prove to be the best gift that you give to them. That said, there are a few tips that you can make use of in this case so that you can be sure you spend your money in the best possible way, getting amazing returns from it as a result. Here are four tips that you can make use of so that you build a playground in your backyard that will keep your children occupied with endless hours of fun.

1. Choose the Right Equipment

The first step that you ought to take is to look for the right equipment for the playground. This is ideal equipment that’s age-appropriate for your children, and should also be safe. If there are accessories that come with something like a trampoline or a swing set, get these so that you can do the entire setup at once. This way, you can be sure that the playground will be safe and can be put to use the moment you’ve added the final equipment.

If you’re in the middle of a custody issue, you may have ample time to make the necessary preparations. That’s because there’s a wait time of two years from the date that an initial child custody order is set before a modification can be requested. This may apply to either party in a child custody case, but the goal should be to make sure that the playground is safe and fun.

2. Do Landscaping with the Playground in Mind

Remember that 90% of Americans actually prefer to live in homes that are surrounded by grass lawns. That said, make sure to landscape with this in mind, leaving ample room for the playground. This way, you can add decor and make sure that there’s room for everything to come up properly. Working with a professional landscape artist should help you make the right plans and come up with a practical layout that doesn’t negatively affect the layout of the compound in general.

3. Install Outdoor Lighting

While your children may typically play mostly during the day, you want to make sure that they can safely stay outdoors for a longer time if they want to. To make sure that this is the case, you should think about adding some outdoor lighting to the landscape. This is something that many people are doing, regardless of whether they’re adding a playground to the landscape or they’re setting something else up. This is based on the fact that the global market size of outdoor lighting in 2022 was $15.34 billion, according to Grand View Research. Outdoor lighting doesn’t even have to cost you a lot of money since you can take measures such as using solar-powered lighting and installing LED bulbs which are known to consume less energy.

4. Consider Adding Privacy

Finally, you may want to add some privacy measures to your landscape so that your children can play safely and stay protected from the public eye. To do this, the most practical solution is an exterior fence. Talking to good fencing professionals in your area should make it easier for you to pick the best material and design. This can improve the playground as well as the appeal and safety of the entire house. As such, take your time to make sure that you hire the best person and make the right choice so that you can enjoy all the benefits of having a solid fence without spending more money than you need to.

These four tips should help you build a playground that you love in your backyard. As a result, you’ll give your children an amazing opportunity to enjoy their time at home. They may never forget about this, so it’s worth the money and planning that it could take to do right.