When I lived elsewhere, I bought flowers each week at the grocery store. It wasn’t terribly expensive…maybe $8-$10, but it did add up.

I seldom buy flowers since returning to Mendota. Each year I put out several rows of zinnias. They are at our entry gate, the garden and in the meadow.

I have pretty, fresh flowers all summer long. Free. I don’t even buy the seeds since I save them each year. At the end of the season, the flowers dry up and look like this…

The one pictured is not quite ready to be picked. However, in a few weeks, I’ll go out with a bag and pull these dead flower heads off and drop them in a brown paper bag. I’ll store the bag throughout the winter and then in the spring, I sprinkle them wherever I want to see zinnias. They never fail me.

I have some very nice vases, and I use them, but my favorite vase is the canning jar. The one in this picture is a two-quart jar which I purchased new in a pack of six at Food Country in Abingdon. The zinnias and the canning jar are useful, good looking, and they are common to my house. Works for me!

That’s my thrifty tip. Move to the country and plant zinnias and save $8-$10 per week. Are you sold?

I went back to work today. Fun seeing everyone but even though it’s just for three weeks, I missed having the time to be creative and work on my projects at home. So…I came home…and…I got out the CHALKPAINT!! Because I canned so much yesterday, I made a little picture to put above my cooktop.

I’m feeling better already!

Now if I could find one pair of my many pairs of scissors, I’d work on my wreath or curtain project.