DIY Milk Jug Seed Starters

This is a great way to make a low cost, actually free,  cold frame for your  outdoor seeds that winter outside or to do seed starting inside for starting seeds indoors for the spring. We are doing this one. Getting our seeds started very soon indoors so they will be ready for planting outdoors. Or planting indoors in 5 gallon buckets. I have a few items that I want to do indoors. Will be easier for when we get our land to be able to take the plants with us.

But this simple and free milk jug seed starter is a great way to start...

Survival Seeds

• Cut a gallon milk jug in half horizontally. Leave one edge intact so that it will act like a hinge. 
• You can throw away the cap. But, my creative son is wanting to save them to somehow make an outdoor "rug" with. Have them bottom up so that you can use it to scrape mud off shoes.
• Punch several drainage holes into the bottom of the jug.
  
  
  
• Fill the bottom with a few inches of potting soil.
• Moisten it well and plant the seeds.
• Close the top cover and secure with some duct tape.
• Place the jug inside a clear plastic bag and twist tie closed. Since it is in a clear plastic bag it is like its own greenhouse.
• Place in a sunny spot outside out of the way , so it will not be bothered or have to be moved.
• Before transplanting , harden off the seedlings by taking the jug out of the bag and propping it open.

This is a frugal way to start your own garden or to garden indoors. Easy and fun to watch them grow.

Take Advantage Of The Sun & Nature

It isn't difficult to utilize the sun to help with easing the cost of your power usage. It will help by using the natural heat and light. You will use less power and be more sufficient. This will save your family money in the long run.

• Orient you buildings to take advantage of the sun and to protect your home from the cold winter winds. You can plant a living "fence" to help with this if you have to. Plant a row of evergreen trees to keep the cold wind away.
• Be sure to have as much insulation in your home as possible. This will also help in the summer by keeping the heat out and in the winter will hold the heat in.
• Think about adding a sunroom to your home. You can vent the heat into the home during the winter and in the summer vent the heat outside.
• Use the natural light during the day. In the winter open the curtains and let that natural light and heat into the house.
• Think about adding brick to the outside of your home. This really helps with controlling the temperature. 
• Use hanging plants and overhangs to cool the home in the summer. 
• Plant your own food garden in your yard to save money on food costs. 

• Have a rain barrel to catch water to use to water your garden and yard. My son also used our rain barrel to wash the cars. Great way to save money on water.

There are many ways to use nature to help you keep your utility bills low.

Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook: Your Complete Guide to Living beyond the Grid with Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living

COMMENT BELOW WAYS THAT YOU HAVE USED NATURE TO REDUCE ENERGY COST........

Off Grid Living

Off Grid Living Box Set: 35 Tips on How to Survive Off The Grid Plus Prepper Survival Guide For Food Processing and Preservation, Food Storage And Water ... the grid, food processing and preservation) was a free book for your kindle.A lot of great tips tips to have on hand for if you are ever off-grid or without power for any other reason.

Let The Sun Do The Cooking!

Use the free heat of the sun to cook your food. It is easy and energy efficient. It saves on fuel cost and  in the summer helps to keep you cool by not having to heat up the house with your stove. With solar cooking it is cooked with lower temperatures that will not burn the food and makes it easy to just let it cook away without stirring or checking all of the time. Set it in the heat of the sun and come back after a few hours to a well- cooked meal.

A great idea is to set it up on a table that can spin so that you can make it follow the sun during the day. Makes it easy for us with bad backs, also. Don't have to pick up the whole cooker, just spin the table the bit that it needs turned.You can easily cook all year long with a All Season Solar Cooker.  You can bake bread, cookies, and cakes in a solar cooker. The best thing to make , since it is set and cooking all day, is stews, beans, soups, and casseroles.

You can easily make one. The links below have plans for making them and recipes.

• http://www.solarcooking.org
• http://cookwiththesun.com

Having a solar cooker is great for kids , also. They can learn to use one easily and be cooking in one in no time. My son was 7 years old when he made one out of a pizza box. It worked pretty good. He baked cookies in it and did some hot dogs. It was fun for him and he learned a lot about the sun and how it works.
Get the whole family involved.

COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR FAVORITE THING TO COOK IN A SOLAR COOKER>>>

Going Off-Grid

We are very close to going totally off-grid. Have a piece of land lined up , a camper, and a truck. We will be all set. We have been looking for Solar Power items online and are going to have to get a Composting Toilet. We will be ok with that. The place we are looking at has awesome cell phone service and we will have the solar power for lights etc. I can't wait! In my mind we are already moved. It will be so great to live off the land and be free of utilities. Have a home where we can have freedom!

Very Surprised At How Well This Heats

I bought one of these a while ago and first thing that my hubby said was, "There is no way that will heat the whole house!". Well , it has been really unseasonably warm here and we just now got to try this out. It was 29 the other night and windy. I turned this on in the kitchen before we went to bed. I got up in the middle of the night, dreaming I was in a desert dying of thirst. This Duraflame DFS-450-2 Carleton Electric Stove with Heater, Black really worked. Now , I do have to say - we are in a very small house. About 1000 square feet. If that much. So if you have a bigger house I would get 2 of these and have at the ends. Or just have in a room and keep door closed. We haven't even gotten our gas turned on yet. This is surprisingly working so well. I had bought 2 of these Lasko 5307 Oscillating Ceramic Tower Heater, 16-Inch to put in the bedrooms just in case the "fireplace" didn't heat well enough on its own. But, these Lasko 5307 Oscillating Ceramic Tower Heater, 16-Inch work very well, also. A couple of weeks ago we had our first frost warning overnight and we just used the small one in bedroom and it actually kept the whole house warm.Very surprised how well electric heaters work now. I can remember when I was a kid we had a heater for the bathroom and it never did even knock the chill off. It was awful. They have really come a long way in making these heaters work very well and they have great safety features also.

Security LIghting

My step-son just moved out into the boonies and has no security lighting at all! When the sun goes down it is pitch dark. So, we are getting him one of these Sunforce 82156 60 LED Solar Motion Light to help him out a bit. With being out there all by his self most of the time and then having his kids on the weekends , they have to have something out there to at least give them a bit of lighting outside and to let him know if someone walks up to his house.  Plus, if the power ever goes out , he will still have this light. I think that would shock someone who might walk up onto the house , if they know the power is out , and it is pitch dark. They would walk up there thinking that they could get in and BAM, this would light up and make them think twice about it!!