Outdoor Resources

One of the beautiful parts about my relationship with my husband is that we really don’t have all that much in common. The important things are alike of course, our hearts, beliefs and priorities are in line but when it comes to simple logistics and personal preferences we couldn’t be more different.

I am on the messier side, he is spick and span, organized and meticulous about pretty much everything. He likes to maintain a very tightly regimented schedule and he keeps multiple calendars filled with tasks and events listed throughout the house and on his phone (it syncs to my calendar but I don’t actually remember check it). I go and do things on an as-needed, momentary basis.

He goes to bed early, I stay up late. He stopped drinking sodas, I can’t quit the bubbly stuff. There is one thing that we collectively agree on pertaining to our lifestyle, though, and that is we love to have plants and living things all around us and in our living spaces. Between the two of us, we bring home plants on a weekly basis. Being that we are living in a space with a backyard, growing things has become a really fun hobby for both us and the kids, planting and watching things grow and bloom has been such a lovely addition to our lives. We’ve scoped out our favorite places in our area for buying supplies, and one of those places is actually Ross Dress for Less. We’ve found everything from hose nozzles to planting boxes to shovels and rakes, all good quality and at low prices.

Aside from the intermittent quarreling that comes with being siblings, Beau and Zoe developed a system for scooping and pouring the dirt into the primary colored boxes with chalkboard paint for labeling. It was such a great find on Justin’s part and made for a really awesome outdoor, summertime activity for the kids. There’s a day on our (Justin’s) whiteboard calendar marked for Jack, Zoe and Beau to take turns watering their plants throughout the week, and I’m hoping to get as much mileage out of this activity as possible in terms of helping them understand about caring for living things. Along with their fish and feeding Theo and Charlie, this has been a great introductory course for both them and us as parents, teaching them to be responsible for things other than themselves. Plus, it fills our back yard and our home with life and beautiful greenery.

We’ve managed to be as careful as possible with our resources; making sure not to spend much on things around the house and recycling water from our showers and sinks to use for watering the plants inside and outdoors. Our drought in California is pretty intense, something that we’ve made a big part of our conversations lately, trying to be mindful and thoughtful about how we use the things we have, especially if those things are in short supply. Money and water are big ones, even if both are ever bountiful. I’m happy to have found a budget-friendly resource for finding bargains on items that I can use in these kind of family activities, ones that Justin and I both agree on and things that can be used as tools for teaching our children life lessons.