Sites I LOVE

Some sites out there are truly useful, but there's lots of Internet clutter that doesn't belong on your browser page. Here are some of my favorites. Money-saving sites are given 1-4 dollar signs to indicate how much money they've saved me over the years.

• FixYa.com: ($$$) Anytime I do an Internet search for an appliance, using the model name and number and a keyword that indicates the problem I'm trying to fix, the best advice I find is on FixYa.com. Linking to this site doesn't benefit me in the least, but I hope it benefits you. (This is the site that helped me earn $550 an hour fixing a washing machine. Love!)
• The Family Handyman: ($$$$) I've only used this site once, but it took my hourly wage to $900 an hour because it was a plumbing job. (Super, super easy. You'll kick yourself remembering the big bucks you shelled out to look at some guy's sideways smile.)
• This Old House: ($$) The videos here are super helpful for DIY jobs that seem intimidating. This is where I learned how to replace a toilet's wax ring when it was leaking, and how to install an exterior door. Before your decide a project is too complicated and requires a contractor, peek at a video here and let the "This Old House" crew break it down into steps for you. It might be simpler than you think. Also, check out their tips for increasing your home's energy efficiency. Watch the spendy tips; you don't need those, do you?
• Mother Earth News: ($$) Preachy, but they've got some great articles about gardening, keeping livestock for food production, and getting rid of lawns in favor of edible plants. The political stuff I could do without, but the rest is really educational.
• WinterSown.org: ($$$$) Why buy transplants when you can grow your own hardy, healthy garden plants when it's still cold outside? This is why I have 50 milk jugs in a baby pool outside my back door in the winter time: because inside those milk jugs, I'm growing hundreds of high-dollar organic veggie plants. Helloooo, ghetto greenhouse! 

Ghetto greenhouse during freak Texas snowstorm. Not only did the seedlings survive, I sold some at a garage sale and made back all the money I spent on seeds (which, honestly, wasn't much).

• BackyardChickens.com: ($$$) If you ever thought you might want to grow your own eggs, lurk here a while and learn some stuff. Its very addicting, and it can save you lots of money to ask questions here before you buy chicks or build a coop. (The coop designs pages have distracted me for hours, I'll admit it!)
• GardenWeb: ($)This is the site that introduced me to winter sowing, and there are some awesome forums about just about anything a tightwad could want to learn about. Lots of kindred spirits here, looking for ways to save big bucks with gardening, home improvements, homesteading and organic growing. There is actually an *entire* forum on composting. I kid you not.
• The Dirt Doctor: ($$$) Howard Garrett has a radio program every Sunday morning out of Dallas (WBAP), and his organic practices are the absolute best way to promote healthy plants and a healthy insect balance in your yard or homestead. This man is why we have no fire ants in our yard, because I feed them sugar. Skeptical? Try it for a year and see how easy and cheap it is to be chemical-free. (He puts his spray formulas right there on the web site so you can make them, but spendy people can also buy them.) He gets preachy, but still provides usable information in his anti-GMO and anti-chemical crusades.