–> This Month’s Frugal Fun Tip: Fresh Herbs–Even for Apartment Dwellers
No matter where you live…you can perk up any meal with herbs you’ve grown yourself.

–> Parents…Are You Set Up Properly if Something Happens to You?
I’ve had a look at Wear Clean Underwear by Alexis Martin Neely, and I’m very impressed by her clear writing and her words of warning to parents: If you want a good outcome for your not-yet-adult kids in the event of your death, you need to prepare…NOW!

–>Finally–An E-Book Site Puts Authors’ Needs First
Writers: Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup fame) has just launched a very author-friendly e-book/multimedia content distribution site at http://www.youpublish.com/referredby/shelhorowitz. No fee to set up, no fee to upload your files (wide range of types), 50% commission.

–>The Impact Factor
I’ve blogged a couple of times about  Ken McArthur’s launch strategy for his new book “The Impact Factor.” Launch day is May 13, and I don’t have the URL yet. Look for a short announcement from me that day with the details.

–> Meet me this month in L.A.–or in Boston: Two publishing conferences in Los Angeles at the end of the month, in conjunction with Book Expo America. I’ve described them in detail here (scroll down to “Pre-BEA Seminars”).

Earlier in the month, on Wednesday, May 21, I’ll be doing a brand new talk on “de-cluttering your mind.” Here’s the description:

Overcome Your Mental Clutter
If anyone knows about mental clutter, it would be Shel Horowitz, copywriter, marketing/publishing consultant, environmental/political activist, ethics and frugality expert, and award-winning author of seven books (most recently, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers). Shel will address the challenges of
* Having too many interests
* Dealing with an average of 300 incoming emails each day
* Managing numerous simultaneous client projects and many more for his own business development
* Maintaining nine different websites, one of which orchestrates an international campaign
* Staying current on the multiple industries that comprise his diverse business
* Juggling schedules for a family of four who are all very busy

More information from Judy Stitt, 617-547-7453, jstitt (at) tekedit (dot) com

–> A New Way To Have More Frugal Fun–No-Cost Games on FrugalFun.com
Want to win cool stuff? Tired of surfing through content and want a break? Here’s something you’ll want to look at. To play, go to any inner page of FrugalFun.com (not the home page) and click on the game banner at the very top.

–> Which of Shel’s Books is Right for You?

–> Latest Additions to the Websites

–>Administrative Information
Subscribe, unsubscribe, back issues, etc.

Published monthly since May, 1997 by Shel Horowitz
16 Barstow Lane, Hadley, MA 01035 USA
413/586-2388

More than 30 years ago, I went to visit a friend in her dark basement apartment in Providence, RI–and was astonished to see that she grew herbs and even dwarf tomatoes on the one or two sunny windowsills she had.

If she can do it, so can you. Nothing beats the taste of fresh herbs, and most of the common ones are ridiculously easy to grow, either in a flower pot or outside. For Northern Hemisphere readers, this is the time to either buy starter plants or grow your own from seed.

I recommend starter plants, especially if you’ve never grown anything other than hair and fingernails. Look for healthy, well-rooted specimens with no yellow, withered leaves–and when possible, from organic stock.

Basil, rosemary, and dill are extremely easy to grow (and in a garden, basil will get quite large). Parsley, oregano, and sage are not difficult. Cilantro’s a bit fussy but worth the effort. For most of them, the main thing is not letting it go to seed too early–which means you snip off the stems that are shooting up to create flowers. Do let some of the dill go, though; the seeds are delicious. A flat of six starter plants per herb gives you some margin of error in case some of them don’t make it.

And nothing perks up a meal like fresh herbs! When you sprinkle them over pasta or into a salad, your taste buds might just start to sing.

If you have surplus at the end of the season, hang them upside down in a sunny spot until thoroughly dry, and then put in tight jars. It’ll make next winter a whole lot more palatable.

Shel Horowitz’s Monthly Frugal Fun Tip, April, 2008
Vol. 11, #11

Can you tell the difference between a white oak and a red oak–before the leaves grow in? Would you enjoy tracking beavers or coyotes through the woods? Would you like to understand the ecosystem you live in, and your role in it? Do you want to know how to grow the perfect tomato for your climate?

Lots of places to get a naturalist education, and many of them quite inexpensive.. Look into the offerings from…

• Audubon and other nature centers
• State and national parks (many of their ranger programs are really good, and often cost nothing other than park admission)
• Museums
• Garden centers
• Lifelong learning/adult education programs
• Eco-villages and intentional communities
• Local farms
• Specialty retailers

I’ve taken many of these workshops or classes over the years–and as a result, I know more about my world.

Last month, I discussed why to buy art books, and how to pick good ones. With prices of new art books often hitting $70 or $125, of course, you also want to know how I get them for 0-$30. So here we go:

• Look on the remainder shelves. Most bookstores have a section where they sell new books that turned out to be surplus, at a deep discount. You can often find best-sellers from two or three years back, at maybe $3.99–but you can also find coffee-table art and nature books, priced typically between $5 and $25
• * While I’m not a big fan of chain bookstores, they do have great values on art books–Barnes & Noble, in particular, because they publish some of them themselves
• Yard sales, estate sales, used book stores, flea markets, Friends of the Library book sales, and similar used-book venues (sniff the books for mildew and check for water damage before buying)
• Consider the art in obsolete calendars, as well as old National Geographics (both often available for free or very cheap)
• Library discard sales
• Museum stores, while selling most art books for full retail, will sometimes have great deals on a few selected books, and also on catalogs of their current or recent exhibitions

Lots more frugal fun ideas in my 280-page e-book, The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant’s Pocketbook.

Maybe the stars are aligned differently, or something–I’ve got a ton of people wanting to give you stuff this month, both on the marketing side (including a couple of resources from some of the world’s top marketers that will really change the whole way you think about marketing) and for lovers of frugal fun. (more…)

Want to win cash–or merchandise–prizes? Tired of surfing through content and want a break? Here’s something you’ll want to look at.

I’d always rejected adding games to the site, because most of what I saw required participants to pay for playing–and I don’t believe in that.

But I was approached by a non-gambling game site that costs nothing to play. It’s supported entirely by ad revenues, and it also provides a way to fund this site and keep me willing to provide all the no-cost content I develop. To play, go to any inner page of FrugalFun.com (not the home page) and click on the game banner at the very top.

Shel Horowitz’s Monthly Frugal Fun Tip–February, 2008

Art Masterworks…for Pennies a Picture–Part 1

In October, I told you how to get art for your walls, inexpensively. Here’s another way to acquire art, even less expensively: and unlike the other stuff, these paintings, drawings, and sculptures have been vetted by scholars and museums over the past hundreds of years.

But this art doesn’t live on your walls; it lives in your bookshelves. And the cost is usually only pennies per picture if you buy used, dimes or quarters if you purchase new.

I’m talking about art books and nature books.

On my shelves, I’ve got a fat Picasso collection, thinner ones showcasing Michelangelo, Georgia O’Keefe, and Cezanne, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Treasures of King Tut, books of African, Mayan, and far eastern art. And beautiful nature books, including Audubon field guides, photos of Earth from space, place-specific art books covering locations as distant as the Canary Islands and as close as the mountain range right behind my own house. I’ve bought many similar books as gifts over the years. Despite retail prices of up to $70, most of these cost me between zero and $20 apiece, and almost all were under $30.

How to Buy Good Ones.
Art books are something I wouldn’t buy mail-order or online–because the quality of the reproduction makes a big difference in the quality of the book. If the color is true, if the photography and layout are good, you’ll take these books out and look them over, and get much pleasure. If the art or reproduction is crappy, or if the pictures are too small on the page, those books will just sit there, gathering dust.

Next Month: Part Two: Where to Locate These Books Affordably

Get lots more Frugal Fun ideas in Shel’s 280-page e-book, The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant’s Pocketbook. Available for just $8.50, only through Shel’s sites. Preview: http://www.frugalfun.com/pphtoc.html

Order: http://www.frugalmarketing.com/shop.html