5 tips to help you save big bucks this summer

Need to protect your plants from animals or treat bug bites on a budget? Here are five money-saving tips to help solve your pesky summer problems!

To satisfy your yard and garden needs, use a local non-profit organization that gives and gets free stuff to reuse and recycle.

• People give away duplicate garden tools, clay pots that take up room in the garage, old bird feeders, garden benches and much more.

You may find perfectly good supplies you need for your garden without spending a dime.

Use plastic grocery bags to line the underside of your brick edging in flowerbeds.

• They accomplish the same thing as expensive plastic sheeting that is used to suppress the growth of weeds in between the bricks.

If your yard is surrounded by power lines, they're probably a popular hangout for squirrels. By the time the tomatoes barely turn pink, the squirrels devour them. The solution?

• Slip sandwich bags over the ripening tomatoes and seal each bag near the stem. The squirrels don't touch them, and you can reuse the bags later.

Birds like cherries as much as anyone. Here's an idea for an inexpensive way to deter them from cherry trees.

• Take a piece of cardboard (about the size of an index card); wrap foil around it, securing it with tape. Make a small hole at the top of the card and tie a piece of yarn to it. Then hang the cards from your cherry trees.

The swirling, flashing cards will frighten off birds. The result? They'll leave the cherries alone!

Mosquitoes can be horrible in the woods, but there are ways to keep the bites from bugging you!

• Fill a small film canister (or prescription medicine bottle) with a 50/50 solution of hand lotion and ammonia. When you get a mosquito bite, dab a little of the mixture there. It helps stop the itch. The ammonia neutralizes the chemical that the mosquito injects, the one that causes the itching. The lotion keeps the ammonia from evaporating too soon.

Although some people say the mixture also works on bee stings, this is only meant to provide temporary relief from discomfort and shouldn't replace proper medical treatment if you're allergic to stings or bites.