Don't Let the Economy Get You Down...Instead Lift Your Spirits

Lift Spirits in This Tough Economy

As home prices continue to fall and the housing market shows a decline in home sales, the economy is still in turmoil. The New York Times (5/28, C1, Bajaj) notes on the front of its Business Day section that there are "few signs of a turnaround emerging. … While Wall Street is growing hopeful that the economy may dodge a recession, many economists warn that the pain in the housing market may last for several years." The Financial Times (5/28, Bryant), the Los Angeles Times (5/28, Hong), the Washington Post /AP (5/28, D3), and the Christian Science Monitor (5/28, Trumbull) also cover the story.

So what can we do to lift spirits? We need to encourage people to make a place to go to work and play, a place to relax and retreat from the increasingly worrisome news of the nations current economy. What better place to do this but in your own back yard? Create a landscape that blends into the architecture of the house. Choose plants with interesting shapes, and sizes. Make a statement by planting multiple rows of tulips or an unusual grouping of succulents. Add bamboo or fruit and flowering plants to achieve the aesthetics that are pleasing to your soul.

Create a focal point and work from there to achieve a thought-provoking enclave. It is important to pay attention to color, texture and design as you make a new room to live in outside.

Since people are choosing to stay at home rather than pay the exorbitant prices at the gas station. Suggest that they invest in their home, buy or upgrade their outdoor furniture and accessories. Don’t just advertise sales, tell them why it is so important to invest in themselves. Let your customers know that by investing in their homes they will attain many hours of pleasure, not just a snippet of time that is over before you know it when you go elsewhere on vacation. Promote the idea of vacationing at home. Vacation in your own backyard!

These are my outside views… Marcia Blake