Update March 21, 2021: Looks like many are now receiving the $1400 stimulus checks and they are going out already to many. As of the last writing the checks began going out at the end of the week and for many the checks hit around St. Patrick Day. Green on green.

Thursday March 11, 2021

Lot of happenings this month. First today it’s actually a really nice day out and the weather is changing so much. Spring is incoming within just a few days officially and you can already anticipate the t-shirt and shorts weather. A year has gone past since the official start of the pandemic and around this month and this week was when a lot of things started going awry including shuttering of schools, sports arenas and various lock downs and quarantines and toilet paper shortages. But now they keep pumping into our heads about vaccination non-stop. And if not that then it’s celebrity news. Hardly ever do they talk about financial and investing news.

We’ve been thinking about and turning our attention toward several home and garden maintenance projects in the past few weeks. If you’re an avid gardener or lawn care enthusiast you will find at least two sites are great for keeping you on track for upcoming spring activities.
First check out the Greencast soil temperature tool to get current soil temperatures and historical data for your area. If you’re trying to prevent crabgrass with a pre-emergent the window for that is coming up soon.
Secondly the other tool to use is the GDDtracker at MSU dot edu. It tracks growing degree days to give you a good approximation and trendline on temperatures and historical temperature data. There’s also a USpest dot org site that might give you some interesting data for keeping down and suppressing pests.
A lot of these tools use previous year’s data but also are temperature based since certain pests start to thrive at those optimal temperatures.

While weed control is important, a lot of places are also starting to roll out their seed supplies and also bring out flowers and bulbs for the season for your area. Check it out. Planning ahead will optimize your growing strategy this season. And while you’re in the garden consider refreshing your mulch or stone arrangements for the season.

Not only does spring bring more hands on maintenance and bringing out the gardening power tools, but you also will have Daylight Saving Time changes. So remember the old saying of “Spring forward, fall back”.

If you’ve had time to mess with the garden great but then there are also other concerns. Many of us for example are worrying about taxes, maxing out their IRA / Roth accounts to take advantage of tax benefits. For many the idea of a large check for those that missed the stimulus or economic impact payment #1 and economic payment #2 they can look forward to that as they can elect to claim it on the upcoming 2020 tax returns. That should be a welcome change for millions that have been out of work, unemployed and trying to get assistance ranging from food to medical supplies.

And on top of that the U.S. finally was able to pass a 1.9 trillion dollar spending bill and as unemployment benefits was about to expire for many.

These are up-in-coming news in the following days ahead.