Article: Heathers will either bloom in the winter or the summer, but it’s recommended to keep any past blooms attached throughout the winter to protect the roots. Start pruning after the risk of frost has passed so the stems of your heathers do not suffer any damage.  You can prune summer blooms in the fall if you live in a warmer climate. Winter heathers are cut after they have bloomed, while summer blooms are being cut before they start to grow. If you live in the United States, you can use your ZIP code to estimate the last expected frost date in your area here: https://garden.org/apps/frost-dates/ Opt for shears that have a spring in them so it is less stressful on your hands. If you want to have more control over which blooms you cut, hold the bloom with your non-dominant hand and make a cut with hand shears. Make sure your shears are sharp before you use them so you can make the cleanest cut. Long-handled shears will work best. Hold the hedges shears near the ends of the handle to control them the easiest. Open and close the shears so they make a snapping noise with each cut.  Hedge shears can be purchased at garden and home care stores. For added grip, wear gardening gloves while you use the hedge shears. Rub your shears with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol to clean them. Repeating this process before and after each plant will prevent the spread of any disease or fungus.  You can also make a cleaning solution using 9 parts water and 1 part chlorine bleach. Soak the shears for 30 minutes before drying them off and using them. Heathers are resilient to most common plant diseases, but it’s still good practice to clean your gardening tools.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Prune annually in the early spring after the last frost. Use hand shears for smaller heathers. Shape large beds of heather with hedge shears. Disinfect your shears with rubbing alcohol before and after each plant.

Once you are fully aware of your debt situation, get a clear picture of your finances by creating a budget. This will inform you exactly what your revenues and expenses are and will help you create more savings to reduce debt.   List all your sources of income and add them up. Move on to list your necessities. These include essential needs that are due regularly like rent, utilities, car payments, food, communication, and debt repayments. Keep in mind that just because these are essential or fixed expenses does not mean that they cannot be greatly reduced to find savings. List your discretionary expenses. Discretionary expenses are costs that you can change or avoid altogether such as buying new clothing or eating dinner out. The best way to get an idea of these expenses is to look at your bank or credit card statements for a month, and add up all the expenses that are not in your fixed expenses category. If you want better accuracy, take an average over several months and use this figure. Subtract your total expenses from your revenue. This is how much you have left over, or alternatively, how much extra you can afford to pay down to your credit cards. . Try to figure out how to decrease your expenses each month so that you can use more funds to pay down your credit cards. Target primarily variable expenses listed in your budget to find ways to save money.  Make meals at home instead of eating out. Make coffee at home instead of buying expensive coffee drinks. Delay expenses that can wait for later, like new clothes. Borrow books, music, and movies from the public library instead of buying them. Do not forget to look into your fixed expenses category as well. Can you move into more affordable housing? Find a roommate? Walk more to spend less on gas? Use a less extravagant plan for your cell phone (perhaps only 1GB of data a month instead of 3GB)? Once you have lowered spending using the above tips, you should be able to free additional money each month. Apply some of that additional income to your credit cards and save some for an emergency.   For example, upon creation of your budget you may observe you make $1500 per month, and have $1400 a month in expenses. After implementing the savings tips (for example, you drop down to a cheaper phone plan, stop eating out, and start walking to do basic errands), you manage to find $300 in savings. You now have $400 in additional cash. Perhaps $300 can go to your credit card debt and $100 can go into emergency savings. Don't forget to look at your income too. Are there ways to boost your income? Perhaps you can work more hours, look for a better job, or get a part-time job for ten extra hours a week. Make a list of your balances, interest, and fees every month. Check for unanticipated fees and to make sure your payments have been received and credited to your account.
++++++++++
One-sentence summary --
Create a monthly budget. Reduce your expenses Increase your credit card payments. Reassess your debt monthly.