Growing your own fruits and vegetables is a fantastic way to get high-quality produce, but is it really cheaper? Some gardening guides give the impression that without expensive tools and additives, your vegetable patch is doomed from the start. In reality, anyone can grow produce with minimal investment. Follow these steps for some frugal, fun and festive gardening!

1. Containers
If you don’t have any space in the yard, you can grow produce in containers, but don’t bother heading out to the local garden center. The only thing a plant needs from its container is room to grow and drainage. Any container that can have a hole drilled in it will work for your patio garden. Scour the house for containers you already have, like buckets, dishpans, or deep bowls. Think outside the flowerpot and you will be surprised what you can get for absolutely nothing. If your search still doesn’t turn up enough options, head to your local charity store and look for deals on the same kinds of unconventional containers you were looking for at home. This is also a good time to pick up some extra dishes to break up and put in the bottom of the containers for added drainage.

2. Soil
Whether you will be gardening in containers or in the ground, high quality soil is a must – a high price tag is not. Commercial potting soil can be expensive in large quantities, but if you are willing to get your hands dirty you can make your own for less. Although there are many recipes for potting soil, a simple formula to get you started is a mixture of about 60% soil (straight from a hole in the yard or from a bag of topsoil), 25% peat moss, and 15% sand. Even if you buy all of the ingredients from a garden center, mixing it up yourself will give you much higher quantities at a much lower price. If you are working on an in-ground plot, simply work the peat moss and sand into the existing soil to improve its quality.

3. Plants
The cheapest way to get plants is by starting them yourself from seeds. Greenhouses made of milk jugs or two-liter bottles will get your vegetables growing with nothing more than recycled containers, seed starting mix, and duct tape. In a small-scale garden, you can reduce costs even further by sharing a packet of seeds with a friend. If it is too late to start seeds, look for sales, plant swaps, and end-of-season price reductions.

4. Fertilizer
Once your plants get growing, you must feed them, but there is no reason to break the bank on ready-made mixtures. Homemade fertilizers are inexpensive because they primarily come from things we throw away. Composting can be as easy as putting vegetable scraps, peelings and garden trimmings in a pile or container and turning the mixture regularly. Grass clippings, leaves and fireplace ashes also feed garden plants for free. If none of these options is available to you, ask your local coffeehouse for used grounds or buy alfalfa intended for rabbit food from your pet store and spread it on top of the soil.

High-quality produce doesn’t have to be the biggest expense in your grocery bill. Frugal gardening yields big results for small change!

This guest post is by Megan Thomas who likes to save with Home Owners Insurance.

Keeping your budget in tact while clothing kids is sometimes quite the oxymoron. You can make it fun and frugal by trying a few different options. Here are some that may help you when looking to fill the closets at your house.

1. Second Hand Consignment Shows. A new concept of second hand shows is popping up and it’s a rather great concept. Essentially, people tag and give their items to the show managers, the show managers and volunteers hang them, priced as low as possible and once the sale is over, the sellers can either come and pick up their items that didn’t sell or they are donated to a local charity. The best part if you’re a buyer, is you have tons of items in one place, making it easier than hitting up 10 garage sales! Plus, in an effort to get rid of the items, the sale will usually give the volunteers an additional discount or offer a half price day to buyers (this is the day to go!).

2. Consignment Stores. This is a phenomenal place to look for accessories for example hair bows, special occasion clothes or shoes. Because a child grows out of these items so quickly, some are hardly worn at all. Plus, there are certain guidelines that most consignment stores follow to make sure the items they sell meet certain standards so you’re getting the best of the hand-me-downs.

3. Garage Sales. Hitting up every garage sale can become pretty tiring and consume a whole weekend. Plan ahead and look through the classifieds the night before, or weekend before and map out your route. This way, you’re also not hitting up sales that have no clothes in the size that you’re looking for.

4. Swap Clothes. Say you have a neighbor that has the opposite needs that you do, for example they have a 3 year old boy, you have a 1 year old boy. And, say they also have a 1 year old girl and you have a 3 year old girl. See if you can swap clothes. You give them your girls clothes and they give you their boys clothes to borrow. This way, hopefully they’re getting something and so are you. Of course, in order for this to work, you have to have the same taste in clothes as well.

5. Make a Friend. Most likely you know someone a couple years ahead of your kids. If so, ask them what they do with their hand-me-downs. Offer to come over and buy them from them. This saves them an immense amount of time tagging, hanging them and preparing them to go to a garage sale or to the consignment store, and you get exactly what you’re looking for. Win, win!

6. Shop Out of Season. This requires a bit of budgeting, but it works. Shopping for the opposite season can save you loads of money. This works best for kids under 5 because they grow at a pretty predictable pace. Essentially, when you shop out of season, you are looking for a size up when the clearance sales hit. Telling from experience, it’s also a great surprise when you open up the bin for the upcoming season, as you forgot about all of the great finds you got the previous year. In a way, you’re actually excited to see your kids grow and be able to fit in to them!

Combining all of these tips is also a great idea, as there’s no ‘one size fits all’ fix for spending the least amount of money on kids wardrobes, but hopefully this helps get some ideas running!

This has been a guest post by Kate at Coupon Cravings. As a Wife, and Mom to two young kids, ages 4 1/2 and 1, Kate prides herself on making the most out of a dollar and being frugal by finding great sales, purchasing secondhand clothes and making sure that every dollar is money well spent.

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