photo credit: chefranden
This is the 1st in a series of 10 posts on frugal tips for landscaping and growing indoor houseplants.
One of the biggest struggles I have around frugal living is reducing our landscaping and plant budget. Basically, there is no category for these expenses in our monthly family budget. Any dollars we spend on indoor and outdoor plants come directly out of our grocery and entertainment budget. This means that our family relies on purchasing plants and materials at greatly reduced prices or getting them for free! Since I have a passion for all things landscaping (as well as raising indoor houseplants) and take pride in having great curb appeal, this can be difficult for me.
As new homeowner’s, my wife and I have been looking for frugal decorating ideas for several months. One type of decoration that we enjoy using in our home is adding tropical houseplants for color and a natural effect. Using certain houseplants for decoration can even improve the quality of the air in your home! Our oldest son has severe allergies and asthma, so any chance we can get to improve our air quality in our home is a plus.
While the majority of indoor houseplants do not cost a lot of money, there are still several additional costs involved which can push up the expense. There are many factors that one must consider before purchasing a houseplant from the store. Some of the costs for indoor plants include -
- Pots and Planters - Nice looking pots or planters can cost well over $30.
- Planting Soil - I always forget to include this cost, but topsoil or planting soil can cost you several extra dollars.
- Fertilizer - You can spread this cost around several plants, but you need to factor in fertilizers if you want to have healthy and strong houseplants.
- Saucers & Stands - If you want to raise the height of a smaller plant, then you will need to purchase or make a stand that will cost a few extra dollars. In addition, it is a very good idea to use a saucer under the pot to trap any excess water that drains down. This will prevent damage to your flooring or stand. Saucers at the store usually run a few dollars.
- Plants - Depending on the size and type, houseplants can range from a few dollars to over one hundred dollars.
As you can tell from the items above, there are several expenses involved when purchasing an indoor houseplant. That is why it is very important to reduce your costs on each product in order to keep the overall expenses low. Today I would like to focus on the purchase of the houseplant.
The other day I was at the local home improvement store looking for some items for our house. As a ritual, I decided to go and check out their stock of indoor houseplants, as well as their selection of outdoor perennials and annuals. Most of the time I do this just to window shop to see all the neat plants that I would love to own. However, every once in a while, you can come across an excellent deal. For example, the store that I went to had a huge supply of majestic palm plants that had been selling for $10. When I recently visited, these plants had been marked down to $3 in order to make room for their fall and winter stock of plants. That is a 70% decrease! I had been eying these plants for some time as I thought they would go well with our decor. After I saw they had been marked down to $3, I snatched one up. When I got to the register, the lady told me these plants had not been selling and that they were actually being marked down again from $3 to $1.50! Wow, an 85% discount. This example brings me to my first tip (see below) on frugal tips for landscaping and growing indoor houseplants.
Tip #1 - Be patient when purchasing houseplants. Many times you can find excellent bargains if you wait for the store(s) to mark them down to move their inventory.
This is the first of a series of posts on tips for frugal landscaping and frugal tips on decorating inside with houseplants.
What type of deals have you gotten on indoor houseplants?
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Emily 10.16.08 at 2:06 pm
Thanks for linking me! I love decorating with indoor plants too. I am, unfortunately very bad at keeping indoor plants alive, but I keep trying. My outdoor garden and potted plants do so great, I need to get better at keeping my indoor ones alive. I love anthurium inside and my orchid that died while i was on vacation this summer is finally coming back so I hope that will liven up my kitchen soon.
Squawkfox 10.16.08 at 3:15 pm
Thank you so much for the linky love! I must admit, I don’t do well with plants.
I’m better with creating wall art from canvas, paint, and wallpaper. So my frugal decor is not living. 
passivefamilyincome 10.17.08 at 9:38 pm
Emily - My pleasure! Plants are a passion of mine. I use to really like outdoor landscaping but have switched to focusing on indoor plants. We have a new house with a morning room that gets a lot of light, so it is my little greenhouse.
Squawkfox - No problem on the link. I like some of the stuff I found on your site! Thanks for the good ideas.