I’ve been making a home for the past twenty four years and it’s been one of the most enjoyable parts of my life. There’s always new skills to learn, unique stages of family life, and interesting aspects of home to invest in for the home maker. My homes have been four different houses in two states. Each has had its challenges and special characteristics that have helped me grow. Not only that, each season of the year in homemaking has its own challenges and joys. One of my favorite seasons of home is the frugal summer home.
At this stage in homemaking, growth, joy, and beauty are a few of my main values for my home. Living frugally is another value that I love and work for in my day-to-day life. Summer is a fun season that can involve all of these in a really special way. Some ways I’m living frugally with growth, joy, and beauty this summer are eating in-season fruits and vegetables, growing beautiful houseplants, and tending my garden.
Frugal summer food
One great way to bring more joy and beauty to your frugal summer home is eating in-season fruit and vegetables. A breakfast I love is French toast made with my sourdough bread, topped with homemade yogurt and fresh fruit. You can vary the fruit according to what’s available and inexpensive. I start with strawberries early in the summer. Next come raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, followed by cherries, nectarines, and peaches. Extra points if you grow them yourself or find local sources for the fruit. The raspberries in the third photo came from my garden.
Recently I made the stuffed zucchini pictured above from this gorgeous cookbook my son gave me for my birthday. It was simple to make, healthy, and absolutely delicious! Again, you’ll find that whatever is growing best in that season will be the cheapest produce when you’re shopping.
Growing beautiful fruit
Above you can see my raspberry bed in my garden this spring when the berries were just starting to ripen. I’ve had these raspberries for years, a friend gave me a start from her garden. This is the best way to acquire plants, not only are they free but you know they will grow well in your area. In my experience gardening can be either nearly free or very expensive. Saving seeds, growing your own plants from seeds, or gifted plants and seeds are all easy ways to save money on gardening.
I’m also showing you one of our peach trees. We planted them about 5 years ago and have picked exactly 8 perfect peaches from them. Not a great yield. This year I had to prune them back a lot so I knew there would be lots of new growth and no peaches. Hopefully next year we will get a good crop.
Growing beautiful houseplants
I have quite a few houseplants I’ve collected over the years. Most of them were starts from friends and family, some I bought on clearance and nursed back to health, and some were grown from seed or divided from a parent plant. Every summer I move most of them out to our deck so they can enjoy the heat and sun. There are a few that do better inside out of the heat so they have to stay in year round. Houseplants are a big way I keep a frugal summer home indoors and out. Plants bring so much life and beauty to any space, I think everyone should have a few houseplants. It can be addictive though, so watch out!
At the start of the summer I repot most of them so they have fresh soil. Potting soil can be expensive, shop around for a good source or watch for a sale. There is a local nursery that has very affordable potting soil so that’s where I buy mine.
This is also when I divide any plants that are overcrowded or move them to larger pots. Repotting is a great time to propagate your plants to add to your collection or share with friends. Many houseplants grow babies, or pups, and all you have to do is separate them off from the parent plant. Other plants propagate from cuttings can be rooted in water or a small pot of soil. Just do a quick google search to see how to propagate the plant you’re working with.
Tending a frugal home garden
I grew up gardening with my parents and have always had a garden of some sort even if it was a couple of potted tomato plants on my college apartment patio. The past few summers have been very busy so I just scattered flower and herb seeds over my garden and let them do their thing. Lots of flowers will drop their own seeds and regrow every year. I let my zinnias resow every fall and have plenty of volunteer plants the next year. A bonus to growing flowers in your garden is bringing in bouquets of your own flowers to enjoy.
I’m also showing you my planter of geraniums, lantana, and creeping jenny. All of these are perennials and will come back every year. Depending on your climate you may have to bring geraniums and lantanas inside for the winter. As soon as the last freeze in the spring is over you can plant them back outside and enjoy them year after year.
Investment in the frugal summer garden
This year I wanted to revamp my garden so my kids helped build this retaining wall with landscaping stones we already had. I bought soil, fertilizer, a couple soaker hoses, and stakes for the tomatoes and cucumbers so there was some investment in gardening this year. If you’re buying gardening supplies look for sales or choose products that can be reused for several years.
A couple of things that are free for my garden are wood ashes from winter fires, and wood chips for mulch. When I clean out our fireplace in the spring, I use the ashes in the garden. It adds nutrients to the soil, repels bugs, and keeps a resource from being wasted. A tree company has been clearing the power lines in our neighborhood so I had them dump a load of wood chips in our yard. The mix of leaves and chopped branches breaks down to make a perfect mulch and fertilizer. If you want a source of free wood chips, sign up on getchipdrop.com and get a load for your garden.
Your main garden investment will be your time, energy, and sweat. Time in the garden is also a huge boost for your wellbeing. Working with plants, getting your hands dirty, and harvesting your own food are all really great for your mental health. Not only that but food you grow and harvest has much more nutrition than commercially grown and shipped produce at the grocery store.
My main summer crop is going to be tomatoes and cucumbers. It took me a while to get the garden ready for planting so nothings ready to harvest yet. Hopefully soon I will be eating tomato sandwiches on fresh bread and canning some pickles.
Joy in your frugal summer home
No matter how things are going in your life and home at the moment, I hope you find some ways to grow a few things and bring beauty and joy into your home. I hope you can try a few of my ideas to save money and have a more frugal summer home. Most of all I hope you take some time to look around you and enjoy your home right where it is and right where you are.
