Caught myself buying $80 of fresh herbs every month for 2 years

I kept throwing out half-wilted cilantro and basil from the grocery store every week. Finally added up my receipts from the last 3 months and it came to $215 just on parsley, rosemary, and mint. A friend at work laughed and said why don't you just grow them on your windowsill. I spent $12 on three little pots and some seeds from the hardware store 4 weeks ago. Now I just snip what I need and it keeps growing back. Has anyone else had that moment where a tiny change like that totally changed their grocery spending?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavine417d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on this one. I tried the windowsill herb thing and ended up spending way more than $80 a month after I killed the first batch, bought better soil, then those fancy grow lights because my apartment doesn't get enough sun. Then I had to fight fungus gnats for two months straight. By the time I actually had a usable basil plant I had dropped like $150 on supplies and the thing only produced like three leaves a week. Plus now I have to actually remember to water them and rotate them and I'm terrible at that. The grocery store markup starts looking pretty reasonable when my time and frustration are factored in.

wright.drew7d ago

Ngl my wife started composting a few months ago and now I feel like we're running a whole ecosystem out of the kitchen. We've got a worm bin under the sink and she talks to them like they're pets. I just wanted to stop throwing away coffee grounds and eggshells, but now we're growing lettuce in a laundry basket on the porch. The grocery savings are real but now I'm explaining to neighbors why there's a plastic tub of dirt with holes in my living room.

the_fiona5d ago

Ha! Yeah I gotta be honest with you @wright.drew, I'm with @gavine41 on this one. That whole setup sounds like a full-time job with benefits. My neighbor had the worm bin phase and then she had to explain to the apartment manager why there were little red wigglers making a break for it under the fridge. I mean sure, saving on lettuce is nice but you're basically running a tiny farm with employee morale issues. And the neighbors noticing the tub with holes... that's gonna be a whole conversation every time someone comes over. Plus what happens when you go on vacation? Nobody wants to wormsit.