Seasonal Ideas for Spring Savings

By the author of the FREE online course Growing Self-Sufficiency: The Whole Picture

In Eastern Ontario, we have now seen a few signs of spring. The sun feels warmer on my face when I step outside. The days are noticeably longer. Many birds are back, and I enjoy listening to them sing as I wake up each morning. As spring warms me after a long winter, there is something else that I celebrate, too: the opportunities for spring savings!

In this article, I am going to share some of my best tips for saving money in the springtime. I hope that you will share your own tips below, too! 

Foraging for Food/Accessing Food Stores

After a long cold winter here in Canada, you might imagine that I’ve already eaten all of my garden harvest. The answer is “yes and no.” While I did harvest much of the produce last fall, and a lot of it is long gone, I like to use old farm methods to store my produce in the ground, so I often still have some available in the earliest of springtime.

One example is simply leaving a row in the ground and burying it to protect it from potential animal thieves. Over the years, I have found that animals have tended to leave my parsnips alone! Another simple method is to store them in the best place you have in your home, which is most similar to a root cellar. Right now, I have half a dozen Waltham Butternut squash that are still good, sitting on the concrete floor in the back north corner of my eco-cabin.

Although it is only mid-March here, I will soon try some planting outside in a covered row. Sometimes, I will overwinter a row of young rutabagas under straw and plastic, mainly to eat the greens in early spring. This year, I will be planting a covered row of turnips for early greens. 

In a few weeks, I’ll be foraging dandelion and other greens every night, along with wild asparagus and milkweed shoots (leaving most of these for the butterflies!). I will gently sauté everything with some onion and either make an omelette or throw all the greens on top of a homemade pizza. Delicious!  The dandelion flowers themselves can be put into a plain muffin recipe. I think I’ll serve some for tea.

Economical Easter

I love chocolate, and even as adults, we used to buy a fair bit amongst ourselves. These days, I save quite a bit by limiting what I buy to one special item. I like to support a local chocolatier in a nearby village. His chocolate is handmade. He even makes the marshmallows in his marshmallow bunnies and eggs himself! 

When I visit his shop, we always have a nice chat. How different from buying in a big box store! After seeing a documentary about a lot of unfairness involved in the production of chocolate, I try to be mindful of consuming it. I will continue to look for ways to buy ethical chocolate, too. 

For children, creative solutions can help if there isn’t a ton of cash for Easter extras. One of the first steps can be talking to the children ahead of time around expectations. What if the children make their own baskets to leave for the Easter bunny by weaving them or making them out of supplies already in the craft cupboard? Fluffy filling for the basket could come from the paper shredder and that’s better for the environment than plastic, too. 

A fun Easter hunt can be created with the children searching for marbles, pebbles, or even Lego pieces rather than small, expensive eggs. If using Lego, the children could be challenged to make something creative out of the pieces they collect. The children can trade these items, or their Lego creations, in for one large special treat, like an Easter Bunny. Keeping a close eye on the flyers close to Easter could mean getting a great price on what is purchased, too. I once made an Easter Bunny shaped cake out of two round cakes by using one for the head and cutting ears out of the second one. If the items to make an Easter Bunny cake or cupcakes (or even cookies!) are already in your pantry, costs could be kept quite low. 

Spring Cleaning for Cash

I enjoy spring cleaning. The big bonus is that it often puts a few extra bucks in my pocket. This year, I already have several items on my list to sell: an old pool cue, some extra construction materials, some books. I plan to set a limit on how long they will be posted. Here’s some great tips for selling online.

Anything that doesn’t sell in two weeks that is related to construction will go to the local Habitat for Humanity. I will actually get a tax receipt for those donations! Anything else will go to a local church-run thrift shop that has reasonable prices and uses the revenue to help those in need locally. I will end up with some cash for gas in my pocket, and these local charities will also benefit. The bottom line: less dust and less clutter in my 18 by 24-foot eco-cabin! 

Starting Seedlings

Depending on the year, I may start more, or I may start less. I do start as many as I can, with my own saved seeds whenever possible. I like knowing where my seeds come from. I like growing heirloom varieties that do well in my specific locale. And, importantly, I like the cost of seeds compared to buying seedlings! As organic seedlings are even more expensive than regular ones, growing my own is one way I keep the cost of my garden low from year to year.  

Affordable Fun

I have a friend who is taking a spring trip to tour Ireland for an entire month! While that would be fun, my own choices for fun are more affordable and local. I hope to join a local naturalist group for a free hike in the next couple of months. I have been attending dance events at the local halls. $9 gets you four hours of dancing to a DJ and a light lunch. $18 gets you four hours of dancing to a live band and a full pork supper with dessert! In addition, I love attending traditional Irish dance with the local Irish community every week. It is like square dancing and is included in my annual membership with the group, which is only $25.

Spring is Springing – Are You Saving?

There are many ways to save a few bucks in springtime. Could you see yourself trying any of the thrifty spring tips offered here? Do you have any spring savings ideas you can share with us? Please tell us in the comments below.

About Colette

Colette is passionate about sharing her knowledge of thrifty living and self-sufficiency. She has developed her skills in self-reliance living in the suburbs, the city, and more recently, on her own Half-Acre Homestead. Colette lived five years completely off-grid and without running water in an eight by 24 foot tiny home while designing and building her own 18 by 24-foot eco-cabin. Her website, Half Acre Homestead is attracting followers from around the world who want to become more self-sufficient.  Colette invites you to stop by the Homestead and check out all of the great resources including the practical How To Guides, A Tiny Home Resource Center and her organic gardening stories on her blog. She shares her wholistic model (body/mind/spirit) for achieving self-sufficiency in her Free Course, “Growing Self-Sufficiency: The Whole Picture.” Stop by the Homestead today to register free of charge!