The biggest frugal failure that is 100% my own fault is the demise of my beloved house plants. If you know me (Kate), I've been working diligently to cultivate a number of plants around the house. Apparently, not diligently enough, as many of them look TERRIBLE. Since I spend a large, large part of the day at home (with 4 kids 6 and under) (in a small ranch), I get to walk by said terrible-looking houseplants many, many times. And, it has begun to depress me.
FRUGAL FAILURE #1: Buying the cheapest dirt.
So a couple months ago (before things got really bad), I decided to transplant some of my house plants. I went to Meijer and got two bags of dirt. One bag of nice, name-brand dirt and one bag of generic 'top soil'. Turns out the 'top soil' was simply clay covered in black dirt. I thought, who cares I'll use it anyway. Within a few days, the plants begun to rot in their clay prison.
FRUGAL FAILURE #2: Not bothering to find care instructions.
After a few weeks of watching my plants wither back towards death, I decided to get nice dirt and replace every plant. I did that and it seemed to perk them up a bit. Then they started to die again. So, yesterday I decided to actually look up care instructions online for common houseplants. Turns out I had some in sun that shouldn't be and over-watering and all sorts of bad things. If I would have looked this information up 6 months ago, I might have avoided this debacle all together.
FRUGAL FAILURE #3: Not knowing I had two poisonous plants within arms reach of my kids.
So, it turns out that the peace lilies are toxic to kids and pets. Who knew? Well, I would have if I looked up its care instructions six months ago. It is like keeping poinsettias out for the kids to chew on. So, I'm just going to toss the above pictured plant because it looks like crap anyway. I do have a huge one that is performing beautifully that is up for a foster home for a few years. Fingers crossed my mother-in-law will take it.
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