Tag Archives: green shopping

6 Ways Cutting Back is Good for Your Family

Like a lot of families, we’ve had to cut back this past year and a half or so. Not that we were extravagant in the past, far from it. But like a lot of families, our income is down this year, and the need to save still more has hit pretty hard.

Really, it’s good for us. Even if you’re lucky enough to not have to cut back, it’s probably good for your family too.

1. More time playing as a family at home.

Family game nights have long been a good idea. When you don’t have the money to spend on going to the movies or taking vacations, they’re a good way to still have some family fun.

Games can be active too. Tag, hide and seek and so forth don’t have to just be for the kids.

2. You find out just how great deals can be at thrift stores.

This has been gaining in popularity as more people realize that great clothes and other things are available for low prices through thrift stores.

This can also help if you have kids who are really into trendy clothes. You probably won’t get the most trendy stuff, but you can often find the right names at thrift stores. If you find clothes that are clearly barely worn or even still have their tags on them, it’s a lesson on how much people can waste just on wardrobe.

There’s no rule saying kids have to have the trendiest clothes, after all. That can be a painful lesson for some people, especially if all their friends are really trendy, but it’s a great lesson to learn.

3. Gardening is good for you.

Especially organic gardening. Once things are going, you can earn back your investment in fresh, better than from the grocery store produce. Plus you get exercise working in the garden.

Try to get the whole family involved. My kids have an absolute obsession with planting seeds, most of which don’t come up because they start forgetting to water them.

Besides, it’s fun telling kids that yes, they may snack off the tomato vines, beans or peas. Having kids beg for something healthy is great.

Plus you can give great lessons in sharing by having the kids give the excess to neighbors.

4. Doing it yourself encourages creativity.

Whether it’s sewing, knitting, home repair, cooking, making play dough or other such things, it’s good to know how to do it yourself. Making things builds an appreciation for them. Kids especially love the feeling of knowing that they made something by themselves.

For example, I’ve promised my daughter that I’ll teach her some basic sewing this year. Not the sewing with yarn kits that she has done with her grand mother, real sewing. She’s really excited by the notion, especially since we might just haul out the sewing machine once we’ve done some basic hand sewing. It doesn’t really save money compared to thrift store shopping, but for the pride of  “I made that!” it can’t be beat.

5. Simpler family outings can be a good thing.

Most of our family outings involve hiking, a wonderful free activity. It also helps to build an appreciation for nature. If you aren’t good at naming plants, try checking out a local nature guide from the library. You might be amazed at what grows wild in your area.

6. You can save a lot of money.

Some ways to cut back will cost extra at first, such as starting a garden, but in the long run should pay off.

It’s not always easy to cut back, but both financially and environmentally speaking it’s often a great choice. Keep in mind the differences between frugal, cheap and green, so that you can focus on which matters most to you.

Organic Foods on the Cheap – Money Saving Mondays

The problem many people have with buying organic food is the cost. It’s often significantly more expensive than conventionally grown produce. That’s rough when you’re on a tight budget.

But there are several ways to get organic food for less.

My own favorite way is to grow a garden. There’s some initial investment and a lot of time spent, but you will generally get back more than you put in. It’s likely to cost you less than what the conventionally grown produce would have cost you at the grocery store.

Although you do run the risk of failure if it’s just a bad year.

There are other ways to get organic food for less. These are a few.

1. Check the farmer’s market.

Some farmer’s markets have better prices than others, but you will probably find a good selection of organic produce there. If not organic, it’s probably locally grown, and that’s not a bad choice either.

Don’t be afraid to ask for a discount if you’re buying slightly damaged produce, and check out some of the less familiar foods. You can find some really interesting foods at farmer’s markets.

You’ll need to know what the prices are at your stores for organic produce to know what you’re saving at a farmer’s market.

2. Join a CSA

This one’s kind of tough, as the investment is upfront. However, if you check out this study done at the University of Massachusetts, you can see that you may be getting significantly more for your money with a CSA. No guarantees, of course, as anyone can have a bad year, but I wouldn’t expect that to be a regular problem.

If you have trouble with the cost or quantity of food, try splitting a share with a friend.

3. Buy in season.

Produce always costs less when it’s in season. If you have the space, the time and the inclination, you can freeze or can any excess you buy for later use.

This is One Reason Why Eating Local & in Season Matters

I came across this really depressing but informative article on Gourmet.com about the use of slaves to harvest tomatoes. Pretty much if you eat tomatoes out of season, you’re eating food that was picked by people who are effectively slaves.

The article was published in March, but I only came across it recently while using Stumble Upon. Amazing the things I find there.

Pickers are lucky to pick a ton of tomatoes on a particular day, for which they would earn about $50. However, they have to be available even when there isn’t work, and they are generally charged outrageous rents for extremely poor housing.

They can even be beaten for being too sick to work.

Your choices matter. Pay attention to where you shop. The Campaign for Fair Food has gotten some companies to agree to give pickers a pay raise, although many farmers are refusing to cooperate or be a conduit for the raise.

At this point, Whole Foods is the only grocery chain signed on to not buy from growers who exploit workers so badly.

Almost as bad as the treatment so many workers labor under, are the people in the comments who feel they deserve such treatment for being in the United States illegally.

Yes, it’s hard to think of paying more for your food. But if you think of the people involved in the entire process of getting food to your table it might be worth it.

Green Gardening

I love my garden. It’s off to a nice start, although I’m a little concerned about the gopher hole that appeared this morning in the middle of the herb garden. Hopefully the neighbor’s cats are on top of that situation. I’d far rather the cats hunt gophers than birds.

We generally keep an organic garden. I’m still working with my husband on some points; he keeps trying to forget that adding compost to the soil should replace any need to fertilize the soil. It’s hard to break the habits you were taught about gardening growing up, I suppose. But this year I’ve managed to keep him from hauling out the fertilizer. He did try.

And that’s something important to remember. While gardening is mostly an environmentally friendly activity, there are things you can do to your garden that will make it less so.

Fertilizers and pesticides pretty much top that list.

I’m fortunate in that my husband better understands the need to avoid pesticides. We get ladybugs for our garden and plant marigolds. We know that some plants and produce will get nibbled by various pests before we can do anything about it.

And when the neighborhood raccoons come and nibble, there’s just not much to be done for it.

The tools you use matter too. I was looking at some of the garden tools suggested on Amazon’s Green section, and wincing to see leaf blowers recommended. Get a rake and broom, people! You don’t need to use power to clean up leaves. Like many businesses, they’re trying, but really just aren’t there yet on their recommendations.

If you can manage it, a drip irrigation system is better than using sprinklers. It’s some extra work, but much less wasteful of water. The expense can be a bit of a pain if your budget is tight, but if you live in an area facing water restrictions what better way to comply and save your garden? Drip irrigation can use half the water of sprinklers.

I’ve always found it interesting that going green often means a combination of spending a little extra and saving a bunch of money, plus a little extra effort. It’s that first bit and that last bit that I think really throws people off wanting to go green. But try it in your garden. It’s worth it.

What to Do for Earth Day?

Today is Earth Day. These days I find it to be an interesting combination between environmental concern and consumerism. So many companies take the opportunity to greenwash.

That’s not to say there aren’t good things to buy for Earth Day. If there’s a truly green change you’re wanting to make it’s a good time to do it.

For example, you might choose to use more energy efficient lightbulbs, such as CFLs. You might change laundry detergents. You might switch from a gas powered lawn mower to a push mower. You might buy a composter and start composting. You might switch to a low flow showerhead.

You get the idea. Just be sure that you’re really making an environmentally sound choice, not falling for greenwashing. There’s a lot of that out there.

If you’re living a generally green life already, you may feel like there’s not much to be done to improve your home, at least not within your current budget. That’s fine. There’s plenty more you can do.

There are Earth Day events in most communities. Some will be today, others on the weekend. Last year, for example, my family and I attended an event where people were able to help plant trees in an area that had burned in a wildfire. Our kids were too tired that day to help, but they enjoyed the educational parts of the event and a short hike through the nature reserve.

You can also encourage people you know to get more involved. One day doesn’t do much for the planet, but if you can use it to get people who aren’t thinking about the environment to consider it more, you could help with the problem. These things take time, after all.