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Personal Finances and Going Green

We all hear about the need to save money these days. There is no question that everyone is more concerned with personal finances than most of us were a year ago. There are many ways to save money, but some are less obvious than others.

It is a tricky balancing act to try and save money to improve personal finances, while at the same time providing balanced meals and entertaining activities to a family. One of the ways to do this is to garden. With children being increasingly over-scheduled, finding the time to have a garden may not be the easiest advice; but, unfortunately, one of the ‘solutions’ people and communities are using to budget is by cutting back on sports and other after-school programs. As such, there is a concomitant increase in free-time.

Getting children involved in gardening has numerous benefits for the entire family. While most families do not have the land to grow enough food to get them through an entire year, for the price of a few packets of seeds there are still many options for growing fresh produce which is healthy and can help cut down on trips to the store.

Home gardens can range from window boxes to patches in the back yard, and can produce enough for a few salads or a summer’s worth of corn, squash and potatoes. And of course, growing potatoes is always a good move with kids, because they lead to french fries! There are some species of fruit and vegetable that produce year-round, and others that only grow seasonally. Growing a garden can not only be a great family activity, but it can also be a learning and teaching experience for both parent and child.

It is equally an unfortunate fact of the times that more of us are being laid off from our jobs. Gardening will not only help us go green, stick with our budgets and keep to a more balanced diet, but it has other added benefits as well.

Again, regardless of the size, it provides activity, either the more strenuous kind with a backyard garden, or the lower-impact provided by planters and window-boxes. Many medical studies have proved that activity of any kind can improve one’s physical and mental health saving money on medical bills, which is never a bad thing. Especially if one has been laid off and is having a difficult time finding employment, the satisfaction of growing one tomato or fifty ears of corn can be of immense value. Personal satisfaction goes a long way, not to mention that it is something unique and interesting to put on a resume.

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