My wife and I are going to teach the kids just how cheaply you can live, yet still live comfortably. I've got a section of my yard, opposite of the side with the troublesome neighbors, that was marked off and tilled under last fall. I've been adding to a composting barrel since August, and should have a pretty good product to till into the soil for fertilizer. The items going in the barrel have been coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, egg shells, leaves, etc.

The garden is small, 10X30, but should yield a decent amount of the vegetables we're planning...bell peppers, tomatoes, green beans. We also have a small 8' diameter area in the back corner of the yard that I'm going to plant a squash of some sort. In the front yard, which is only 6' deep, we'll be planting onions and carrots with an herb box in between.

I don't expect enough of a yield to support the 4 of us for the entire year, but enough to show the kids what a little hard work and callouses will produce, as well as how much money it saves.

I have mom's canning items, about 20 cases of quart jars and rings, as well as her other equipment, so the initial outlay of money for canning will be very small, mainly the tops.

I've also come across a recipe for laundry detergent that yields enough product to do make 10 gallons of detergent that is safe for HE machines, at a total cost of less than $0.02 per load. If you add Febreeze to the recipe, the cost goes up about another penny or so.

I have a friend on the outskirts of town that is letting us raise two calves for fall slaughter on his property along side with his cattle. As long as I can convince the kids that you don't name your food and try to make it a pet, then this should be easy.

Other areas around the house that we've been able to cut back was the electric bill. The kids were constantly leaving lights on. I added some motion sensing wall switches for the bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and dining room. That made a noticeable difference in the monthly bill.

I also added a programmable thermostat for the furnace...another money saver. We plan on insulating the attic this spring (nothing is up there currently ) which will make another noticeable change. There's not much I can do to the walls without tearing alot of it apart...they are horse hair plaster from 1900. I don't think I could shoot foam in them with much success.

Water savings have been a challenge, as I can't stand taking a shower with a water saving shower head...it reduces the pressure so that it takes longer to rinse the soap out of your hair, and with two women in the house with long, thick hair...it's nearly impossible. Both toilets are water savers, one of them having a pressurized bladder in the tank to power flush with less water consumption.

Our goal is to have total monthly utility bills under $350...we're currently at roughly $425. We want to show the kids that you can live comfortably with less money and more work

What ways have you guys thought of to help educate your kids to save money?

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I love what you are doing and am doing some of it myself. My Dad tried to get me interested when I was a teenager but by then I was way too cool and way too smart to care. Now, decades later, I am dumb enough and humble enough to see that it is the coolest thing going.

It is surprising how many super wealthy people are into "the good life". This is what life has been for eons. Cars, cel phones, restaurants and credit cars are not part of living, just a slow death.

If you would point me in the direction of that laundry soap recipe I would like to see that.

I had my hands on a book that was published during WWII and told how to replace products that were in short supply due to the war effort. Can't find that book.

BTW, don't hesitate to buy to make up your shortfalls. For example, it is difficult to make enough quality compost to really sustain you. It is not easy to buy quality stuff either, scams are everywhere. I bought a trailer load, four yards. Best deal ever.

Tomatoes are an Andes Mountain plant. Learn what can be foraged in your area and find plants you can grow that are compatible with your area. If you need chemicals you are not on track.

Using your infrared thermometer to check your windows for leaks works good too.

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

I think when kids learn from a very early age just what it takes to earn a dollar, the tendency to conserve that dollar comes along naturally.
Each of my kids began raising their own animals for food at the age of 4. As each reached that age, they took over the chicken coop. They fed, watered and gathered eggs and were allowed to sell eggs to the neighbors and keep the proceeds. At the same time, each was told "now that you're going to earn your own money, there will be christmas and birthday presents, but any other non-necessary toy, video game or other thing you want to buy you'll have to save for." That's essentially all the financial instruction they got. Imagine seeing an eight year old with her own money, in the toy aisle at WalMart, picking up some toy or other and saying "I'm not paying 20 bucks for THAT!"
At the age of 8, when they were old enough to handle, show and sell market animals at auction, they joined 4H. Swine, poultry, steers, lambs. Every kid did that yearly until age 18 and had to negotiate their own credit accounts with the feed store, which they settled upon sale of the animal. My middle daughter got so good at it that she began breeding show lambs to sell to other kids and left for college with quite a chunk of change in her pocket. They are all very good with their finances, none are afraid of work. Two out of three have put themselves through college and grad school and the last one is going to finish his first year with his scholarships intact. The only downside now is I have to clean my own chicken house.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Care to share that laundry detergent recipe?

That is excellent.

Quite the opposite of all the kids that I'm aware of. They get every single thing handed to them including every electronic gadget on the planet.

Makes them well suited for earning a living in a difficult society.

Here's the laundry detergent recipe...

My wife still has to use a stain stick on stains, but she had to do that with Tide as well.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I don't plan on using chemicals. I grew up on organic before organic was cool. When I was a kid, we grew all of our own foods, and picked up milk from the dairy farmer down in the valley, and paid for it through the barter system...we'd give a few cases of canned veggies per year for it.

Our goal in this is to not only show the kids what hard work produces, but also to teach them a few skills on how to survive with less. I guess you could say that we're preparing the kids for when and if the economy tanks again.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

With gas prices estimated to be high, that'd be something I'd look at. It's also one of those areas where you get multiple returns on investment.

Maintenance like tire pressure and rotation, clean air filters, valve adjustments, etc give better MPG, so there's an immediate payoff, but they also make the tires last longer, the engine run better and longer, etc. If the tires last 10k longer, that's almost a year before you have to buy new ones.

You can also look at time/money/efficiency. Cars run better when warmed up, so avoid short repeat trips by planning ahead and combining things. At the mall or shopping center, park within walking distance of multiple stores and use the car as a hub. If it's not moving, then it's not burning fuel. Combining the trips into one bloc also gives more free time later -- make the run, get it done, then move on to whatever else you want to do.

I'd also look at waste vs. cost per unit of an item bought. Two loaves of bread aren't a deal if you throw a lot away. Cheap batteries (e.g. the Kirkwood brand from Costco) seem like a good deal until you realize they drain quickly.

You mention water and you're planning a garden. Do you have a rain-capture system? Check your bill and see if you're paying for sewage based on water usage. If so, use that a learning point that you're paying for something you don't use if you use city water to irrigate. Rain water is better for the plants anyway, but you may get some argument about toxic runoff from asphalt-based roofing. Maybe a small metal-roofed shed on some nearby property could house the rain barrels and capture the water?

Mu Aunt and Uncle that raised me had a long pipe running from the roof gutters to a cistern. when I was a kid, I use to try and see if I could jump up and touch the pipe. About 5 years later, I moved to my Aunt and Uncle's house to live full time. What I didn't think about was that I had grown taller. I would run across the yard and my head would hit that pipe and knock me out cold. The funny this is that I didn't learn my lesson the first time.

__________________
For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

And I thought my $150/month was high.

I have what is called two boards insulation for the walls. Don't forget to keep those evap coils in the house unit clean too.

I'm going to try a small garden spot to start.

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Jim

Are you going to plant some Bologna Plants?

__________________
For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

I think so. Nothing like a plate of fresh Balogna every morning.

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Jim

A fried Bologna and egg samich is great in the morning.

__________________
For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

That figure includes the following...

Borough fees...electric, water and trash
County fees...sewage
Gas company...NG

It was much cheaper when we lived in UT due to the lower humidity in the summer, and milder temperatures in the winter. Here in PA, the cold will cut you to the bone. Energy prices here are higher as well.

I know, once the insulation goes in the attic, and a few other energy saving things happen, that our monthly outlay will be cheaper...

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles