DO VEGETABLE GARDENS REALLY SAVE MONEY?

NO! OK, maybe.... in the long run. But not enough. When people visualize a beautiful garden full of vegetables, they don't imagine pulling off hundreds of caterpillars, bugs, fungus, etc. every day to be able to even get one decent tomato.

I would have to say, I spent $300 on my garden, and got about $50 worth of produce. NOT a good deal.

I took a HUGE loss, especially considering the time I put into it. SO.... I decided to give people other options to reap the same benefits with better guarantees, and this comes with a CSA. We have a CSA that for $550 per year, you get 1 share. I WANT my family to eat healthier food so desperately that I decided to check into it.

Now, I have NO IDEA how much you get for that $550, but I looked under employment, and they were looking for people to help out 5 hours a week. These people who work 5 hours per week for 20 weeks, receive a full share ($550 value) of the CSA. So, for 100 hours of work, this is about $5.50 per hour. This is NOT a bad wage considering I can work it around my oldest child being home, and no "Taxes" on my share. Taking a $50 daycare day into consideration, and 18% of that, my share WOULD cost me nearly 2k. Since Big C can watch them for the 5 hours I am gone, it equates to free food. Not only that, it is an EXCELLENT learning experience and will better my abilities to growing my own food. So... fingers crossed, I hope I get the "position"

2012 revelations for big family, bigger bills

I feel like I have learned a LOT over the past 4 months. My seasonal business did quite well for 7-8 weeks, but I was running CONSTANTLY 80+ hours a week. BUT I can stay home with the kiddoes for the next year and SURVIVE, between my husband's income and the money I put aside.

We paid off 2 credit cards, so have 2 credit cards and 2 car payments to go. I paid back mom (who was so wonderful to loan us the money to get the business started!), so next year we will do even better.

SO this leaves me 45 weeks out of the year to try and supplement our income. This year, I need to be able to take care of the babies and make $200 per week to keep up with our standard of living.

I just ordered a book on amazon. Sadly enough, it is not available on an e-reader. It is called the TIGHTWAD GAZETTE. It is by far the BEST resource I have found about saving money, yet they DO take it to extremes. I am expecting it on Tuesday, and that, along with a few resources on the internet, my next post will be on the top ideas and resources to save money.