Sustainable Personal Finance

Recession Gardening to Save Money

By Guest

I recently discovered a practice that I’d never heard of before – recession gardening. Instead of heading to the grocery store for your veggies and herbs, you can head out to the back yard!

What is recession gardening?

This is the practice of growing fruit, veggies and herbs in your very own garden. This practice is becoming more and more in vogue, as people are trying to spend less, and are more conscious of how their produce is grown and distributed.

Recession Gardening Benefits

Delicious, fresh food
You know exactly what’s going into the food (organically grown, no pesticides, etc)
Helpful to the environment

Recession Gardening Disadvantages

Can be time-consuming
High start-up cost if you don’t yet have equipment and tools
You need to be green-fingered!

How to get started

To start your own home-grown produce garden, you can either start with seeds, seedlings, or fully grown plants. The latter will be the most expensive for an initial purchase, and seeds tend to be the cheapest. This makes sense, as you are the one going to be doing all the work on growing the plants, and they’re priced accordingly.

You’ll also need some tools (trowel, watering can, shears, fork), if you don’t already have them. You can pick up some basic gardening tools for a few dollars at your local hardware stores.

You may also need things like pots and containers, but that depends on what you’re going to be growing. Plus, you can always start out by growing seedlings in old yoghurt pots, plastic food containers, etc.

What to grow

What produce you can grow may depend on where you live, the climate, the soil type, etc. Do a bit of googling, or ask for advice at your local garden store. Some ideas of things to grow:

Tomatoes
Lettuce
Green beans
Spinach
Potatoes
Peas
Parsley
Peppers
Broccoli
Asparagus

The list is almost endless, but those items above are a few of the most common items you may find in a home-grown garden.

Gardening tips

You recession garden may take a lot of care and attention. There are books and books dedicated to gardening tips, but here are a few pointers with the recession garden in mind:

Start out small if you’re new to gardening, learn as you go
Plan ahead – what goes where, especially if you’re short on space
Trade – if neighbours are also growing, specialise in certain crops and trade with friends

Conclusion

With this sustainable practice, you’ve got to take a long-term view. You’re not going to get a full crop and a wide range of veggies within the first year. It may take a few years to build up a good stock of produce, and you’ll also be learning as you go along. Costs may be higher in the first year, but over time you will be saving a lot of money, as you no longer have to buy many of these fresh items from the grocery store. Plus, there’s the added pride in being able to eat something delicious that you’ve grown yourself, with the power of your own two hands.

Do you grow your own veg? Got any more tips to share?

Today’s guest article was written by Anna, owner of Bargainmoose.ca. Bargainmoose is a Canadian deals website where you can find the latest shopping bargains and online coupon codes, helping Canadians save lots of loonies every day!

Monthly Link Love – Greener Edition

By Sustainable PF

Time for our monthly link love once again! Spring is upon us in Canada and the world around us is greening. I have enjoyed seeing wildlife return from the winter slumber – butterflies, a lot of different birds, squirrels and even the local cats are out and about more often. There were also a lot of great posts I enjoyed that touch on all things green and/or sustainable.

The format is the standard I like to do: 12 great reads, 3 editor picks and 1 editor choice (my favourite from the last month).

Here goes!

Kevin @ Thousandaire attended a heckuva bachelor party recently. Thing is, Kevin doesn’t drink but he does weigh in on the costs of bachelor party drinking in a recent article. A while back I covered groomsman wedding expenses so Kevin’s post brought back some fuzzy memories. One of the groomsmen in my wedding bought a case of beer – thing is, it was $3 per beer so he paid out $75 for a case! Ouch.
I am always interested in ETF analysis and when a comparison between products is done, even better! Canadian Couch Potato took a look at ING’s Streetwise Fund versus the TD E-Series. Nice to have a great analysis by one of my favourite sites.
I love the power of blogging. Common Cents Mom was having an awful time getting a health card for her daughter who needed one ASAP. SO CCM wrote about it on her site and the Ministry of Health actually visited her site which ultimately led to the delivery of a health card! Awesome!

Our friend Miss T looks at how to choose an ethical/green financial planner. While I don’t think we’ll ever use a FP ourselves (disdain for fees) if we were to do so we would investigate those who have some experience, knowledge and passion for socially responsible investing.
Speaking of SRI, Retire by 40 had a guest post on the topic with a focus on SRI index funds.
Natural gas is cheap and abundant. The oil sands can make a big dent in our oil imports. Financial God wonders why environmentalist in North America are against oil and gas produced on this continent. I think the energy industry is making strides to clean up the extraction and refinement of these necessary resources while providing employment and wealth in North America. As long as improvements continue this “tree hugger” is OK with supporting advances in producing our own energy. Continue reading Monthly Link Love – Greener Edition

Looking for a Job after University

By Miranda

The job market looks a little tough right now. If you want to find employment after you graduate from university, you need to stand out. This means that you need to showcase your value — and you might even need to be willing to do a little hard work for little to no money. If you are looking for a job after university, here are some things you can do to improve your chances:

Internship

One of the best things you can do while still at university is to participate in an internship. An internship can provide you with hands-on experience in a career, as well as help you make contacts that could be part of your career network later. An internship can provide you with skills, opportunities, and more. Even doing an internship after college can be helpful. The important thing is that you are gaining experience, and that you are making connections.

Clean Up Your Social Media Profiles

Increasingly, your social media profile is becoming part of your job search. So you have questionable information and images on your profile? While you do want to make sure appropriate privacy settings are observed, you should still be aware of how it’s possible for others to see what is posted. Remember to tone it down on social media. It’s also possible to create a social media profile on sites like LinkedIn that are aimed at professionals.

Realize, too, that what you post on social media can show up in search. So including key words about what you do, and posting about news in your desired industry, can help you get noticed by recruiters. It can also help you stand out if a company decides to search for you online after receiving your resume. Consistent social media profiles that show you as a professional can be helpful.

Part of cleaning up your social media profile is getting a professional email address. Your first and last name, or some variation, is always a safe choice. If you are still using BeerBong69 as your email address, you are likely to find yourself in the reject pile.

Attend Networking Events

Many university career centers hold networking events that can introduce you to alumni in various career fields. Take advantage of these events, and of other opportunities offered through your university career center. You can also attend networking events in your town, such as those put on by the local Chamber of Commerce or other business group, or attend conferences in your industry. These are opportunities to make connections and meet new people.

Another form of networking is to use the Internet. Identify people at companies you would like to work for, and then connect with them online. Start out by following them on social media outlets, and then occasionally re-posting what they say when it makes sense in terms of your industry. You don’t want to be heavy-handed about it, but you can get noticed if you are careful about it. The goal should be relationship-building, though.

Bottom Line

A lot of successful job hunting has to do with building relationships and making connections. If you can start doing that while you’re at university, and make an effort to engage people online and offline, you will have more success in the job hunt.

Any other ideas on how to land a job after university?

Public Service Compensation – Really So Bad?

By Sustainable PF

Earlier this week Teacherman wrote about whether or not public service compensation is the next “bubble” to burst. In the article, which I thought was excellent, TM, a civil servant himself, argues that public service compensation is “racing ahead” and the great gains public servant in Canada are achieving need to be curbed now, not later. TM makes some valid points, however, there are a few points where we do not see eye to eye.

Full disclosure: Mrs. SPF and I are public servants in the province of Ontario. Our livelihood, like TM, is intrinsically dependent on the public service compensation our employer provides. Additionally, elements of our compensation, like health benefits and a defined benefits pension plan are key parts of our future personal financial plan. Like TM, I will endeavour to not impart personal bias when discussing the subject of public service compensation.

Teacherman sites two studies in his article (CUPE and Treasury Board). These (typical) studies on this topic leverage statistics which can be selectively adopted based on the driving interests of the organization that produced the analysis while ignoring extremely important comparison considerations. This goes for both sides of the argument. When it comes to statistics I agree with Mark Twain (who attributed 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli): “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”. Continue reading Public Service Compensation – Really So Bad?