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With the concern of chemicals used in growing food, there are more certified organic foods in regular food stores. For years, if you wanted to buy organic food, you had to go to a health food store.

These days, there is a selection of organic food on shelves of food stores. But, if you want a wider range, including fresh organic fruit and vegetables, you may still need to go to a dedicated organic or health food store.

When you walk into a regular food store, you can see that organic food is often more expensive than non-organic food. The reason for this variation, is the added cost and effort needed to grow organic food and to meet certification for organic food.

But, if you have a sensitivity to some of the chemicals used in growing food, then the cost to your health is much more than the cost of purchasing certified organic foods.

To read more Purchasing Chemical Free Food With Certified Organic Foods

Fair trade certified coffee has made a tremendous difference to the lives of many farmers.

This fair trade movement was accomplished partly by removing the “coffee middlemen” from the process, instead having coffee buyers deal directly with farmers or their cooperatives, to pay fair prices and allow growers to make an actual living instead of existing in poverty.

Fair trade hasn’t changed the entire roasted coffee industry, but it has begun to make a dent in how things are done.

But now the internet, to the surprise of many people, may prove to be the new path for middlemen to re-enter the roasted coffee industry. If farmers’ cooperatives could use the internet to sell directly to buyers, that would be one thing.

But almost none do, and instead, other middlemen, like monthly gourmet coffee clubs, add extra layers between the grower and ultimate consumer. Given that the coffee producers they bring to people’s attention already have their own websites, this layer is really unnecessary, but adds further costs to the supply chain.

Eventually, when savings are sought, it’s always the growers whose profits are sacrificed.

A coffee roaster can now, however, engage in what is being called direct trade, bypassing the fair trade business altogether. Direct trade is a return to the original fair trade ideas, of dealing directly with farmers and their cooperatives.

The fact that this practice has emerged in the roasted coffee industry, with its own label and everything, shows just how many buyers feel the original fair trade idea has already been undermined.

With the reappearance of the coffee middlemen and new concessions being made to corporations, it seems that trade that’s fair to coffee growers must be reinvented yet again.

To read more Buying Fair Trade Roasted Coffee

Organic coffee and coffee that’s fair trade aren’t necessarily the same thing, but in most cases the two designations easily go hand in hand.

The fair trade movement pushes for direct dealings between coffee buyers and the growers, eliminating the extra costs and unfair prices paid by coffee brokers and instead providing a fair price to the growers for their crops.

But the fair trade food movement also seeks to make the lives of farmers better in other ways. And one way is to help make their farms organic and environmentally sustainable.

The method of growing organic coffee is very different from mass production methods favored by gigantic coffee corporations. Coffee was originally shade-grown, but the corporations demanded that it be grown in the sun to produce higher yields.

Over the years, in Latin America particularly, this has meant large swaths of deforestation, leading to soil erosion and severe loss of biodiversity and bird populations.

With depletion of soil nutrients, it has also meant high use of pesticides and fertilizers. But while returning to organic methods may result in slightly lower yields, it also tends to produce better flavored coffee beans, rich in antioxidants and other nutrients.

People sitting in a coffee shop probably don’t realize just how much devastation in other parts of the world their morning cup might have caused.

But people in the fair trade movement and environmental movements are trying to promote better ways of producing that cup, and having farmers grow organic coffee is one of them.

This is a way of helping coffee bean growers make a good living now, while trying to prevent severe damage in the future.

To read more A Relaxing Morning With Organic Coffee

A fair trade coffee roaster does more than just serve as a processor of raw coffee beans purchased from producers. Many companies that produce coffee buy beans from suppliers without thought to where those suppliers got them, or how the farmers were treated.

But a company that wants to deal in fair trade has to give thought to exactly these issues. This is not a coffee company for whom cost and profit are all that matters. A fair trade roaster considers ethics and equity in its purchasing choices, right back to the plant as it grows in the ground.

Because the fair trade coffee roaster eliminates the middlemen who act as suppliers to the big coffee companies and pays such low prices to farmers, the roaster now has the responsibility to pay a fair price. There is usually a minimum fair price agreed upon by the world certifying agency.

But the fair trade companies go farther, because they also want the coffee to be organic as well as fair trade certified. So they try to provide technical assistance in learning organic farming methods.

These ethical practices have become even more important in the past couple of years, for the fair trade coffee roaster but even more crucially, for farmers themselves. With the per-pound price having collapsed along with the price of rice and other foods, followed by the banking crisis, most coffee growers are now on the verge of starvation.

Even corporations who had jumped on the certified fair trade bandwagon are now paying the lower price, yet are pocketing the gigantic profits from maintaining their coffee products at previous prices.

Ethical coffee buyers believe this is a signal that the entire industry needs restructuring around a fair trade model, before thousands lose their livelihoods or even die.

To read more Fair Trade Coffee Roaster Pays Fair Prices When Purchasing From Farmers

There’s plenty of working parents today that can’t imagine giving up one of the double-salaries that supports their family to stay at home and raise the kids. Lots of people would love to be the first caregiver in their children’s lives, but it almost seems impossible to provide for your family on one income.

The truth is that it’s very possible to meet your financial obligations on one salary, with a few sacrifices and changing monthly expenses. Also, staying at home to raise your kids means you’ll never have to miss another “first” and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your children are getting the best care possible.

The first step to analyzing the possibility of staying at home is sitting down and going over your monthly expenses. You need to figure out what you can reasonably give up. For instance, how often do you really watch movies on the premium cable you pay for?

Can you pare down your phone expenses by cutting back on long distance or getting rid of a cell phone plan? Now is the time to shop around for all the monthly services you use, as well as calling your insurance company to see if you can get a better deal. If you do find a better deal with another insurance company, call your current provider and ask if they can match it.

Staying at home doesn’t mean that you can’t earn money or help to provide for your family. There are plenty of ways that you can turn your talents and interests into a small home-based business to bring in a few extra dollars and help pay your monthly expenses.

For example, if you love crafts, make a bunch of items and sell them at local stores or at craft fairs. If you’re very good at something, you can offer to teach others and give courses.

The internet can be a good place for ideas and resources for home-based businesses, but do be cautious - if the offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Also, network with other stay-at-home moms. These women can end up being your best resources and your biggest support.

To read more Making Sacrifices And Changing Monthly Expenses

There are many books and websites about how to live frugally reducing costs, but for some people, doing without was not a choice; it was a way of life during the Depression.

The things that we take for granted today, like disposable plates, would not have been thrown away during the Depression era had they been available in those times, and they would have been washed and reused many times.

Most of us would never even consider washing a paper plate, let alone using it more than once, but maybe we should stop and take a look at our daily lives to see how much we waste and take for granted.

Many of us go through life wasting money and resources without a second thought. Taking a look back in time can give us some valuable lessons about the Depression tragedy to improve our lives today.

The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted through the 1930’s, but the cause of the hardships is still as of yet undefined. The effects, however, were all too real. In the kitchen, people used every drop and morsel possible, turning over ketchup bottles to rinse out the last little bit and add that liquid to a meat dish for flavor while reducing costs.

Each and every piece of turkey was cut and used. Probably the most resourceful of all was the use of flour and chicken feed sacks to make clothing. Dinner was whatever food was available and was definitely not a well-balanced meal.

Any item that was in a container was washed out when the contents were used up, the container reused over and over for storage.

The average person today in the United States carries a debt of $8,000. It’s very easy to wonder if that debt could have been a number far lower, had each of us been more careful and frugal in general while reducing costs.

For example, how many people bother to completely scrape out a peanut butter container, wash it out and reuse it for another purpose? Not many people go to such lengths and when the container runs low on contents, many of us simply toss it out.

There are lessons to be learned from the Depression and while no one is expected to live as frugally, saving money and being environmentally responsible should be something we each do, for our own good.

To read more Reducing Costs Around Your Home

Do you do a lot of traveling with your ice chest or cooler for barbecues and vacations? One idea to save on your family budget, instead of spending all that money on bags of ice, fill up some empty milk jugs with water, freeze them, and then put the frozen containers in your cooler to keep items cold.

Libraries are getting into the movie rental craze, and plenty offer DVDs, to help you save money for your family budget. There are libraries that have a website that you can browse for titles and even reserve the title of a movie you’d like to go pick up.

Renting movies this way is far cheaper than going to the movie rental store, and some libraries are even more convenient, offering self-checkouts.

Tube socks are great for cheap leg warmers. When toddlers get picked up in someone’s arms, often their pant legs push up and expose skin to the cold. You do not need to buy new new socks, and blow the family budget.

By cutting off the toe of a tube sock and using the tube as a leg warmer, your kids won’t have freezing flesh. Not only that, you can use the discarded toe of your tube sock for a great dusting mitt!

To read more Tips To Maintain Your Family Budget

For many, the word “coupon” causes them to break out in a sweat. Just the thought of clipping coupons and having to remember which ones you have, as well as to actually use them, sends some people into a state of panic. Using coupons does not have to be a chore if you create a system.

If you combine and go grocery shopping strategies and make informed choices with coupons, you can save a lot of money each time you shop. Just imagine what you could do with the money you save - you could buy that new outfit you’ve been eyeing in the store you walk by everyday, or you could get that designer purse, or have a night out.

You could save your money for a rainy day. Whatever you choose to do with the money you’ve kept in your pocket, you will feel a sense of accomplishment knowing you’ve saved without sacrificing quality.

Choosing generic products over big-name labels can save you lots of money and the product you’re buying is often the same as what’s under the packaging of that brand name you recognize when you go grocery shopping.

Manufacturers will sell their products to other companies who turn around and repackage items in their own boxes and containers. The quality of the product is exactly the same, but the difference is that you’ll save quite a bit of money when you buy generic products versus brand-name labels.

Dollar stores are a good place to shop as well. Many people think that the merchandise and products offered at these types of stores is there because it’s lesser quality, old, or stale, but that isn’t so.

Most often, manufacturers sell large amounts of products to dollar stores when they change their usual packaging and want to avoid the old packaging being displayed on store shelves.

After all, people like things that look new and innovative, but the truth is that what’s inside the box or container is the same thing, most of the time. By shopping at the dollar store, you’ll get the same product at one-third the cost when you go grocery shopping.

To read more Save Money Tips When You Go Grocery Shopping

What is cooking in bulk? It is the art of planning and preparing meals ahead of time. Some of you may think cooking this way sounds like a daunting task, but let’s look at some of the plus sides:

Your family eats more dinners together instead of separately in front of the TV; you save money when buying and cooking in bulk, as well as by not eating out so often; coming home from work is not so stressful when you have food already prepared.

You get to choose when you want to cook; you can cook your holiday meals ahead of time - think of all the stress you’ll avoid! Here are the short version steps and tips to cooking in bulk:

When shopping, plan your meals and cooking in bulk around what is on sale. For example, if the ground beef is on sale for a ridiculously low price, buy that and use it in your meals.

Do all your shopping at once, which may include going to two different stores to get everything you need at the best prices. Compare your grocery stores to warehouse clubs and thrift stores to see where the cheapest prices are.

Finding recipes for cooking in bulk is as easy as using your computer and the internet. Typing in ‘bulk cooking’ in a search engine will give you results of plenty of websites with great recipes everyone will enjoy (and more helpful tips!).

You can make your bulk cooking day a family affair and delegate tasks to kids and your partner, which can end up being some fun times spent together while you prepare meals that’ll keep everyone satisfied.

To read more Tips And Ideas For Cooking In Bulk

You may walk into a food store and you notice the prices on organic food are often higher, than the prices on food treated with chemicals. These prices are lower, because it is much easier to grow chemically treated food. You may wonder if there is a way to save money on organic food.

One way to save money is to grow your organic fruit, vegetables and herbs. You do not need a large space for a garden, you may even grow your plants in containers. Containers can be placed anywhere there is a reasonable amount of sunlight. You can even place grow lights to simulate sunlight on your plants.

Another option, is to buy your organic food from local producers and local farmers. Go to a farmers market in your local area and you will often find organic produce on sale, at much cheaper prices than in food stores.

Much of the organic produce you see in restaurants are bought from local farmers markets.

To read more Tips And Ideas To Save Money On Organic Food