1. Am I Spending My Money Wisely in Other Areas?

First, take a look at how your monthly budget breaks down. How much might you spend per month on cable television? On video games? On shopping habits for luxuries or somewhat un-needed objects? Do you perhaps not blink at spending $100 a month for pay-television channels but balk at $5 for a box of cereal? Food is the most important step to a healthy body and mind. If there’s room in your monthly budget to let go of non-necessities and improve the quality of what you eat, then it would be great if you want to consider adjusting your budget!

2. Am I Doing All That I Can to Bring the Cost of Food Down?

Do you know why the cost of food is so high? Do you have a basic understanding of the role that food industry lobbyists, government subsidies, large industrial food corporations like Monsanto, and even the global price of oil play in setting the market price of food? If not, you can learn via the internet, documentary movies and more about why food prices continue to climb. Then, before you complain, ask yourself if you’re really doing all that you can to help control food prices. Are you supporting companies who ultimately lobby the government for decisions that cause food prices to rise? If you’re not taking action, it can be said that you’re passively allowing food prices to be beyond your control.

3. Have a Realistic Outlook on the Cost of Food

The truth of the matter is that America pays less than any country in the Western World for food. We’re all experiencing the impact of the recession, and every penny certainly matters. However, it’s good to take a moment to stop and be thankful for the fact that we live in a place where we have both abundant and affordable food. Yes, the increasing cost of food can stretch our budgets, but things could be much, much worse.

4. What Can I Do Locally?

If the cost of store-bought food is stretching your budget significantly, there are a number of things that you can do locally or at home to help reduce your food budget and also make you and your family healthier. No matter what your living situation is, gardening is always a possibility. Whether you have a large yard, grow pot tomatoes indoors or participate in a community garden, growing your own vegetables can reduce expenses and ensure that your food is free of genetically modified materials or chemicals. You can also reduce the amount of meat that you and your family eat. Not only will reducing meat decrease your food expenditures, but it will improve your health. Consider starting with incorporating Meatless Monday into your week.

5. Am I Wasting Food?

Most importantly, before you knock the cost of food, take a look at your own habits and see if you’re perhaps wasting precious food. Americans waste about 30 million tons of food each year. It’s fair to complain about the increasing cost of food, but only if you’re doing your part to ensure that you don’t waste food. In the past, Postconsumers has provided some tips on reducing food waste.

The cost of food is definitely an issue facing just about everybody these days. However, before you dislike how expensive it is to eat, think about whether you’re doing all that you can to reduce your food bill (and keep yourself healthy).

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Photo via Flickr Creative Commons: jessica mullen

Pre-Plan Before Hitting The Park

Many Major League Baseball parks have stepped up over the past few years and started implementing recycling programs into their concessions while replacing bulbs with more energy efficient LED lights and using more sustainable practices with their fields. Those are all fantastic things! But you can help add to going green at the park by taking public transportation to the game (in fact, many cities like St. Louis have tram stops right next to the park), or by carpooling with other fans (both can mean that if you plan on imbibing at the park, you don’t have to drive). Another thing you can do is eat a healthy meal before you head out – not only are many of the concessions sold at big and small baseball parks bad for you, they usually come in non-recyclable containers and can produce a lot of waste. Having a hearty and healthy meal before you hit the park will be better for your body and the planet.

Green Baseball Party Tips

Watching your favorite team at home on the TV during the summer is a great excuse to have some people over for a cookout. And it’s super easy to go green for a baseball party! Using reusable glasses, plates, utensils, and cloth napkins all help. When you’re cooking on the grill, make sure you consider using a propane or electric grill that will give off less carbon monoxide. If you must use charcoal, choose carefully – there are plenty of sustainable charcoal products out there that are less harmful and are sustainable.

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Kids love superheroes, and adults who love superheroes have a lot of nostalgia about their favorite childhood memories – which makes a movie like The Avengers a huge deal for Paramount Pictures, the major studio that’s putting it out. The average Postconsumer is already well aware that the promotion has been hitting television and the Internet pretty hard in the past few weeks, and will stay steady for the next few months or so as more summer movies are released to compete with it. But what if your kids ask for a toy? Chances are all the other kids will be talking about Avengers toys, clothes, or other swag. Instead of giving in, why not ask your kids to act out their own version of The Avengers instead? You might even want to consider scouring yard sales and even thrift stores for discarded toys based on the superheroes in the movie.

What’s enough for you and your family? Do your kids want to see this movie? What are you going to tell your kids who want to see it with friends?

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Food Bank: Helping out at your local food bank will keep your kids busy, active, and interactive. They can work on their sorting and social skills with the staff and other kids. Your children can learn about hunger and how donated food really gets to hungry local families.

Animal Shelter or Animal Organization: Local animal shelters are always looking for volunteers, either at the shelter itself or at adoption fairs. They get to learn about different breeds of dogs and cats, and of course play with them whenever safe! (Just be careful when they ask if they can adopt a little critter to take home with them.)

Trash Pickup: There are a plethora of organizations that do community cleanup days in all parts of your town or city. There are also ways to get involved with cleaning up hiking trails, then helping to plant flowers, assist in making new trails, and helping to maintain facilities around your local parks.

Library Readers and Helpers: If the idea of being outside all summer sounds like too much for your little ones, have them help you read at your local library. If they’re a little older, they can help out with the reading themselves. They can even help out the staff with sorting and shelving books.

Sponsoring Soldiers: For our brave men and women all over the world, getting a letter or package that’s a little slice of home makes a big difference in their lives. There are plenty of national organizations where kids can adopt a soldier and make a new pen pal. There are also local programs where kids can help put together care packages to go to soldiers overseas.

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Honestly, I feel as though I shamed my mother into at least beginning to go through the boxes stashed in what I call the “hoarding room.” While my mother’s home is cluttered, there really isn’t a spot that looks like she’s a hoarder … except for my father’s old study. Literally, that room looks as though it could have been taken directly from an episode of any of the cable TV shows that makes us all feel better about ourselves because “at least we’re not those people who hoard.” It was when I pointed this out to my mother (and the fact that the room is a fire hazard), that she finally began going through the boxes in there.

We haven’t made what I would call “extensive” progress in clearing things out of that room, but we are making progress. One of the hold ups is that so many items in that room hold memories for my mother. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing.

On the good end, whenever she picks up an item that reminds her of something, she gets inspired to make a phone call or send an email remembering the time or event that she’s been inspired to think about. At sixty-eight years old, that’s actually quite a beautiful process. Family vacations, personality traits of people, holidays, books she’d read a long time ago, all of these are wonderful memories of a lifetime that she gets to revisit as she cleans out the “hoarding room.”

But then there’s the bad end. That’s the end where, once the item has reminded her of a memory or special moment, she doesn’t want to get rid of it. Then the struggle begins. She fears that if she gets rid of the object, she’ll lose the memory as well. My “child logic” of pointing out that many of the items in this room have been in this room for a decade without being looked at does not win her over. The response is something like, “Well, maybe in another decade I’ll want to be reminded of these special moments.”

And then I sigh. Because that is what adult children do.

We’re trying to tackle the “stuff and memories” issue by creating a photo album and a scrapbook. In some cases, it’s easing her worry about giving up “things” that “mean” things to her. On the other hand, a photo isn’t the same to her as an old shirt or an old dish. The photo wasn’t “there for the event” like the item was.

It’s slow going to say the least. But when I visited her this weekend, she gave away a ton of old photos to family members. And that’s not only a win in that she cleared items out, but also in that it was a great sharing moment for all of us.

I believe that, optimistically, it will be the end of the year before that room is cleared out. I’ll take a picture next time that I’m home to document the progress! Wish me luck!

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Photo via Flickr Creative Commons: Wonderlane

1. Make your house into a day spa: With a little searching on the Web, you can find plenty of recipes for skin treatments from ingredients you can buy at the store. Also, consider making your own candle to help create a calm, relaxed environment around the house. Put on some relaxing music and treat yourself to a purely “you” day.
2. Family hiking or bicycling day: What better way to enjoy the summer than to go on a bike ride? If you live near a park that has bike trails, take a day with the kids to explore and ride. Just as fun is grabbing a book on plants and going on a hiking trip to learn about the local flora and fauna.
3. Picnics: We recently talked about having an eco-friendly picnic, and taking a (sunscreened) day at your nearest park or camping site is a great way to hang out while you’re outside.
4. Help organize a block party: What better way to get to know your neighbors than to have a party! Organize with your neighbors to have a cookout, some games, and invite other neighbors to join in on the fun!
5. Art day: Are your walls looking a little bare? Have an art day to create some cool creations to hang on your walls. If you have kids, they’ll be so proud to have their masterpieces on the wall or your fridge.

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1. Shorts: You can find all different styles and colors of shorts for the summer at the thrift store. If you don’t find a pair you like, even just buying an old pair of jeans and cutting them to your specific length works, too (and you can use the leftover material for rags or a crafty project).
2. Skirts and dresses: Every time I walk into a thrift store, the dress selection is always huge. A light skirt or dress is perfect for the summertime.
3. T-shirts: Another great selection at the thrift store is t-shirts. With a little digging around, you can find some funny and funky shirts for you or your kids.
4. Light tops: To go with your skirts and shorts, a little digging can also net you some great, breathable tops in all kinds of colors and styles that you can wear for any occasion and use for mixing and matching.
5. Bathing suit tops: Of course, bathing suit bottoms aren’t necessarily recommended buys (though you can repurpose t-shirts for the lining), but you can also find some bathing suit tops that will go great with some black bottoms.

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See A Movie

One of the best things to do with your sweetie or your kids is to watch a movie under the stars. Most parks and rec programs have a movie series where families are encouraged to bring blankets and watch a movie with the kids. It’s like a movie picnic! If you’re into the more mature movies, there are many theaters and other venues that show old art house films or run a series of movies based on a certain actor or director.

See A Play Or Musical

Here in Vegas, we actually have a whole bunch of cool plays and musicals that are put on by the local parks department which are low price and make for a great night out. We even have “Shakespeare In The Park,” where a different Shakespeare play is presented every year for free, and you can sit on the grass and watch some of the old bard. Many theater companies will have free preview shows of plays they’re presenting – while it won’t be perfect because they’re working out the kinks, you can still get the experience of a full play.

See A Concert

I love going to concerts, and seeing one in the park or at a library is a lot of fun, because it’s not like a typical, loud show where all these people are milling around trying to get to the front of the stage. You can kick back, relax and enjoy the sounds of a jazz band or orchestra and just take in the music. Here in Vegas, there’s always a free series of concerts that happen during the summer – last year you could see 1980s bands and artists for free downtown every weekend. Make sure you check the paper or websites to see who’s playing in your town!

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Share With Your Family

Some of the best stories are the ones that are told by your very own family. When I was a kid, when my Dad would have cookouts during the summer, he used to love to tell stories about his childhood in Pittsburgh with his brother. On the other hand, when I got a little older – particularly in high school – my Dad loved to tell stories to my friends at birthday dinners about me as a kid, and most of them were embarrassing. These stories give us a little history of ourselves and where our families come from. Sharing stories of your own family is a great way to remember and grow closer together.

Remembrance Stories

Tell A Story Day is also the perfect excuse to remember our loved ones who have passed on in the form of the memories we have of them. Taking the day to tell the stories of your favorite memories will let their memories live on. For me, I love telling stories about my Mom – it gives my friends an insight into how awesome a person she was, and it’s a way for me to properly remember her. A great way to recall old stories is to go through your photo albums and tell the story of particular pictures – I’ve remembered many stories that way!

Cultivate Your Storytelling Skills

Of course, Tell A Story Day doesn’t necessarily have to be about stories that are true! When’s the last time you spun a good tale? Making up a story can help you work on your creativity, public speaking skills, or even your comedic timing. If you have little ones, making up a story to tell them as they fall asleep can give them memories for years to come, and maybe even inspire you to be more creative!

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1. Grocery shopping: Of course, you should always take a list with you when you go to the store, but also consider buying generic brands instead of the more expensive brands. Planning out meals ahead of time will help you focus on only getting what you need. Also, making your own cleaners out of basic grocery items will be better for your health and budget.
2. Utilities: The weather during the spring is usually a great time to leave your heating/cooling unit off. On warm days, open the window and let the sun in, and on the cooler days, leave your curtains or blinds closed to help your bills stay low. If you’re seeing nicer weather, consider using your grill instead of your oven for cooking. It’s also a super time to go through your living space and unplug appliances that you don’t use.
3. Go to free local events: Spring usually means the start of a ton of free events happening in your area. Concerts, classes, plays – they’re all out there for you to see for no money!
4. Stay home for Spring Break: If you have a spring vacation, your best bet might just be to stay home and have fun – you’ll not only save money, you’ll save on gas or other waste that vacations might contribute to.
5. Have a yard sale: What better way to celebrate the accomplishment of spring cleaning than to have a yard sale! You’ll meet some new people, get rid of old stuff, and maybe even make a couple of bucks – every little bit helps.

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Need more assistance in learning to let go of the consumer media’s impact on your life, take control of your finances and find the satisfaction of enough for today? The Get Satisfied Interactive Handbook is a 30-minute web course that walks you through a series of specific questions and then presents a personalized how-to plan for becoming a postconsumer. Launch your evaluation for free right now.