These days, it’s hard to get the kids off the couch with the Internet and video games to contend with, let alone get the whole family together for a group project. However, if you are so inclined to give it a shot and get your family to connect on something around the home that will do everyone some good, why not start a family garden?

There are several benefits to having a garden, and when you add the whole family, it becomes extra special. You can teach your children a little bit about nature, the current condition of the planet, the rewarding feeling of growing your own food, and save money at the same time!

Growing your own food in the yard with the family can also be a great way to bond and get together on a regular basis. You can all share in the reward of the delicious first dinner that was made with fresh fruits and vegetables that came from the garden you all grew together.

Here are a few tips to get started on your first family garden:

• Prepare and plan
  The biggest reason that people don’t have a garden is that they don’t understand what’s involved or know where to start. get everyone in the family involved, read up a bit on gardening and plan out the start date on a weekend when the whole family is available for a few hours.
• Decide what you will eat
  Choosing what it is you want to grow can depend on the time of year you are starting the garden and what the climate is like in your area. However, you still should have plenty to choose from.
• Go organic
  If you want the true experience and also stick to the whole green living family idea theme, then be sure to use organic gardening products, fertilizers, and insect repellents. You don’t have to use chemical pesticides. Adding friendly insects like ladybugs will take care of the pests. Also, this allows you fresh food that can be eaten straight out of the ground, if so desired.
• The garden tour
  Be sure to take your kids through a quick daily tour of the family garden so they can watch nature at work as well as feel the rewarding sense of accomplishment as their food pushes through the soil

If have a pool or are thinking of installing one, you’ll soon understand how expensive it is to keep the pool warm and the family happy. But this happiness comes at a price and a relatively high price at that. However there is an alternative method of heating your pool and keeping the family happy, the answer is solar energy.

When the term solar energy is brought up in conversation many people believe it takes a great deal of skill and money to install and operate a solar energy system that converts the sun’s energy into solar power. However, solar power systems can be build, installed and run by the average person at a completely cost effective price, less than a couple of hundred dollars.

Installing a solar heating system to your pool is a great way to ensure you early morning dip is comfortable, cheap and relaxing. Unless you live in a tropical climate where the temperature never drops, it’s more than likely that you’ve said or had someone say ‘it’s to cold to go for a swim’. Installing a solar heating system is a great way to ensure everyone gets the most out of the family pool.

Of course there are many alternatives to solar heating available on the market. Including pool covers, however their prime objective is to maintain the pools temperature, not heat the pool. Another alternative is gas heating, except the cost of running a gas heating system is very expensive. The major reason many pool owners opt for gas eating is that the small initial investment required to have a gas heating system, however the long term running cost of the system far outweighs all other alternative to heating your pool.

Solar energy systems are a great heating alternative; they are easily installed normally on the house roof where the most direct sunlight is available. The water stored in tubes behind the solar panel is the pool water, the sunlight is absorbed by the panels and the pool water continues to run through the heated tubes, resulting in a heated pool. The solar hot water returns through the pool filter system which is ejected back into the pool and circulates throughout the pool.

Although the cost of a solar pool system can be expensive at first, it’s the cheapest pool heating invest in the long run and their initial cost pays for itself over a couple of years, given the minimal cost to run the solar heating system.

In addition the solar power system saves on your electricity bills and you continue to have a heated pool for all the family to enjoy.

When you first consider the idea of reducing the amount of items that you throw away on a weekly basis, you might wonder how that could be done without having piles of garbage mounting in your garage or backyard. That doesn’t have to happen, but a change of thinking and being conscious of what we use daily is a necessity.

We have created so many products that make our life easier, but unfortunately, many of those things are not eco-friendly and are destroying the planet faster than gold price increases.

Our homes usually have regularly stocked items like  paper towels, disposable water bottles, batteries, Styrofoam cups, etc. However, these disposable products end up in landfills and stay there for years. The pile just getting bigger and bigger because that stuff does not decompose.

The solution to that is not to stop throwing it away, but to actually stop using it and switch to reusable products instead. Buying reusable items at the grocery store saves you money and drastically reduces the amount of trash your home provides on a regular basis.

Here are a few items you may use often that can be switched to reusable items.

• Silverware
  Ok, there’s a slight downside to having to clean up and wash dishes, but did you know that using an automatic dishwasher actually uses less water than doing the dishes by hand in the sink? Plus, it’s plastic forks and spoons are really bad for the environment and are totally unnecessary.
  
• Cut back on paper towel
  Instead of throwing your old cloth towels into the trash when they start to look raggedy, why  not just add them to the cleaning pile instead? Simply wash them to reuse them over and over again while saving money and reducing trash at the same time.
• One water bottle
  Simply buy one reusable/refillable water bottle and drastically cut back on your grocery bill by not drinking out of plastic water bottles anymore.

With the current economic crisis coupled with rising costs of utilities, there’s never been a better time to cut down on monthly costs. Creating an energy efficient home will not only help to save you money every month (and they are sure increasing like silver price!), but it will also help the environment a great deal.

When you use less energy, it benefits everyone by cutting back on pollution which is something that everyone can agree is a bad thing.

The common reason that most people don’t tighten up their home energy expenses is that they simply don’t know where to begin.

Did you know that your local power company usually will provide you a free inspection for your home that will advise you on what you can do with your specific house to save energy and cut costs? Give them a call and take them up on it.

Here are a few simple ways that you can get started creating an energy efficient home.

• Make a list
  Take note of things you do around the house that use energy inefficiently. For instance, do you often leave the water running while cleaning up, washing the dishes. How often do you leave the lights or television on when they’re not needed. Believe it or not, cutting back on those simple things daily can save a lot of energy and money annually.
• Seal it up
  First, check all of your windows and doors for drafts. Does your seal need replacing? Also, if you have an older house, you may only have a single pane window. Replacing with double pane or triple pane can make a huge difference in the long run.
• Turn it off
  This seems like such a simple tip, but we’re all guilty of leaving lights, TV, computer, appliances, and other items on for long periods of time when not in use. Get into the habit of always turning the power off on those things and you will be saving a lot of energy. Start by sticking up a note to remind you first.
• Clean vents and filters
  Vent fans, like the one in your bathroom, can get clogged up easily with dust. be sure to clean out vents and change the filters in the AC, furnace, etc. Otherwise they are working overtime and using extra energy for no reason.

Did you know you could be polluting the inside of your home without even realizing it? Many of the cleaning products that we typically use can actually be quite harmful, and are dangerous especially for young children. It’s a common misconception that we need to have that “bleach in the back of your throat” smell in order to be sure that the surface is clean enough. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You can choose environmentally friendly products that clean your house just as well without the abundance of harmful chemicals.

So, what are eco-friendly cleaning products?

It’s likely that you’ve seen ads on television, on the Internet, or in the grocery store that are promoting organic or often nicknamed “green” products. Simply put, these products are approved by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)and their guidelines that say that they are safe for the environment. If they are safe for the planet’s soil, then you can bet that they are a lot safer in our home compared to the chemicals that the others are made up of.

The biggest  difference is that without those chemicals present, they won’t be getting  into the soil, into our drinking water, and affecting the health of both humans and animals.

Switching to eco-friendly cleaning products

The first thing you’re going to do when making the transition to green cleaning products is to read the labels. The majority of big brands have come out with their own lines of products that are easier on both humans and the planet’s environment.

What you can also do to save even more money is create your own cleaning solutions, like people did before all the chemicals were available in a bottle. The great thing is, you probably have most of the ingredients you need in your home already.

You will need a spray bottle and water as a base solution. So, for instance, you can use vinegar mixed with water to clean floors, tile, and windows.

Did you know that a little vinegar and baking soda can be used in combination to unclog drains? You don’t need to buy that stuff that is dangerous to touch in order to get the job done.

There are several ways of cleaning without buying chemicals. However, if you have small children around, be ure to keep any cleaning products you have safe out of their reach, regardless of how eco-friendly the cleaning products are.