Gardening is a great way to save money from sitting on your bank account.
The raised beds were only $200 for the wood.
I blended compost with my sandy native dirt for only another $200.
The cute fence around it was another $200 plus… Plus $100 for the new tablesaw blade because I needed it to make it.
The additional irrigation setup was only $80.
I get the fertilizer with my employee discount, only around $100 per year.
The front flower bed was only $400 to make it tiered with retaining blocks.
Then there the $300 per year for flowers etc that I just have to have.
Then there is my vegetable seed bill. That’s relatively cheap, only around $200 per year.
Since I start my plants I from seeds i need a starting setup. That’s $200 for the lights plus another $100 for the heater.
Potting soil and trays are another $75 per year.
Then there’s the steady stream of tools etc that I break or wear out and need to be replaced. Another $200-400 per year.
And then there’s the koi pond…
FYI This is the majority of the workforce. They have to work in order to do other things that are not paid. The are not interested in self improvement, climbing the social ladder, kissing ass etc. They want to do a job that doesn’t suck, get paid a fair wage, and work a fair number of hours so they can do the things they actually enjoy.
These are the people that drive human society. The most valuable portion that maintains our existence.
It greatly depends on the age.
For under 10’s. I highly recommend the small tablets with educational games and videos. I had the homepage on the webbrowser set to PBS kids. Any other website was locked by parental controls. I also had Netflix with a kids account back when they had everything. For the games they wanted to play, I had to preview before they were installed.
The hardest age is 9-12. This is when they act all grown up but absolutely should not be online unsupervised. This is when they need room to explore what they are interested in. I open up the restrictions and allow them more of the world but routinely check to see what they are up too (an make sure they see what I am doing).
After 13, it’s all about education, not control. There is no fucking way to stop a determined teenager from accessing places they shouldn’t. The totally “locked down” school chromebooks are a great example. I am constantly impressed with the ingenuity to circumvent the controls. At this point, open discussions on all the issues online are key. They need to know about what criminals and perverts are up too. It’s no longer blocking them, it’s learning how to identify, avoid, and report them.
I also spend a few hours hanging out while they are gaming with my teenagers. It’s let’s me know what they are playing and showcase my incredible skill to their mocking.