5 Ways to Teach Your Children to Go Green

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It does not have to be a certain time of year to encourage children to make green decisions at home.

Personally we are a very thrifty and budget-friendly family. We have to be. We live well below our means so that I can be home and my husband can be available to help with raising our children, teaching them and nurturing them. Honestly, this is a very short season and our boys will be grown and living on their own before we know it.

Every expense in our home is thought out and done with a budget in mind. This is pretty easy for us because being conservative with our finances and our belongings was engrained in us as children.

We know our boys are watching us and they need to be able to carry these same life skills into their homes when they’re raising their own families some day.

These are the five ways we teach our children to go green and they are a great place to start if you’re looking to make some budget-friendly changes in your home as well.

5 Ways To Teach Children to Go Green

1. Turn the lights off when you leave a room. This is a big one at our house. My husband remembers his father always saying, “Nickel, nickel, nickel.” He said it when they left the lights on. He said it when they left the front door open. He said it when they stood there looking in the fridge. And now, I get to hear it. All the time, but it is a good one.
2. Buy used. Our vehicles are used, not only our family vehicle, but my husband’s business vehicles. We shop at thrift stores often. I love finding kids jeans for $5 at Goodwill. We wear hand me downs. We give cousins and friends hand me downs. When we do buy clothes new, it is not mindlessly done. Our kids see this.
3. Recycle toys once you’ve outgrown them.  We go through our kids toys often and weed through toys they no longer play with to give to charity if they cannot be passed down to a friend or family member. Our kids are part of this giving process and go with me to Goodwill to drop things off.
4. Plant a garden. If planned right, you can have a garden year round, depending on where you live. We did a garden summer before last. Everyone was invested. Children love to reap what they sow and it teaches great life skills. Not to mention, you’ll save money on produce.
5. Raise cattle or co-op meat purchases with other families. If you follow my blog regularly, you know about two months ago we purchased a grass-fed angus bull and we harvested the meat. We split it between four families, giving everyone months worth of quality beef in their freezer. Each family ended up paying $3.00 a pound for processed grass-fed beef. Not sure about where you live, but here in the Dallas area grass-fed beef easily costs $5.99-$6.99 a pound. Another idea is to raise chickens for eggs or meat. My friend Kim raises chickens and they always have a nice supply of eggs. Her kids are part of the process in taking care of the chickens and gathering eggs. What a great learning opportunity.

Plant a Tree

The folks at New Leaf Energy want to help you in your going green efforts. On top of all of that, they are planting 1 tree for every new Facebook “like” they receive until 12/23.

This means, by simply liking the New Leaf Energy page, you are helping.

What are ways that you’re teaching your kids to be green? Do you have tips and tricks you would like to share? 

 

This post is sponsored by Direct Energy, but my support for their green efforts is all my own! Feel free to read my disclosure.