Topic: Can you save money! by growing and eating your own?

[OllieC]

Hmmm, sorry to pick holes but a few observations/questions...

-would you really have bought 31 kilo's of JA's ?! Ever thought of opening a gas power station? :p
-24 packets of psb?!
-If you buy spuds at the farm gate, they're £5 for 25 kilo's - there's £30 I just saved you plus 10 kilo's free...

[Mr Smith]

When everything is taken into account no you can't save money by growing your own, I owe myself a couple of grand in wages for all the time and work I have done this year on the lotty,  I know I'm not going to get paid because he is a right tight ----, ;D

[Larkshall]

When everything is taken into account no you can't save money by growing your own, I owe myself a couple of grand in wages for all the time and work I have done this year on the lotty,  I know I'm not going to get paid because he is a right tight ----, ;D

You're probably right. But, have you considered that the time spent gardening is time not spent driving (spending money) to the shops (spending money) or to golf, football etc. (spending money). It may work out cheaper in the long run.

[cleo]

I reckon I save money.  The labour element of costs only applies if one would have been working in some other capacity instead of the time one spends on the garden

[tim]

On a different plane - I don't, because I pay for a day's rough stuff a week.

However, I just LOVE growing things. And I LOVE things from plot to pan. No excess buying which rots in the Larder. No having to eat before a SBD.

And the trading value of surplus?

And nothing sprayed.

[thifasmom]

I reckon I save money.  The labour element of costs only applies if one would have been working in some other capacity instead of the time one spends on the garden

agree totally with you there.

[redimp]

I have thought about time spent and how much it is worth but have then discounted it.  It is a hobby - ones with its ups and downs and one that is sometimes (and at times frquently) a chore.  But I choose to do it so the time issue is not a cost in my opinion.   I do not do a time and motion study when I am walking up a hill in Derbyshire and weekend camping trips can be costly (pub!).  i have never costed what I get from the allotment but do sometimes walk out of the fruit and veg section of the supermarket with a smug smile on my face.

[BarriedaleNick]

@redclanger.

Off topic but I see you have been listening to the Talking Heads recently (according to last.fm!)
Went to see David Byrne on Tuesday in Southampton - absolutely brilliant.

[Mr Smith]

When everything is taken into account no you can't save money by growing your own, I owe myself a couple of grand in wages for all the time and work I have done this year on the lotty,  I know I'm not going to get paid because he is a right tight ----, ;D

You're probably right. But, have you considered that the time spent gardening is time not spent driving (spending money) to the shops (spending money) or to golf, football etc. (spending money). It may work out cheaper in the long run.

   Don't  do shops Tesco delivery, would love to be still be playing football although I did not pack up till I was 45, love golf but it gets in the way of mi fishing, ;D

[redimp]

@redclanger.

Off topic but I see you have been listening to the Talking Heads recently (according to last.fm!)
Went to see David Byrne on Tuesday in Southampton - absolutely brilliant.

That's prompted me - the scrobbler is on my old PC which is sitting awaiting a good sort out in the corner of the room.  Did not have it on the laptop because it is the school laptop and it would mean 'Sing a Long for KS1' etc would appear in my list - not good for my street cred!  But have downloaded it so it updates my list now.  Glad you had a good gig - I am a bit loathe to go an see my heroes now that we have all grown up but am hopefully seeing Super Furry Animals soon.

Sorry - way off topic I know. :-[

[Eristic]

£681.06

I reckon our outlay in rent, seeds, fuel etc at less than £100

But not including the £1000's  you could have earned working.

I reckon I save money.  The labour element of costs only applies if one would have been working in some other capacity instead of the time one spends on the garden

No. This is not so. The labour element applies if you COULD have been working. If considering profit and loss, the hours spent tending the crops must be compared with the veg you could buy with money earned from working for pay.

I doubt that any of us are working our plots because we are so hard up that we cannot afford £10 - £20 a week for veg. and why do you all insist on comparing prices from ripoff stores like Tesco instead of the true market price in the ordinary shops?

I work my plot because it is a hobby and passion of mine. This hobby costs me some money and a lot of time but who cares? I enjoy myself and that is what matters.

[Ninnyscrops.]

£681.06

I work my plot because it is a hobby and passion of mine. This hobby costs me some money and a lot of time but who cares? I enjoy myself and that is what matters.

Up with you on that quote Eristic.

Linda

[kt.]

I have spent £128 this year but have had £180 of fruit and veg so far.  I did buy a lot of new seeds and seeds as trials this year.  There is ton's of fruit and veg still to harvest through to next spring.  This is my first year of keeping a running tally but like others,  does not include the costs of hours for labour because it is my hobby.  If I did not enjoy it then I would just buy it all from the shop.

I reckon I still have over £800 of stuff to harvest this next 7-8 months, providing the birds do not beat me to them.

[landimad]

Everybodies hobby or pastime costs money.
Can you get a good return from the outlay on anything other than food.
Eat well and be happy, the costs have me thinking that I should have been growing since the sixties not the ninties. My family have had good food from then and we all enjoy the flavours, sweetness, and colours given by growing your own.
I think that outweighs any cost given over by us.

[macmac]

I can't put a value on the allotment experience,Friends ,Food,Fresh air,And sanity
PRICELESS :)

[amphibian]

It saves me money.

These days I try to stick to growing what is pricey, or what I am particularly unhappy with the quality of elsewhere.

I have no interest whatever in the wages argument, if I wasn't working my plot I'd be doing some other unpaid activity. Who tots up the wages lost through watching the TV or listening to Radio Four while drinking their cup of tea, or sleeping?

So wages aside, it just boils down to crop values. Some worth growing for money saving are:

Tomatoes
Strawberries
Raspberries
Gooseberries
Blueberries
Lettuce
Rocket
Broccoli
Sweetcorn
Squash
Garlic
Leeks
Courgettes
Peppers

[Eristic]

If you disregard wages from the cost then you should consider that your crops have no monetary value at all, only a net cost.  They are not "Food for free" because they require tender loving care and the time involved to produce the crop is of greater value than the crop itself from a monetary point of view.

In order to make a profit from growing veg you would require considerably more land than a few poles or some incredibly high cost produce.

We can all produce fruit and veg worth £x but that is not a saving because in this day and age our time has a price tag too.

[Hector]

IWe can all produce fruit and veg worth £x but that is not a saving because in this day and age our time has a price tag too.

doesnt that only apply if you were otherwise likely to use time allocated to veg to gaining money through employment? Time I use would have been "leisure" so not potential monetary gain?

[amphibian]

If you disregard wages from the cost then you should consider that your crops have no monetary value at all, only a net cost.  They are not "Food for free" because they require tender loving care and the time involved to produce the crop is of greater value than the crop itself from a monetary point of view.

In order to make a profit from growing veg you would require considerably more land than a few poles or some incredibly high cost produce.

We can all produce fruit and veg worth £x but that is not a saving because in this day and age our time has a price tag too.

If I was selling the crops, then I would factor in my wage value, for my own consumption it means nowt to me, their value is their replacement value plus cost of materials.

Profit potential is not an issue here, my allotment is not a business it is a method of saving money.

I'm not going to play this my time has a price tag game. My time is my own to do with as I will. It does not cost me a penny more to spend my spare time on the allotment, than it does to sit on my behind in front of the goggle box. I do not take unpaid leave from work in order to tend my allotment.

Do you add your hourly rate when calculating the expense of your shopping trip out, hell most people don't even add the cost of parking and petrol.

It is time that I am not earning with, whatever I do. Sure you could spend that time in some kind of gainful employment, but you could sleep less and work more too, but do you put a price tag on your sleep.

I'm not going to start totting up the 'cost' of my time, I'm not going to start viewing a day out with my daughter as lost earning potential.

[Eristic]

No.

If you are trying to account for the cost of your produce the time spent actively tending the crop has to be taken into account. Time spent sitting there watching things grow, or yapping with the gang is leisure time. Time spent cultivating the crop, watering, planting and harvesting is active hobby time but that time is essential to the production and therefore should be costed at at least  minimum wage,  if, and only if, you are trying to calculate the money not spent on food.

I am currently taking home about £50 worth of blackberries per week at Supermarket prices but to me they are just blackberries. If somebody offered to pay me if I gathered a large quantity I would have to cost the profit? after taking my time into account and it would be a large loss to me even though the berries hang there free to take. I have never bought blackberries and probably never will. Just an example.

Some of you are now wondering what I am doing with so many blackberries.  8)
People that see me wonder why my hands are purple.  :o

I do gardening for a living (partly) and sometimes the job or customers get me wound up. When this happens I pack up early and go to the plot to chill out. To me the allotment is somewhere peaceful to escape to not something to make money out of.