GardenersCardiff answers:

Truly, what makes a country poor is the lack of education.

I’m not talking Ivy League-type schooling, but just your basic education specifically for the region in which the poor live. Schooling would be and should be different for people who live in the desert versus people who live in the rain forest. There are different lessons to learn. Different trades to discover.

Where education lacks, a farmer who grows, say, coffee beans might not realize that people outside of his area depend on those beans to jolt them to life every morning. So he sells his beans at a rock bottom price and feels great about the deal he’s making. He has no use for the beans, so he figures that if someone wants to buy them…great!

The person who buys the beans hauls them out and packs them to a supplier. He sells the beans again. The supplier turns around and roasts and grinds the beans and sells them in pretty shiny cans for a huge profit.

If people are educated, they know. When they know, they can make better choices at selecting those who represent them. When they know, they want their children to know. It’s a snowball effect, gaining more and more mass as it rolls downhill, through the generations.

But when people spend their lives growing beans, they literally know beans. Very well.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Lists can be helpful. Keep track of every cent your family spends for 1 month, perhaps 2 months. Look to see if there is a pattern of impulse spending here and there. Things like that can add up and yet be hidden.

Examine your record and see if costs can be cut or adjusted. You both need to be trying to cut costs or it won’t work very well.

Plan out and simplify your holiday spending and stick to the plan. Can you give fewer gifts? If not, where can you cut down the amount you spend. Family gifts instead of individual? Give certificate for baby-sitting or 2 hours of cleaning help or car-wash, etc(and you will do the work)?

Talk over the cost cutting with family. Many of them are trying to cut costs, too. If you entertain, can you cut down on alcohol and switch to the less expensive tea or coffee?
Switch from chips to popcorn.
Play games or work puzzles instead of renting half a dozen movies

Clean with baking soda, vinegar, water where you can instead of more expensive cleaning products.
Use damp dustcloth instead of expensive wipes.

Talk to some old folks who lived during the Great Depression and see how they managed? They will probably be late 70s or older, but they know things.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Have a look:
How to make tea bags:
http://www.bonjourgourmet.com/ez_make_tea_bags.htm
How to grow tea:
http://www.fruitlovers.com/tea.html

GardenersCardiff answers:

Growing it is an interesting subject. I recently read an article similar to your question on the net and it was in England. Supposedly, they grow tea in Southern England and some lady wanted to know about varietals of tea that could be grown in Northern England where it is much colder. I am not a botanist, but there seem to be two varietals used in England, one that is more hardy in the North.
I don’t remember where I read this, since I read stuff all over the net, but it was recent. You might want to check out some UK sites using Google and see if you can locate the varietal of tea(s) that can grow in temperate regions or climates. From what I know, most teas are grown like in Ceylon, India, Nepal, up in the mountains and on the sides of mountains where they get a lot of fog and rain, I would imagine, damp, rich, soil. I can’t be sure about this because I am not a tea expert, so you will just have to check it out.

I imagine you can hunt something down and start growing it if you want to.