"Green" Cleaning and ditching those yucky chemical cleaners!

I'm back!

I have had many requests to get back to blogging and I have been so bad about it!

I have been pretty busy with a lot of great things though, so I hope you will all understand!

We are welcoming baby #2 in April of 2014, and let me tell you that this pregnancy has NOT been easy! I have been sick, sick, sick! Thankfully I am starting to feel better at just over 20 weeks, but for heaven's sakes, it was a rough go for awhile!

Little miss is back at school this year, as are the hubs and I and things are going pretty well! I finally got my tenure after 9 long, hard years of trials and tribulations in the teaching profession, so it was definitely something I was and am very proud of receiving!

With the the upcoming addition we *almost* moved! We were thisclose to selling our little house and moving to a bigger one, but in the interest of saving money and also not RUSHING to find a house in 8 short months while getting ours ready for sale, we decided to stay and do a few updates! So we have been busy turning the attic into a bedroom for little miss, and soon will start renovations to partially finish the basement for an office/extra family room/man cave.

So needless to say I haven't thought about blogging much!

Well scratch that, I totally HAVE, it's just that I am usually passed out pretty soon after little miss goes to bed, and on the weekends there is always something going on. I vowed to never let schoolwork, housework, chores, errands, etc. get in the way of spending time with my family, and blogging is no exception. But now that I am feeling better, and things have calmed down a bit (the calm before the two kids storm, I KNOW!) I figure I can hopefully be better about it here and there.


One of the things I am frequently asked, and was asked to blog about, is what I use to clean my house with. There is this silly notion in our toxin-laden world that if it doesn't have chemicals or a strong chemical smell then it must not be getting your house clean enough. The opposite is true! Think about it. All of the chemicals that are "disinfecting" are now seeping into the surfaces of your home. So every time you or your loved ones touch those surfaces, you are getting those chemicals on your skin and in your mouth. Not to mention breathing in all those fumes!

One of the first things I did before I had little miss was go through all the gross cleaning products that were under my sink in the kitchen and DITCH them! I really wish I had a picture of the before, because I had a ton of stuff under the sink! It looked a lot like this:
 

Now, it looks like this:




Ok, I don't really keep lemons under the sink, but I always have some in the refrigerator!

Going "green" in your cleaning routine isn't hard at all. It's really very simple. And it's cheaper too! Here is what you need to do:

Throw away any and all cleaning supplies. Recycle whatever bottles you can. I dumped out the products in the stationary tub and recycled the bottles. I kept and cleaned out a bottle from the glass cleaner and that's what I use to keep my cleaning solution in. If you are using essential oils it's better to use dark glass bottles, but those are hard to come by, so just do the best you can! My plastic spray bottle will suffice until I can be bothered to order a glass one!

I fill up the bottle with equal parts vinegar and water, and for good measure I will sprinkle about a teaspoon of baking soda in as well. Not too much, because otherwise you'll have a volcano on your hands! Then, I drop a few drops of essential oils in and shake it up a little bit. Recently I have been cleaning with doTerra wild orange and LOVE how fresh and citrusy it makes my house smell!

That's it! Start cleaning! I use this spray to clean pretty much everything in my house. All surfaces, including counter tops, glass, cupboards, etc. See this website for lots and lots of great ways to clean with vinegar!

Here are some other ways that I clean using cheap and natural alternatives:

To freshen and clean out my drains I sprinkle baking soda right into the sink and drain and let it sit for awhile. Then I pour straight baking soda in and enjoy the show. This time it's ok for a volcano!

For a carpet deodorizer that really freshens nicely, I shake together baking soda and a few drops of whatever essential oil I want my carpets to smell like in a container. Then I sprinkle over the rug and let it sit for about an hour (do this during nap time mommies!) then I vacuum it up and my rug is refreshed!

For bathtub cleaning, sprinkle a good amount of baking soda into the tub and let it sit for quite some time (about and hour or two). You can also do this for toilet cleaning. Then just scrub and rinse as you normally would! For both, I like to make a vinegar volcano just because it's fun and I like how the fizz works to help give it a deeper clean, but this is not neccessary.

This is a great shower head cleaner that I found on pinterest. I did this and it REALLY works!

You can also try this one for cleaning the gunk off of your faucets! Gotta love pinterest!

The moral of the story is...

You don't need all of this:



To get results like this:                           

You just need a TON of money because DAMN that's a nice kitchen.

But in all seriousness, it's true. You don't need all those fancy-schmancy cleaners to clean your house. Even cleaning supplies that are marketed as "Green" aren't always completely natural and are often more expensive than regular cleaners.

I for one can tell you that I always feel comfortable knowing that if my child happens to get into the cleaning supplies, there is nothing in them that can hurt her if anything is ingested.

Isn't that enough peace of mind to make you get rid of all the other yucky stuff?!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

A Vacation of Sorts

Whew...it has been quite a while since I have posted.

Let me bring you all up to speed!

Being a teacher the end of the year is crazy. Packing up the room, doing report cards, organizing, cleaning, end of the year activities, gifts for students, checklist for administrators, etc. etc. It was all I could do every night to come home an decompress, and the very last thing I wanted to do was sit at the computer and type any longer.

I know my teacher friends understand!

At first I felt really guilty. Here I just got the blog up and running again and was doing well with posting weekly and then I was off taking a break again.

But then I got to thinking....

This blog is MINE! I get to call the shots. And if I want to take some time off it is OK! (See how I had to talk myself into that?!)

You see, I am an overachiever. I feel like I need to jump into everything I do with both feet and both hands. If you know me, you have probably witnessed this first hand.

Case in point: Haven't worked out since I got pregnant (well that's a stretch, but haven't worked out consistently) First attempt to get back on the work out train is training for a 5K. See what I mean?

I just can't do anything unless I am committed 150%.

The problem with this is I always bite off more than I can chew. So here I was getting this blog going and doing really well but then I felt like I was focusing a lot of energy here, and a lot on school, and the two people who are the MOST important in the world were getting less of my attention.  So I decided to take some time off to be a mom and wife for awhile. And it has been fabulous.

I recognize that I can't always do everything all the time and that is ok. So I will be blogging again from time to time but I am just not pigeon-holing myself into a weekly post. I hope that is ok with you too.

That doesn't mean The Good Life is going anywhere, I am just going to let it be a little more organic in nature (haha that was a good one, I crack myself up!) and let the posts come naturally (again-hilarious) instead of seeking out ideas to post about. When a good idea for a post comes up, I will share it with you.

I am working on getting my logo together for The Good Life which I hope I can share with you soon, and if you haven't already done so, please "LIKE" the facebook page. I tend to get over there more, plus you will always know when there is a new post up.

Thanks as always, for your support. I hope this blog and the facebook page are helpful in your quest to live a greener and more natural life.

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Being a mom-The best and the worst

Being a mom is hard work. It's the hardest job I have ever had BUT it is also the most rewarding job in the world. I have never once complained about my new job. I wanted it so much and it's everything I expected and sometimes unexpected too. I never expected to love someone this much. I knew I would love my baby before she was here but I never could have imagined how much I would love her. I knew I would be more selfless once she arrived, but I continue to be in awe of how much I am happily willing to give up every day if it means she is happy. Do I miss sleeping in on the weekends? Sure. But I would never trade it for what I have now: unlimited snuggling on the weekends! Do I miss being able to hop in the car and run errands all by myself? Sometimes. But now I get to watch my daughter take in the world wherever we go and enjoy every minute of it. This kid LOVES Wegmans! The point is that for every thing I will miss about my old life, there are 100 more reasons I love my life as a mom.

The best part of being a mom is knowing you are needed always. 

Feeling that little hand creep up to find your finger and hold on tight. Seeing that little face search for you in a room and see it light up with joy. Hearing that little giggle because whatever you did was absolutely hilarious to that sweet little bundle of love.

But the worst part?

...is watching your child go through what we endured this weekend. There is nothing scarier and nothing that hurts more than when your baby is sick. Except when your baby is sick AND has to go through a ton of medical procedures.

Little miss was doing fine. Earlier in the week we had her at Children's for a GI to look at her tummy. She's been spitting up more than normal and has developed some eczema, so the doctors have been trying to rule out a few things. Thankfully she doesn't have reflux or any other terrible stomach condition! This summer  next week! we will see an allergist to rule out a possible food or environmental allergy...did you know that eczema is more often than not caused by an allergy or sensitivity? But otherwise she got a clean bill of health because other than the spitting up she is still gaining weight and is the happiest baby around.

Friday evening she went to sleep at her normal time and was fine. Around 2 am she woke up crying. Sometimes she does this and I usually help her find her binky or pull her out of her co-sleeper and in bed with me and she goes right to sleep. She will either stay there with me or I will put her back in her co-sleeper once she's out. Well as I held her I realized she was burning up (score +1 for co-sleeping!) so I used the temporal thermometer to take her temperature. If you don't have one of these, GET ONE! It's a lifesaver. Want to take your child's temperature while they are sleeping? No problem! Such a wonderful invention! Her temperature was 101. Not too high, but enough that she was uncomfortable. I chalked it up to teething, because let's face it, at ten months this kid really needs some teeth soon! She was still pretty fussy though, so I gave her some Motrin to help her get some rest. She eventually calmed down and slept in my arms all night.

I woke up around 7 am and realized she wasn't up yet...not like her at all. She usually wakes between 5:30 and 6 to eat. I took her temperature and it was 101 still. The Motrin hadn't brought it down. She was sleeping soundly though, so I just held her and waited for her to wake up. Around 7:30 she woke up and waned to nurse. After she ate she fell back asleep until 10:00 am! When she woke up she was really lethargic and fussy...not at all like herself. I changed her and took her temp and it was 102.5. High enough to call the doctor who sent us to urgent care. They didn't open until noon, but we wanted to be the first ones in so we got there around 11:45 and walked in as soon as they unlocked the doors.

I normally wouldn't be so freaked out by a fever...after all in the past little miss has had fevers and has played and laughed right through them. I knew this was different because she was NOT herself. She was clinging to me and crying for no reason. And was SO sleepy. Once they got her admitted they took her temperature and it was 105.8. Tell me that isn't the scariest thing you have ever heard. In a 17 pound infant that fever scared me more than I have ever been scared. In that moment I went into survival mode. Thankfully the nurses were extremely calm and kept me feeling that way too. A high dose of Tylenol was administered and then we were brought to a patient room. I will say that Pediatric Urgent Care is phenomenal. If you live in the Buffalo area and your child is sick I highly recommend there over an ER. Comfortable rooms to wait in with beds and cribs, TVs, books for the kids, coffee, and the staff is wonderful.

What came next was about two hours of attempting to get a pic line in to get a blood draw and give IV fluids, a catheter, and more attempts at getting a blood draw. It was awful. My poor baby just cried and cried and there was nothing I could do because they had to find out what was wrong. I felt like the absolute worst mom in the world knowing she was going through all that. I know it was necessary to find out what was wrong, but still it was heart-wrenching.

Finally we found out that what was bothering my little one was a bacterial infection. Her white blood cell count was extremely high. She received a high dose of antibiotics with the directive to return on Sunday to get another dose. Finally, finally after several hours we got to go home. I spent the rest of the day and evening on the couch holding my baby in my arms. She was exhausted and drained and was not having any part of being put down. And because I'm her mama I put everything else aside and held her all night because that's what she needed.

After a horrible weekend my little one is finally starting to feel better. She's playing and laughing but is still very clingy. She's still not back to normal but she is getting there. I have been on edge for three days watching her every move just praying that she will get better.

This has definitely been the worst part of being a mom. Knowing your little one is sick and in pain and there's literally nothing you can do. There is nothing else about this job that compares to the fear and pain you feel for your child in that moment. But I think it makes you a better mom. When you feel that way it shows you how strong you can be. In that horrifying and scary moment you become someone you never thought you could be-a strong and unwavering spirit for your child.

So I embrace the good and the bad, and as hard as it is, I accept the hard parts because it makes me the mom I want to be. I am learning to be strong and fight for whatever my child needs because of those fleeting moments of fear.

And I am thankful for that.

Love and Laughs (and lots of prayers too),

Danielle

 

Friday Favorites: Produce Bags

Ok ok I know I already posted a little bit about these here but I am so in love with them that I just HAD to do a Friday Favorites about them!

Produce bags ROCK!!!

Whenever I go shopping I always bring my reusables, but it always bothered me that I had to put my produce in those plastic bags. It seemed counterproductive and so wasteful. Not to mention who knows what kind of chemicals are seeping into my fruits and veggies from the yucky plastic! Even when I went to the farmer's market they would use plastic bags because what else could they use?

Enter the produce bags.

They're made of almost a mesh like material that allows the produce to breathe (makes sense, since the plastic DOESN'T!) and they have a drawstring to close. They are a pretty good size too. As you saw from last week's post, that's a bag of avocados, a bag of cilantro, a bag with a giant yam, and a bag of lemons and limes. I did not buy enough the first time and was very sad that I couldn't put my bananas in one, but I figured they'd be ok on their own. I was kicking myself for only buying four of them!

So then I went back to Target and of course they were gone. If you ever want anything from the $1 section at Target buy it IMMEDIATELY. Because if you change your mind and go back it will almost always be gone forever. Which is very sad. So my trip to Target ended the way every trip to Target ends...I left without the produce bags but with $50 worth of stuff I had no intention of buying. I cannot be the only person that this happens to.


Then today I had to go to the Target on Transit near Maple and lo and behold there they were, like a beacon in the night.

 

A whole stack of them!!! I will have you know I was not at Target to buy these but I ended up with 5 more because you can never have enough of these! Now my lemons and limes can each have their own bag! The yams and regular potatoes don't have to share! Even the bananas can have a bag! No more cold bananas! 

I hope you can find these at Target in the $1 section nearest you. However, if they are gone you can always get them for a very reasonable price on Amazon. It is definitely worth the price. Think about how much waste is created by bags for produce. I really wish that more people would understand how important it is to use reusable bags when they go grocery shopping. And I sometimes forget my bags! I am not a perfect resuable bag user, but I always recycle them after I use them. The important thing is to do your best to remember to bring your reusables and now include your produce bags too! I keep my reusables hanging on the door that we leave from, and keep the extra produce bags inside those bags. That way I always remember to grab them when I head to the market.

I hope you will try to make this small change in your shopping and storing produce routine! 

Oh! I bet you are wondering how they work at keeping my fruits and veggies fresh? Check out my limes and lemons after a week! Still fresh, still firm, and no soft spots! So I give these two thumbs up! I hope you will too!

Do you use resuable produce bags already? What do you think of them? 

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

"Green" thoughts for a Saturday night

I'm back! It feels like I have been gone forever!

That was a tough few weeks! I must apologize to my loyal readers for disappearing, but such is life sometimes!

I wasn't able to post at all in the past week and a half or so because our computer cord sparked and melted right before my eyes-so I was computer-less. $86.95 later I am back online and not too happy with apple for not recalling my faulty cord.  I am just thankful that it happened when we were home. I don't even want to think about what might have happened if we weren't here!

I know I missed Friday favorites so I will make it up to all of you next week with a really good one :) In the meantime here are some fun musings I feel like my readers can appreciate as much as I do!

Last night as we were cleaning the house (I know, what an exciting Friday night hubs and I had!) hubs came in the dining room where I was going through stacks of mail to recycle and he told me that we didn't even fill up one full bag of garbage this week! We didn't have to put the garbage out because we only had half a bag. Do you know how exciting that is for me? We have really been trying hard to reduce our waste in a lot of ways. We're not using paper towels anymore, I upcycled some old curtains into cloth napkins, we recycle everything we possibly can down to the toilet paper rolls and yogurt containers, and we even found biodegradable sponges! So I think we are doing pretty good at reducing our carbon footprint. That made me really happy! I also chuckled because our recycling bin is completely full every week, sometimes to the point where I have to set some aside for the following week. Now that is progress!

Speaking of reducing our carbon footprint, about a week ago I was talking to one of the parents of one of my first graders and she told me that they went to the beach the week before. She said that her son insisted on spending half the afternoon picking up trash on the beach! He said "Mrs. N. would be SO sad to see all this litter on the beach...what if it gets in the water?" I guess I may have made an impression! Another parent told me that her little girl was very concerned about recycling now, and insisted that they not throw out anything that could be recycled. Another little girl in my glass came to school all excited because her mom bought her reusable containers for her lunch box to use instead of ziploc bags. These are SIX YEAR OLDS!!! And on Friday at an assembly I was so proud because our school ran an essay contest for each grade level asking them to write about some way to help take care of our planet. A little boy from my class wrote an essay about recycling and he won first place for first grade! I was so proud of him! And what was even cooler for me was that two other students that won first place were in my class the past two years. I guess I must really drive home how important it is to take care of the earth with my little firsties! Not to mention they turn into such good writers under my tutelage apparently :) It just goes to show that whatever you say to kids REALLY gets taken to heart. They may not seem like it sometimes but they ARE listening! And how amazing is it that these kids care so much at such a young age. Think about all the good they will do throughout their lives if we keep teaching them about reducing their carbon footprint!

Farmer's Market season is really starting to get into full swing. My little miss and I headed out to the opening day of the Williamsville farmer's market today which was so much fun. I strapped her into the k'tan and we enjoyed sampling homemade organic cookies, fudge, cheeses, and more. We got some delicious, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, organic dog treats for my pups, and I even got some oatmeal and almond olive oil soap from bath & bliss, a local company that makes natural products. And I also was able to finally try out my new produce bags! I did as much shopping as I could at the market, then we headed over to Wegman's where we finished up. What a great way to reduce the use of plastics while still keeping your produce fresh! I got these at Target in the dollar section and am kicking myself for not grabbing more! Lord knows they will most likely be gone when I go back! I love love love reducing the amount of waste we bring into the house and these bags really help us accomplish that!

Finally, I have to say that I am so excited because some things are brewing over here at The Good Life. I don't want to give away too much before we are ready to unveil but I will tell you that you will love what is coming! So keep your eye on the blog and also on our facebook page for the latest news!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Friday Favorites: CJs Butter

So as I was sitting here enjoying my PB Brownie Dough ice cream straight from the carton and watching The Goonies on ABC Family (yes, you read that right) I realized it's Friday!

So I owe my loyal readers a post. I promised, and I am sticking with it!

I decided that I wanted to write about one of my favorite body products today: CJs BUTTer

CJs BUTTer is an amazing, amazing lotion/cream. Although I feel like it's not really a lotion, because it goes on thicker like a salve, but it's not really a salve....I am not explaining it well. Here's a picture of the inside of a tub:

It goes on a little thick but not sticky. A little greasy but when you rub it in your skin is SO soft! It comes in SO many yummy scents and REAL essential oils are used in most of them.

I discovered CJs because I was looking for a cloth diaper safe cream for Little Miss months before she was born. A friend of mine swore by it as her cloth diaper cream, and cream for everything else because her little guy has severe allergies to nuts, dairy, eggs, etc. and she needed something that would be safe to use on his eczema. She let me try some of hers in the Sweet Orange scent and I was hooked!

I immediately hopped on the CJs website to order some and I was overwhelmed with choices of scents. I had no idea what I wanted, especially since I didn't know which ones I would like and lo and behold this must be a common predicament because they have a sampler pack! I ordered a whole bunch I wanted to try and let me tell you that this stuff lasts forever! I ordered the sampler pack last summer and I still have some little pots left! I have since purchased big tubs of it but I stash the little pots everywhere just in case I need some!

In our home we have used CJs for a variety of things such as:

• cloth diaper cream
• eczema
• dry skin
• hangnails
• cracked heels
• baby acne
• scars
• itchy pregnant belly
• dry elbows
• cuticles
• tame frizz
• chapped baby cheeks
• hand cream

When I was pregnant my stomach itched a lot and  my hands and feet were really dry and cracked. I used this stuff every day and not only did it help relieve and heal my ailments, but I never got any stretch marks! That for me was an amazing feat and I definitely attribute it to the CJs.

As you know from this post, when you use cloth diapers you can't use regular creams because they can ruin your diapers and that it not something you want to do! So CJs is a great option because it is multipurpose. You have it in the house and can use it for everything! Can you do that with desitin? I didn't think so! Not to mention that you don't want to use chemicals on your baby's sensitive skin!

CJs is all natural. You know what's in it? According to the website:

"The only ingredients in original BUTTer are shea butter, olive oil, coconut oil, lanolin, beeswax, cocoa butter, Vitamin E (derived from soy), and gluten-free colloidal oatmeal. The CJ's BUTTer® Stick has the same ingredients, except there is no lanolin and the proportions are different. We also have a 'BUTTer PLUS formula', which comes only in unscented and contains no lanolin or oatmeal and includes sesame and neem oils which have skin protection, healing and antifungal properties. Our spritz contains coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil and vitamin E. Again, the spritz PLUS includes sesame and neem oils in addition to the previous ingredients. Our vegan formula contains just shea butter, cocoa butter and sesame oil and can only be scented with essential oils...unscented is always available, too. Fragrance or essential oils are only added if you choose to have it scented (those listed under All Natural scents are essential oils, the others are fragrance oils. We don't have ingredients for fragrances, as that is proprietary information and the manufacturer is not required to disclose them. They are all phlalate free, though.)"

Awesome! Completely natural and free from yucky chemicals. And it's a family owned company which I love supporting! Thankfully I can now get it locally at fresh & fluffy as well, so I don't even have to pay shipping. Plus, Steph always keeps lots of scents in stock! 

We also use the CJs BUTTer stick for daycare and the diaper bag. It's like a glue stick and it is SO easy and convenient. The daycare loves it! And it is so nice to have a stick in my diaper bag so I don't have to dig into a tub of it when on the go. Love the convenience!

Another product we use is the CJs carcass cleaner and we use it as wipes solution for our cloth wipes. We use a squirt or two of carcass cleaner and a squirt of baby oil and some water and just pour it into the wipes warmer. It smells great and I love knowing I am using all natural products on my little one! You can also use the carcass cleaner for body wash! It's not just for babies!

They have all sorts of other products too like lip balm, creamy lotion, cleaners, bug banisher, etc. Check out the website for lots of all natural products for the whole family!

Some scents I especially love are oatmeal, milk, & honey, lullaby baby lotion, blueberry crumble, mango, sugar, & mint, lavender and tea tree, and my pixie pie. But there are tons more! There are even scents especially for men! Definitely a whole line of products to love! And remember the big tubs last a LONG time. To put it in perspective: My daughter was born 9 months ago and I have only gone through one 12 oz. tub, and one 8 oz. pot. We change her diaper several times daily and use it every time we change her. We also use the butter for all the ailments I listed above and it STILL lasts forever! So that shows you how far a tub can go! You only need a little to go a long way!

So check out CJs BUTTer products and let me know what you think! And don't forget to "like" my new facebook page, "The Good Life!" Thanks for reading!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Friday Favorites: Wean Green Cubes

I hate packing lunches.

It's literally one of my least favorite household tasks along with putting laundry away and doing dishes.

But I have found some ways to make packing lunches a little more exciting and a lot more green!

Enter the wean green containers! I have no idea where that name came from, but these little babies have changed my life for the better!

Before I tell you about today's Friday Favorite, I will give you a little background as to how I stumbled upon these pretty babies.


I had been been trying to find ways to green our lunches since my whole crusade started last year. I first purchased these Kids Konserve sandwich wrappers through amazon and they are a great way to wrap up a sandwich without using foil or Saran Wrap or a plastic baggie...all three of which creates unnecessary waste after just one use. They work really well for sandwiches, but I wanted something that I could use to put chips or grapes or other snacks in.

So then I found these cool lunchskins snack baggies on ecomom and they work really well for snacky kind of stuff. They wash out really well and are super cute.

I was using these two items but then we were still using plastic glad and ziploc containers for other messier items like cottage cheese or yogurt or soup.

The more research I did the more I realized the dangers of plastic food storage containers and the toxins that leach from the plastic, especially if the plastic is too old or when it is microwaved.  So I kept going in my search to find reusables that were glass. I couldn't find anything that A) I liked, or B) were affordable. So I just was really cognizant about not microwaving in plastic containers as much as I could.


Then around Christmas time this year I discovered ecomom. I LOVE this website. Consequently it's being revamped right now but will be back in a few months. Anyways, I discovered this site and that is where I found the wean green cubes. They are super affordable and are AMAZING! They are made of really heavy duty glass and can be kept cold, frozen, heated up, you name it! The lids are free from any of the dangerous stuff that is in plastic. They seal up really well too and won't leak! They come in tons of shapes and sizes, see?

They are great for lunches, baby food, storing leftovers, you name it!  Look how stinking cute they are!  

  

  I  LOVE the colors!

I think the prices are pretty reasonable, about $12-$18 for two. That may seem like a lot when you are comparing it to gladware, but these will last you a lot longer, and who can argue that it is worth it to pay a little bit more for something that is going to be better for your health? These babies have dropped on my kitchen floor and have not broken. They are made to last! I love these so much that I actually cried when my aussie ate one of my pink lids-little did I know you can order replacement parts!

Wean green cubes are my favorite this week because they are such a better option for packing lunches than using ziploc bags, and they are such a better option for food storage than chemical laden plastic containers. And the bottom line is that they make making lunches much more fun! In order to green my kitchen I have been trading my plastic containers for these, and using the plastic for non-food items or recycling it.

So go ahead and order yourself some wean green cubes. They are available from the wean green website, amazon, ecomom, and tons of other online retailers. Keep an eye out for sales and deals and eventually you can trade all that yucky plastic for safe, eco-friendly,  useful, and adorable glass!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Washing Cloth Diapers-Is it really better for the environment?

Lots of people ask me how I wash the diapers.

"You must spend hours doing laundry," they say.

"How can you be saving the environment if you do that much more laundry?" they say.

"How do you deal with the POOP?" they say!

"I couldn't do cloth diapers because I couldn't handle the laundry, I am MUCH too busy!" they say.

Guess what?

I'm busy. I have a full time job, a baby, a husband, two dogs, a house to run, and a blog that will NOT write itself! So if I can do it, so can you!

So on this Earth Day weekend, here is a little tutorial on how to wash and deal with the diapers!

Now first of all, as I mentioned above, people always say that all that washing MUST not make disposables better for the environment.

That's simply not true. Because you see, disposables are not disposable. Once you use them and throw them away even if they are out of YOUR sight, that doesn't mean they are gone. Once those sposies are hauled away to a landfill they will sit there for at least 500 years.

As this blog says:

"In other words, if Christopher Columbus had worn Pampers, his poop would still be in some landfill today."

Perspective?

Yes'm.

Now onto producing disposables versus laundering cloth diapers. I am again going to quote this blog. Here's why washing cloth is STILL not even coming CLOSE to making the negative impact on our world that disposables are:
  
"Disposables Help Increase Gas Prices

We, as a nation, pay through the nose for disposable diapers throughout their life-cycle. In the full-cost accounting, from farm to factory to storefront, compared to cloth diapers, disposables:

• create 2.3 times more water waste,
• use 3.5 times more energy,
• use 8.3 times more non-renewable raw materials (like oil and minerals),
• use 90 times more renewable raw materials (like tree pulp and cotton),
• and use 4 to 30 times as much land for growing or mining raw materials.

Yikes!
Let’s break it down further…
A disposable diaper is practically dripping in oil. Oil is the raw material for the polyethylene plastic in disposables and it takes about 1 cup of crude oil just to make the plastic for 1 disposable diaper. Taking that a bit further, assuming you use at least 6,500 diapers, this means that it takes about 1,625 quarts of oil to diaper your baby for 30 months—not including the oil involved in the diapers’ manufacture and delivery.

Yes, that’s right: It takes more oil to keep your baby dry for 2-1/2 years than it does to lubricate all the cars you will ever own in your lifetime.

For the nation, this means that over 250,000 trees are destroyed and over 3.4 billion gallons of oil are used every single year to manufacture disposable diapers in the United States. For that amount of oil, we could have powered over 5,222,000 cars in the same time period.
The importance of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels through our diaper choices cannot be overestimated. Using up what little affordable oil we have left on this planet to improperly manage baby poop is possibly the stupidest use of oil we could think of, besides the disposable water bottle.
Such recklessly wasteful use of oil threatens not only our environmental security, but also our economic and homeland security, too. As we waste all the easy, cheap-to-produce oil we have left on unnecessary conveniences like disposable diapers and water bottles, we will increasingly have to rely on risky, costly-to-produce oil from deep in the ocean, the pristine Arctic, the Tarsands, and the Mideast and Venezuela, and suffer the price hikes, environmental disasters, and scary, scarcity politics that go with that. (War again, anyone?)
Would you go to war for the resources to continue to cover our children’s bottoms in sweaty, chemical-laden plastic? Oh yeah, we already did."

Try telling me NOW that washing cloth is worse/just as bad for the environment than disposables.

So with that being said, let me give you an easy peasy wash routine that doesn't take long, doesn't break the bank, and will let you do more important things with your little one than constantly run to the store to buy diapers!

 We keep our diapers in a pail in the nursery. The pail has a pail liner in it. Once we change a diaper we remove the insert and throw the whole thing into the pail along with the wipes. For diaper covers, we close the aplix tabs and put them in a wet bag that hangs from the changing table. You don't want to keep your covers in the pail because it will help wear them out faster, but all in ones and pockets can go right in the pail.

You are ready to wash (usually every 2-3 days) when the pail is full.





  

Step 1: Make sure all of your inserts have been removed and your aplix tabs are closed so as to avoid getting stuck on other diapers in the wash (Remember, it's easier to do this as you go!)


 

Step 2: Turn on your washing machine. Now each load gets a rinse cycle first in COLD water. On our machine I just turn the knob to the rinse cycle and put all the contents of the pail into the wash and let it rinse cold with NO detergent.
 
Think to self, "Yikes, my machine is dusty. I should probably do something about that, but the dust can wait. I have to finish these diapers so I can go snuggle my little one!"

So while the diapers are in the rinse cycle I go upstairs and do other stuff like hang out with my baby or clean, or watch TV (yea right!) But the point is, I can get stuff done, even though I have to wash diapers....SHOCKING I know! but it's true!!! :)


Step 3: About 20 minutes or so later (or the next day, because the wash can always wait! Your baby can't!) I run down and turn the washer to the HOT wash/COLD rinse setting and set the knob back to the full wash cycle. I add two tablespoons of Planet detergent. You can use a variety of different detergents, but we like Planet because it has NO dyes, NO brighteners, NO fragrance, NO bad stuff. So it's good for my little one's sensitive skin AND good for the environment! It's available locally at Feel Rite and the Lexingtion Co-Op. It's $13 or so for a 100 fl oz. To put that in perspective, we have bought a bottle of it TWICE since July. TWICE. So it lasts forever because you only use a small amount, and it is CHEAP! Can't say that about Tide! 

So once I change it to hot and add the detergent I am done for now! The diapers wash and I go about my life.

Step 4: The diapers are done and now they need to dry. I put all the inserts and wipes into the dryer and dry on medium heat with my wool dryer balls for about 20-30 minutes.  Any covers, wet bags, or pockets/all in ones get hung on the line to dry. My hubs hung a LONG laundry line in my basement for drying on the line in the winter, and in the summer I dry all the diapers on the line outside (sunning removes stains too!) which reduces energy use even further!

Step 5: The next morning take the diapers off the line and stuff them (if you use pockets) and put them away. You're done!  No running to the store, no spending money on new diapers once the diapers are dirtied, and only a few minutes every few days to do the laundry.

See? It's not bad at all!!! I probably spend one hour or less doing diaper laundry per week from start to finish. So it's not daunting, and the laundry is not a reason to decide NOT to do cloth diapers. Because it's not that big a deal!

Now I know you are wondering what happens when your baby turns 6 or so months old and starts solids? What happens when there is actual poop to deal with? Well that's just one extra step. 

All you do is get a diaper sprayer and hook it up to your toilet. This took my hubs about 15 minutes. When you change a poopy diaper you bring it to the bathroom and spray it clean. The diaper goes into the pail until wash day. Done.

Now you might be saying, "Gross, I don't want to spray the poop off my child's diapers." Well did you know:
 
  "...that human waste is not actually supposed to end up in landfills?  The directions of the backs of each package of disposable clearly states that users are to take the diaper to the toilet and rinse or shake the poop off before throwing the diaper into the garbage!

Here's exactly what this particular package says...

"Rinse or shake diaper contents into the toilet.  Wrap diaper securely inside it's back sheet before discarding into waste receptacle."

Now imagine, if families really followed the directions.  How many more disposable diaper users would be converted to cloth because they would no longer find disposables so much more convenient?"


Yep. That is what it says on most packages of disposables. Because your child's waste is NOT supposed to be in a landfill.

    
"Imagine a world where all disposable diapering families had to take each soiled diaper home in a baggie, take each disposable diaper to the toilet, and rinse or shake the poop off before disposing of the diaper?

Nevermind whether they all actually would do it, but do you think they'd think twice about the convenience of disposables compared to cloth diapers?  After all, part of what people think is so gross and inconvenient about cloth is having to deal with the poop, take the diaper to the toilet, etc."

Source: http://www.knickernappiesblog.com/2011/04/are-disposables-really-that-convenient.html
 

So on this Earth Day think twice about cloth diapers. It is not as hard as you think. And for every child that is cloth diapered that is thousands of diapers and fecal matter that is not in a landfill for our  children's generations to deal with.

Happy Earth Day!!!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Friday Favorites: Wool Dryer Balls

Happy Friday to you!

It's a dreary day here in Western New York, the perfect day for doing laundry! (Exactly what you want to be doing on a Friday night, right?)


Speaking of laundry, how many of you use dryer sheets? Probably a lot. I used to as well. Until I read about the dangers of using them. Here's one study from the University of Washington that tells about the dangers in your dryer sheets. Check that out. Don't worry, I will wait.

Ok, are you back? Here's some of what is lurking in your dryer sheets:

1.  Alpha-Terpineol–This chemical has been linked to disorders of the brain and nervous system, loss of muscle control, depression, and headaches
2.  Benzyl acetate–Benzyl acetate has been linked to cancer of the pancreas
3.  Benzyl alcohol–Linked to headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, depression, as well as disorders of the brain and nervous system
4.  Chloroform–Chloroform is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hazardous Waste list because it has been identified as a carcinogen and neurotoxin (toxic to the brain and nervous system)
5.  Ethanol–also on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list for its ability to cause brain and nervous system disorder
6.  Ethyl Acetate–causes headaches and is on the EPA Hazardous Waste list
7.  Linalool–in studies, this chemical caused loss of muscle coordination, nervous system and brain disorders, and depression
8.  Pentane–causes headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, drowsiness, and depression

Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-toxins-lurking-in-your-fabric-softener.html#ixzz2Qwv6sNfJ


AWESOME.

Once again, guess what? The EPA does not have to list or tell you about all the dangers of these toxins. Supposedly:

"The standard argument in favor of using fabric softeners is that the amount of the chemicals to which a person is exposed is insufficient to cause harm."

I call BS on that!

According to the link above:

 Studies are showing that even small amounts of these toxins can have serious effects.  So, think twice before you add that dryer sheet or liquid fabric softener to your laundry, particularly for children whose developing brains are more vulnerable to the effects of toxins.

But I want my laundry to smell fresh! I want my laundry to dry faster! I want my clothes to be softer!


So what are we to use?


Enter wool dryer balls!

Source: http://lovelivegrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/felted-wool-dryer-balls.jpg

These pretty balls rock. They help dry your laundry and fluff it up quickly! And we got rid of the fabric softener because it's toxic but guess what? They help soften your clothes too! According to Jillee here's how they work:

"The balls circulate and separate the clothing and get the warm dry air right down to the core of the laundry load! The more balls you add, the faster the drying time. They also soften your clothes through gentle friction of the felted wool fibers against your clothing fibers. And as if that weren’t enough…..they LAST for YEARS!"

These are one of my favorite things ever because they just make sense. In the past I'd heard you could use tennis balls, but then I imagine your clothes would smell like rubber, and I don't even want to know what bad stuff might be in hot rubber! And tennis balls are loud. Wool dryer balls are really quiet so they won't wake your napping baby!

Wool dryer balls are also super soft and come in so many cute colors and patterns! The ones I have are purple, green, and white. Lame compared to some, but I enjoy them. But you should see all the choices!

Check out these cute ones:

Source: http://img0.etsystatic.com/015/0/7758642/il_340x270.431303036_4utz.jpg

And these:

Source: http://jessiegunderson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/dryer-balls.jpg

And OMG are you kidding I can't take the cuteness!

 Source: http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t634/pardoheather/Butternut/a91d0a1c-bddf-43b4-9cc9-dd338f10ff7f_zps1678ca22.jpg

Who are these people that are so creative and talented?! On Etsy there are tons and tons of stores you can buy these from. You can also purchase them from time to time on green baby bargains if you keep an eye out. They are available in abundance on the internet if you do a simple google search. Look at that, I did it for you, you don't even have to type the words now!

I bought mine locally at fresh & fluffy.  I can't stress enough how important it is to shop local and shop at mom and pop stores. But that's another blog post! Stephanie has lot of varieties and sizes in stock.

Or if you are crafty (not I said the fly), you can make your own. Here's a fun and easy tutorial. Easy peasy.

The coolest thing is that they last and last and last I have had mine since last spring and they barely show any signs of wear, minus one loose string where my Aussie got a hold of one of them. But they still work! You literally never have to replace them. At some point I am sure they will loosen and fall apart, but mine are still going strong after over a year!

Did I mention that they are reasonably priced as well? I bought my pair for $12 and I plan to keep them forever. You can find them on Etsy for about $20 for 4 give or take.  And did I mention that they shorten your drying time?! Another bonus for being green AND frugal!

So if you want to avoid chemicals AND have softer, faster drying clothes, pick some wool dryer balls up! You will be so glad you did.

I hope you enjoyed my first Friday Favorite!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Happy weekend!

Love and Laughs,

 Danielle

Coming soon: Friday Favorites

Welcome back to the good life! Thanks for stopping!

Since a lot of my posts tend to take time, research, and yes, even some experimentation before I can write them, I thought it would be fun to start a quick category for the blog that I could do quickly even if it's not a "long post" week!

Enter, "Friday Favorites."

I will try my best to write a quick post each Friday sharing one of my favorite "green" things. It might be a product, website, tip, etc. We shall see where it goes from here!

My goal is to share information about the great products and places I have come to know and love since becoming what my sister affectionately calls crunchy granola.

So make sure you subscribe to the blog by e-mail  over on the top left side of the page (under my picture!) so you never miss a post and look out for the new column starting on Friday!

I hope that you too will continue to embrace being crunchy granola right along with me!

Crunch crunch!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Greening the medicine cabinet: Part 1

This is the first post of what will become a series. I'm excited, my first blog series!

I have been working for quite some time on making my medicine cabinet more "green." Let me tell you that this is NOT an easy task! If you remember from this post, I gave some options for taking small and easy steps to lead a greener life. Trading the cosmetics has proved to be not so easy, BUT I am not giving up! Let's talk about what's been happening.

First of all, I am way too busy (read: LAZY) to make all of my own products. I am a creature of convenience, I 100% admit that. I do know it would be a lot easier in the long run, but I just feel like there HAS to be products out there that are affordable and natural. I am working on finding them. Which is why I think this will be a series of posts. But I digress. So yes, we have established that I am too lazy to make my own products, but I have already found some nice alternatives to products I use that are easier than others to switch to.

Today we will focus on my green alternative for:

Eye Makeup Remover

When I worked for Mary Kay ( I know ::gasp::) I used their eye makeup remover. Check out the ingredients of concern as listed on EWG's cosmetic database:

POLOXAMER 184	Data gaps, Ecotoxicology, Contamination concerns (ACETIC ACID, FORMIC ACID, PROPYLENE OXIDE, ETHYLENE OXIDE, 1,4-DIOXANE, ALDEHYDES), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Persistence and bioaccumulation	Data: Limited
CYCLOTETRASILOXANE	Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Ecotoxicology, Endocrine disruption, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Persistence and bioaccumulation	Data: Limited
BENZYL ALCOHOL	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Occupational hazards, Use restrictions	Data: Fair
BENZALKONIUM CHLORIDE	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Use restrictions	Data: Fair
IMIDAZOLIDINYL UREA	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Contamination concerns (FORMALDEHYDE)	Data: Limited
HEXYLENE GLYCOL	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)	Data: Fair
ISOHEXADECANE	Ecotoxicology, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Use restrictions

Um no thank you?! I used this on my EYES.

FTR (For the record) you don't want the ingrdients in your product to be higher than 0-2, which is considered "low hazard." This had 5s. SCARY stuff!

Might I remind you, I wasn't into checking the ingredients at this point in my life. I foolishly trusted the FDA and cosmetics companies and believed they wouldn't possibly put anything into my stuff that was unhealthy. It's amazing how drinking the cloth diaper kool-aid takes you down a rabbit hole of epic proportions. Scary stuff in these products I used to use, yes, but I am so glad that I am educated about this stuff now so I can make educated decisions about products that I am using on my body.

Now the reason I stopped using this stuff was because it was $14 a bottle. Not because of the toxins, (remember I was still clueless at that point) but because of the price. So what did I start using?

Good old Dollar General brand. $1.50. Yea buddy!

Until I read the back:

That's a WHOLE lot of toxic stuff. Parabens, SLS, sulfates, mystery "fragrance." Yikes. So I just tried to use water for awhile but still ended up with raccoon eyes. Something had to be done.

So as I was browsing the interwebs one day I came across this post where I read that you can use coconut oil as an eye makeup remover. Of course I HAD to try it. I had coconut oil in the house because we use it for a natural diaper cream when we're out of CJs and I also use it for oil pulling. Well who knew all the awesome uses for it! More research led me to this post where I learned all the other uses for this amazing stuff! It's so amazing. You want to know what's in it?

coconut oil.

That's it.

Here's the brand I use: Spectrum

So you can either take a little and put it on a cotton ball or cloth with some water and wipe the makeup off, or you can mix it with a little bit of distilled water and Dr. Bronner's and voila! The makeup comes right off and leaves nothing behind! I love love love it!

Other ways I use coconut oil in our home:

• diaper cream
• moisturizer
• hair defrizzer
• hangnails 
• shaving cream
• oil pulling
• taken orally for general health
• scars
• deodorant (more on this coming soon-I am currently participating in my own experiment to find an all natural deodorant solution that actually works!)
• cooking
• toothpaste (for whitening!)

As you can see coconut is a necessity in any green medicine cabinet. Eye makeup remover aside, there are literally hundreds of other uses for it! And the best part is that a jar of it costs between $8 and $14 depending on the brand, but it lasts FOREVER. Well not forever, but a really LONG time.

So if you are currently using a toxic eye makeup remover go ahead and try to swap it out for coconut oil. Remember it's all about the little changes that you make to your life over time that count, not getting overwhelmed by trying to change everything at once!

So go ahead and buy a jar of coconut oil next time you are out grocery shopping and put it right in that medicine cabinet! You won't be sorry!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle