June's Change Challenge - Frugally Green Baby Care

Wow, I cannot believe it is June already! My sweet baby boy turns one this month! This year has gone by so fast, but what a blessing it has been to get to know this sweet, funny, lovable little guy.  How can you resist that smile!

In honor of Brenden's first year of life, I wanted to cover frugally green baby care as this month's change challenge.  Whether you have 10 kiddos, or you are just thinking of starting a family, or having a family is not even on your radar right now, it always important to remember that babies and children are some of our most vulnerable, and most affected by toxins in their environment.  Let's work to make changes to make our world a safer place for our kids to live!

If you've read my story, you know that I started being concerned about going green around the time that my daughter was born.  It's amazing how having a little life entrusted to you can change your perspective.  It began with non-toxic cleaning and cloth diapering, and just continued to snowball from there.  While sometimes it can be overwhelming to think of all of the things that our kids are being exposed to and how it may be affecting them, I know that ultimately God is control and that He has called me to this journey, and that I need to be balanced in my approach.

I don't do this right or perfectly all the time, or, more accurately, ever.  I know there are others that do a much better job of limiting their kids exposure to toxic chemicals.  And yes, I do worry about the "what-abouts", as only a mother can. What about the lotion that we slathered on my daughter for the first year (or more) of her life?  What about some of the foods that she's eaten?  What if there's lead, or mold or worse, in the air in this older house that we live in?  What about the coffee I drink on almost a daily basis while nursing my son? Or what about the disposable (gasp!) diapers that my kiddos wear? But, I have learned that dwelling on those questions will not ultimately help anything.  Taking small steps, and making small changes as I am able, can and will make a big difference in the lives of my kids.  

So, let's focus on the positive changes that we can make in our environment at home, and in the environment as a whole, that will lead to fewer chemicals and less toxins in the lives of our little ones.  

If you're just beginning your frugally green journey - here's a look back at some of the past change challenges and posts I've written that would be a good place to start.

Homemade and Green Cleaning
Buying Pre-Owned 
Change Your Mind About Antibacterial Products

How do you limit the exposure to chemicals and toxins for the kids in your life?  Is this an area that you need to improve in? 

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Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If this is your first time here and you'd like to learn more about me and what Live Renewed is about, click here. If you like what you've read, and would like to read more, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.

This is the first post for June's Change Challenge - Frugally Green Baby Care. You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.

Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.

Change Challege - Decreasing Household Waste

Photo by Loving Earth

So, did you get the chance to do a garbage inventory?  If so, I hope that you learned a little bit more about the type of garbage your family is creating, and maybe you're ready to make some changes in the amount of waste you are throwing away.  (If not, I still highly encourage you to try it - it really is eye opening!)

Through my garbage inventory, I learned that we didn't have a lot of paper waste, which I think is a really good thing.  But, I know that paper waste is a problem for some people and it's hard to know what to do about it, where to start and what the best alternatives are.  Here are a few links to posts I've written about how we have eliminated paper waste around our home.  

Eliminating Paper Waste
Going Paper Towel-less
Wrapping Gifts 

One area that I want to improve in our household is the amount of junk mail we receive.  I always recycle it, but if I could stop it from being sent in the first place, that would be even better.  Less paper waste I am creating and less paper in general that I have to deal with on a day to day basis - it's a double bonus!

One thing that I'm going to try to do is to keep any junk mail that we do receive and see if I can figure out how to get our names off their mailing list.  A phone number, or hopefully website or e-mail address, I can contact and ask them to stop sending me junk.  This will definitely take a little extra time and effort on my part, but I think in the long run of having less mail and paper to deal with, it will be worth it.

Another option would be to opt out of having direct mail sent to you.  There is a website where you can contact the major credit bureaus and opt out of having credit offers sent to you.  I don't know anything about this site and how it actually works though, so I think I'm going to stick with directly contact companies that we receive junk mail from. 
Update 5/26: I tried calling the number (888-567-8688) on the bottom of a direct mail credit card offer I received and it was the number for Opt Out Prescreen - the website I mentioned above.  You can either give your information over the phone or fill out the form online and opt out of direct mail offers for 5 years, or permanently. 

Cutting back on paper waste is a great first step to take toward decreasing your total household waste!

How have you eliminated paper waste around your home?  Any type of paper that you struggle with giving up, or finding an alternative for? 

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Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If you’d like to read more about my journey to becoming Frugally Green, please subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.

This is a post for May's Change Challenge - Decrease Your Household Waste. You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.

Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesdays at We are That Family 

May's Change Challenge - Decreasing Household Waste

 Photo by engnr_chik

I have one more post to finish up April's Change Challenge to Read the Ingredients, but I'm not quite finished with it yet, so it will have to wait 'til next week.  But, I wanted to go ahead and introduce May's Change Challenge since we're already half way through the month.  I wanted this month's challenge to be pretty simple and straightforward, as well as something that I have written about before, and because I just went to a composting workshop earlier this week, May's challenge is to decrease your household waste. 

The composting workshop I went to was interesting for a few reasons.  Obviously it was interesting to learn about composting, and now I feel like - I can do that! So, look for some posts in the future about how we set up and began our compost pile.  (Exciting, I know!)

It was also interesting because the presenter (from the St. Joseph Co. Soil and Water Conservation Dist.) talked a little about landfills and waste and what happens to our waste when it goes to the landfill.  Basically, he described landfills as giant Tupperware Bowls were garbage just sits, without actually rotting or decaying.  He said that there were scientists that did studies of landfills and found newpapers that were 30 years old and still legible, and carrots that were still edible! I wasn't quite sure if I believed him, so I did a little digging myself, and found The Garbage Project which is based at the University of Arizona and studies people's garbage and excavates landfills.  According to this article, what he told us at the workshop is true, and one thing he said has stuck with me, "When things go into a landfill, they don't go away!"  That really changes my view of the waste that we as a family create and throw away - it doesn't actually go away, it just moves from my house to a place where it will sit unchanged for hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years. 

Almost a year ago I did a Garbage Inventory by keeping track of the waste that created in one day.  It was interesting (and kind of gross) to see the garbage that we threw away on a typical day. It was also really helpful to know what kind of garbage we were throwing away so we could find areas that we could improve in. 

So, I want to encourage you, over the weekend or sometime next week to do a garbage inventory at your house too! Just collect everything that you throw away in one central bag.  I also wrote things down as I threw them away because I really didn't want to go digging back through the garbage bag just to see what was in there. You can weigh it and look over your list at the end of the day to see how much and what type of garbage you created.  It really doesn't take that much extra time, and it is a great first step to identify areas you can make changes to decrease your waste!

Did you realize that trash in landfills doesn't really go away?  Have you ever done a garbage inventory?  Do you know how much and what kinds of waste your family creates on a day-to-day basis?  
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Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If you’d like to read more about my journey to becoming Frugally Green, please subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.

This is the first post in May's Change Challenge - Decrease Your Household Waste.  Last month's Change Challenge was Read the Ingredients! You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.

Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.

Change Challenge - Ingredients to Avoid - Part II

 Photo by canadapost

Earlier this week, we talked about the hows and whys of avoiding Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils and High Fructose Corn Syrup in your food. Now, here are the other 3 additives that are on my Top 5 Food Additives to Avoid. 

3. Artificial colors and dye. 
These have names like Blue 2, Green 3, Yellow 5 and Red 40 - basically any color with a number after it is artificial coloring.  Although the FDA restricts the use of food dyes, there are some artificial colors that have already been banned because they were proven to be carcinogens, which shows that just because they are deemed safe for consumption right now, that does not mean they will not later be shown to be harmful or toxic to our bodies.  That's why I'm trying (Easter candy is not helping me in this area right now!) to keep foods with artificial colors and dyes out of our home.  Other effects of food dyes include increased hyperactivity in children (we all know we don't need our kids to be any more active!), increased allergies and asthma, and possible cancer. Also, most of these dyes are specifically not recommended for children, but how often are they found in food items that children love - like candy, soda, sugary drinks, jello, etc.? And on top of all that, the source of these dyes does not make them something that I want to be eating - Red 40 is made from petroleum, and Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Blue 1 are made from coal ta - blech! 

How to avoid artificial colors and dyes?  I think the real answer for avoiding all of these food additives is to eat real food, not fake, processed, edible food-like substances.  Candy - not food, chips - not food, soda - not food - and especially do not feed them to your children.

Here's an example, just to be honest, and to show that I don't always completely avoid these for my family, and just note that I don't make a habit of using my own children as testing grounds for my blog. Tuesday for dinner my daughter ate some decidedly not food - food.  We were going to a softball game with our small group and had a to-go dinner that included juice, Cheetos, cookies and popcorn - all things that she doesn't normally eat.  About 45 minutes or so after eating - she became this crazy little monster girl.  I literally had to restrain her on my lap to keep her from hurting someone or having a complete meltdown.  Now it may be that she was tired, but I'm highly suspicious that it also had a lot to do with some of the food that she ate and the ingredients in them - including dyes and artificial coloring.  I don't endorse trying this on your kids, but the next time they happen to have food with artificial dyes make a note of how they act and see if there's a link between their behavior and the food they have eaten.  I'm just sayin', if you and I can observe it on a small scale in our own families, that is reason enough to get the artificial dyes and colors out of our homes.

4. Artificial sweeteners - Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), Saccharin (Swee-n-Low),  Sucralose (Splenda) and others.
To begin with, if we are trying to eat a more whole foods diet and less processed food, then it would follow that we would want to eliminate chemically processed, fake sugar from our diets.  But, in case you need more convincing here's a few things I found in my reading.  Aspartame has 92 documented side effects - everything from migraines to seizures, irritability to severe PMS, nausea and diarrhea, and worse.  The FDA proposed a ban on Saccharin in 1977 because of it being linked to cancer in rats, but Congress overruled the ban, as long as foods with saccharin had a warning label (cigarettes anyone?).  Then in 2000, because of pressure by the diet food industry, saccharin was removed from the list of cancer causing chemicals and the warning labels were removed from the foods. Sucralose (Splenda) is a relatively new sweetner, it was introduced in the U.S. in 1998, and there is just no way of knowing how safe it really is.  Splenda is made by chemically reacting sugar with chlorine, and chlorine is not exactly on my "approved to eat" list either. Also, in recent research, most artificial sweeteners have been linked to cancer.  To top it all off, studies have also shown that people who consume artificial sweeteners (often because they are on a diet), actually increase their chances of gaining weight, so they don't even do what they're supposed to do in helping people eat sweet foods without the added calories (and weight) that goes along with regular sugar. Artificial sweeteners, don't sound so sweet anymore, do they?

How to avoid artificial sweeteners? Use regular sugar, and even better, work toward replacing your white sugar with more natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup and sucunat/rapadura.  Take baby steps - first and foremost get the artificial sweeteners out.  Don't buy diet pop, or really pretty much any diet product. I just started reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and he suggests staying away from any kind of food that makes health claims on the package - good advice I think.  Satisfy your sweet tooth with real, naturally sweet foods like fruit. 

5. MSG - Monosodium Glutamate
You've seen the Chinese Restaurants claiming "No MSG", but is it really that big of deal?  Monosodium Glutamate is a flavor enhancer - it's added to foods to make them taste better.  My question - why does it taste bad to begin with, and why do I need it to taste better?  Well one of the reasons that it might not taste as good without MSG is that adding MSG means that the actual real food can be removed.  So food processors can make low-quality food more appealing. Hmmm, I'm looking for more real food in my food, not less.  MSG also has a pretty long list of side effects, like headaches, nausea, and difficulty breathing, but the side effects seem to be found in only people sensitive to MSG. I don't know if I am one of those people or not, but there's really no reason for me to eat a food additive that tastes good when I can just eat the real food that tastes just as good, and most likely even better!

How to avoid MSG? I feel like a broken record here, but processed food is what it is because of all of the additives in it, so again, avoid processed food.  MSG is a hard one for me though because it keeps showing up in things that I thought were "safe" and healthy like my jar of roasted peanuts, and others that I can't think of right now.  That's why it is so important to read the ingredients labels on everything - even things you think you know what they're made of (aren't roasted peanuts made of peanuts?) - and you know there's a problem when your peanuts have a list of 7 or 8 ingredients! And again, make things from scratch.  Homemade chicken stock is so much better (and cheaper) than store bought, same with seasoning mixes like taco seasoning or onion soup mix.  

Really pretty much everything that I make at home cannot compare to it's store bought, processed alternative, in my humble opinion.  Probably because it actually has food in it; real, good, wholesome, nourishing, and tasty food!  And that's the key, to avoiding these, and other, food additives of questionable impact on our bodies and our health, isn't it?  Eat real food, not processed imitations of food. 

Sources and Further Reading
Center for Science in the Public Interest - a great list of food additives and where they come from and if they are safe or something that should be avoided.
Sustainable Table
List of Aspartame Side Effects
Planet Green - Why Artificial Sweeteners are Bad for You and the Planet
Artificial Sweeteners Increase Weight Gain Odds
FDA - Everything Added to Food in the United Sates - this list is just shocking!
Dangers of HFCS
Avoiding Products with Artificial Coloring


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Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If you’d like to read more about my journey to becoming Frugally Green, please subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.

This post is part of the Change Challenge for April - Read the Ingredients ! You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.

Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.

Change Challenge - Ingredients to Avoid

 Photo by canadapost

My Top 5 Food Additives to Avoid
As we already talked about, there are thousands of additives that are put into our food to make it taste, look, or smell better, or last longer on our shelves or in our fridge.  The list of food additives can definitely be overwhelming, and even though a lot of them are said to be safe, I still wonder how much we should be eating foods that have things added to them at all.  But, the reality is that most (if not all) of us will eat foods on a regular/daily basis that have things added to them.  So, while in theory it would be nice to say, "Avoid all food additives", it's just not practical or realistic.

But, there are definitely some food additives that are worse than others - some that have been shown to have harmful effects on our bodies and our health, that we should try to avoid completely, in all of our food.  Theses are the ingredients that I am specifically looking for when I am reading an ingredient label.  If a food I'm considering buying has one of these ingredients I will try my absolute best not to buy it, and find an alternative, or consider making it myself from scratch.

1. Hydrogenated Oil or Partially Hydrogenated Oil - aka Trans Fat. 
I'm sure we've all heard by now that Trans Fats are bad for us.  It increases the risk of coronary heart disease and raises LDL (bad) cholesterol and lowers HDL (good) cholesterol. And while partially hydrogenated oils were once common in foods like margarine and fried foods like potato chips, since it has gotten such a bad rap (deservedly so) lately, it seems like food companies are moving away from their use of these deadly fats. But beware! Just because an item says, "Trans Fat Free" on the package, does not mean that it does not contain partially hydrogenated oil.  Take a look at the ingredients.  If you see any kind of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil on the label, then it does indeed include trans fat, but just in an amount small enough per serving that they don't have to list it in the Nutritional Information and can claim that it is trans fat free.  Sneaky, huh?  At my house, I have found trans fat in crackers, tortillas, and cookies (and I'm sure there are others).

How do I try to avoid Partially Hydrogenated Oils?  Mostly by making things myself, from scratch.  Then I know all the ingredients and that there's no trans fats sneaking in there.  I have made crackers from scratch, but need to try some new recipes.  This is the reason that I started making my tortillas at home, until I discovered how yummy homemade tortillas are, and now I make them because they're so good! We also try to make our own baked good like cookies, brownies, muffins, etc., from scratch.  Basically, avoiding processed food is a good way to avoid trans fats!  We also only use butter - no margarine or spreadable "butter" here. 
  
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup
We've also all probably heard how bad High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is for us too.  It contributes to obesity, high blood pressure, high LDL (bad) cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, and can even deplete our bodies of the vitamins and minerals it needs! HFCS is the most common form of sugar now consumed in America, mostly in soda (or pop, whatever you call it). :)
But it's also found in condiments, salad dressings, sauces, and lots of other places.  I found it in our favorite BBQ sauce (the first ingredient! what am I going to do?) and caramel syrup for ice cream. 

How to avoid HFCS?  Again, probably mostly by avoiding processed foods, but this one is definitely a bit harder for me than trans fats because many of the things that have HFCS are things that I am not as likely to make myself.  I haven't delved into making condiments, dressings, or sauces.  I do really like the Meijer Naturals brand, if you live by Meijer, because it does not contain HFCS, specifically the ketchup is really good.  Also, cut soda (or pop) out of your diet (and yes, even diet soda because those contain artificial sweeteners which we will talk about later this week).  I know this might be a really, really hard one for some people, but as someone who used to drink soda pretty much every day, I can tell you that you can do it, and you won't even miss it (most of the time)! :)   Not only is it better for your health, it's much better for your wallet too!

So, those are my top two ingredients to avoid when reading ingredient labels and deciding what food I am going to buy and feed to my family.  Am I perfect at keeping these things out of my house? Of course not, but I figure if I can be aware and proactive we can greatly reduce our consumption of these harmful food additives.

Please come back later this week (hopefully tomorrow, but I don't want to promise too much), where I'll share the next 3 of my Top 5 Food Additives to Avoid. 
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Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If you’d like to read more about my journey to becoming Frugally Green, please subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.

This post is part of the Change Challenge for April - Read the Ingredients ! You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.

Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.

April Change Challenge - Read the Ingredients!

Photo by cogito ergo imago

Welcome to the April Change Challenge!  This month I challenge you to read the ingredient labels on your food, and then commit to stop buying food that has certain ingredients in it.  We'll be talking about ingredients that should be completely avoided and also about baby steps you can take in eliminating other certain ingredients from your food.  I'm not going to throw out a huge long list of ingredients to avoid because I know that's probably not realistic, and I would probably have to throw away half of the food in my pantry and fridge.  

This is another challenge I'm doing right along with you.  Although we have eliminated a lot of processed foods from our diet, we still have some things that I've been holding onto, and others that I know I need to find more healthy alternatives for.  I have been more intentional about reading labels recently and sometimes I have been shocked and frustrated and what I have found in the ingredients lists of food that I eat regularly, and thought were fairly healthy.

So, our first step in this Challenge is to simply turn your box or bottle or package around and actually read through the list of ingredients in the foods you are eating.  Take note of a few things: Can you pronounce the words?  Do you know what all the ingredients are? Is there anything that you know is not good for you, or are there some things that you are unsure of?  Let's just be a little more aware of what it is we are actually putting into our mouths and feeding our bodies with.  Before we can make changes we need to know what we are working with.

Why is this Change Challenge important? 
There are a ton of additives in food, over 3000(!) of them actually. I was looking at this list on Wikipedia of food additives and was just shocked by the shear number of them.  That is a lot of stuff that is added to our food that is not necessarily food, right?

While some additives are naturally derived and do not seem to pose a health risk there are many, many additives that are simply not good for us, may have been linked to health problems and should be avoided as much as possible.  To me, there is something not right about the fact that so much food has to have something added to it so that I will like the way it tastes or smells, so it will look nice, or so it can sit on my shelf for an indefinite amount of time. That doesn't sit well with me.  I want to know what's in my food and why it's in there.  I don't want to eat things that aren't really food, and that may contain ingredients that could be harmful to me or my family.

This month, let's take a good look at the food we are eating and the ingredients that they are made out of!

Do you regulary read the ingredient labels on foods you eat?  Have you been surprised or shocked by any of the ingredients in foods you thought were healthy or good for you?

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Thanks for visiting Live Renewed! If you’d like to read more about my journey to becoming Frugally Green, please subscribe to my blog by clicking here! You can also follow me on Twitter.

This is the first post for April's Change Challenge - Read the Ingredients! You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here.

Are you brand new to being frugally green? Be sure to check out my Frugally Green Fundamentals.

Change Challenge - Your Stuff - Link Love

 Photo by minxlj

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris

I'd love to show you some wonderful before and after pictures of the major improvements I have made on going through my stuff, getting rid of stuff, decluttering, and organizing.  But, the truth is, it just hasn't happened much.  I had lofty and grand plans when I started this month to get rid of our stuff, but as the month went on I lost some of my motivation, and I wasn't able to find the time I needed to do what I needed to do.  Oh, isn't that always the excuse!  I still want (and need) to do it, and am still planning to, I'm just giving myself a lot of grace in the process.

I'd love to hear if you've been able to go through any of your stuff - declutter, donate, get rid of, sell - whatever it is that you've done with your stuff that you don't need and don't use.  That would give me inspiration to get myself going.  And if you are still in need of some inspiration too, here are some links I've come across related to letting go of stuff, decluttering and organizing. 

Simple Mom:
The 2 Key Questions to Ask While Decluttering (based on the quote above)
How Do You Declutter

Organizing Junkie:
PROCESS for Organizing
Remove, Sort and Purge
Letting Go of Stuff

Small Notebook:
A Home With Your Favorite Things
Janet Jackson's Guide to Decluttering (this one makes me laugh) :)
Top 10 Rules of Decluttering

Well, now I am inspired!  Hopefully I'll be able to make some time to go through and purge some of my stuff this weekend!  Happy Friday!

Encouragment for the Journey - God Alone

Photo by WELSnet

"He who has God and many things has nothing more than he who has God alone."  C.S. Lewis

So here it is, mid-March and you're probably thinking, "I thought this month's change challenge was going to be about cleaning out our stuff?"  (Or maybe you don't just sit around and think about my blog - that would be pretty conceited of me to think that you do.) Anyway, I really wanted to start out  this month actually challenging the way we think about our stuff before we started really going through our stuff.  I believe we've got to get to the root of the problem before we can really tackle it head on.  

So, I hope you've had a chance over the past week or two, after watching The Story of Stuff and hearing about how my view of my stuff has changed, to take some time to think about your stuff. I truly hope and pray that we can view our stuff as just what it is - stuff.  We can't take it with us when we leave this earth, and it will never satisfy us or make us truly happy.  

What has to be first and foremost in our lives is our relationship with God.  I'm sure you've heard it said that we should put God first, others second and ourselves last.  I'm becoming convinced that is not completely right.  I believe that we should seek God only, God alone.  When we set our minds on things above and not on things of this world (Colossians 3:2), all the other things, including our stuff, will fall into their proper place.   

So, how is your relationship with God?  This is such a personal and individual question.  There is not a right answer, but I hope and pray that you can say that you are growing in knowledge of your Creator and becoming more like Him (Colossians 3:10).

So with our relationship with God at the forefront of our minds, and our new way of thinking about our stuff, let's get started going through it and purging stuff that we don't need, don't use or that we just have more of than we truly need. I'm no professional organizer (the mere thought of that makes me laugh!), I don't have a 3 step plan for helping you go through your stuff.  I say just start somewhere and you can feel good about every little bit that you sort through and get rid of stuff, and it will be a weight lifted off your shoulders.  I'll try to find some good links to pass along to you about going through and purging your stuff. 

What stuff do you want to work on cleaning out during the rest of this month? 

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

Our Stuff - The Next Steps

Last week we talked about where our stuff comes from and how our stuff has farther reaching effects then we may have previously understood.  I wanted to share with you some of the changes that our family has made in the stuff that we buy and use and consume.  Now, please remember that we are human, we don't do this perfectly all the time, and we still have a long ways to go.  But, I believe that we are on the right path and each small decision that we make can ultimately have a much larger impact. 

Buying Used
Over the past year or two we have really made a conscious effort to buy more things used. I'll admit, I used to be a snob about used stuff. I figured, why buy something used when I could get it new for just a few dollars more? Now that my paradigm has shifted, I love garage sale season and trying to find great buys at thrift and consignment stores.  We shop on Criagslist, Ebay and other online sites for used items.  Buying things used means less extraction, production, distribution and disposal.  It makes an impact all along the system. 

Along with buying used items, we've also been blessed to receive great hand-me-downs from friends and family.  This is even a little better than buying used because it's free! And makes the same impact all along the system. 

Conscious Gift Giving
Just this past year, we've started to think about giving socially responsible gifts.  We don't believe there is anything wrong with giving gifts, but we do think that it can definitely get excessive and unnecessary at times, especially around Christmas.  This year we gave our family members gift cards from Living Water for Christmas.  And my mom just had her birthday last month and together my sisters and I got her a necklace from Starfish Project, which rescues women from exploitation and abuse.  This is one that I am excited to do more with; striving to give gifts that make an impact beyond just the person receiving the gift. 

Buy Fair Trade Products
Items like coffee and chocolate are highly valuable in the marketplace and can lead to exploitation of the people who grow and produce these products. TransFair USA provides fair trade certification for meeting strict economic, social and environmental guidelines in the production and trade of agricultural products. Jer and I watched the documentary Black Gold and were convinced that we needed to be buying fair trade coffee.  We have really enjoyed Bolivia's Best coffee and while they are not certified fair trade, they buy from a co-op of family farmers and 100% of their profits go to funding homes for orphans in Bolivia.  Also, I just learned that a lot of store brands, like Archer Farms at Target, Members Mark at Sam's Club, and Sam's Choice at Walmart offer certified fair trade coffee - that makes buying fair trade coffee even easier! Next on my list is to buy fair trade chocolate.  Fair Trade certified products also include tea and herbs, fresh fruit, flowers, sugar, rice and vanilla. 

Educate Yourself about Forced and Child Labor
My sister recently shared with me about the organization Not for Sale, which is dedicated to fighting the global slave trade and end human trafficking. Every day 27 million people, including children, are forced to work against their will, and could be making products so that we can get them for such a great "deal".  Where our stuff comes from and how it is made effects the people that are involved in those parts of the process.  I believe it is important to think about the people that are "behind" our products and try as best as we can to purchase products that are produced ethically and responsibly. Not for Sale runs a website called Free2Work which helps consumers to identify companies that do not include forced or child labor in the production of their products.  Let's try to support those companies that are making good choices and treating their employees ethically and fairly.  Browse around these sites, they share a lot of really important information for us as consumers.

Become a Conscious Consumer
Basically this one encompasses all of the previous ideas.  Let's be committed to really thinking about the items we buy and use and consume.  Let's be very selective about the items that we choose to bring into our homes.  Let's not blindly walk around Target (I'm so guilty of this!), or some other store and put stuff in our carts that we don't really need because "Oh, it's so cheap" or "It's such a good deal".  Let's remember that there is a hidden cost behind those items - a cost that other people and our environment pay for.  I recently found the site Conscious Consuming and plan to spend some time learning about how to do a better job of this than I am doing right now.

Will you join me in making changes in how you buy and consume things in one or more of these areas?  Have you already made changes in any of these areas?  What has been your experience?

Change Challenge - The Story of MY Stuff

I have watched The Story of Stuff video a few times, and every time I get something new out of it. It has greatly affected the way that I think about and relate to my stuff.

Photo by zoriah

How does my stuff affect others? 
Every time I watch this video, one specific thing sticks out to me, and sticks with me - the emphasis the video places on people.  Here are a few quotes from the video:

• "Some people in this system matter a little more than others." 
• "In this system, if you don't own or buy a lot of stuff, you don't have value." 
• "It's not just resources that get wasted along this system, it's people too. Whole communities get wasted." 

For those of you who haven't watched the video (you should go watch it!), the system it is talking about is the process of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal that our consumer goods go through - the way that our stuff is made and gets to us, is used and disposed of. The way the video describes this system treating people does not line up with my value system as a Christian.  I believe that everyone matters equally in the eye's of God, that a person has value because they are created in the image of God, that those that don't have or buy a lot of stuff (the poor) are specifically important to God, and that loving others should be second in my life only to loving God.  

That last quote is the the one thing that has stuck with me the most since I first watched this video about a year ago.  It's not just about the earth and the resources that are wasted by buying too much stuff, people are wasted by the stuff that I buy and use and consume.  If I am not conscious about the way that my stuff is made, how it gets to me, and where it goes when I'm done with it, my stuff wastes people.  People whose names I will never know, whose faces I will never see.  Wow, that is so hard for me to sit here and write and look at, but it is the truth. 

I truly believe that as a follower of Christ, my mission in life is to love God and love others, to love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:37-39).  If my stuff wastes people, that is definitely not loving them.

Photo by zumix

A Nation of Consumers
Another thing that stuck out to me, as I was watching the video again to write this post, were the quotes about our consumption as a nation.  Consider these quotes:

• "We have become a nation of consumers. Our primary identity has become that of being consumers." 
• "The primary way that our value is measured and demonstrated is by how much we contribute to (consumption).  How much we consume."  
• Quoting a retail analyst: "We seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption." 

I do not want my identity, my value, my spiritual satisfaction, to be wrapped up in what I consume, to be wrapped up in my stuff.  If I do, I will never be satisfied. Christ has called me to be different than this world (Romans 12:2) and to find my identity and satisfaction in Him (Colossians 3:3-4).  I want to live in a way that is counter to this cultural expectation that I am my stuff, what I have, use, and consume.   

I believe that the choices that I make on a day to day basis regarding my stuff have an impact far greater than what I know or understand.  In some ways this is really overwhelming because it feels like the problem is so great that I really can't have an impact on it at all.  But, now that I know what I know, I don't believe that I can just sit back and continue to make the same choices, to continue to keep consuming and consuming and not take into account the greater effects of my consumption. 

As I said, this is a wake up call and a challenge for myself and our family to make changes in the choices that we make regarding our stuff.  We have been taking small steps over the last year or so, and have definitely made some positive moves in the right direction.  I'll share some of these changes with you next week, as an encouragement for small steps that you can begin to take.  But, we still have a long ways to go.  This cultural pull to buy and have and consume stuff is SO strong, and so ingrained into the very being of who we are as people. It's definitely hard to break away from. Through God's power and grace, I am slowly breaking down the high place that stuff has held in my life. 

What were you're reactions to the Story of Stuff video?  Did you realize the effect that our stuff has not only on the world and it's resources,  but on other people? That our stuff can waste people?  How does that change how you feel about your stuff? 

March Change Challenge - Too Much Stuff!

This change challenge is one that I am going to be doing right along with you all.  Lately, through my time reading the Bible, and through things I have read in books and online, and sermons I have heard recently, I feel like God has been speaking to me about this area of my life, my stuff.

Take a minute and just look around where you are right now.  Are you in your house?  Your living room or office?  Have you ever really noticed how much stuff you have? Where I sit at my dinning room table, I can see into our living room and kitchen. I can see that we have A LOT of stuff.

I have been convicted of this recently, to really look at the amount of stuff that we have in relation to others in the world that literally have nothing.  I am beginning to believe and understand how our stuff can creep into our lives and become an idol, something that is more important to us than loving God and loving others.

How much stuff is enough?  We can only wear one set of clothes or one pair of shoes at a time, our kids can only play with one toy or read one book at time.  We can can only use our stuff one thing at a time (for the most part, except for us multi-tasking mamas!), how much stuff is enough? I'm not exactly sure what the answer to this question is, but I do know that we have MORE than enough. 

I challenge you to think about and change your relationship with your stuff.  Now, I'm not going to say that you should get rid of all your stuff, obviously some of our stuff provides basic necessities for us like clothing and food.  But, this month, I am going to ask you to evaluate your relationship with your stuff.  How you think and feel about your stuff, and then, if you want, we're going to get rid of some of our stuff.  For myself, I have committed that in March I want to go through our stuff like clothes and toys, books and miscellaneous things, and purge stuff that we don't use and don't need.  I want to get rid of a lot of our stuff. I just don't want our stuff to have a prominent or important place in our lives.  It's just stuff, and as my dad always said to my sisters and I when we were growing up, "The best things in life aren't things at all."  I believe that, and I want it to be reflected in the way that I live. 

Please, just take a minute and reflect on your relationship with your stuff.  Are you content with what you have?  Or do you always feel like you want or need more?  Do you think that once you get or have (fill in the blank) that you will be happy, life will be good?  Do you hold tightly to your stuff? Do you keep it for yourself? Or are you generous with what you have, giving and sharing freely with others? Are you jealous of other people's stuff?  Do you wish that you had clothes like your friend's, or a car like your neighbor's?  How about this - where does all the stuff that you have in your house come from?  Who made it?  What processes did it have to go through to get where it now sits in your house?  What resources and people were a part of making and getting your stuff to you?  How does the stuff that we buy and use in our homes impact others outside of ourselves and our family?

Are there any other questions that you are asking yourself about your stuff.  Maybe you already have a proper relationship to your stuff, if so, please share your story.  I'd love to hear your thoughts, as I'm asking myself these same questions right along with you.

Change Challenge - Kids & Other Personal Care Products

When I started the change challenge this month, I had several other ideas for posts about making changes in your personal care products. Some of them, like the Oil Cleansing Method, I just don't feel like I can write about right now, and some of them I am right there with you - still needing to make changes and find better products or alternatives to the current products that we use.  But, there are a few other changes that I have already made that I wanted to pass along to you.

First of all, I have to recommend that you get yourself some castile soap. This is the just the best stuff.  It comes in lots of different scents, scented with essential oils, as well as an unscented baby mild version.  I have found castile soap at both Meijer and Target, although I just ordered the citrus scent online because I couldn't find it anywhere else, and it is my absolute favorite scent.  The thing that is so great about castile soap is that it is so multi-functional.  Because you can use it for so many different things, it's one more way to help you simplify your personal care products.  Here's what I use it for:

1. Body Wash - it just takes a little squirt on one of those bath poofs and you have tons of soapy lather in the shower.  And the citrus scent is so energizing - it's great for helping me wake up in the morning.  I've been using it full strength in the shower, but I think I'm going to try to dilute it because it's so concentrated and that will help it stretch even farther!
2. Shaving "cream" - I was never a big shaving cream user.  I would just use my regular body wash, so this isn't that big of a difference, but I do really like shaving with castile soap.  It has a lot of lather and because it's made out of oils, I feel like my razors slides better than when I was just using regular body wash.  Also, I feel like it's pretty moisturizing and haven't needed to use lotion much this winter. 
3. Hand Soap - Use a foaming soap dispenser and fill it up with water and then add a few squirts of castile soap. (Another great way to avoid triclosan!) I bought some rose scented castile soap on clearance at Target only to get it home and realize that I didn't really like the scent.  So, I've been using it this way for hand soap and because it's so diluted, the smell isn't as much of an issue. It's also great for kids because it makes a lot of fun bubbles to wash with, but without the nasty chemicals in popular kids' soaps like Kandoo.  
4. Baby Wips - I use castile soap and Tea Tree Oil mixed with water as a homeamde solution for my baby wipes.  These wipes are great for changing diapers, but also great just to use for wiping hands and faces after eating, for cleaning spots of spit-up or other stains off of clothing, just about anything you would use a disposable baby wipe for.
5. Homemade multipurpose cleaner - I talked about this last month, but one of my favorite multipurpose cleaners is castile soap and TTO mixed with water in a spray bottle.

Here's some things that I have read that you can do with castile soap, but haven't tried myself:

• Use to wash your hair instead of shampoo
• Brush your teeth with (maybe the peppermint would be good for this?)
• Use for laundry
• The bottle also lists uses such as -  dentures, deodorant, aftershave, pets, silk, wool and car.  If you wanted to, you really could use it for just about anything and everything! :) 

I just really can't recommend castile soap enough.  It may be more expensive than regular soap or body wash up front, but because it's so concentrated and you can use so little it really lasts a long time, and because it has so many different uses, you can eliminate the need for buying multiple different products.

Also, after finding triclosan and sodium lauryl sulfate in my toothpaste, I switched to using Tom's of Maine.  It's okay and works fine, but I think I'm going to be on the lookout for a new brand once I'm done with this tube of toothpaste.  Any recommendations?

Photo by SaZeOd

Kids and Personal Care Products

Our children are probably more affected by the junk that is in most conventional personal care products than we are as adults, because their bodies are smaller and more vulnerable to exposure to chemicals.  So it is probably even more important to look at the products that we are using on our children than it is to look at our own.

I have to be honest, though, and say that this is an area that I am still working on making changes and finding balance.  We unfortunately stocked up on a lot of the well-known baby products a little over a year ago, before I really understood the effects of the ingredients in some of these products. I believed the marketing and the claims on the bottles that these products were safe, gentle and even natural. I have had a hard time deciding whether I should just throw them away and start over, or if I need to use the products that we have until they are gone and then find alternatives.

One thing that I have been meaning to do is looking up all of our baby products on the Skin Deep database.  If we have anything that falls into the high risk category, I will probably stop using that right away, but if we use products that fall under the low or moderate risk categories, I will probably just continue to use them until we run out and then find a new brand.

In the past, we have used and really like the California Baby line of products.  They are definitely more expensive than some of the name brand products, something that my hubby is quick to point out to me, but, I figure the amount of money I am saving us through the changes I have made more than makes up for the difference in cost. And I'm not sure that you can put a price on making sure you use safe products for your children.

I'm going to make a commitment here that I will look at our kids personal care products by next weekend and decide which ones we need to stop using right away and which ones we will use up 'til they're gone.  This way you all can hold me accoutable! :)

Okay, I think that's about it.  Like I said, I'm still working on my skin care routine, and I also need to find a good brand of lotion that's not too expensive.  Overall though, I'm really happy with the changes I have made so far and feel that I am taking positive small steps in the right direction.

I'd love to hear about changes you have made in your personal care products.  Anything that you want to recommend to the rest of us? 

Change Challenge: Personal Care Products - Link Love

There is so much great info out there about frugal and green Personal Care Products.  I'm going to link up some posts that have helped me and inspired me to make changes to get to the place that I am now.  I hope they do the same for you!

General Body Care
Choosing Safer Personal Care Products at Simple Organic
Simplify Your Personal Care at New Urban Habitat
Natural Beauty: Clean Skin, Teeth and Lips at Simple Mom

No 'Poo Resources
How to Clean Your Hair without Shampoo at Simple Mom
The most info on no 'poo at Babyslime

Natural Deodorant
Homemade All-Natural Deodorant at Passionate Homemaking  (the recipe and updated info.)
Effective Homemade Deodorant at Kitchen Stewardship (lots of good information)

I am not going to post about the Oil Cleansing Method right now because I have been trying it and haven't had great results, so I can't recommend it wholeheartedly like I can with no 'pooing and homemade deodorant.  This is one of those things that I am still trying to figure out and find what works best for my skin.  I haven't given up on it, I'm just trying to find the right mixture of oils and the right products to use on my sensitive skin.  If I figure it out and find something that works well for me, I'll probably be posting about this in the future.  For now, here are some great links that explain the why and what of the Oil Cleansing Method. 

Oil Cleansing Method (OCM)
How to Clean Your Face Naturally at Simple Mom
OCM and homemade toothpaste at Keeper of the Home

Have any great links to information about frugal, green and natural personal care products?  Please leave them in the comments! 

Also, I would love to hear if anyone has made any changes in their personal care products this month and how it is working for you so far.  And as always, if you have any questions about anything you can leave a comment or e-mail me. I'd love to hear from you!

Change Challenge - Change Your Mind About Antibacterial

 

Photo by cafemama

When you were looking at the ingredients in your personal care products, did you look at your hand soap?  How about your toothpaste?  Did you find the ingredient Triclosan?  I was shocked when I looked at the back of my Colgate Total and there was Triclosan.  I mean really, in my toothpaste? Hopefully the products you use don't contain Triclosan, but if they do, I hope you will read and consider this carefully.

We haven't used antibacterial soap or cleaners in our house for a while.  And not because I knew about the negative impact of them, mostly just because we used plain soap and homemade cleaners.  Then, I was reading over at Kitchen Stewardship about Triclosan, and after doing a little more of my own research, I am now committed to not using antibacterial and also feel that I need to spread the word to others.

Seven years ago only a handful of "antibacterial" products were marketed for household use.  Now, there are over 700 products on the market that contain Triclosan.1  And it seems like our culture is more germ-a-phobe than ever.  Did your family use antibacterial soap and cleaners when you were growing up?  Mine didn't, and we never got e-coli or any other dangerous bacterial disease.  It seems that the antibacterial movement is a marketing gimmick to get people to think that they need special soap and cleaners to kill germs and clean their hands and their homes. 

The main ingredient in most antibacterial products is Triclosan. Triclosan is actually a pesticide and is used as an antibacterial and antifungal agent.  I'm no expert on Triclosan, but here's some of the main points I have gathered from my reading.

1. Plain soap, water, and good old scrubbing has been shown to be just as effective for killing germs and decreasing the spread of infection, according to the FDA.  In fact, since 2002, the American Medical Association has recommended that Triclosan not be used in the home because it could actually encourage bacterial resistance to antibiotics. 

2. Antibacterial products cannot differentiate between good and bad bacteria, they kill both. There are actually bacteria that are good for us, also known as "pro-biotics", they can help our digestive system, and help keep us healthy.  Triclosan kills these good bacteria right along with the bad.

3. There are some bacteria that are not killed off by antibacterial products, and these bacteria can then reproduce and proliferate, creating "super bugs" that are resistant to Triclosan and possibly other antibacterial agents. 

4. Most illnesses, like colds and flu, that we are trying to avoid, are viruses anyway and an antibacterial product would have no different effect on them than non-antibacterial.  Again, washing hands with plain soap and water is effective in keeping germs at bay.

5. When we use antibacterial products to wash our hands or clean our homes we are releasing Triclosan out into the environment where it is killing off good and bad bacteria, and possibly creating "super bugs" -  see # 3

6.Triclosan has been found in newborn babies and also in human breast milk.  As a mama to a young nursing baby, this is alarming to me.  But, because waste water treatment plants cannot completely remove Triclosan from our water it ends up in our rivers, lakes and sources for drinking water.  Water that we as pregnant and nursing mothers drink, and then is passed on to our babies.

7. Triclosan is toxic to aquatic wildlife.  So, the fact that it is in our rivers and lakes means that it is polluting and affecting those ecosystems, and the plant and animal life found there. 

8. There have not been enough studies done on the effects of Triclosan on the body, especially the bodies of young children and babies. And our children are being exposed to Triclosan through sources beyond just antibacterial soap.  As a mother of two young children the concerns me. 

9. The number and type of products that include Triclosan is staggering.  Take a look at your toothpaste, deodorant, face soap, even lotion. Also, it is used in household products such as shower curtains, plastic food containers, and even mattresses.

10. In animal studies, triclosan has been linked to cancer, developmental defects, liver and inhalation toxicity, as well as affecting thyroid function.  And when triclosan interacts with other chemicals, it can form other toxic compounds such as chloroform, a possible carcinogen, when the triclosan in dishwashing detergent interacts with the chlorine in tap water, as well as dioxin, which is known as one of the most toxic compounds.

It's kind of ironic to me that people have become so concerned about buying organic in order to avoid pesticides in produce and other foods, but yet the use of the pesticide Triclosan is so widespread in all of our antibacterial products.  

For me, it comes down to this.  It has been shown that antibacterial products are no more effective than plain soap and water, and the negative effects of triclosan on our bodies and the environment are just beginning to be tested and understood.  We know that plain soap and water will kill germs and help to keep us from getting sick.  We know that Triclosan kills good and bad bacteria and allows some bacteria to escape unharmed and possibly stronger. We don't know what effects Triclosan will have in the long term on our health, our environment, our water, the diseases we are trying to avoid, etc.  So, for our family, we'll stick to using what we know works, and we will avoid what we know is not any more effective, and may actually be very harmful in very many ways.

Please join me in taking the step to stop using triclosan in your home. Some ways you can make the change:
*Use plain soap.  This one is a little bit hard because antibacterial soap is so prevalent.  Look for soap that does not say "antibacterial".  We have been using Method soap for a while that is triclosan free, and really like it. Read the label before you buy any soap.
*Make your own dishwasher detergent.  Or, make sure you check the back of your bottle and find one that is free from Triclosan.
*Use natural dishwashing liquid soap. Again, one that is Triclosan free.
*Check your other personal care products like toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, face soap, etc. and commit to finding a brand that works for you that is triclosan free.  I have since switched to using Tom's of Maine after I found Triclosan in my toothpaste.
*Also, check your cleaners.  If you have not switched to homemade and green cleaning, at least move away from antibacterial cleaners in your home.  The reality is that they are just not necessary.
*Be wary of household products that may contain Triclosan. Household products are not required by the FDA or EPA to list chemical ingredients.  Avoid household products that say "antimicrobial", "odor-fighting", "fights germs", "keeps food fresher longer".

Please, read more about Triclosan for yourself.  I hope that you will make the change to stop using antibacterial soaps, cleaners and other products with Triclosan in your home. 

Sources and Further Reading:
CDC - Antibacterial Household Products: Cause for Concern
Environmental Working Group - Information about Triclosan 
Mercola.com - The Truth about Antibacterial Soaps
Environmental Working Group - Hormone disruptors

I’m participating in Kitchen Stewardship’s Spring Cleaning Carnival, Get the Antibacterials Out.

Greener Swiffer

I know that Green Cleaning was the Change Challenge last month, but I recently started using my Swiffer in a new way that has been so helpful to me, I just had to share.

A while ago, probably over a year, I took some Gerber prefold cloth diapers that I bought at the store and cut them down to fit my Swiffer mop/broom, whatever you want to call it, and zig-zagged stiched along the edges to keep them from fraying.  I thought they were great because they are thicker and more absorbent in the middle, the part that is actually on the mop, and thinner on the outside, so they work perfectly to stick in the little grippy holes on the top.  They fit just as well as a disposable Swiffer sheet.  But, they didn't work that well to actually mop with.  When they were wet, the didn't slide across the floor very well, and the cloth was likely to fall out of the grippy holes on the top.  So, they basically got resigned to the back of my rag pile, not really getting much use.

And then, a few months ago, a friend told me how she kept her Swiffer out in her living room and just "swept" things up throughout the day to keep her floors clean.  When we were over at her house for a playdate one day, I saw her Swiffer in the corner, and thought, that is a good idea, I should do that too.  But, because we don't use the disposable Swiffer sheets, I kind of dismissed the idea and forgot about it.

Then last week, I was getting frustrated with how I vacuum and the next day, or often even the same evening, my floors are full of crumbs and dog hair again and it hardly looks like I vacuumed at all. When you have hard wood floors, a preschooler who doesn't like to sit still while eating, and a dog that sheds, it's hard to keep the floors clean.  And since my sweet baby boy is now army crawling all over the place, his shirts were beginning to look a little bit like my mop should look. Oops. I really don't want to pull out the vacuum cleaner every day, and regular brooms are kind of annoying to use.  I thought again about my friend's Swiffer idea, and decided to pull my reusable homemade Swiffer cloths out of the back of my rag pile and see how it worked.

Now, I am totally kicking myself that I didn't do this sooner!  It is amazing!  I put a new cloth on my Swiffer at the beginning of each day, and then after breakfast and lunch, and any other time I see something that needs to be swept up, I just push the Swiffer around, it picks up the dog hair and crumbs, and I make a little pile by my kitchen, and then sweep it into a dustpan once or twice a day. Another great things about it, is that Kaelyn loves to help too, and I took my old Swiffer mop and made the handle shorter and now she can push that around and "sweep" with me. (Yes, she is using a disposable Swiffer sheet in this picture, I actually had a few left from my "before" days and thought she might as well use them up, but mine is one of my reusable ones.) ;)  Using the Swiffer is much easier than using a broom, doesn't use energy like a vacuum would, my floors look clean, without dog hair dust bunnies and cracker crumbs all over, and my army crawler's shirts are staying clean.  And I don't get frustrated about feeling like I have to vacuum every single day.  Why, oh why,  did I not try this before?!

And at the end of the day, when my floors are all swept, I throw the rag in my laundry hamper in the basement to be washed and used again.  Clean floors, reusable rags, and my daughter helping me clean - it's everything that great about homemade and green cleaning!

Also, I'm participating in Steady Mom's 30 Minute Blog Challenge today.  The challenge is to write and publish an entire post in 30 minutes or less, so that we as moms can focus on the things and the place that is most important, our families and our homes.  I'm off to Swiffer my floor!

(Post time: 28 min.)  

Join us at Heavenly Homemakers for the little Green Project!

Works for Me Wednesday at We are that Family 

Change Challenge - No 'Poo, The Natural Way to Clean Your Hair

You might think that this picture should be for a cooking post, or maybe another cleaning post.  But nope, this is a picture of my shampoo and conditioner.  That's right, I use baking soda to wash my hair and apple cider vinegar to rinse my hair.

And I LOVE it, and I doubt I will ever go back to using regular shampoo and conditioner again.

This is a pretty long post, but bare with me.  This is one of my favorite things that I do, and I am really hoping to inspire you to try it too!

What's wrong with Shampoo?
One of the main ingredients in shampoo is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or SLS.  Did you find it when you checked your ingredient labels?  SLS is a detergent, degreaser and foaming agent.  Besides your shampoo, you can also find it in dishwasher detergent, toothpaste, bubble bath and other products that foam, as well as car wash soap, garage floor cleaners, and car engine degreasers.1  It can cause skin irritation, hormone disruption, eye irritation and even eye deformities and is possibly carcinogenic when paired with some of the other typical ingredients in shampoo.2  Lovely, just what I want to be using to wash my hair.

Because it is a detergent and degreaser it actually strips your scalp of the natural, healthy oils it produces and dries your scalp and your hair out, hence the need for conditioner.  The conditioner does not stay on your hair in the same way that your natural oil would, so it needs to be continually replenished. Also, once your scalp is stripped of it's oils, it reacts by making more oil which results in the oiliness that so many people experience after a day or two of not washing their hair.  Their scalp is actually overproducing oil to compensate for being stripped of it's oils.  So you're in this vicious cycle where you wash and strip your hair of it's oils, put fake "oils" on in attempt to minimize the damage, and then have greasy hair the next day because your scalp overproduced it's natural oil and now you have to wash it again.  There's got to be a better way!

Enter the No 'Poo method of cleaning your hair. 

Step 1: Use baking soda to "wash" your hair.  Baking soda is a gentle alkaline compound effective for cleansing and removing build up from your hair.  The typical formula is 1 Tbsp of baking soda for every cup of water.  For fine, thin or short hair you may need less baking soda. Try it out a bit and see what works best for you.  I have long and very thick hair and I use a full cup of water and 1 Tbsp baking soda each time I wash my hair.  If you have shorter or thinner hair you probably don't need to use that much every time.

I use a 8 oz travel size squeeze bottle and fill it up with the water and baking soda mixed together and shake it up to dissolve the baking soda.

In the shower I squeeze the water/baking soda mix onto my head beginning around my crown and then all over my scalp.  I scrunch my hair up at the base of my neck and squeeze more water into my hair.  I work it through with my hands, scrubbing my scalp and rubbing my hair.  Now remember, this isn't soap or detergent, it won't foam or lather.  You won't get the "Aaahhh" feeling that you get with your Herbal Essence, but it is cleaning your hair, and in a much gentler, more natural way.  

Leave it on for a minute or two and then rise as normal. 

Step 2: Rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar.  Apple Cider Vinegar is a mild acidic and is useful for detangling and clarifying, balacing the pH level of your hair, and sealing the hair cuticle. The recipe for hair rinse is 1-2 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar to every cup of water.  If you have dry hair, use closer to the 2 Tbsp and if you have oily hair use 1 Tbsp or less, and again, experiment and see what works best for you.

I tend to have hair that is a little drier and frizzier, so I put about 2 Tbsp. and a cup and a half of water into a reused apple cider vinegar bottle and shake it up.  I pour it over my head in the shower, starting at the top of my head with just a little, and then again scrunching up the hair at the base of my neck and concentrating most of solution towards the bottom and ends of my hair.  Wait a minute or two and then rinse it out.


You have just cleaned and clarified your hair gently, naturally, simply and frugally!

A few other notes:

*When I decided to stop using shampoo, I didn't jump right into using baking soda.  I bought a shampoo bar (like a bar of soap) made up of natural oils at a arts and crafts fair this summer.  I used the shampoo bar from September until I just ran out of it in January and then I switched to baking soda.  I liked the shampoo bar as it was more like actual shampoo - it lathered and sudsed and smelled good.  And my hair looked nice and reacted well to it, but since I've been using baking soda, I actually think I like it even better and my hair is even nicer now.  But, if you're a baby stepper and aren't ready to try just baking soda yet, look into a shampoo bar and rinse with apple cider vinegar.

*If you decide to go the no 'poo route, be aware that your hair will probably go through a transition phase for maybe 2-8 weeks.  You have been coating your hair with chemicals and it takes a while to get all that nastiness out of your hair.  Also, since your hair has been overproducing oil, it will take a little bit of time for it to balance it self out and not produce so much extra oil. Honestly, your hair will not look pretty, it will probably be greasy, dull, hard to comb or brush, and just generally blah.  But, if you can push through those few weeks, you will be rewarded with better hair than you ever had before.  So, if you can, wait to start until you have a few weeks that you don't have to be looking your absolute best. 

*You may have to tweak your solutions to get the right balance for your hair.  If your hair is too dry, use less baking soda or try rinsing with honey instead of vinegar.  If your hair is too oily, use less vinegar, or try rinsing with lemon juice, or try not using a rinse at all.

*You will probably be able to get rid of all of the other hair care products you usually use, or have bought in the past trying to manage your hair.  It will save you money and time, and help you simplify your life.

What's so great about it? 

Besides the fact that it is insanely cheaper than conventional shampoo and conditioner (even if you buy it on sale with a coupon!), and that it is simple and easy, the best part of the no 'poo method for me is that my hair has never looked better!  I have had (as I'm sure many of you do) a love/hate relationship with my hair.  I have nice thick hair that is naturally a pretty shade of auburn that I always get comments about - I really like that about it.  But, I also have always struggled with managing my hair - it's thick, and used to be frizzy and kind of wavy, so I always fought to straighten it or spent a lot of time trying to get it to lay nicely.  I used to wear my hair in a ponytail a lot. Honestly, my hair now is about as close to perfect as it could be.  I am not trying to brag, but I almost never have a bad hair day anymore, even when I haven't washed my hair for several days to a week (I do shower in between washings by using a shower cap). :)  It lays nicely, it's not frizzy, I can sleep on it and not get bed head, it's not greasy or oily, it is healthy, shiny, and soft, and just nice.

It is also so simple and easy for me to maintain. It takes me about 10 minutes to do it after I wash it.  I usually let it air dry for a while and then blow dry it for about 5 - 10 minutes with a large paddle brush, just depending on how much time I have, and then let it dry the rest of the way. If I feel like it is a little bit frizzy, I will take a little, just a very little, coconut oil on my hands and rub it onto just the ends of my hair. And that will last me until the next time I wash my hair, I just have to brush it in the morning, and I'm ready to go. It has simplified my life because I don't have to spend a ton of time "doing" my hair, and I don't waste money on extra hair products trying to tame or manage my hair.  This method is so perfect for this busy mom, with not a lot of time to spend on herself, but doesn't want to wear her hair in a ponytail everyday. I have never been this happy with my hair before, and that is why I will never go back to using regular shampoo and conditioner! 

Even if I wasn't trying to be as frugal as I can be, or didn't care about the products that I used on my body and how they affected me, as well as our world, I would still probably use this method for cleaning my hair because of how simple and easy it is, and how great the results have been for my hair.  I love it when I find such a perfect  combination of being frugal, going green and simplifying my life!

What do you think of the 'no poo method?  Are you willing to give it a try?

I'm participating in the Spring Cleaning Carnival - Get the Parabens Out at Mindful Momma

Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life

Sources: 1, 2