Update: New Years Resolution

Remember my resolution post about making some economic and eco-friendly changes to our lifestyle?  I thought I'd post an update for everyone.  If you remember correctly, I had twelve goals.  I'm sure I won't meet all twelve goals, but I feel like we're making excellent progress!

Completed:
1. Install a programmable thermostat.

2. Buy a steam mop.  Ok, so this one is sort of give and take in the eco-friendly department.  It will eliminate the use of chemicals, but it runs on electricity.  Ultimately, my floors are not getting clean enough so I'm biting the bullet on this one.

In Progress:
1. Be more proactive about recycling.  We already recycle quite a bit and have really cut back on our trash each week, but I think there are still plenty of things winding up in the garbage that could easily be recycled.
- I am the recycling Nazi.

2. Make re-usable refills for my Swiffer duster and sweeper.
- So far I've made one Swiffer duster refill, and I've purchased the microfiber to make sweeper refills.


3. Cut back on paper towels and napkins by converting to "un-paper" towels and cloth napkins.
- We have some un-paper towels on their way!

Coming up:
1. Plant a vegetable/herb garden.
- Our main issue here is figuring out where to plant it. We don't want to take up room inside the fence, but our annoying neighbors let their dogs roam free and we don't want them to disturb it.  We also need to figure out the best spot for light and irrigation.  I also want to do a raised garden bed, so Clint will need to build that for me. 

I feel like we're on our way to a healthier, more frugal life.  :)

New Year's Resolutions

*Note: No, I did not forget about Christmas.  We still have one family Christmas celebrations left, so I'm waiting to post about them all at once.

I've never been big on New Year's resolutions.  I don't think I've ever made one.  However, I've been trying to slowly transition to a more eco-friendly, cost-effective lifestyle.  I've had several ideas for ways to do this, so I think these could be sort of a New Year's resolution for me.  I've come up with 12 changes (one for each month) that I'd like to implement this year.  The sewing machine I received for Christmas will come in handy for many of these. :)

1. Install a programmable thermostat.  (Completed as of yesterday!)

2. Cut back on paper towels and napkins by converting to "un-paper" towels and cloth napkins.

3. Buy a steam mop.  Ok, so this one is sort of give and take in the eco-friendly department.  It will eliminate the use of chemicals, but it runs on electricity.  Ultimately, my floors are not getting clean enough so I'm biting the bullet on this one.

4. Make re-usable refills for my Swiiffer duster and sweeper.

5. Buy a new water heater.  Our current one sucks so I can only imagine that a newer model would save on our energy costs.

6. Install a water softener.  This is another I'm not entirely sure of, but I figure it will save on soaps/detergents.

7. Start using a rain barrel.

8. Plant a vegetable/herb garden.

9. Install an eco-flow showerhead.  I've been wanting a new one anyway, so this is a no-brainer.

10. Be more proactive about recycling.  We already recycle quite a bit and have really cut back on our trash each week, but I think there are still plenty of things winding up in the garbage that could easily be recycled.

11. Reusable sandwich bags.  Let's just hope Clint can remember to bring them home rather than throw them away. 

12. Repurposing unwanted items.  I always see these fabulous projects people create from stuff lying around the house.  I need to work on this.

What about you?  What are your New Year's resolutions?

$500 worth of cloth diapers? Yes please!

A fabulous cloth diapering, Diaper Junction,  site is giving away $1000 (total) worth of cloth diapers!  The grand prize is a $500 gift certificate, but really all of the prizes are pretty fabulous.  I mean, 3rd prize is a 6-pack of bumGenius 4.0s.  We use mainly bumGenius diapers on Isabella.

This is a great opportunity for cloth diapering mamas or those considering making the switch, but a little apprehensive about start-up costs.  It's definitely worth checking out.  

Diaper Junction Giveaway

Crunchy? Who me?

Apparently, I am becoming the crunchy mama in my circle.  Who would have thought?  Recently, I've been getting a lot of questions about some of my crunchier ways (cloth diapers, babywearing, and baby food making to be specific).  I am certainly no expert in any of these categories, but since I've received so many questions on the subjects  I thought I'd put together some of my favorite resources for those who are interested. Since I don't want to overwhelm anyone I'll stretch these out over a few days.  Today's topic: cloth diapering.

Let me just take a moment to get on my soapbox and say that disposable diapers take approximately 500 years to break down and they are the third most common item in US landfills. Ok, now that we've gotten that out of the way, here are some of my favorite cloth diapering resources:

PinStripes & PolkaDots has a wealth of information.  I especially like their charts for laundry detergents and rash creams.

(By the way, we currently use liquid Planet detergent on Isabella's diapers, but I'm having trouble getting it to rinse clean from our diapers, so I don't know that I'd recommend it.  We also have hard water and a front-loader so those could both be contributing to our issues.  I think I'm going to order some samples of Rockin' Green detergent in both the Classic Rock and Hard Rock versions and see how they work for us.)

Diaper Pin- Another nice source for information on cloth diapering.  The reviews are really helpful.

So far I have purchased from Abby's Lane, Kelly's Closet, and Cotton Babies and have had wonderful experiences with all three.Abby's Lane and Cottton Babies   Abby's Lane and Kelly's Closet both offer rewards both offer free shipping on all orders and Kelly's Closet has free shipping with orders of $49 or more.  I am a total cheapskate when it comes to paying for shipping and will do pretty much anything to avoid it.  Abby's Lane and Kelly's Closet both offer rewards points for every dollar spent that you can later redeem for store credit.

I hope you all find this information to be useful, and if nothing else I hope it helps some people to see that cloth diapering has come a long way and is no longer restricted to Gerber prefolds, pins, and plastic pants.  It's also really not that much work, just an extra load of laundry here and there.  For those of you concerned about the smell, don't be.  We use a regular 13-gallon plaatic trash can with a lid and a pail liner and I wash diapers every other day.  We have no smell issue, and in fact I think it was worse with disposables.  If you're wondering what to do about the poop, we just dump it in the toilet and flush.

Next time: Babywearing!