The winter holidays have now passed. My boys decorated gingerbread houses sometime in November, and since that time they’ve served as holiday decorations. (You can read about all the reasons that making gingerbread houses are great learning fun HERE, and some things I learned as a parent HERE.) At this point, the houses have sat around for a couple of months and we’re ready to let them go.… Continue reading
sustainability
Make your own Organic Cotton Food Wrap
Are you looking for ways to eliminate more plastics from your life? Here’s a simple way to stop using plastic wrap as well as most plastic bags. It’s an organic cotton food wrap.
You can use it to top a glass bowl. Goodbye, plastic wrap. You can also use it to wrap fruits and vegetables, cheese, a sandwich, or whatever else you desire. … Continue reading
Hosting a Sustainable Gathering: How to Throw a Zero-Waste Party
This is the time of year when many people host an array of holiday gatherings for family, friends, and colleagues. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also result in a lot of waste.
Not only is there paper waste from gift wrapping that gets immediately discarded (you can find more sustainable package decorating suggestions HERE), but people frequently use disposable goods in order to lessen the work involved with hosting a party. … Continue reading
A Cool Way to Save Water
We are one of the few families I know who don’t have an in-door water and ice dispenser in our refrigerator. (This is by choice, those models tend to be much less energy efficient than their solid door counterparts.) This means that cold water is not a given at our house, nor is it instantaneous.
If your refrigerator is similar to ours, than this tip is for you. … Continue reading
Go Green: Make Zero Waste Drinks at Home
Each week I take my boys to story time at our local library. And every week at story time, I see lots of caregivers drinking their beverage of choice in a disposable cup from a local coffee shop.
Not only is this very expensive, but it’s also tough on the environment. I don’t know the exact price of a to-go coffee at a coffee shop as I haven’t been in one for years, but I’m certain it’s more than I spend at home for my organic, fair-trade beverage of choice.… Continue reading
Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping
The Winter holidays are upon us. In addition to the multitude of gifts that people exchange during this time of year, there is generally an enormous amount of gift wrap and trimmings to go along with them. Unfortunately, much of this gift wrap simply ends up in a landfill after the recipient opens the gift.
While everyone loves beautiful packages, here are some ways to make your gift-giving more environmentally friendly:
- Upcycle kids’ artwork to use as wrapping paper.
Simplify Saturday: Change your Laundry Routine
Do you find yourself spending a whole day doing laundry once a week? Or perhaps, especially if you have little ones, do you find yourself doing multiple loads of laundry each day? If so, I highly suggest finding a way to combine your laundry loads so that you can cut the amount of time and work it takes you to complete the laundry.… Continue reading
Making Ice Pops: A Great Use for Leftover Smoothies
When the weather is warm, we make a lots of smoothies and ice creams (see HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE for a few of the many recipes I’ve posted). When we make these things, I always make a rather big batch. We generally finish most of, if not all, of what I make at that same time. My boys, in general, eat a lot, though their appetites vary from day to day.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Cancel Unwanted Magazine Subscriptions
The other day I realized that I get several magazines that I don’t read. They’re interesting magazines, just not interesting enough for me to make it a priority to read them right now. All of these magazine subscriptions came for free so my airline frequent flyer miles wouldn’t expire (isn’t it crazy that you have to order something to keep an account current?).… Continue reading
Why We Cloth Diaper
As my toddler begins expressing an interest in using the toilet (Admittedly, this is mostly an interest in wearing underwear; unless it’s in the middle of the night, than he wants to get up and use the toilet), I find myself reflecting on our diapering experiences.
I stumbled on this rather lengthy email that I sent a pregnant friend when my oldest, now 6 years old, was a toddler.… Continue reading