Say Good Bye to Plastic Bags People!

When you are out doing your grocery or Christmas shopping this year, take something into consideration. Consider boycotting plastic bags. A lot of grocery stores and even department stores have started selling cloth bags. Start buying one or two here and there and build up your supply. Use a big cloth bag for your shopping instead of lugging around all of those plastic or paper bags.

I did a lot of my Christmas shopping at the mall the other day, and I did this. I have a huge cloth bag that I bought from Kohl's for $1.99. It is really cute, and really big. Plus it folds up to a small size, so I keep mine in the car. I fit all of my stuff into that bag on that shopping trip. It was great. I knew I was making a difference by not using harmful plastics, and it was much easier to carry one big bag, rather than a ton of smaller bags. I felt a little weird at first, but I got so many compliments. I had at least 2 people ask me where I got it from. We now use cloth bags for all of our shopping.

So keep it in mind, and join me on boycotting plastic bags this holiday season. Make it a habit, and start the New Year by making good decisions for our environment!

Happy shopping and Happy Holidays!!
Peace and Love......

Healthy cleaning

I found an all natural abrasive cleaner that works! It is amazing. It smells great, and it cleans great. My stainless steel sink has never been so shiny. It also worked on my countertop at getting out all of the little stains that I couldn’t get out before.

It is called Abrasive Cleaner Simple.Pure.Clean. The company that makes it is Seaside Naturals. The ingredients are all natural. The ingredients are Pumice, Baking soda, Filtered water, vegetable based surfactant, a blend of pure essential oils, Xanthan gum (derived from corn sugar).

It is in the form of a grainual powder. You scoop out a little and sprinkle it on the surface to be cleaned. Scrub with a wet washcloth and whola! It is grainy, so it takes a couple rinses to get all of the granules up. It works kind of like soft scrub. It says that it can scratch certain surfaces, but I haven’t experienced that yet.

You can make a big difference by slowly switching all of your cleaning supplies over to products that are safer on the environment.

I found it on a website called Greenercountry.com.

Here is to healthy cleaning!

Peace and Love.....

BioBags

I know I have talked about biodegradable trash bags a little bit, but I didn’t let you in on what I use. I use BioBags. They are 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable. They are made from the material, Mater-Bi. They are based on starch, vegetable oil and other renewable resources. They are great for throwing away food waste for composting, or for biodegradable diapers. Plus they are polyethylene free. BioBags are certified for use in organic agriculture.
BioBags biodegrade quickly leaving no harmful residues behind.

I have tried a biodegradable bag that was made out of corn products, but they were so weak compared to these. They would leak if there was any moisture in them. And if the bag got too heavy they would bust so easy. There are very strong and don’t leak. Even with soggy dirty diapers they hold the smell well, and they don’t leak.

If you do a Google search of BioBags, you can find a lot of websites that sell them. I can’t remember which one I bought them from last. I always search around to find the best deal. A lot of websites offer free samples; all you have to do is pay a small shipping charge.

Even if you don’t have a compost pile, you are still making a difference by not putting your garbage in a plastic garbage bag. Your food waste will have the opportunity to decompose faster, and you won’t be polluting the earth with a huge plastic garbage bag that takes at least 100 years to decompose. Plus think about all of the harmful chemicals that come from plastics that will leak into the ground from that one stinkin’ garbage bag! Studies show that 100,000 marine animals and 2 million birds die every year from ingesting or being caught up in plastic debris.


Be careful if you are looking at biodegradable bags and make sure that they meet the ASTM D6400 standard for biodegradable and compostable plastics, which is considered the gold standard for compostable plastic. Just look on the box, or read carefully if shopping online.
Be kind to the environment!
Peace and Love…..

Fun and useful accessories that Mother Earth will appreciate….

I found two really fun products while shopping at Target yesterday. The first one was this really cute bib (to go with my really cute kid). It is 100% genuine leather…yes a leather bib. That is genius. Yes the plastic bibs are nice, but once they get worn out. Or when the velcro stops working you toss them, and then that is one more piece of plastic sitting in a landfill somewhere. Leather is much more earth friendly. Plus it has a magnetic clasp instead of velcro. They are reversible. They are also stain resistant. Plastic and cloth bibs always seem to stain, in my house anyways.

The leather bib is made by a company called Mally Bibs. The brand is lucky spills. They have a website Mallybibs.com. They make bibs in baby and toddler sizes.

There are so many different designs and colors. But honestly you only need one. All you have to do is wipe it down or rinse it. You can use a mild detergent as needed for bigger messes

Another cute product I found at Target was these hair clips for my daughter. She is 2 ½ years old, but her hair is just now starting to grow longer. I have tried many, many hair clips but they always fall out. Her hair is still thin, and very fine. This type of clip works so well in her hair. It stays in place, and it isn’t too heavy.

They are called Ribbies hair clippies. They are made of 100% non toxic materials. Plus they look really cute. They come in a lot of different colors and patterns.

They have a website Ribbiesclippies.com.

Let me know how you guys like these products….or don’t like.

Peace and love….

A happy heiny is a happy baby!

I decided to try a new cloth diaper. The brand is called Happy Heiny. I bought one, because it was a really cute cow print diaper. They do have a few different types of diapers. The one that I tried was the one size pocket diaper. It fits babies 8-35 pounds. There are 4 snaps, plus velcro adjustments. You not only adjust at the waist horizontally, but you can also make it smaller vertically.
My son, Marshall seems really comfortable in it. It’s not too bulky and he can move with no problem. It is very absorbent, with little or no leaks.

And get this…this is the best part. Every single diaper is hand made in the U.S.A. by Moms working from home!

They come in plain colors or in really cute patterns and designs. I really love this cow pattern. I mean, look at this! How cute is this kid in this diaper!! He should be a model for the company, right??Look at him right here...flexing his muscles. Do these diapers instill self confidence too?

Sorry, I'm getting off the topic. I can't help myself. He is just so squishable.

I’ve noticed that since my son has gotten…ummm yeah…chunkier…he has more and more leaks. I think he needs to go from the medium fuzzi bunz to a large. I wish I found this one size, fits all diaper earlier.

You can order these diapers from Diapers.com, or Happyheinys.com

I hope I was able to be of some help! For all of you Moms who are using cloth and biodegradable diapers…Yay for you! Think about the difference that you are making. And for those who are thinking about making the switch, it’s really not that much more work. It is so worth it. And don’t be afraid to try multiple brands, to see which type works well for you. These all in one pocket diapers are so easy. They are a cloth diaper, diaper cover all in one! And they are so easy to wash and take care of.

Have a wonderful week everyone!!

Peace and love....

Bye Bye Plastics, Hello Stainless Steel

I found a pretty cool sippy cup. Russ and I recently stopped drinking bottled water because of the chemicals that plastics can submit. So since all of my daughters sippy cups and my sons bottles are of similar plastics I started doing research.

I found a baby bottle made by a company called Green To Go. It is Bisphenol A free and Phthalate free. Those are the two main chemicals in plastics that they are worried about .

I also ordered a couple of different types of stainless steel sippy cups. I ordered one from a company called Klean Kanteen. And one from a company called Froggo. Both cups are stainless steel.

I like both cups. The Klean Kanteen doesn't come with a straw. The Froggo comes with or without a straw. I have the one without a straw. The klean Kanteen comes with an Avent sippy cup top, and they aren't that durable. My daughter chews them up like crazy!! The Froggo one is more durable, but if you don't screw the top on just right it will leak like crazy. They are both super easy to clean and both come in different colors.

Russ and I also ordered the klean kanteens for us. And they fit in cup holders. They are the size of water bottles. So I take mine with me to the gym. You can fit ice-cubes inside and they do keep cold drinks cold for a long time. The kids cups fit in some cup holders, but are a little wider. They are heavier, and can be painful if dropped on a foot. But we haven't had any problems.

I just feel better that I am slowly making a difference. Or trying too!

Peace and love...

Crazy for Soap Nuts!

So I discovered a new product that I LOVE. I found Soap Nuts. Has anyone ever tried these? They come from the chinese soapberry tree (Sapindus mukorrosi). Native Americans used these to wash their clothes. They are 100% natural and you can use them more than once to wash your clothes. Apparantly one Soapberry tree produces hundreds of kilos of nuts per year. You can even try growing a tree yourself and harvest your own nuts. From the research I have done these work really well in high efficency washing machines.

You just put the soap nuts in a provided cotton bag (or I use an old sock and just tie it shut) and throw them inside your washing machine.

For warm/hot water use 2 soap nuts and for cold water use 4 soap nuts. Apparantly if you wash them in cold water you can reuse them a little bit more. You can tell when they are spent when they no longer feel squeaky clean or sudsy when you rub them.

For heavy soils you pre soak 4 soap nuts in a provided cotton sack in hot water for a few minutes. Then add the "tea" and sack to your wash load.

For hand washables soak 2 soap nuts in hot water for a few minutes in a provided cotton sack for a few minutes. Then add "tea" to cool water to wash clothes.

For whites add a scoop of oxygen bleach.

There is a way to make them into a liquid detergent as well.

It says that you don't need fabric softner, that these will not only make colors brighter and white's whiter, but will also leave clothes feeling soft. They do say that if you use too many nuts it can make your clothes feel stiff. So if this happens just use less nuts the next time.

As far as price goes you can buy many different packages. You can go to Maggiespureland.com and get all of the info. You can buy enough soap nuts for 200+ loads. It comes with instructions and cotton sacks for $34.99.

There are a few other web sites out there that sell these.

The only thing about these is that they don't leave a pretty smell to your clothes. So for those of you out there that are used to using fabric softner, it might take some getting used to. They don't smell bad, they just don't smell "perfumy".

I love them. The work great. And they last forever. Sometimes after using them for 5 times I boil them in some water on the stove and I still get soap from them. Then I use it for a basic household cleaner. I just add some lemon juice to it.

I would love to hear from people out there that have tried these. All opinions are welcome!