Friday July 25th, 2008
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"Green" baby stuff
Posted by Jessica Harlan on June 6, 2007 - 5:44pm.
What sort of "green" or holistic measures have you taken with raising a baby or a kid? I've had to make a lot of decisions between saving money or doing the right thing environmentally, like trying to decide what sort of diapers would be best for my baby and the planet, and choosing to make her first foods myself, from all organic ingredients. We recently bought household cleaning products from Shaklee, which are super-concentrated so you don't need a lot, and they are super-environmental.
What are some of the less cost-prohibitive ways you've found to make your household less toxic and more environmentally friendly?
I always made my own baby food for my children and also used cloth diapers as much as possible. We use natural cleaning products for our home, and our laundry etc. I actually have not used bleach in over a year. I recently bought some reusable shopping bags to take to the store instead of bringing home all the plastic ones. Just a few small changes at a time can make a big difference.
I have used all cloth diapers & wipes, nursed my children and made my own babyfoods.
Then I took it several steps further -- I spun my passions into a small company taking my administrative & art degree skills and began offering easy to use Fitted Cloth Diapers, Mama Cloth Feminine products, Wipes, Natural Goat Milk Soaps, "Waste Free" & Greenbean TM Bags, Personal Family cloth and more. The chemicals in baby products are frightening. The unexplained increase in asthma, infertility, cancer and autistic children has been enough to open my eyes wider.
We are almost free of the common daily paper products in our home. I don't use my dryer, cfl's for years, and replaced my appliances with energy efficient ones. We have been making our own laundry soaps for years. What I don't make out of common vinager, baking soda, TTO I buy from a low impact company called www.ourhouseworks.com. Not only are their products low impact, low toxicity but they are very focused on reducing packaging waste with 2 oz. concentrate refills -- a big bonus not seen much yet with other natural cleaning product companies.
We drive energy efficient vehicles.