Clean Eating

Last summer as we prepared to try to get pregnant, I decided to try eating clean for a while. GK had been diagnosed with Celiac the previous December and when I had to cut out gluten from his diet, I cut it out of my own as well. Stomach problems that I'd had for more than 10 years vanished in a matter of days, so I've been gluten free ever since.

Getting rid of gluten and managing my son's other food allergies and intolerances has led me to read the labels on every food I buy and to buy more whole and unprocessed things. When I really started reading labels, I subsequently decided to start getting rid of chemicals, artificial ingredients and fillers in our foods.

I did it slowly at first. Gave up a few things at a time (including coffee because I had such a hard time with it during my last pregnancy. Oddly enough, the herbal tea that I switched to is now making me want to vomit during this pregnancy, so maybe I shouldn't have bothered giving it up after all!) saving my true favorites for last.

A friend who has been trying to get pregnant for two years now also began a clean diet, so I had some solidarity. It took two months to get completely "clean" with a 10 percent "allowance" for the times when I really, really, really had to have something not on the diet list.

I was really surprised the first few times that I used this allowance just how much the chemical taste in things showed up. To the point where I couldn't even take more than a sip of a diet soft drink without gagging.

Now that I'm pregnant and dealing with the phase of horrible smells and tastes, anything even the smallest bit processed, like cheese sticks, tastes horrible to me. In fact, that was how I knew I was pregnant - I ate a bite of processed cheese and it tasted like gasoline.

Other than the initial improvement in stomach pains when I gave up gluten, I haven't noticed much in the way of improved health. I like to think, though, that I'm investing in some benefits that may pay off for me in a few more years to come.

Green Living Can Be Frugal

It's true. Living a greener life can also mean living a more frugal one. Admittedly, I came at this the other way around at first; we were trying to save some money since our budget is so tight just now. A few months in, however, I realized that we were actually living a much greener life as well. Once that realization dawned, I began seeing if making some green changes in our lives would help us live in more frugally, and I found that it's entirely true; green living can be frugal.

In our efforts to save money and live a greener, simpler, cleaner lifestyle, we have:

Started line drying our clothes. This saves us approximately 35 dollars a month on our electric bill.

Cloth diapering (and now cloth training panting). We line dry our diapers and wash them with our son's other things (you CAN wash your diapers with your other laundry if you do it properly, this saves a lot of money and is a greener alternative). These paid for themselves in less than 5 months.

Given up paper towels. This was a big switch and one that I am so glad that we made. We use microfiber towels now and they are amazing. They are super absorbent, clean everything and take the place of our Swiffer refills, mopping pads, glass cleaning wipes, Magic Erasers and paper towels. After the initial investment, I have saved so much money by just rinsing or washing these, then using them again.

Made our own cleaners. My cleaner is so cheap to use and cleans and disinfects everything. It's also chemical free, so its good for the environment and uses less packaging. Paired up with a microfiber towel, it cleans the floors, the bathroom, the walls, the counters - everything. I save about 50 dollars a month on cleaning supplies between the two.

Recycling. Recycling can save you a little money each month. Think about all those big jugs of milk or cereal boxes that you need to crush down into your trash can. Rinse them, toss them in the recycling bin and save on the extra trash bags each month.

Upcylcing/Thrifting. We upcycle and thrift a lot. It started with our downstairs wall shelving. I found it in our storage room after we moved in. A broken down old shelf full of holes and rotting boards. I repaired it, painted it and it now hangs in our family room:

Other upcycling/thrifting projects have included merging two pairs of shorts that I hated and never wore into one skirt that I wear all the time:

Using things we found outdoors to decorate our house with.

And numerous pieces of furniture I found and refinished. We've haunt Craig's List, thrift stores, antique stores and I have even salvaged things from the side of the road. A little paint, elbow grease and cleaner later and we have some pretty awesome new additions to our previously empty home that we could never afford to decorate.

While there are plenty of other ways to cut costs that are not green and plenty of ways to be green that aren't frugal, I think we've started to find a nice balance at our place.

No Pooing

For the last 18 months, I've been growing my hair out from the pixie cut I gave myself when my son was born

And I also stopped washing it.

Stopped washing it? What? It's true, shortly after I hacked off all my hair, I read about No Pooing, and had to give it a try for myself.

There are multiple ways to No Poo. You can condition only, rinse only, wash with baking soda, rinse with apple cider vinegar, etc. For the longest time I only conditioned, but I've discovered as my hair has gotten longer that it needs the occasional baking soda scrub to remove any build up. I also replaced more than half of my "conditionings" with apple cider vinegar as well.

Why?

The answers are many. For one, shampooing too often robs  your hair of its natural oils and its natural cleaning process. So your scalp over compensates by producing more oil. This made sense to me since I always had dry ends but oil roots.

I also hate the idea of using chemicals that I don't need to. Have you looked at the side of a shampoo bottle lately? Granted, conditioner isn't much better, hence my switch to apple cider vinegar. I really only find I need conditioner on days I've used the baking soda, because otherwise my hair gets a little too dry.

Finally is the expense. A box of baking soda lasts me all year and costs a dollar. Apple cider vinegar costs a dollar for a huge jug that also lasts nearly a year. Since I started No Pooing, my hair also got into much better shape, which means I don't buy any more styling products, either. Win-Win-Win.

I do still color my hair (started going gray in my twenties... and I'm just not ready yet), but I've been experimenting with making my own hair dye as well, so hopefully I'll be able to skip the chemicals and expense there soon, too.

So what does a head of hair that hasn't seen shampoo in a year-and-a-half look like? Pretty much like this (although I wish I had brushed it at least a little before the photos were taken!)

While you can't touch a photograph, I have to say my hair has never been softer or looked better. My son agrees if his insistence that I wear it, "down Mama!" and his constant winding his hands through it are any indication.

No Poo: It's a really addictive lifestyle change.

Homemade Lilac Cleaner

A couple of months ago, I decided to try my hand at making our own cleaners. I had already ditched paper towels for microfiber towels (they clean everything! Including glass!) and I was ready to ditch the expensive and chemical laden cleaners as well.

After a LOT of tinkering, I think I've finally got a cleaner that smells amazing, cleans everything and makes my bamboo floors GLOW. No really, they glow. This stuff makes me want to mop my floors.

To make your own, gather up:
A clean spray bottle
2 green tea bags
Enough hot water to fill your bottle about 3/4 way
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon tea tree oil
1 teaspoon essential oil (I like lilac)

Fill a bowl with water and steep the tea bags for a few minutes.
In a second bowl, combine the oils, vinegar and baking soda and watch it fizz up.
When it's done fizzing, remove the tea bags from the hot water and add the vinegar mixture.
Mix well and pour into your spray bottle.

My spray bottle is kind of small, so I actually make a little extra and pour it into a (clean, glass) peanut butter jar to store under my sink until I need it. This recipe gives me about a month's worth of cleaner.

I mop about 1000 feet of bamboo once a week, clean the bathroom with it once a week, the mudroom once a week and then spray it on anything sticky, etc as I happen upon it. Your house will smell AMAZING and the antibacterial/antiviral properties of the tea tree oil will help make sure it's sanitized, too.

Why I Do It

It's mid-morning, we're running late to meet friends - again. So far, I've been up since 5, I've written two articles, attended a yoga class, gotten GK up, fed and dressed and myself more or less presentable. Instead of grabbing the car keys to get out the door, I grab a basket of wet laundry and head outside to the clothes line.

Feeling like a 50s housewife in my sundress and slip-on Mary Jane's, I  pin the wet laundry to the lines. Tiny shirts, cloth diapers, yoga pants. And while I pin the clothes, I stop feeling so rushed. I stop feeling the need to go, go, go.

I look up at the window of our dining room and spy a little face watching me. "Mama!" I smile, make goofy faces, hide behind the hung laundry and spring out again to hear him laugh.

I go back inside smiling, gather my keys, purse and a little hand to hold and we make our way to the park to see friends. Who cares if we get there right at the minute we're supposed to or two minutes past? We'll walk up smiling, happy and content.

I started changing so many things in our lives for one reason or another - it's cheaper, it's healthier, it's easier - but I keep doing it because I've discovered so much more. I can't say we live a simple life or a green life, but I do know that we live a changed life that is simpler, greener and more frugal than it was 2 years ago and that we've never been happier.