Going Green

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Going Green: Simple Ideas for Busy Mamas

Elissa blogs at Green Moon Rising. She lives in Nashville, TN in a small, fixer-upper that she shares with her son, husband, and dog.  Elissa is a former Montessori teacher who now writes about Montessori education, Nashville, and honestly, any paid writing assignment that comes her way.  Many (green) moons ago, she sat in creative writing workshops in college with Lindsey, the author behind High Heeled Mom.

Making environmentally friendly changes in your home and lifestyle can be daunting, but I believe it can be especially intimidating when you are balancing being a mother with the other roles in your life.  I find that making one change at a time is the most successful approach for me.  Decide on one green thing you can change now and fully develop a system around it, make it part of your life, and it will become a lifelong change.  I have listed some simple ideas for places to start with greening up your life.  Many of these ideas have the added benefit of being frugal.

Alternatives to Disposable Diapers

Look for a diaper service in your area.  They can be surprisingly affordable and on average, cost less than disposable diapers (though a bit more than owning your own cloth diapers) over a child’s diaper wearing years.  You will also save on utilities by not washing the diapers yourself and often a diaper service will use less water per diaper because of the type of washers the company might utilize.  Some diaper services even drive bio-diesel vehicles for their deliveries.  It has the environmentally friendly benefits of using cloth diapers without the inconvenience and time of washing them yourself.  Some may argue that diaper services negate much of the benefits of cloth diapers but there is research to support the use of diaper services.  At the very least, the diapers will be reused with other customers after you.  Besides being a more sustainable option, hopefully you will enjoy other possible benefits of cloth diapering such as less diaper rash and earlier potty training.

Just can not do cloth?  Consider exploring GDiapers (hybrid disposable and cloth diapers favored by Julia Roberts and Alyson Hannigan) or chlorine-free disposable diapers (by brands like Seventh Generation).

Green Options for Your Menstrual Cycle

Another option for making a greener choice in your life is cloth menstrual pads.  They do not add that much more laundry to your dirty laundry pile and the cotton feels immensely better than the plastic feel of disposable menstrual pads.  If not for monthly use, many women enjoy cloth menstrual pads for post-partum use.  Lunapads and GladRags are popular manufacturers.  Many Etsy shops also offer cloth menstrual pads.  Two of my favorites are Randumosity and Crea8tiveMama.

Randumosity

Crea8tiveMama

Cloth menstrual pads may be much more stylish than disposable pads but you might not be a “pad girl.”  You might want to check out the DivaCup, sea sponge tampons, or organic cotton tampons.

W.W.G.D.  (What Would Grandma Do?)

I love that so many of the things that we can do to help the earth reflect what our grandmothers would have done when they were keeping house.  Cloth napkins will save you money over time and feel fancy to use.  Softer on your mouth than paper napkins, you can quickly become addicted.  Buy them on sale, sew them yourself, gather them from thrift stores, they are easy to gather and fun to collect.  CreativeChicsHome and juliepeach have some really cute and hip options in their etsy shops, and see Moo Cow Mama and sunshine grove farm.

CreativeChicsHome

juliepeach

Moo Cow Mama

Sunshine Grove Farm

Reusable Snack and Sandwich Bags

Whether you use them for packing your lunch, your kid’s lunch, or for snacks for play dates, odds are you are using plastic snack and sandwich bags.  Consider reusable cloth snack and sandwich bags.  Not only do they generate less waste and cost less in the long run, they are immeasurably cuter and more stylish than plain plastic bags.  Some of my favorites from etsy include Evelyn Fields and Cotton Top Quilts.

Evelyn Fields

Cotton Top Quilts

Cleaning & Around the House

Many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon and you have more choices than ever when it comes to cleaners.  A Google search also leads to a ton of resources for making your own cleaners, detergents, etc.  Recycled paper towels, toilet paper, and other paper products are an option for when you simply do not feel you can go reusable or cloth.

Remember to take it slow!  I’m sure you will be happy with whatever changes you make and once you do a couple things, I bet you will not be able to stop.