So up until thins point this blog has only covered our TTC journey, but I think I'm also going to expand it to cover other things about me.My photography, my hippie-ness, whatever I feel like really. It will mainly stay a TTC/IF/PCOS blog but a little variety won't hurt, it's the spice of life, right!?
Ok, so with the year half over I though I would stop and examine how I'm doing on my New Year's Resolutions. I had several this year, one of which was to be more eco-friendly. Call me a dirty liberal hippie...whatever, there is nothing wrong with 'going green' and helping to save our earth.We only have one, you know!? So I decided to change one product or habit a month to a 'greener option'
So far, I've been doing really good. He's how the Vidrine house has 'gone green' so far in 2012...
1. Recycle!- our town now offers a recycling drop-off center for plastic, cans, & paper. So at the beginning of the year, we started recycling. For all you seTX locals: Here is info about local drop off sites!
2. DIY Laundry- I started making DIY laundry powder. Not only is this more eco-friendly because its all natural, it's also much cheaper than buying expensive laundry detergent and your not using lots of nasty chemicals that can irritate your skin! The powder alone works wonders on stink towels and Eric's rancid work clothes, I've never used a detergent that could get the smell of "refinery" out of clothes, but this does the job! However if i have a load that I think is extra stinky I'll toss 1/2-1 cup of vinegar into the rinse cycle. Vinegar helps deodorize, sanitize, and soften!
'Recipe' is as follows:
1 cup WASHING soda
1/2 cup BAKING soda
1 bar Castile soap (I use Kirk's Pure Castile)
Use either a cheese grater or a blender to grate the soap (blender is MUCH quicker)
Mix soap together with the washing and baking soda! Use 1tbsp per load.
That's it! I usually triple the recipe and the powder lasts for months!
3.DIVA CUP- I LOVE MY DIVA CUP! It is the best $20 I've ever spent! No more pads or tampons, no cardboard or plastic waste from tampons. AND no more harsh chemicals or bleached fibers for my hooha! Tampons do have nasty things in them, including BPAs, that can throw off vaginal pH. Also for PCOSers BPAs can have effects on hormone levels. Also, for all you 'pads only' ladies, look into "Mama cloth" which is cloth pads, pads contain nasty chemicals to, and just because they don't go inside of you, doesn't mean they don't put chemicals into your body, and they still fill up landfills! Check out the Diva Cup site for more info. Also I recommend ordering them off Amazon, they're much cheaper!
4. Reusable shopping bags-I have been using reusable shopping bags on and off for awhile,but this year I have started using them religiously.
5.Said NO to bottles- when I stopped allowing cokes in the house we were buying A LOT of bottled water! Which was creating A LOT of plastic waste, and even though we started recycling them, I though that we should just try to eliminate that waste all together. So we got a water filter and some reusable water bottles...easy, peasy... problem solved! Plus it's A LOT cheaper!
That is what has been implemented so far...but I have a few things in the works.
COMING SOON-
'Unpaper' Towels- basically just cute homemade rags that snap together like a paper towel roll. I have the material to make them. I just need a sewing machine and sewing skills! I'll post a picture when I make them!
Composting-To help eliminate more waste, I'm starting to compost. Again, I have all the materials for this..I just need to do it. I'll update on this when it's through.
So that will make 7. If I 'go green' 5 more ways, I will have actually completed a new year's resolution!
I encourage all of you to take steps to make your own house 'greener' no only for the earth (which is important) but also eliminating unnecessary chemicals from your life is better for YOU!
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