Being green is important to me. Everything from keeping my body to our planet healthy is a big part of mine and my family's priorities. While we are not perfect at any of it, it's more important to have everyone trying and messing up a few times, than it is to have a few people doing it perfectly. With that here's a list of some easy things we did to be green even with a baby:
💚 Reusable wipes- this might not sound like a lot, but the amount of damage that wipes can do to plumbing of any kind is pretty big but most of them don't end up in our sewage system they end up in landfills and they take time to decompose. We also decided to do cloth for the financial impact it made.
💚 Use rags not paper towels- you can buy a 100 pack of terrycloth rags at Lowes for $4 and they will last you for years. With a baby you clean so much more than you did before from cleaning up big messes to just tidying up so the baby does eat dust, hair, or whatever is lying around your house.
💚 Green cleaning- my baby love to lick the floor to tell me she's sleepy and of course puts everything in her mouth so I have to wash everything all the time and do it with something that wont leave traces of chemicals behind for my baby to ingest. I found a natural plant based cleaner concentrate that works to make everything from dish soap to floor cleaner and is 100% safe from doterra that has become the only cleaning product I own.
💚 Gondola bamboo baby toothbrush- we all know how bad for the environment plastic is. Bamboo is a fast growing tree which is able to grow as quickly as is needed to be cut down for use making it the perfect solution for wooden products without the guilt of losing our tree population. Plus it makes a great teething toy!
💚 Bamboo baby hair brush- you can forget about breaking this bad boy, they are virtually indestructible. Wood for babies is much better than plastic because it's not made with harmful chemicals. Plus when your ready to upgrade to a new one you know the bamboo will biodegrade instead of sitting in a landfill forever.
💚 No more candles- candles can smell nice at times but there are a few pitfalls of burning them. 1 being the fire hazard which with a baby goes way up since your little one isn't going to understand not to pick up the candle or throw it around, but even out of reach candles can be dangerous. The fragrances used in candles are synthetic which means they are made with crude oil, which essentially means your burning crude oil in your home for you and your family to inhale as a pleasant smell. Once you start using REAL fragrances like diffusing an essential oil you will start to notice that you don't enjoy synthetic fragrances anymore because your body will start to reject the fact that the smell isn't real. The last reason is for the smoke. Candles are still something burning and release smoke into your home every time you light one. Do yourself and your new baby a favor and ditch the candles for a better alternative of diffused oils.
💚 Grovia Cloth O.N.E. diapers- we decided on cloth diapers because of the cost, but also because it can be better for the environment. If you buy brand new though the environmental impact wont be as impactful so if you can find used cloth diapers grab those up- also the used diapers are more absorbent than brand new ones that haven't been broken in. We chose Grovia but I would suggest that if your going to go cloth to research the different styles and brands to see what would fit your family and baby needs best.
💚 Mason Bottles- we breastfed almost all the time but when I needed a break for a nap we loved the mason bottles for feeding. The glass mason jar can be reused as a sippy cup, regular cup, and canning jar over time which makes me happy because, recycling!!!
💚 Natural bath and body care- did you know that the average person puts 5000 chemicals on their body a day. Yes you read that right. 5000. Everything from sunscreen to lotion, shampoo, body wash, makeup and makeup remover. It's all made with chemicals and none of which are good for your body at all. After you use these products and your body processes them and you excrete them, they end up back in our water cycle. They also create a dependency within you to make your body need these products.
💚 BLW- what does this have to do with going green? First off you wont be buying little one time use plastic containers of purees that end up in a landfill somewhere. Your baby eats the same foods you do so there is less food waste because what isn't eaten can be stored more easily and for a longer time (did you know that when your baby puts a spoon in their mouth and then that spoon goes back into the food. The saliva from the spoon starts decomposing the food right then making it so that your baby food spoils faster?)
💚 Compost- so I know that this can sound daunting or difficult, and I'll admit it takes more effort and time than simply throwing your scraps into the garbage can, but it's not as difficult as you would think. If you have the space you can create a compost pile out in the open, or you can contain the smell and animals by using a box. Both methods work fine. Simply take all your food scraps, dryer lint, and fallen out hair and add it to your compost pile. If you have your own garden or indoor plants you can use all your homemade organic soil yourself, and if you don't you can either sell/give your dirt to local gardeners, or use it around your lawn for some great lawn food.
💚 Natural plant based remedies - going green isn't just about the environment around us but also inside us. Using natural plant based remedies helps you get in tune with your body and learn to take on diseases at home by tackling the root of the problem rather than the effects of it. Essential oils are a great way to start with natural solutions.
💚 Glass Tupperware - if you haven't picked up on it yet, we are all about eliminating unnecessary plastics in our home. Tupperware is a huge plastic source. Mason jars are a hit for storing baby food in right sized portions. I remake oatmeal for the week and freeze it in small mason jars so they are just the right size to defrost for a meal. There are so many glass Tupperware options these days so as your plastics ones fail you try replacing them with glass ones. Not only are they better for the environment but you can freeze and microwave without cooking plastic into your food, and they last forever longer so you can save money from having to buy new Tupperware each year.
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