We try really hard to be as green as possible. One of the reasons we cloth diaper, reuse, recycle, buy used, don't use harsh chemicals to clean (water, vinegar and tea tree oil is all I use).
But we've made two big moves to greener living since moving here. Both of which have financial benefits too.
Greener Thing #1 came about when money became too tight and what normal people buy became a luxury for us.
Toilet Paper
It was the only paper product (besides feminine products) that we bought. But it seriously became a luxury to us. So we switched to family cloth. Family cloth, what's that? Simply we use cloth wipes instead of toilet paper. But when forced to cut it out we made the decision that its best for us (not just our budget) and best for the Earth. (That sounds so cliche! Haha) It was really easy to switch, I mean we already wash cloth diapers and keep the diaper pail in the bathroom, all we had to do was throw the cloths in the same pail. And since how you wash is important to good cloth diaper hygiene it works the same for the family cloth. It really doesn't add to our diaper load at all. And then there is the cost savings- we save at least $20/month, I know that doesn't seem like that much but that's $20 not going into the Koch brothers pockets and saving trees they are illegally foresting. So how did I make our family cloths? Well honestly I've found myself really lazy about sewing lately so I just bought a bunch of cheap wash cloths and cut them in half. I found that sometimes we needed even smaller sizes (for small jobs.{wink,wink}) and I cut the halves in half. I could, and maybe eventually will, sew up the edges so they don't fray but we're just wiping our who-has with them so we don't need anything fancy. The kids don't complain and DH prefers the clean he gets from a damp cloth. We do still buy a small package when we are expecting company, we don't think our guests are really ready to make that leap.
Greener Thing #2 came from a recipe in a book DH got from my mom for his birthday. Something we'd been talking about trying for a while and its working for us, so we keep doing it.
Homemade Laundry Soap
It only takes about 30 mins a month to prepare and our clothes come out so much cleaner. We also save another $20 ish a month doing this. Our recipe is really easy 2 parts Borax, 2 parts baking soda and 1 part grated laundry soap (you can get this in the laundry aisle at most stores, its a bar of soap like bath soap). Mix it together to a lidded container and add 2 Tbsp of mixture to each load (I actually only use the 2 full Tbsp. on really dirty laundry, for normal loads I use 1 heaping Tbsp. and on the cloth diapers just a pinch). I also throw a cup of vinegar into every load, because I like the way it removes all odors. This same recipe is good for HE washers too. The only draw back I have is if you line dry your cloths they get a bit crunchy. To remedy that I just toss them into the dryer for a few mins, not a whole cycle, because that would defeat the whole purpose of line drying.
Well there you go! How we are getting greener. Someday maybe I'll make our own bar soap, but that's still a ways off. What I really need to get onto is making the feminine cloth I've been meaning to for the last 6 months. Then we'll be paper product free! (Keep me accountable to this one and ask me about every once in a while.)
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