Save some green to buy more green.

People constantly comment to me that buying green is pricey. I agree, but you need to know the tricks and then it is not such a burden on the wallet.  Coupons are my favorite. The catch is if you use a coupon for an item that you may not use, it is not a good deal. I try to have coupons for most of the brand name items that I buy (the rest, I buy generic. Almost every store has a store brand organic.)  Here are some sites that have printable coupons.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/coupons/   Check this every other month for different coupons. Don't shy away from whole foods coupons, you can use them at Publix.

http://www.target.com/coupons These coupons change regularly and yes, you can use them at Publix too!

http://www.coupons.com/   These change every week, so check back.  There is a print limit, so don't print them all at once.

http://www.mambosprouts.com/bts10msngr/ Their coupons are all natural and organic, you can print them from the site.

http://www.couponmom.com/  She has links to tons of coupon sites that may have organic or natural coupons.

Picture from http://www.stonyfield.com/

http://www.stonyfield.com/  These coupons expire quickly (2 weeks or so), so only print the ones that you’ll use soon. They also have a print limit, so print them sparingly.

http://www.energizer.com/ They usually have a coupon for regular batteries and rechargeable.  Using rechargeable is not only green, but it saves you green.  I have charged my batteries so many times and I can't remember the last time I bought alkaline.

Now go save some green, while you are saving the planet.

Can I recycle this?

Recycling can be a tricky job. Do you have to remove tops or not? Can the tops be recycled? What about recycling batteries, metal hangers and wine corks?  Luckily there is a wealth of information out there.

Most cities or garbage companies only take plastics #1 and #2. So, what do you do with the rest?  If it is a #5, you can bring it to Whole Foods.  Whole Foods will take the plastics, give it to recycling and they will make cool bags and other gear out of it.  They also recycle wine corks, so don't throw those corks away after you drink some vino! (Or of course you could compost the corks if you are feeling really ambitious.)

Check with your recycling program, because you may have to remove the tops from containers and set them aside. You can recycle them, maybe not with your garbage company but with Aveda. They collect plastic bottle caps to make new plastic bottles. Check on their website for the rules.

By far, the most helpful website is Earth911. Right there on their home page, you can type in the item in question and your area and it will tell you where to go. This is terribly helpful when you want to recycle something like batteries and don't know where to go.  (Hint-most Batteries Plus stores take them.)

Wire hangers continually pile up in our closet and they are so annoying.  My first instinct is to recycle them, but reusing them is much more environmentally friendly. Our dry-cleaner gladly takes any hanger, regardless of the color, and I am glad to give them away. If you can't give 'em away, check out earth911 for recycling centers.

If in doubt, check with your garbage company or your city recycling center.  Many recycling centers will take many things that they do not pick up in the curbside bins. The garbage company may even have special days that they recycle big items, so check their website or call.

Before you toss it, check with your resources or ask around, there is probably a place that will take it (either for recycling or reusing.).

Calling all promising green moms

I am officially a Moms Meet Ambassador and I would like to get a group of green-minded moms together to toss around what we have learned and are learning about greening our family's lives.

According to the http://www.greenmomsmeet.com/ website:
The Mom Ambassador Program is a network of confident, charismatic, and committed moms who are enthusiastic about parenting and green living.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moms-Meet/121361118223#!/photo.php?pid=3629012&id=121361118223&ref=fbx_album&fbid=297451023223

Mom Ambas­sadors lead groups of par­ents in dicus­sion meet­ings, and act as ambas­sadors to present top­ics, prod­ucts, and ser­vices that they think would be valu­able to the par­ents in their communities.


In our group meeting/play dates we will talk about healthy practices, become closer friends, be able to test and review free products and be a voice for the community.

If you are at all interested, email me and we will talk. mygreenthumbs@gmail.com

Paint those piggies

I can't understand it, but I have a child who is girly. I, myself, was a bit boyish, not caring about my hair, fashion or how dirty I got.   My daughter doesn't mind the dirt, but she loves to look sassy. She changes clothes multiple times a day, loves her princess dresses and shoes and begs to have her nails painted.

For the past few years, I have avoided painting her toes (if I can) because I could not find any polish that was not harmful. I ordered one online, only to have it rub off in less than 24 hours.

Then I was reading treehugger.com and saw a recommendation for Piggy Paint nail polish.  It mentioned that it is great for kids, has lots of colors to choose from and it is toxic free!  Their slogan is "it's as natural as mud". Cute. On their website they tell us that, "It is free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, biphenyl A, ethyl acetate and acetone... and made in the USA!"  Sounds great to me, let's try it.

We ordered the multi-pack with purple, light blue and pink in it and my daughter and I both painted our toes.  I love it!!! It dries quickly and with two coats it looks great for over a week.  They also recommend that you use a blow dryer for a minute to set the color and that definitely helps.  I am so happy. I think I will get green and yellow too.


If you become a fan of them on Facebook, they often give out discount codes for 15%, so it is worth trying. The shipping is reasonable too.  Happy painting...

The dilemma of what to pack

The other day, I realized that I have to pack my daughter's lunch 5 days a week, including a snack and drink.  Here's the dilemma...do I give her a PB&J daily?  According to what I have read, the kids will trade food if they don't like what you packed, so it is a good idea to pack what she likes and to make her involved in the process. 

After researching a list of several dozen possibilities, I stumbled upon smoothies or mixed fruit drinks.  The combinations are endless and hiding veggies in food just got easier! I started with just fruits and yogurt and some OJ, they loved it.  Then I used several fruits and 2 c. of spinach leaves, they loved it.  Now, I include all kinds of veggies including tomato and carrot juice with a little honey, silken tofu, flax seed, and applesauce.  I still use the Environmental Working Group's list of the dirty dozen for fruit and veggies to determine if the fruit or juice should be organic or not. (eg, pineapple juice is not organic, tomato juice is.)

After looking over dozens of sample lunches, I started to make a list of what she would eat and what I could get away with.  The list includes pita pockets with sandwich ingredients, tortillas with sandwich ingredients rolled up, ravioli, cheese and crackers, pasta salad, pancakes, scrambled eggs and breaded chicken pieces. Her snacks include dips like hummus and peanut butter and ranch dressing.  I give her pretzels, pitas, carrots, celery and apples to dip.  For snacks and other random stuff, she will eat hard boiled eggs (already peeled and sliced), yogurt, any fruit, cheese sticks, popcorn, nuts, raisins, applesauce, trail mix and edamame.  This list sounds extensive, but it may not be enough to last through the whole year.  Hopefully if I mix it up enough and don't fall back on PB&J, she will eat it.

The drinks were just going to be water, but she might get tired of that too, so I am going to do what Trader Joe's does.  They put lots of fresh, cut fruit in their water and my kids love it!  Her drink container is stainless steel, so juice is fine.  Now I will keep my fingers crossed and hope that we are off to a good start for the new school year!

Check out some holistic tips for lunch too.
http://www.holistic.com/holistic/learning.nsf/title/10+Tips+for+Packing+a+Healthy+School+Lunch

Back to school toxics

In about a week and a half, my oldest starts Pre-K.  It is much like public school in that I have to pack lunch, pack a snack, provide a backpack for her that fits a folder comfortably and cloth her in things that might last for the whole school year.

After looking everywhere and doing way too much research, I found our backpack.  It is from Crocodile Creek and it is the perfect size for an almost 5-year-old (it holds a folder too).  It is BPA, lead, PVC and phthalate FREE!!!!  Not only does it not have all these toxic ingredients, but it is also cute, functional and she LIKES it!  I was so excited about it that I bought the matching stainless steel drink bottle too.

Luckily the lunchbox that I bought for her last year is still intact and I will be using it again for as long as possible.  I bought a stainless steel food container that keeps food hot/cold, is BPA free, unbreakable(yeah!) and easy to clean with a wide opening. Now I can send her to school with food that is hot.  If only I could be sure that she would actually eat it. Ha.

I am afraid to use random plastic containers in the cabinet for juicy snacks like fruits and I need containers that fit together.  I found this set of containers that are perfect. They are also BPA, lead, PVC, phthalate and melamine FREE too!  Then for snack time, I found this small plastic pouch which is made of EVA plastic instead of toxic PVC, so you can put juicy snacks in it as well as any other snacks and feel good about it.

For the daunting task of clothing her, I am grateful for the Fall Consignment Season. They have it all, shoes, boots, jackets, hats and tons of jeans and shirts.  The above mentioned website is fabulous for finding sales all over the country and gives you all of the details for when to shop and the "rules" of each sale. Last year I got so many good deals that I could not help myself from buying for others too!

 Not only is buying at a consignment sale good for your wallet, it is good for the environment.  The things you buy are getting re-used, most of them have been washed a few times(which removes a ton of chemicals that new clothes have) and it is keeping things out of the landfill!! WIN-WIN!

After all of this is over, then I can sit back and relax and know that I have kept a few toxins away from my precious little one.

The smell of suncreen

We have been using natural sunscreen for several years. Today when we were at the pool, I got a whiff of what traditional sunscreen smells like and I have to say, I am glad we switched. (Not only because it smells "off", but because heavy smells indicate something fake.)

I have used a number of sunscreens since we switched and all of them worked, but since then I have done research to find out that some are a little more chemical laden then I thought.  Environmental Working Group is an organization that works tirelessly to rate all of the sunscreens that they can get their hands on.  They rate them according to chemicals, too high or too low SPF, the balance of UVB and UVA protection and other factors.  It is a good idea to go to this website to check out a sunscreen you have or one that you are going to buy.

This photo is property of www.flickr.com/sicilianitaliano

I just ordered sunscreen that ranks a #3 on the EWG list.  Usually I try to use products that are 4 or less.  I ordered Aubrey Organics Sunscreen for Active Lifestyles.   I was using Trader Joe's sunscreen, which ranks a #4, but it contains Vitamin A.  According to EWG:
The common sunscreen ingredient vitamin A may speed the development of cancer.

Recently available data from an FDA study indicate that a form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, when applied to the skin in the presence of sunlight, may speed the development of skin tumors and lesions (NTP 2009). This evidence is troubling because the sunscreen industry adds vitamin A to 41 percent of all sunscreens.

Scary.

Due to the fact that people are so scared of skin cancer, we lather up on the sunscreen (makes sense, right).  Well, according to US News & World Report, you need about 10 min. of sun exposure WITHOUT sunscreen to get enough Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is said to help in the prevention of Osteoporosis, Heart Disease, Cancer, Depression, Insomnia and Immune System problems.  So, wait until after you get outside to spread it on.

Check the list and know that you are not polluting your family's bodies when enjoying the sun.