Greener Wednesdays

Hi there! 

On my quest to be a better, greener person, I thought I'd share a few things I'm doing as I slowly turn my home and life into a greener one.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but it's freakin' expensive to live healthy.  Shit.  But, it's worth it, so you gotta try right? Right.  I just have to try in baby steps and rearrange my budget.

Well, I was going to do a post on this laundry detergent I stumbled across at Lowe's, but Apartment Therapy beat me to it. 

Read about it here.  So, a few weeks back I bought the small bottle, good for 25 loads because I was very skeptical.  The size of the bottle was the same as a SMALL dish soap bottle.  25 loads from that?  Yeah right.  But once I tried it, I was hooked!  Four pumps is all you need.  No joke.  I get the Fresh Air scent.  I recently just bought the 50 load bottle and I won't be turning back.  It's the same price as other detergents, it's a lot greener than other detergents, it cleans wonderfully, it can work in high-efficiency machines, AND the packaging is SO SMALL compared to all other detergents.  Try it for yourself, here is a coupon!

Check out this blog post on Jessica O'Brien's blog: Under Construction (her maiden name is in the web address, so don't be confused :).  Her hubby owns a green store called The Green Life in Santa Monica, CA, and he only stocks health and beauty products that are rated 4 and under on the Cosmetic Safety Database.  What's that you ask?  Oh, it only lists out almost every health and beauty product known to man and how they rate on scale of 0 (awesome) to 10 (awful) based on their ingredient list.  Dude, check it out and put some of the products in that you use on a daily basis.  You will be disgusted.  I was most disgusted by the awful ratings my baby products got.  I'm definitely changing all my products one at a time, starting with all the products I use for my kids.

Lastly, here is just some cute inspiration for some fence decoration.  I would love to do this with herbs and really make the pots in crazy colors and designs.  If you'd like to see the entire post on Apartment Therapy, go here.

image taken from Apartment Therapy site.

Oh, one more thing.  On The Splendid Miss M's blog awhile back she gave awesome tips on making your own green cleaning supplies, etc.  She uses vinegar as fabric softener, and thanks to her I do too now.  It's so cheap, totally green, your clothes actually get clean, are very soft and I swear they do not stink like vinegar.  Just put the vinegar in the fabric softener spot and be prepared to save some cash!