Organic/ Green Mommies

I know how you feel. There is certainly a lot of scary stuff in most of the products out there. Buying in bulk (beans, grains, nut butters, etc) helps keep costs down. Also, consider buying your produce from a farmers market or local farm (I like Boggy Creek). I imagine Greenling tacks on extra for their service. I don't know of any good websites offhand; sorry. I feel overwhelmed sometimes too with all the information/responsibility, but I just try to do as much as I can without going broke!

I can TOTALLY relate! I periodically go through a similar drowning in information, feeling completely hopeless! In a way, I think you have to choose your battles, or it does get too overwhelming & discouraging. I've tried to concentrate on things that we use the most - food, body products, and cleaning products. For those (and any other issues), I try to focus on the issues that are most alarming or have the most scientific support for concern. I like EWG and www.healthychild.org. I also like the SkinDeep website to read up on specific chemicals of concern.

Here's what I've been doing:

Organic is definitely more expensive, but shopping HEB organic is cheaper than many alternatives. Try to aim for fresher, more natural foods. More prep time, but less money.

My background is chemical engineering, and once I started to learn about plastics, I wasn't a big fan. (I won't say that I've completely phased them out, but I try to be very cautious.)

Body Products - I buy physical sunblock (which I have to order on-line). I had purchased many of my beauty products from The Body Shop because they were and continue to be pioneers in green beauty products. I used to buy from the stores, but have since become an Independent Consultant - for the discount and the income. You can read about how green they are from their corporate website.

Cleaning products - you can make many less toxic versions VERY cheaply yourself. I either do that or buy from Melaleuca.

I'd love to talk more - most of my friends are not eco-conscious, so it would be nice to share ideas with someone!

subscribe to Organic Consumer's Association e-newsletter

C.,
Good for you,wanting to keep the unsafe things out of your home. As the mother of 4 girls, I too keep all meat and dairy hormone free. I run an online co op every month, from here: http://www.frontiercoop.com/
Please email me if you would like to join my yahoo group and participate in the buys. everyone is welcome! My price for the items is around 40-50% off of the retail shown. I'll set you up with the account name and password.

T.

Go to farmers markets to buy organic produce. It's alot cheaper than conventional produce that you buy in the grocery store. There is a large one in Austin and a smaller one in Round Rock. It won't be certified, you'll just have to trust the farmer you buy from. For example, I bought some homemade soap that listed all the natural ingrediants for $2 a bar. The one in Round Rock is inside the public parking deck on Saturday mornings and when we visited had about 20 vendors, so you were out of there quickly. They had a good variety of produce. Are you using cloth diapers? You can use old fashioned cloth diapers and save alot of mnoney. Wash them in your choice of detergent and hang them out in the sun, which is a natural disinfectant and makes them clean and fresh. There is a alot of info about it on the internet go to diaperpin.com for a good forum. I'm not a totally green household, but these are some of the things I did. Good luck!

I feel the same way as well. I get very overwhelmed trying to avoid the mainstream products that contain toxins. I have recently read about the flame retardants in children's & baby mattresses and I feel this is a big area of concern. We found a company that sells the crib mattress for $300. http://www.greenearthmarket.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEW...
Well worth the money when you consider your tiny baby or toddler breathing in poison for over 12 hrs a day!! It completely angers me that we have to just accept these poisons because the government regulates it. However, the good news is that you can get around it. I found this mattress at a Futon company in California that is organic cotton and they will not put the flame retardant in it if you have a doctors note. It is about $500 for a King. Very cheap considering the 100% wool/cotton or natural latex mattresses I was looking at start at $1200. Here is the link to the mattress:
http://www.thefutonshop.com/product.aspx?ProductID=733
We also frequent the farmers markets. They have an excellent one in Pflugerville now as well. In addition we take advantage of Greenling Organic delivery too. I love them! They do not charge a delivery fee and many of their products are the same (some even cheaper than) Whole Foods/HEB. For instance, Rudy's Organic bread is between $4-5 at HEB. On Greenling it is $3.99.
I would also like to ask if anyone would be interested in forming an Organic/Health conscientious play group. Most of my friends don't do organic and feel it is an overpriced racket. It is refreshing to be around others who share the same concerns.
Melissa

C. I feel for you! You want to give your children the best and you want to leave them the best world to grow up in. I remember the old saying "leave things better than how you found them" whatever happened to that?

Anyway I am looking at organic and eco and on and on. Basically, for me, it all started with my cloth diapers. I found out that natural detergents clean them better than other leading brands. It was because the some of the leading brands have petroleum products in them and that causes residue in the diapers which causes them to stink. That caused an avalanche of information.

The way I did it was not to change everything all at once and lots of things are expensive. I just started where I could and for me it was recycling everything I could. As soon as that was fluid in our lives and easy I picked something else.

HEB marks local foods in the store and have lots of organics. I can't say I have great money saving tips other than cutting WAY back on our meat consumption. We have more veggie meals.

Good Luck.

It is very overwhelming trying to keep your home healthy! I get a monthly email from seventh generation and it always has interesting info. This past newsletter had some info about a book that will be coming out in October.
http://www.betterworldshopper.com/book.html
There are other books you can find on amazon that are similar.
Here is the seventh generation newsletter link.
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/7gen-newsletter-july-23-...
As for saving money buying organic, I wish I had some good advice! Hopefully someone will!
Take care.

Hi C.! I understand what you are going through. I get overwhelmed with what to change first. I get mad about what is going in our bodies now. I am 35 and have lived a certain way for years. I wasn't raised organic or aware of what's going on in the environment but I have spent the last couple of years trying to change that. I am about 5 days away from having my first child and I want her to live green, orgnaic and aware of where her food comes from. I have collected information from several sources over the last two years. Here are some websites etc. I have found helpful. National Geographic has a great magazine called The Green Guide.It teaches you how to be green. I have a subscription and love it.
www.thegreenguide.com
www.treehugger.com
www.earth911.com

Another great magazine is Body and Soul.
www.bodyandsoulmag.com
You can order these online to conserve paper if you want.
I have a book called The Green Book and Gorgeously Green which are wonderful. Both on Amazon.
The cleaning products I use are Method (from Target), J.R Watkins, and Ms. Meyers. I make a couple myself using vinegar, baking soda, lemon and water. I have laundry detergent from Shaklee and I am also using cleaners and essential oils from Yound Living. Yound Living has taught me a lot about chemicals in skin care products such as SLS (Sodium Laurel Sulfate), DEA, Aluminum, Mineral Oil and Propylene Glycol. Shocking how many horrible things are in our products. I also read a book called Organic Housekeeping which has info about a lot of these chemicals.
For gifts for my friends now I make them "Green Bags". I take the reusable shopping bags and fill them with great safe cleaning products, and a book on how to be green. It's been great and they love them. Some of my friends threw me an Eco Friendly Baby Shower too. They did not use any paper or plastic, all glass or china and for the napkins they used baby wash cloths that I got to take home after wards. Plus every one used something creative to wrap the gifts in, like a sheet, or a blanket. GREAT IDEAS!
I could talk green all day long. I am always learning and I love getting ideas from people. Just start small on what you do. Don't get overwhelmed and think you have to change everything now. Just do your best. Email me with any questions you have. GOOD LUCK!
Brandi

Hey C.,

I have a great way for you to turn your home green. I am with a team of local and national moms called the MOM team, and we have partnered with a wellness company that sells all natural cleaning, health and beauty, and wellness products. A lot of these products are comparable in price, if not cheaper than walmart/target items. Now with the MOM team, you could choose to just purchase the products, or if you wanted to, you can also make an income off of it. Me and my fiance were a single income family, but I am making a legitimate income from The MOM Team. This isn't a MLM scam. There are no parties, no inventory, and no collecting money. Plus you get a free website, free training, and free support from moms around the country. Please check out my website for addition information. Even if you are just interested in purchasing green products for the protection of your family please visit it as well and I can get you more information on all of this.

Thanks,

K. B

http://www.BestForGavin.com

Hi C.,
I agree with everything you wrote and it is overwhelming.
One suggestion food wise is to buy at farmer's market. It is locally grown, and the grower is right there to answer your questions.
I cloth diaper because it freaks me out the diapers take 500 years to degrade in landfills.Plus, since they are made from petroleum, it further fuels our need for fossil fuels.
I would day don't drive yourself crazy, and do what you can.
The fact that you are informed and want to do right by your family is fantastic.
Cleaning products are a big deal to me, so i clean a lot with vinegar and I use a steam mop on our floors.
Should I encounter any green mama websites, i will forward them to you.

Did you grow up in a "green" home? Just an idea, do you think that the media and environmental organizations are just trying to get you to buy into all of this nonsense. If it is all that much better for all of us, then why isn't the information more accessible to all of us and why aren't the products cheaper? Just a thought for you to think on!