Thursday, September 6, 2012

Simple Healthy Changes

In May I posted about using moving into a new house as motivation to get a bit more environmentally friendly. Today I would like to share a few super simple changes we've made in the last few months toward this goal.

Cleaning. I have discovered the joys of green cleaning! We use vinegar to clean the toilets, a vinegar and water mix as an all-purpose and glass cleaner, baking soda and lemon juice for tough stains, and olive oil and lemon juice to polish the furniture. It is all so easy . . . I am totally kicking myself for not doing this sooner. (We do still use commercial brands of laundry and dish detergent.) 

Food. We've made several changes in this area. (Take a peek at what's in our grocery cart.) First, I gave up my addiction to artificial coffee creamers and started putting honey and whole milk in my coffee. (It is delicious, by the way!) We started buying Greek yogurt and organic yogurt made with real sugar (instead of the corn syrup sweetened varieties). Recently we made the switch to brown rice and whole wheat pasta. (My oldest even told me, "hey, I like this new brown pasta.") We also began purchasing a brand of milk from a local dairy; supporting a nearby farm and only a few cents more per gallon. We stopped buying a favorite snack because there are food dyes in it. We've stopped eating lunch meats. We now buy only real butter. (Note: I tend to be wary of any diet plan that suggests eliminating an entire food group because it is evil. Please don't comment that I really need to switch to eating only dairy-free, gluten-free kelp cakes.)

Personal Care. The kids and I previously switched over to a toothpaste without dyes or artificial colors or flavorings. Other than that we haven't done much in this area. Still not interested in going no poo, and my beauty regimen is pretty much nonexistent, so not a lot going on there. We've have, however, been making an effort to not buy personal care products unless we really need them. As one small example, we actually use all those trial size shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and lotions we accumulate during our travels before we automatically just buy buy buy new without thinking about it. 

What (if any) little changes are you making these days? 

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day.

About the author: Valerie is a Navy wife and homeschooling Momma to three young children.
She blogs at http://mommainprogress.blogspot.com.

3 comments:

Meegs said... [Reply to comment]

Great steps! I really need to use vinegar for more cleaning.

Have you thought about the oil cleanse method for your face? I've been doing it for about 8 months now, and I love it!

(Talked about it here: http://meegs1982.blogspot.com/2012/09/works-for-me-wednesday.html)

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

@Meegs I haven't used anything on my face except water for years. I have heard about the oil method though (I think at SortaCrunchy?) and was intrigued. Maybe? I don't wear makeup (except occasional lip gloss). Every once in a great while I will use a little bit of soap (yep, just regular old soap) if one of the kids has gotten me muddy or thrown up on me or whatever. Not that that ever happens. But it happens.

Aunt Annie said... [Reply to comment]

'Dairy free, gluten free kelp cakes'- BAHAHAHAHA! I hear you!

We have gone back to real butter despite the supposed health risks of full fat blah blah. Marg is just frightening when you read what it's made of. I still drink low fat, high calcium milk though. I'm making my own electrolyte cordial from our citrus fruit for my partner, who loses a lot of salt through sweating as his job is very physical, and I swear I'll never buy the shop stuff again. Vegies- growing our own except potatoes, which don't do well here. Meat- we have our own free range turkeys. We sweep instead of vacuuming (I hate vacuum cleaners!!)- the carpets gave me hay fever anyway, so give me wooden floors anyday.

Sorbolene cream with vitamin E is a great moisturiser, BTW.

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