Living a Natural Lifestyle

Besides using cloth diapers, what else do you do to make your lifestyle more natural/organic, and to create less waste?  There are several things that we have been doing in our household for some time.  I recently added a few other things, so I thought I would share them with you.

I admit I was not much of a “green” or organic type person before I started using cloth diapers.  Then I realized the money I was saving, the waste I was not creating, and the “plastic” I was not placing next to my baby’s bum, and I started to think along the lines of changing other areas of our lifestyle.  It’s been a little bit of a slow process, but here are the things we do at home to support a “natural” lifestyle.

:: To state the obvious, we use cloth diapers.  We also use cloth wipes, and I make my own foaming wipe solution.  This has saving us tons of money with Elaine, and with #2 due to arrive in about 5 weeks, the savings are about to pile up big time!

:: I made my own baby food.  I did not do this exclusively.  I am a bargain hunter, so if I could steal a great deal on store-bought baby food, I would use it.  I also bought the store bought containers for on-the-go.  I would often just mash up some fruit as we went, and a couple of times I made bigger batches of baby food for the freezer.  Once we started to leave purees, Elaine just got a little bit of our dinner mashed up.

:: I make my own laundry soap and household cleaners.  It did not use to bother me to use chemical-laden products.  But with a toddler running around the house, I feel much safer (despite my baby locks) knowing exactly what is in those cleaners.  Everything is comprised basically of baking soda, soap, vinegar, washing soda, borax, and essential oils.  I use these recipes for my cleaners, and this recipe for my laundry soap.  I still use Rockin’ Green or bumGenius detergent on my diapers, just to be safe!

:: We use cloth napkins and clean-up rags (no paper towels).  I try very hard to remember to bring my canvas shopping bags to the grocery store.  This habit is getting better!

:: I make all of our bread.  This helps ensure there are no unnecessary preservatives.  I do use a bread machine – no wonder woman here!

:: I use less energy by line-drying all of my clothes and diapers.  I don’t really have a choice in this – the apartment came with a washer, but no way to hook up a dryer!  I do love my clothesline, though!