Photo credit:
woodleywonderworks, flickr
There's a ton of pressure on today's earthy mama. She greens practically every drop that goes in and on her baby's body while babying the earth, too. Add that tall green order to the anxiety of keeping up with the Green Joneses on a non-recyclable budget. Mama needs a brand new (recycled juice pouch?) bag of green and lean dollar stretching tricks—pronto!
Modern Mommy Gear's latest budget tips should do just the trick. Here's my spin on them:
1. Change your baby's diapers … to reusable cloth or hemp. The average disposable diaper donning potty-not soils up to 7,000 diapers, doling out two tons of biohazard that stinks up landfills for eons. Cloth diapers can save $40 per month and ban toxic dyes, sodium polyacrylate (freakishly urine-absorbent gel) and dioxin from your baby’s bottom. Or, if you’re crazy brave, eliminate diapers altogether.
2. DIY baby food, starting with the free stuff—breast milk. Nursing moms save about $3,200 a year. When my milk supply went AWOL, I switched to NATURE’S ONE Organic Formula (about $10.28 for 12.7 oz.). What about affordable solid sustenance? Locavore DIY baby food tastes just as yummy (yummy being relative) as the $3- or $4-a-pop disposable container kind.
3. Green your wee hugger’s lunch. Switch from wasteful paper bags and toxic Ziplocs to non-BPA reusables and give juice bags/boxes the squeeze with Waterweek metal bottles. Get your 5-pack of 16 oz. bottles for $14.95 here.
4. Give some to get some … gently used children’s clothes. Save your kid's threads to trade up for FREE with family and friends. Try the same trick with used toys.
5. Go “Green Hour.” Save cash by shutting off the Wii, the laptop and the lights and getting your kids outside in the Great Outdoors. The "Green Hour" is free and every kid can have one, every day.
See? Good, green parenting doesn’t have to waste your wallet. Need more quick tips on greening the recession? Try these.
How to foster green biodiversity
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Great tips! (And I love the picture!)
Thanks, Laura! I welcome additional tips via comments. We could all use some money saving magic right now, dads included.
These are great tips. Makes me feel like I *am* doing some things right. Hoping to see more tips in the comments. I can't think of more that I haven't already read somewhere on SuperEco: hankies instead of Puffs, cloth napkins, using wash cloths for all sorts of cleaning instead of paper towels, etc.
Thanks for your nice comments, KYouell. Just dug up some more simple tips. 1) Freecycle baby gear. You know, all that "stuff" marketers tell us we new moms and dads must have to do a good job (but really don't need)-baby monitors, vibrating baby swings, massive, expensive jogging strollers, etc. 2) Skip expensive, toxic and wastefully packaged household cleaners and make your own using non-toxic, affordable ingredients like bicarbonate of soda, Epsom salts, distilled white vinegar, lemon juice, lavender, even vodka, etc. 3) Take a break from "paid" family entertainment, like museums (though I LOVE those), movies, roller coaster parks, etc. and take advantage of the natural environment surrounding you ... stop and look, touch and smell flowers and leaves, collect rocks, etc.
'Looking forward to others' green thrifty parenting tips!
1. Making home versions of packaged foods (oatmeal, granola bars, snacks).
2. Play outside. With, uh, outside stuff.
3. Newborn babies need: some clothes (hand me downs are fine), diapers, and that's about all. They sleep almost anywhere. Save the shopping for baby stuff when you really know what you need.
4. Board games are cheaper than video games.
5. Get them involved in doing for/giving to others instead of thinking about what they want for themselves.
Great tips, Kim!
Parents need to be aware of child/baby health care information and children's special needs. One important activity in taking care of child's or infant's needs is packing their diaper bag.
http://www.peoples-health.com/child_information.htm