Mother's going GREEN Day 92 - Packages

From time to time we will all receive or send packages. And if you are like me and do a lot of online shopping you will get more packages than most. Since I have gone green and most of my purchases online have been from green stores I have noticed the packaging is also 'green'.

Lets look at how we can 'green' packaging:

-- First off lets reuse and reuse the boxes that we pack the items in. I am saving my boxes for Christmas when I ship all of our families gifts off. I have noticed too that the companies I am ordering from are also re-using the boxes.

-- For the delicate items and for stuffing lets get ways from the Styrofoam peanuts and plastic bubble wrap and those plastic 'air pouch' things.

-- Instead use newspaper, old magazines and for the 'air pouch things try making your own by reusing the plastic bag your bread comes in and fill with a little air and tie closed.

-- I read about a great idea to use instead of Styrofoam peanuts and that is popcorn. Make it organic popcorn and that is even better. Use it a Christmas and the receiver then can reuse it to make a Christmas popcorn string for their tree.

Which reminds me, I have packages to pack up and ship off...

Also, if you are receiving packages through FedEx or UPS it is best to have them delivered to your business (place of work) as it is most probable that they will be stopping by your office building rather than making a trip out to your home.

Mother's going GREEN Day 24 - The Green Clean

I think subconsciously I always new the cleaning products I used to clean were harmful. I always had an excuse not to clean. First off the fumes give me a headache especially when it came to cleaning the bathrooms. Small enclosed space - lots of chemical fumes - no wonder.

When I was pregnant I refused to do any cleaning - poor husband - worked so hard at work and had to clean too. And even after I was a little hesitant. What would happen if my baby cried and needed me while I was cleaning - all those fumes would not be good for them. Now I think back to when I used to clean the bath tub - I would dread bathing my children in the 'clean' bath as I was sure no matter how well I tried to rinse the cleaning agents off - there would still be some residue. Then there would be the times when my little ones would want to help clean and I would say "No, yucky dangerous don't touch". Yes we clean with yucky dangerous stuff. See all the different products I have used - picture to the right.

Turns out I was not wrong and my fears justified about the cleaning agents I used.

Ammonia - Fatal when swallowed
Ammonium Hydroxide -Corrosive, irritant
Bleach - Potentially fatal if ingested
Chlorine - Number one cause of poisonings in children
Formaldehyde -Highly toxic; known carcinogen
Hydrochloric acid -Corrosive, eye and skin irritant
Hydrochloric bleach -Eye, skin and respiratory tract irritant
Sodium hypochlorit - Potentially fatal
Sodium laurel sulfate - Carcinogen, toxin, genetic mutagen
Sodium tripolyphosphate -Irritant
Trichloroethane -Damages liver and kidneys

and the list goes on..................... If this is the dangers to us humans imagine what it is doing to the environment....

Some interesting facts:

• In the past 40 years, at least 70,000 new chemicals have been released into the environment through new consumer and industrial products and food.
  Male and female infertility are on the rise. Research is now pointing to pesticides as a viable cause.
• Women who work in the home have a 54% higher death rate than women who work out of the home. - Toronto Indoor Air Conference, 1990
• According to the U.S Poison Control Centers, "A child is accidentally poisoned every 30 seconds and more than 50% of all poisonings occur at home with children under 5 years of age."
• There has been a 25% increase in the last 25 years in cancer incidence among children under 15 years of age.
• Thirty years ago the 3 major childhood illnesses were chickenpox, measles and mumps. Now it is asthma, ADD and cancer.

For more info on the above visit http://www.healthycleaning.com/whycleanhealthy.html

Today, I decided to go "green" with my clean and now have only a few cleaning products: Vinegar, Baking Soda, Lemon Juice, Borax (for tougher cleaning) Water Newspaper and a little Rubbing Alcohol way safer now for my children to help clean and for the first time in a long time I was excited about cleaning and these non chemical alternatives really and truly work. No need to worry about the headaches, accidentally mixing chemicals or the potential dangerous residue left in the bath tub that could harm my children. Now see the "NEW" cleaning products I use pictured above. What a difference.

In my search for information on cleaning products I came upon this web page: http://lesstoxicguide.ca/index.asp?fetch=household it too list the dangers of our current cleaning products, however it goes on to suggest some alternative products as well as some recipes to make your own from the ingredients I listed above.

Here's to the "GREEN CLEAN" my challenge now is what do I do with all the dangerous cleaners, throw them out? NO; Keep them? NO my kids may get a hold of them. I am tempted to send them back to the company so they can be made aware that I am not interested in their poison anymore.

Mother's going GREEN Day 18 - Childrens Eco-Craft

Today (Friday) is Mother's going Green craft day and today's official craft is "Watering Cans" but as it turns out there was a surprise second craft "One-of-a-Kind Gift Wrap" - I was in need of some wrapping paper for our Fathers Day gifts.

Watering Cans

You will need:

- Empty Milk Jug (saved from the recycling bin)

- Sharp instrument to make holes (I used one of the handy dandy tools on my Swiss Army Knife)

- Paint

- Paint Brushes

- Sheet of paper or Newspaper

Instructions (with adult help if required – you probably will need it for using the sharp instrument):

- Lay down the newspaper or craft paper on your work area.

- Set the empty clean milk jug down and make some holes on the top side of the milk jug opposite the handle (see picture).

- Make anther hole on top of the handle which will allow for air to go into the bottle as water comes out.

- Paint the jug (be as creative as you can be – anything goes) – allow the jug to dry.

Once dried fill with water screw the lid back on and you have a one of a kind watering can. (I found having the lid on was great for my younger kids as with a normal watering can they tend to pour all the water out from the top – with the lid this stops all of that and the water comes out in a nice ‘sprinkle’

Enjoy watering your flowers and plants.

One-of-a-Kind Gift Wrap

Take the paper that you painted your jug on and use it to clean your brushes by brushing off the excess paint – allow to dry – you have instant gift wrap.

In fact you can use this idea with any painting craft you do. Instead of throwing away or recycling your “drop” paper just turn it into gift wrap. The excess paint will add some colour to newspaper and a truly unique piece of gift wrap.

A little 'reusing' history on our "drop paper":

We received it in a package, the items were protectively wrapped in it. Then it became our 'drop paper' for our craft project, acted as our 'paint brush cleaner' and finally our gift wrap. Talk about reusing!!!