Thursday, October 14, 2010

Guest Green Mommy- Amanda from Coping with Frugality!

This week's guest Green blogger is Amanda. Thanks for sharing with us Amanda! If you are a Green mommy with a story to tell or tips for readers please email me to be a guest blogger!!

Hi, my name is Amanda and I am a new mom and lawyer learning to cope with life in the current economy. I am learning to balance the jobs of mother, wife, chef, and lawyer. Our baby girl arrived on May 31, 2010. We are cloth diapering her and learning along the way. I LOVE to cook and am trying my best to do so as healthfully as possible with a a beef and potato hubs. I am also growing an organic garden that is much larger than my gardens in the past in order to grow most (if not all) of our veggies. I am planning on making our own baby food for when baby girl starts to eat solids. Living green has always been important to us, but with the new addition to the family, it has really come to the forefront.
There are so many different ways to be "green" and you can do as much or as little as you want. The great thing is, every little thing does make a difference! I have always been conscious about eating well, using "green" cleaning products where I can, and recycling. However, when we learned that we would be bringing a new life into this world, I started looking for more ways that I could make a healthy and safe living environment (and world!) for her.
I really started to be conscious of processed foods and did my best to avoid them. Processed foods are more convenient - that's what it comes down to. It's so much easier to bake a cake by opening up a box, pouring out a dry mix, and adding an egg and some oil than starting from scratch. According to the World Health Organization, processed foods are to blame for the spike in obesity levels and chronic disease around the world!! Where did I start? I started making food from scratch where I could. Instead of buying a box of cake mix or brownie mix, make your own. It may take a little longer, but it is so much better for you, and in the end, it tastes better because you made it yourself! We are also making our own baby food from organic produce we grow in our garden!
Another big way we have gone green is by cloth diapering our little girl. They are sooo much better for the environment!! Disposable diapers go straight to the landfills. Once there, it takes 500 years for one single-use disposable diaper to decompose. Currently, disposable diapers make up the third largest single consumer item in our landfills, and account for 30 percent of the non-biodegradable waste in landfills. Additionally, the waste water from the manufacture of disposable diapers contains dioxins (which have been linked to birth defects, miscarriages, cancer and genetic damage), solvents, and heavy metals. If that is in the waste water, think of what is in the diaper you are putting on your precious little baby! There have been advances in cloth diapering that have taken them well beyond the large piece of fabric you have to fold and pin. They are now super easy and down right adorable!!
So that is where we have started. We plan to find new ways to live even greener as time goes on....some ideas we hope to implement in the near future are composting and a rain barrel. You can follow along on our journey at http://copingwithfrugality.blogspot.com/.

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