Springtime Snotmonster Strikes Again!

It’s springtime, which means some, if not all members of my household have runny noses. I have tried to buy recycled paper tissues, but would rather wipe my nose on a piece of bark than use that sandpaper-like product! This is definitely one place I splurge: ultra soft tissues. How can I green this habit?

I’ve always been grossed out by the thought of a handkerchief, but having a kid has made me realize that a hankie in my pocket is no grosser than a half dozen partially used tissues in my pocket (or hers)! (And none is as gross as your child's habit of wiping her nose on your shoulder!) Even better, a friend of mine told me her secret: bibs. Hang one around your toddler’s neck and it will always be handy for a quick nose wipe! The terrycloth ones are softer than any tissue could be. And, since they’re out in the open (instead of crumpled in your pocket) they dry out quicker, leaving fewer cooties to spread. When you run out of clean bib space, throw it in the wash and get a new one.

I’m still working on substituting hankies for my own tissue addiction, but this trick has really reduced the amount used in our household and kept my daughter’s nose from getting too raw! If only I could wear a bib, too.

Total cost: $0. I mean, how many bibs did you get from your shower really?
Total time: more convenient than searching for clean tissues in your pocket!
Result: nicer noses, fewer tissues, fewer gross pocket surprises.

Alternative Gifts That Keep on Giving

Ahh, the stuff of parenthood. While having a family does inevitably mean owning more stuff, we don’t have to get pulled into the consumer craziness!

Here’s a website that helps us reduce the amount of new stuff we acquire by reusing our friends’ and family’s stuff, and requesting non-stuff gifts: The Alternative Gift Registry by The New American Dream.

We used it for our baby shower but it could also work for birthdays, weddings, and holidays! It’s free and it works just like a store gift registry only better: you can list items from multiple stores or items not found in any store!

Here’s some ideas on what you can include:
• New Items from Multiple Websites that were hard to find (e.g. the stroller we really wanted was available cheaper from a lesser known online store, organic or non-toxic goods that aren’t carried by the big stores),
• Home-made Goods (like blankets, booties, and frozen dinners for those first few weeks home from the hospital),
• Used Items (we asked for used children books, crib mobiles, baby clothes, humidifiers and tons of stuff we didn’t think we needed new!), and
• Gifts of Time and Experience (like babysitting hours, zoo memberships, swimming classes, etc.)!

Total cost: $0 to you, and much less for your friends and family.
Total time: less time than registering in a store!
Result: less stuff in your home and in the landfill, more creative and personal gift-giving and receiving!

Triple Tip: On Bags & Rags

This week’s tip is three-fold: Reducing your paper towels, Reusing plastic bags, and Recycling scrap materials into a handy and very easy-to-make dispenser!

When faced with the question “paper or plastic?”, I try to reply “neither” and bring my own bags. I swear, I really do try. Alas, I don’t always remember my bags, so sometimes I opt for paper (you’ll see why in a future post) and sometimes I opt for plastic. I use the plastic bags several ways: scooping pet waste, marinating meats, packing leftovers, transporting wet diapers or clothes, etc.

My mom used to use an old tissue box to store and dispense grocery bags, but they seem to fall apart quickly. I saw something like this in a store and decided to use scrap materials to make them! Here’s a great tutorial for them: http://www.dioramarama.com/patterns/ So easy, I made about 10 of them in one afternoon and gave them away to friends!

I keep three hanging in our pantry: one for clear bags (easier for food items), one for opaque bags, and one for rags. To reduce our paper towel use, I tear up our old t-shirts, keep them in this handy holder et voila! Paper towel substitute!

Total cost: $0 (since I used scraps, but it should only cost about a dollar's worth of remnants!)
Total time: 30 minutes each
Result: less paper towels, fewer bought baggies, less mess!

Oh, Sugar!*

I love to bake. I may not be the greatest cook, but when it comes to sweets, I’m actually pretty impressive. As my family tries to eat foods that are good for us and the planet, we were curious about all the different sugars around for baking: confectioners, brown, refined, etc.

Which would you think is the most environmentally sound sugar?

I thought brown sugar, then I read somewhere that brown sugar is merely refined sugar with molasses added to it! So, not only is it processed like regular sugar, it has an added step of adding molasses in it! Zut alors!

Consulting my favorite all-time baking bible (King Arthur’s Flour Baker’s Companion), I found out that in any recipe, you can substitute brown sugar for a combo of granulated sugar and molasses! Here’s the ratio:
Light brown sugar add 1 T molasses to each cup of sugar;
Dark brown sugar add 2 T molasses to each cup of sugar.

I tried it out and it works wonderfully!

Total cost: $0 (since my baking staples include sugar and molasses)
Total time: no time at all!
Result: less processed food, less energy used, cheaper pantry and yummy baked goods!

*Oh, Sugar! Is an ode to my mother, who used to say this a lot in place of cuss words. Now that my daughter is almost 2, I’m finding myself searching for substitutions for my usual potty mouth.