My Soapbox

This is my blog, so from time to time I think I can climb up on my soapbox and give a piece of my mind. And this blog entry from my soapbox happens to be about my soapbox, or the ingredients written on it.

Before I was pregnant, I was half-way on the "environmental" bandwagon. Which is to say, I love the planet, I want to "go green," do my part, yadiyadiyadi. When we lived in Kirkland we had a compost pile for food scraps, recycled, and bought organic products when it was convenient for us.

When I was pregnant, I started making a conscious effort to rid my household of anything toxic. The reasons for this are to:

1) Protect my baby from any long term side affects caused by household toxins,
2) Do my small part in helping keep the environment around, and
3) To model the conservation effort to my children, and have it be a part of their lives from the beginning.

I am finding that this effort is not as difficult as I thought it would be. I'm amazed by the wide variety of toxin-free, earth-friendly products available, and often the cost is not significantly more. I started with buying natural baby products, but quickly realized that this would not do, since Nory is constantly touching me and all of our household objects. So now my goal is to get these products out of our household.

My goal is to get rid of anything which is a "known carcinogen" or known irritant such as laureth sulfates, phthalates, parabens, and other common household toxins. (Did you know that in most cases these ingredients are NOT required to be listed on consumer products because they represent a trade secret?) I want to reduce my impact on the environment by minimizing disposable items. I want to buy locally to minimize the carbon footprint that comes with imported items. And I want to do all this with the balance of being a busy working mom with limited resources.

Here are some of the changes we've made and how they've been working out so far:

Buy produce at the Farmer's Market
I've been making the effort to go to the farmer's market every Saturday for all of our produce. Most of the produce sold at the farmers market is not only organic, it is also local (less carbon footprint for getting it to you), cheaper (no grocery or transportation overhead), and taste better! In Southern California there is a wide variety of food that grows "in season" year round. So we're taking advantage of it while we're here. I buy most of our non-produce food from Trader Joes which is cheap and convenient. Check out this article for a list of foods worth buying organic and what you can save your money on.

Diapers
Well it turns out that using cloth diapers has not been as hard as expected. We use BumGenius one-size cloth diapers and bamboo diaper wipes. In the situations where I run out of clean cloth diapers or are going to be on the road for a long time, we've switched from Pampers disposable diapers to Nature Babycare brand disposable diapers, which do not contain any oil based material (like plastic)! When we need disposable wipes we use Earth's Best chlorine free baby wipes. The cloth and the Nature Babycare diapers work great, no complaints, and I'm saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars by washing and reusing my own diapers over three years. The Earth's Best baby wipes seem to dry out Nory's skin a little so I generally use a little olive oil on her bum when I have to use these wipes.

Baby Skin Care
Started with Mustela brand products, switched to Aveeno, and finally ended up with Burt's Bees. The Burt's Bees lotion smells a little like an old lady but that is my only complaint. We are now using California Baby brand sunscreen which also works great although it is very sticky when it comes to having your baby in the sand at the beach.

Grownup Skin/Body Care
Shaving Cream- Switched from Gillette to Trader Joe's
Toothpaste - Switched from Sensodyne to Tom's of Maine Sensitive
Shampoo - Switched from Blonde to Aveda
Shower Soap - Switched from Philosophy Grace to Trader Joe's
Face Soap - Switched from Clean & Clear to Nature's Gate
Hand Soap - Switched from Softsoap to Trader Joe's

Household Products
Paper Products - After reading this article about the devastating affect America's toilet paper craze has on the rain forest, I was pretty motivated to switch. We switched from Charmin toilet paper to Trader Joe's, and I'm not sure what paper towels we were using but I've also switched to Trader Joe's. I plan to switch to Seventh Generation eventually but I haven't been at the right store at the right time to make it happen.
Dish Soap - Switched from Dawn to Seventh Generation, and switched from Cascade to Trader Joe's dishwasher soap.
Laundry Soap - Mostly using All Free & Clear, always have. When this runs out I'll look for something more earth-friendly but also on the diaper approved list.

Clothes
This is the most difficult one so far. I've been trying to buy Cotton instead of Polyester for baby clothing items, but most of Nory's clothes have been gifts. Also trying to look at the tag and buy things that are made in the USA, Canada, or Mexico when possible, to minimize the carbon footprint of importing clothes, not to mention the social implications of buying overseas clothes. However, I have found that in many cases it is nearly impossible to find clothes that are not imported from Asia.

Work In Progress
Still working on replacing household cleaning supplies such as DrainO, 409, Soft Scrub, and Clorox Toilet Bown Cleaner. Feel free to toss me recommendations of friendly products that work well! Otherwise I'll wait until I run out and then go to Lazy Acres, Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's to pick something up.

Now you know the ingredients on my soap box... I doubt there are many people who made it through to the end of this blog anyway. If there is anyone else there who is trying to raise a baby toxin-free or simply live a less-toxic life, I'd love any encouragement or ideas you might have!

PS
Nory got her first tooth yesterday. Getting to know that is your reward for making it to the end of this blog!