Liven it up :)

[Pyratekk]

Okay, so this Natural Living forum doesn't have an awful lot of activity - so I think we should liven it up a bit.

For those of you who live naturally, answer me this:
What natural living things:

Do you do currently? Want to do in the near future? Are you considering doing?

[lottaLove]

We try not to buy commercial cleaners or packaged foods. As much as I can, I try to use things like baking soda and vinegar for cleaning. I try to make everything from scratch instead of using prepackaged mixes like puddings or side kicks.
Instead of butter or margarine, we blend olive oil and butter to cut the saturated fat, but keep the chemicals of margarine out of our bodies.

We try to avoid refined foods like sugar and white flour. I use whole wheat flour wherever I can. Anywhere I can replace honey for sugar, I do, to a certain extent. Honey is much more expensive than sugar, so sometimes this is just not feasible, and I reduce the sugar amounts as much as possible. I put honey on oatmeal, in cookies, in tea.
We try to avoid anything that might have artificial colours in it, like drink mixes, candies, fruit snacks or cereals.

These are just things we do when we can. I would love to hear ideas of what others can do, I'm always looking for new ways to improve

[journi7]

I try to cook from scratch and avoid processed foods. I don't buy foods with partially hydrogenated oils and am trying to avoid those with high fructose corn syrup. It's hard on my income to purchase organics but I try and buy these on sale when I can. I also use whole grains, brown rice, and a wheat blend pasta.

I eat meatless meals several times a week. Main dish salads, pasta with veggies, bean dishes etc..

I am trying to throw away as little as possilbe. I try to buy foods that don't have a lot of packaging and recycle what I can. I take cans, bottles and cardboard to the recycle bins in town when I run my weekly errands. I don't have a compost pile yet but plan on starting one this spring when our weather warms a bit.

Commercial cleaners are a big one. I'm using up what I have and gradually switching to vinegar and baking soda for most chores. I priced a laundry detergent from Seventh Generation but it's very expensive so I don't think I will be able to buy it.

Has anyone tried any of the Method brand products? I've bought their bathroom cleaner and wood polish and liked both. Not completely natural but I think more enviromentally friendly than some products.

Kate

[mommymath]

I just finished reading "Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping" by Judith Levine and it has me really thinking about consumerism, our ecological footprint, and what we buy, and why! I'd highly recommend it!!

[cheappearls]

I cook from stratch 99% of the time. Right now I'm working on cooking more meatless meals.

I recycle as much as I can (cardboard boxes, glass, alunium cans, plastics, newspapers and magazines).

I try not to use commercial cleaners when I don't have to but man, I love Windex multisurface.

I run all my errands together and in the shortest driving time.

When we have our own house, I plan on planting a garden for veggies and having a compost pile.

[mom2three]

I guess I do do some of the things that belong here. We recycle, compost, cook a lot from scratch. We cloth diaper and am experimenting a bit with elimination communication with my 4 mos old (she has probably pottied 50x on the toilet now - trying to work this out). I am a babywearer (but not all of the time). I am slowly switching to less harmful cleaners. We used to eat organic (received by delivery) until the company no longer delivered and am currently in the process of getting organic produce delivered again. It is a bit pricier, but keeps me out of stores. I also garden and landscape organically. I would like to eat more meatless meals or at least find local farmers that do not use drugs/hormones to buy meat from.

[joyofsix]

Good thread, really makes me think. Most of the things we do others do too. Recycle all recyclables, compost, have our own organic garden, cook from scratch. We use the library for books, magazines, movies, etc. I try to use homemade cleaners and avoid heavily packaged products, but that can sure be hard. Driving is probably our biggest downfall. I try to batch trips together but we live in the country and just picking kids up from sports can use alot of gas

[Wendy.Cooper]

I'm trying too!

This video inspires me....
I can't post links! I'm too new! Go to Google.com and search for 'garden girl video' without quotes and it's the first link.

If I move back to Canada... to a farming town of 1000 people where my sister lives we plan on implementing a bunch of that!

I also just posted a bunch of stuff on this thread on this forum:
Frugal Village Forums > Hearth And Home > Natural Living
Thread Titled: What was the main reason you went natural?

Great to see that there are people out there thinking about our children and their children's future!


Wendy

[wanderlusting]

Well...DH and I try to do little things. Since we both work 40+ hours a week, we don't have the time/energy to be as eco-friendly as we would like.

Here are some of the things we do do:
-try to buy all produce/meat/dairy locally so they don't use as much fuel to transport
-started a compost pile
-buy organic tinned tomatoes
-Once I'm done with all my cleaning supplies-I'm going to buy Dr. Bronner's soap which can be used to clean everything.
-We've been cutting back snacking on pre-made items. we've been eating a lot more fruit and veg! Good on the waistline as well!
-Instead of buying new clothes (sans underwear, towels and linens) we buy secondhand
-When our technical clothing (need good quality clothing for our outdoor pursuits) runs ragged, we're going to buy Patagonia items because they make a lot of their clothing out of organic and recycled material.

It's hard sometimes to pick natural living. Because most of the time it's not the cheapest/easiest option. But I figure every little things I try and do helps.

[Maisiedotes]

MommyMath- that book sounds good! I am going to look for it.

We (DH and I) started de-cluttering- I don't know if that has anything to do with being natural but we are simplifying so we can enjoy the little things in life more.

Our friends supply us with home-brewed beer, we use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning, I make my own laundry detergent, stopped buying processed foods, started baking bread, and stopped relying on Big Box stores to supply us with necessities. We have been trying to purchase needs from the local mom-and-pop stores, and have been bartering lately- I worked 2 days at a greenhouse last summer in return for a credit for vegetable plants, we helped a neighbor drywall and he is helping us paint our house...

My next step is to buy a soymilk maker. I can't wait! I think I am going to run to the health food store tomorrow to get one if I can't find one online...

[Maisiedotes]

We also started recycling EVERYTHING. I am amazed- we have one trash bag a week now. (we pay for trash removal). We have our recycling bins labelled as
Tin Cans
Plastic (non returnable)
cardboard
paperboard
glass (non-returnable)
Then all our plastic deposit bottles and cans go in a recycled trash bag, which we re-use, and our glass bottles (beer) get put in cardboard boxes and returned to the redemption center.

[kaykwilts]

I make whole wheat bread which one DD and the DH won't eat but the other DD loves it. I use whole wheat spagetti noodles and whole wheat lasagna noodle. I can't afford to buy the organic produce since it is so high. In the summer I grow a vegetable garden which is organic. I cook from scratch a lot and try to avoid processed foods as much as possible. I drop in at the whole foods grocery once a week and check out their specials.

[Edna_E]

Reuse. Recycle. Cook. Make cleaning supplies. Avoid plastic where possible (hard to impossible in some cases). Minimize heating/cooling/electrical use.

Want to: garden, compost, get in condition to reduce car usage.

What is a soymilk maker? How expensive are they?

[lullaby80]

We do the following:

- cook mostly from scracth and try to avoid packaged foods
- DH usually has last night's leftovers for lunch
- cloth diaper our 7 month old
- recycle just about everything
- don't throw usable stuff away, Craigslist and Freecycle have been great
- Avoid using paper towels and paper napkins in the kitchen and use cloth wipes instead
- buy as many organic products as possible
- drive "small" cars that don't consume a lot of gasoline
- energy saving light bulbs
- buy some things used (books, baby toys)
- support American made products when possible, trying to avoid "made in China" (impossible, I know)

We WANT to do the following:

- Planning on planting (hopefully organic) tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers this spring
- try to find a store that sells local meat products, as well as grains
- Cut down more on the driving.. We moved closer to DH's work so now he only commutes 10 miles a day all together
- stop using store bought cleaners hough I'll stick to laundry detergant and dish liquid