Hey Ladies,
I'm a newbie to all things eco-friendly. I wanted to know if any of you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction for resources for being any eco-friendly mom on a budget. I'm doing my own research, but if I any of you multi-time mommies or even first time mommies have an suggestions or tips, I'd appreciate it. I also searched this topic and didn't find anything. Thank you ladies in advance.
Re: Eco-Friendly on a budget
DS Born: 6/02/2012
Tied the Knot: 11/14/2015
Trying for Number Two since 9/1/15
BFP!!! Baby 2 Due: 12/6/21
Here are a couple of low-cost eco friendly things I've started doing:
1. Install a clothesline if you live someplace where it's allowed. You'll save $ on your electric bill and do some good for the environment because the dryer is one of the biggest energy drains in the house (even the HE ones).
If you can't hang a clothesline outside, see if there's a place inside where you can hang a pull-out one.
If you can't hang your clothes to dry, try to run the dryer late at night/very early mornings when the energy grid is less taxed. Some electric companies even discount rates during off-peak periods of use.
2. compost if you can. They sell small indoor composters if you don't have a yard. If you have a space away from the house, like a wooded area at the corner of your lot, you can build a compost bin out of pallets that you can get pretty easily for free. You just might have to buy $10-15 worth of brackets to hold it together. They also sell the big black plastic outdoor composters on Amazon for $80 or $90. We got a counter compost bin for $5 through a program our local health department is running so we can store food scraps in it until we're ready to go outside and add them to the compost heap.
Composting not only lowers your trash waste, but also creates great soil for gardening.
3. Grow your own fruits, veggies, and herbs. This is something I tried to do on my small deck at my condo, but now that I have a house with a yard, I think I can be more successful at it. It costs very little (especially if you use your homemade compost instead of buying fertilizer) and you'll save $ on groceries while helping lessen the environmental burden of produce distribution costs.
Please share any good tips you come across in your search!
I also use vinegar on arm pits stains and B.O. Do a mixture of vinegar and some water, saturate the armpits with it, let it dry, overnight usually, then wash.
Good luck!
We cloth diapered, breastfed and had mostly hand-me-downs to save money on baby and be Eco-conscious.
One tip a lot of people mention is homemade detergent which can be great on clothes but it a terrible idea for cloth diapers. They can cause a multitude of issues.
We also swapped out our car for a car share system. We live downtown in a larger city so the infrastructure is there for us (10 cars within a 10 minute walk of our home). It saves us loads of money and it isn't any harder with a now toddler than before we had him.