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I need to get back on the bandwagon...
Somehow after E was born and the CDing didn't work I fell off the EFF wagon. I haven't been making my own cleaners, I have been putting everything in the dryer, not cooking as much from scratch, buying a lot of junky snacks (I mean I love oreos and cheez-its but it has to stop).
I need some inspiration, ladies. Somehow with the seasons just starting to change it feels like it will be easier to get back to work. What should be first easy EFF project be to get me back on track? Any suggestions?
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Re: I need to get back on the bandwagon...
When I was starting I made my own cleaners and organized some towels to use for clean ups, food prep and dish drying.
Also- with apple season coming you could always try an apple pie from scratch
That's about as easy as it gets!
I did that a couple days ago but I feel like I have to use up the tail end of the Method spray. I hate to just stick it in a cupboard and forget about it.
Meanwhile, I used the 50/50 vinegar water solution for years but got out of the habit during flu season last year when my neuroses got the better of me and I started lysoling everything in sight.
I haven't tried it yet, but steaming veggies for your LO is allegedly much easier if you are also steaming some for yourself. That way you are cooking for everyone rather than taking the time to prepare separate meals. IKEA has a drop-in steamer basket that goes right into a normal pot, and I'm getting it for myself as a congratulations gift the second my "morning" sickness gets better. It's under $10 and looks like it can easily hold a family's worth of steam-able veggies. : )
Also, for healthier snacking, see if there's anything at the farmer's market that's yummy and freezable for the months when most farmer's markets aren't running. I like to snap up some extra hummus, apple butter, and pumpkin butter as they appear in September and enjoy them in January, when I am most likely to buy awful discounted holiday snacks and gorge on them. Hopefully having the apple butter around encourages hungry fridge raiders to spread it on some whole grain crackers instead of going for the cookies. (Sadly, I am not so EF that I make my own hummus and pumpkin butter.)
I'd just dump it together, since it's Method.
And I'm all over some Lysol when somebody has the flu- no judgement here! I soak the whole house and then it goes back in the cabinet until flu season the next year.
Do you have an eco-friendly grocery store? I find that when I go to the regular stores, I end up buying things on an impulse that are really much harder or impossible to find at say WF or the natural food store. If you're using paper towels or plates and don't want to, maybe you could put them out of sight (out of mind). As far as the junk food, go grab some of your very favorite more healthy food-- my favorites pomegranate cashews. Not totally great, but much better than some of the alternatives. And for meals, what about doing a meal plan that you'll eat in at least 2 or 3 times this week. And if that's too hard, just making sure that you buy something from the healthier frozen section for two or three times this week. We bought frozen pizza dough last week and made our own sauce and put basil and mozerella on top. Super easy. Even if you bought some tomato paste or whole tomatoes to make the sauce with, that'd still be better than calling for delivery. . .
My husband has a mantra that 80% healthy is better than not being healthy at all. It helps me not feel inadequate when he says that.
Maybe I haven't fallen off the wagon that badly, a lot of the suggestions I am still doing. No paper products, except the diapers (horrible I know, but cloth was a disaster for E, we do use cloth wipes on her, though), we eat in 99% of the time and I still make most of our baked goods and peanut butter and simple stuff like that. Kids snack on fruit most of the time. But the stuff I mean is that I've been buying like industrial sized packs of Annie's individual serving crackers for the kids at Costco, which seems so ridiculous to me. I guess its partly EFF w/ all the packaging and partly just a waste of money that makes me feel badly about it.
But I will definitely get back on the cleaner bandwagon. I really need to.
Oh and Hi, papagena! Long time no see!
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