5 Ways Your Family Can Go Green on a Budget

.5 ways your family can go green on a budgetWithout slinging around a bunch of buzz words that have become popular in the past few years, simply put - my family tries to live a sustainable life with respect to the earth.

Why?

There are a few obvious reasons, like caring for the earth and caring for our children and our future generations, but it's more than that. As parents we naturally gravitate towards providing a safe, clean environment for our babies to live in. I was brought up to respect the earth and animals and the future of our children's children.

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Unfortunately, "going green" has become a trend and with every brand under the sun has jumped on board, claiming to be 'eco-friendly!' or 'all-natural!' and other such forms of greenwashing. These companies are jumping on the bandwagon to try and make a quick buck, but the reality is, you don't have to break the bank to protect our planet. Here are 5 ways we keep things green around our house without buying into all of the new (expensive) fads.

1. Homemade & Earth Friendly Cleaners
I make most of our household cleaners in order to ensure that they're safe not only for me to use, but for my kids to be around. And for those household cleaners that I can't make myself, I always buy organic products, like phosphate-free dish soap and laundry detergent made from soap nuts.

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2. Cloth Diapering or Biodegradable Sposies
We've cloth diapered with both of our kids and lately have been doing a mix of biodegradable sposies and cloth dipes since I threw my back out over a month ago; even chores that seemed simple to me before are hard. Life goes on. We've stayed away from the popular, (over-priced) cloth diaper brands and chose to support a local stay-at-home-mom operated business. We've saved big-time in the long run, especially since being able to reuse the diapers with our second baby.

3. Buy Less, Buy Secondhand & Shop Local
Have you ever watched the Story of Stuff? It's straightforward, hard to ignore truths have impacted me to this day in how I live my day to day life. I'm not perfect or hardcore about it, but online community resources like Craigslist and Kijiiji, or second-hand stores like Once Upon a Child have served our family well. We are devout shoppers at our local Farmer's Market, making the trip weekly for our fruits, veggies, meats, fish and other items.

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4. Watch Energy Usage
We line dry our laundry whenever possible and use energy efficient appliances. So far we've switched out one appliance with an Energy Star one and we plan to switch out the rest over the years as our finances permit. Wearing sweaters and slippers and other warm clothing in the winter really keeps us from cranking up the heat in the winter, and closing the blinds and curtains during the heat of summer days keeps us from turning the a/c on or up. We remember to unplug and switch off lights, chargers, appliances, etc.

5. No Plastic Water Bottles
We have reusable BPA free water bottles and theramal flasks for our water on the go and use our Brita religiously. Simple, and cheap without buying into all of that manufactured demand.

- By Selena Burgess
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