while writing my alternative med vent/post I got to thinking... my main problem is that I want to do it all. lol
I want to be health conscious and aware of what products I should/shouldn't use in my house
I want to be aware of alternative medicines and how to use them appropriately
I want to be earth conscious and doing things that are benifical for our enviroment
I want to be morally conscious, aware of companies with bad ethics etc.
I want to feed my family the best food I can, organic home grown when possible, I want to know what companies are humane in animal treatment etc.

on top of that I want to unschool and provide wonderful learning experiences for my children

and I am driven to educate myself about natural birth and the oppositions to it.

and then I want a clean house, with the laundry done lol

so do you "do it all" or do you focus your crunch on an area that matters most to you?

I guess I could say I focus my crunch on natural birth, but I feel that this really isn't helping my family and I should be doing so much more for them. I mean I do some of these things... I buy organic when I can, though it's hard. Although I'm sure if I was able I could do more research into coops etc in the area or that deliver here and I could do more. We could recycle, the trash collection here doesn't have a seperate recycling so we'd have to take it somewhere, but I try to reuse as much as I can. I have tried to elimante harmful products from my home, using mostly wood toys, non-toxic cleaning products etc. but again I know with more research I could do more.

So what are your thoughts? How do you do it?

Hey Camie, nice to see you!

We definately don't *do it all*, we realize that we are human with limited time and resources.

Our family focus is trying to make each choice with a lot of thought.

We simply cannot buy 100% or even 70% organic right now, because of funds. But we make an effort to try to make the best possible nutritional decisions for our family.

I try not to focus on what we aren't doing, or where we're coming up short, and instead try to think of how we can be better, when the time/money allows.


Really, you could spend 10 hours a day, every day, researching companies to find out what kind of business practies they allow, 6 more researching natural cleaners, 4 hours trying to find out what food are most nutritious, and so on..... But it wouldn't leave you much time to live.

I try to learn a few new things every day. But, I realize that I could never do it all or know it all.... I agree with you that the more you know, the better armed you are to make decisions. However, like you said, there's laundry to do and kiddos to cuddle.

My immediate focus is on the well being of my family and the environment. If I can go to bed at night knowing I took good care of them, I am a happy Mama.

good post camie ~ i feel the same way.

not even sure where i focus :juggle: lately.::sigh::

i'll watch this post.

I definitely focus my crunch on my dd and things that directly influence her, like food, cleaning products, etc. We cosleep, did child-led weaning, she eats organic foods, etc. Some of that, obviously, has crept into our (dh and myself) lifestyle as well.

Camie, I definatly hear ya. I have been getting down on myself for the lack of crunchyness that I have allowed our family to get to. But, I finally realized.....There will always be more ways I could be more crunchy. Even when I am at my crunchiest.... There is always still more that I could do. I don't want this post to be like a bragging post. I just want to show you that we may do alot, but there is always more we could improve on. And we started out small.

I'll list off what we do and how we got there.
~We grow about 70-80% of our veggies and "garden" stuff for the whole year. We started out real small, about 5-6 years ago. We just learned more and kept getting bigger. I found easier ways of storing and preserving our food. Now it's just second nature (lol) to get out and garden and plan on what we will need for the year.

~We compost, when we have a pig, all our food scraps go to him. When we don't, our meat scraps get dumped outside and the compostables get composted.

~We use biodegradable cleaners. I never thought I would use these, but once we bought our own home, we had a septic system that runs through the yard (it's burried deep and no chance of danger for our kids). I didn't want toxic chemicals to be going through our yard. So, we switched.

~We "harvest" our own meat. (no flames please) Dh hunts 1-2 deer a year, he fishes for our salmon (we have about 50lbs in the freezer) and other fish, he clams, and crabs. We get some beef from my parents who raise grass fed natural beef, we raise our own pigs. We used to have meat rabbits, but they don't breed half as good as they say they do, lol. When we have a surplus of any of our foods, we give it away to our neighbors, friends or family. Oh, we also get eggs from a neighbor (our girls got to old to lay, so they are retired at my parents farm).

~We drink raw or organic milk. Only because I've been to livestock auctions where they brought in their "retired" dairy cows. OMG! They had open sores all over their bodies, and were SOOOO thin. I felt so bad for those girls. I will not support those discusting companies.

~We use homeopathy & herbs for medicine (Dh still doesn't tho). Only because I was given some valarian root after a car accident, and I was hooked on herbs. And after antibiotics stopped working for my UTI's.

~I sew most of my kids' clothes. Well, exept for jeans and stuff like that. Only because I came to this forum and realized that people still do that, lol. I had fabric and a machine from quilting, so I got started. I also knit and crochet alot too. I do try to use mostly wool or cotton yarns for that.

Now for what we don't do:
~we don't recycle
~we don't homeschool (tho they go to a VERY rural farming school)
~we don't always buy organic or humane foods :(
~we don't buy organic chicken :wah: But, we buy a whole bunch Foster Farms when it's on sale... I'm still checking into the humane treatment of their birds.
~we watch tv
~we play video games
~still use plastic kitchen stuff
~I don't buy ONLY organic fabric

Even tho it's sounds like we do alot, there are still things we don't do. I'm not going to beat myself up to much about those things. I need to learn to accept them. Good luck on your quest! And just start out small. Subscribe to Mother Earth News, Countryside, and Backwoods Home magazine (or go to the library and read them.) I get tons of information from these guys.

Again, good luck!

Birth or anything "medical" related (not that I think birth is medical...), definitely. I'm pretty hardcore about that. My kids have never had tylenol or antibiotics. We don't even have any allopathic meds in our house.

Toxins - we eat organic, although we don't always eat perfectly (too much sugar!!!), no cleaners in my house, spend the extra money on healthy mattresses, furniture, flooring, etc. I feel like we are so inundated with toxins that we have no control over, I will spend a lot of energy trying to control the ones I can.

We recycle, but I do a half @ss job of composting. I drive a new minivan and I only have 2 kids (although, in my defense, it gets much better gas mileage than my station wagon did). We don't walk anywhere (except for fun) because we live in suburbia and there is no where to walk! We never take the bus. See, I am a gas hogging, polluting fiend. And I don't garden.

We focus right now on recycling. I am trying to only buy products that come in containers that are recyclable here. I may have to start making my own yoghurt because *none* of them come in a recyclable container.

We focus on health and alternative medicine, because it's my passion, and because we are inundated with major genetic weaknesses and Jake has many issues. So I spend a lot of time and money on homeopathic care, remedies, supplements, giving my family massage and craniosacral treatments, reading and researching. However I also *have* to take my son for regular "medical" care for cystic fibrosis, else he would die, so I have learned the hard way that an absolute stance on anything (ie saying things like "Western medicine is evil") is a dangerous position to put oneself in.

Of course this means also food - Let thy food be thy medicine. So we are constantly evolving as far as what we eat. We are mostly wheat and dairy free (Jake is totally). And we try to buy organic whenever we can. I will spend a lot of our money on wild-caught salmon from Alaska. It's tough here - not that much access to organics and it's all pricey even through co-ops. So I will often buy low-contamination, non-organic produce in the store and clean it well. And we eat a lot of frozen organic veggies, which are cheaper. I want to garden but with our yard it is a major challenge so I haven't gotten there yet.

We do also limit toxins in our home...allergenproof bedding, HEPA filter in the bedroom, hard floors with the lowest formadehyde emissions possible (laminate), etc. This has taken a lot of time and we couldn't do it all at once. Oh yeah, and only use baking soda/vinegar/essential oils to clean, and only cloth napkins and towels/rags to clean. This whole process took about three years to get to where we are now.

We do recycle and try to limit what we bring new into our home.

My husband just went out yesterday and bought Cheetos, hot dogs and buns, wild cherry Pepsi, and oh yeah, got Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. :eek: Now, that is completely untypical, but there ya go. He "just wants to be normal for a day." :rolleyes: What am I supposed to do? He goes on these junk food binges every once in a while. To his credit, he made yummy Spanish rice and turkey and bean chili for dinner.

More ways we are not crunchy - we use white rice for said Spanish rice, my husband does occasionally buy potato chips, beer, or other packaged foods. I send my kids to school with fruit snacks in their lunch. ;) If we are out and it's a special occasion, they can drink soda. <gasp!> I drive an SUV....but a very small car-based one that gets *way* better mileage than my minivan did. I drive 30-60 miles a day to take them to their school (the best place around for autism education for my son). We have some plastic kitchen stuff left, mostly lunch containers for school. I don't compost (yet, we are trying to start this and a garden this year). We just threw out a huge pile of plastic crap that we had bought not that long ago and I feel horribly guilty about it.

My kids watch TV, they have seen Spongebob, love the Simpsons, and my dd has even spent a few afternoons in front of Cartoon Network.

Oh and right now my kids are in school, and when I'm not working, it definitely makes the house cleaner. For me the two incompatible things are homeschooling and clean house. ;) Clean to my standards, anyway.

So, no, I definitely don't "do it all." I just try...I see it as constantly evolving. I actually think yesterday's "binge" was because I got all worked up over what we *weren't* doing right (eating too much sugar, watching too much TV) and put my foot down, hard, and dh rebelled. So I have to go at my family's pace, too...it's hard not to have control over everything, but I'm trying.

For me, it is about making the choices that are best for us at the time. With that in mind, I focus more on food than most anything else, I think. Well, health in general. Like Lauren, we have some genetic issues that cause health problems. So, I focus on those. But, I also try to make purchases, not so much with company ethics in mind but with quality and imagination in mind (for the girls' toys). But, I do not stress about the time I spend "wasted" money on cheap junk, if it is rarely. I spent money at the Dollar Tree yesterday on "junk" stuff for Beth's class Easter egg hunt. I wish I could have done things more natural but money would not allow it. But, I did NOT do candy, which makes me feel good. (Beth decided she wanted rubber snakes and lizards in the eggs, not stickers. My mom is horrified.)

I am rambling. First off, my choices are made with my family well-being in mind. Then that of Mother Nature, including her children in sweat shops around the world.

i do not think of myself as crunchy, in any way, but i found yours an interesting post :)
we focus on health - meaning physical wellbeing as well as spiritual (we are of the mindset that if we are spiritually lacking then it will show physically). being a homeopath and being the alternative medicine community i have learned there are no absolutes. allopathic medicine has its time and place. we draw from everything - chiropractic care, homeopathic remedies, herbals, allopathics, meditation, bloodletting, etc.
we have been severely lacking in the healthy diet area for the last 6 months (with my being ill and andy losing his job - quite frankly its just easier to afford and make homemade mac and cheese lol). i hope, after my recovery that i will be able to get on my feet and back to whole grains, shooting our own meat, etc.

we do not recycle, in GA you pay extra for recycling but it is taken and dumped with the rest of the garbage - so we focus on trying not to buy too many throwaways.

um, lets see - we are very happy unschooling - though it has taken everything i have to explain to my parents (dyed in the wool traditional homeschoolers) that the children will be okay without sitting them down at the table every day. :)

we got rid of our tv 2 years ago and 6 months later i told andy we needed it back; with my OCD i need the veg time or the ocd gets to a point where i cant control it myself. i LOVE tv - i love discovery channels but then i love fluff shows like "buffy", "angel" and "charmed".

we do cloth diapers most of the time (when my mom is here she does disposies - and i am not going to argue, my mom has put everything aside to live with me and take care of my children while i cannot. im not going to pitch a fit bc disposies are easier for her).

um.. i have never had a natural labor, not even close - all my children were csections and i am using surgery to help rid my body of cancer. as i said above, i believe in using all methods that are available.

in short, my opinion is what is best for our family, is what we do. part of my wishes i could be super granola, but thats not me. i love technology (computers, cars, tv, central heat and air, ipods, etc, etc. ) and living in the wilderness without those is not for me. not using cleaner methods, thats cool. but giving them up completely? nope.

The area we focus on the most changes, but mostly we focus on all areas a bit! We do cloth diapers, cloth wipes (for baby & me), cloth pads/diva cup whenever af comes back, cloth napkins/dish towels (no paper products other than tp for dh & older ds). And we try to use more homeopathic remedies than conventional when we're sick. Don't use plastic for food or water. Clean with only vinegar/baking soda/dr. bronners. Use natural/organic hair/body products mostly. We recycle as much as we can right now. We are unschooling (eclectic?) the boys.

Areas we want to improve on though, are what I'm focusing on (reading about/researching!)..gardening, composting, further recycling. I've gotten the hang of eating better/less packaged food, so I'm not needing to "focus" so much there, it's natural now. It's been a few years process to get here, but I'm happy with where we are now!

i think our biggest focus would be foods/health care. We try to buy organic some weeks we can only buy certain things organic....always dairy, fruit and veggies organic. I try to cook from scratch as much as possible and bake our own breads. Food is a big one for me personally, my kids eat so much that i feel i should keep it as pure and toxin free as i can...even if that means avoiding the phone bill one month..lol

as for health care, i steer clear of allopathic medicine unless absolutly nessecary and treat my family with herbs .
We don't use any toxic cleaning products only vinegar water and baking soda, all of our bathing products are also all natural. We have many bars of natural soaps that we use for hair body..i rarely buy shampoo...

The city i live in has a really good garbage/recycling program. We have 3 different bags one for compost one for recycling and one for the dump. The dump one gets picked up every other week. If you don't sort your bags properly they don't take it.

I try really hard to buy canadian made/grown when possible, even if it costs alittle more...

We do what we can , some things can use some work like our beast of a van my husband drives to work 3 days a week. We live right dowtown so i walk everywhere or take the bus. But honestly i would drive more if i had a licence!! lol


Julia

I think that for some times it's easier for me because I was raised doing some very crunchy things by my environmentalist mom. So things like natural childbirth & recycling/reusing and avoiding most brand names come very easily. Also I have the advantage of being an educator so DD's learning comes easier (though not 100% easy!)

Other than that I "focus" my crunch on adding more crunch when I can. For example, this will be the first year that I am participating in a CSA. I'm so excited too. Before now I just wasn't able to do as much organic and local foods as possible. We now live in an area with a farmers market, near other farms & in an area served by 2 CSA's. So food was my most recent new addition.

In the past I added focusing on alternative medicines. I spent some time going to a homeopath & ayurdevedic nutritionist and learning/ reading/ practicing with EO's. I now feel much more comfortable with them & don't have to think hard about every health decision like I did at first.

My next goal is to limit transportation & use as much alternative transport as I can. It's not easy in a cold winter climate but come summer I expect to leave my car in the garage & plan to set goals for how long I can go between uses. Again, this was less doable in the previous city but now I live where there is public transportation & within walking & biking distance of everything I need regularly.

So as I said, in a long winded way. Taking baby steps is my "focus". I figure in 20 years I'll be super crunchy.

Chole

Right now my big guilt trip is over not using cloth tp, My dh and kids put thier foot down on that one. They all said "no way." :rolleyes:

I try to focus my crunch in all areas of life but end up feeling guilty over the things I want to do but can't kwim??

For my family being crunchy is primarily played out in our diet. We avoid sugar, chemicals, dyes and anything else fake or artificial in our food. Most of what we eat at meals i make myself. DH is allergic to wheat and DS #1 allergic to dairy, so that cuts out most of that. We try to eat 70% raw which besides being much healthier saves me a lot of time and energy. I try to buy as much organic as i can afford but some items are just too expensive - there is some produce that I won't touch if it is not organic. I feel this helps keep us healthier and happier so I don't find a need for herbs or medications too often.

i am a big believer in natural homebirth, although with a "lifeguard" present because things can happen.

Almost all our cleaners are natural as well as body care products.

I would like to do more care for the environment crunchy things but I feel I have to focus I my families health and well-being first. I am not sure how i could incorporate composting, or recycling. I am trying to CD but I have a tendency to fall behind in my laundry which is not a good combination.

I look at all this stuff as a journey and try not to get too stressed when I find I have strayed or have taken the wrong one. At the same time i feel that holistic medicine is not adequate when it comes to emergency care or certain conditions. I find that rarely are decisions in like so clear cut and simple as to what is the best decision to make and even when it is simple there are usually complicating matters.

I am by far, not as "crunchy" as many here but I have been taking things in small steps over the past few years. I am just trying to continue to take "baby steps" and ask questions here and learn and improve even more. This board is invaluable to me and many changes we have made as a family came from here.

Cloth diapers were my first step and that was with my now 12 year old daughter.

Coth pads were my next step and that was about 10 years ago. We tried to compost back then but it was a miserable failure.

I did not do much more for a few years after the switch to the cloth pads, to be honest. Then I started taking more baby steps......

We do recycle what we can but live in a area where the only things we can recycle are aluminun (spelled wrong, I think) cans and newspapers. The recycling opportunities bother me. Folks here in central Wyoming just don't recycle much at all nor see the benefits of it.

I started buying earth friendly cleaning products about a year ago (Sun and Earth brand) but could not afford to keep up with it all the time so about a month ago, I started making all my own cleaning products. Toxins in our home are a huge area I will be working on continually.

I did not homebirth, but I support it 100% and wanted to for our last baby but I would not go unassisted and no midwives were around in Nebraska. (where we lived when our last babe was born)

I did extended breastfeeding with our children. Our last self-weaned at almost age five yrs. (we still co-sleep with our youngest)

I have been recently asking about composting....we are going to give that another try.

I try not to buy things just for the heck of it. Meeshi made a comment in another thread about really really thinking about each and every purchase that we make. That has really stuck with me like glue and I am going to be doing that. I'm making due with what we have until it totally breaks down. *lol*

I'm nearly complete in the move from plastics to glass. But our glass cups seem to break often enough that I need to hit the yard sales this spring/summer and look for more. I wonder if I will ever reach 100% here becuase there are a couple items that are plastic that I have never seen in a alternative option.

When my non-stick pans (I have three remaining) are in need of replacement, I am going to go with something else. Need to research that. But I am not going to switch until I need to. I feel I would create more garbage/waste in the "switching-over" process....and I feel I need to use these pans until they need replacing.

I try to use homeopathic and healthy preventative supplements but honestly have so much to learn in this area. We do use a lot of conventional medicine with our children with chronic diseases. But also use hot water therapy for them.

We do eat organic with the limited organic available for purchase here. I buy fair trade products whenever I can. (which is not very often...due to where we live) Our diet is vastly different now than it was a year ago and this was my major focus over the past year. We are now vegetarian and whole grain and buy way less "convenience" foods than we use to. I am trying to buy more locally from local growers....we do buy from the farmers market when it runs late summer and we do buy eggs from a local farmer. But that is about all we have found available locally.

When the weather is good, I ride my bike to do errands.

We got rid of cable TV just a couple weeks ago. (we do watch DVD's that we rent and the small TV in the master bedroom has the local channels but the children don't watch them and I find that my dh and I hardly do either...unless it is to catch the local news)

I am considering starting cloth toilet paper, at least for myself and then we'll see what the family thinks. (although I expect some to not use it ever since they said they'd never do it)

I'm sewing more of our clothing and am going to try to buy secondhand more than I currently do. I am also using worn out clothes to make something new...even if it is only a cloth pad or cleaning rag.

That is all I can think of.

Here are our long term plans as a family...many of these will only get done when we can afford to do it:

1. Get energy conserving gadgets for appliances. And when we make the decision to either renovate this house or build a new one out of town, we will be going as green as possible. My dream if we do build, is to be off the grid totally. I hope we can build that type of home in a few years.

2. When we can finally afford to replace our junker car, I'd like to get a hybrid. This will be in about 2-3 years (as long as the junker still runs but that is about what we think is left in it). I am hoping there are more used hybrids available by then and maybe have some that seat a few more people since we do have a large family.

3. I'd like to donate to green charities in the future.

4. I'd like to figure out a way to work a garden in our yard...it is a small yard and my goal for this to be totally running is summer 2006. I use to can our vegetables back when we lived in Nebraska and had a nice large garden... I'd like to do this again. I need to do this again.

5. My dh and I are going to be in desperate need of a new mattress in another year or two. I want to get one that I know was made at a plant that has the environment as it's concern. (I found one but the mattresses are EXPENSIVE!! Like $3000 for a rubber one)

I'm sure there are more goals I could add.......

Michelle

It took me a long time to post on this, because the things I think matter most to me aren't evidenced by what I'm doing. I have come to the conclusion that I focus my crunch on easy and then on cheap. This doesn't exactly make me feel heroic, but I am honest.

If the organic bananas cost as much as the other bananas I buy organic, if they cost three times as much, I take my chances for cheap. I do not drive across town through traffic to go to the nearest health food store, but I try to shop conscientiously at the chain market up the street.

I recycle because we have curb side recycling. I tried to recycle the last place we lived and ended up with a lovely mountain of recyclables on my balcony. I stopped collecting recyclables but continued trying to buy things with minimal, reusable or recyclable packaging.

I use cloth diapers, cloth mama pads and a mooncup. The one time investment is cheaper than disposables and the effort to wash it all is no greater than remembering to pick it up at the store.

I do pay extra for greener cleaners and recycled paper goods (DH is incapable of functioning without paper towels, the kids and I use retired prefolds, and cloth napkins), I order them online and try to use them minimally. A little more cost, but a lot of easy. I keep a case of tp in the garage and reorder as necessary. Seriously considering cloth tp for me, I don't know how well it would work with the rest of the household though.

I have high ideals and some weeks I live closer to them than others. I don't expect them to lower I just accept that I'm not there yet. I have to tell myself that I'm doing the best I can today and my best is enough and enough is as good as a feast. Not that I have an overdeveloped sense of guilt that needs to be constantly soothed. Sigh.

Thanks,
Crystal

Thanks for the replies everyone! I have a tendency to try to do to much at once. And right now I'm a little down on myself as I'm having to put some things aside to focus on others. Yeah I have this nasty Wonder Woman mentality.
It's really nice to see where everyone else is lacking. LOL yeah I know... but it's nice to see I'm not alone in my down falls :)

Great thread :) For us, the easiest things to do are the free/cheap crunchy things; homebirth, breastfeeding, cloth diapers, etc; natural medicine is cheap, too. It gets difficult when you add money into the picture- we simply can't afford to buy all natural/organic/fair trade products and only support good/green companies. I wish we could.

What I do when it comes to financial issues is prioritize. Our health is the most important to me, so I make that our number one priority. IMO, it's important that our meat is orgainc and/or grass fed/free range, so I will spend the money there and buy "regular" everything else, does that make sense? So we have grass fed beef, but use Cheer detergent :)

I do wish we could just live the way I want to.

Kristi

OT- Michelle, my dh recommends the Toyota Prius, though you won't be able to fit your family in it, lol :) He is so impressed with it, he got to spend a few days driving and tearing one apart (he is an auto shop teacher and went to a training by Toyota).

DH is SO not a hybrid, eco car type guy, but he was blown away and wants to get one eventually.

Kristi

I focus mainly on herbal health care and organic, local foods. Ever since I was pregnant, I have not touched an un natural medicine, not even a Tylenol for my migraines. My dd is now 9 years old and has been on antibiotics once, when she was 2 and had an awful ear infection. I grow and preserve most of our veggies and herbs. What I can't grow, we buy from a local organic farm. We buy free range, organic meat chickens from our neighbour and are currently buying eggs from another neighbour, but we will soon have our own chickens for eggs. I try to stay away from pre made foods, chips, etc. but my dh must have his junk food. I do all my own baking, including bread and pasta. I have been drinking soy milk for awhile, but we will be getting a dairy goat soon, so I can have milk without the guilt. Eventually I would like to provide 50-75% of our food supply from our land.

Very interesting post!

I think the key is that you do the best that you can. Nobody can do EVERYTHING- nobody can be perfect. And you have to realize that there are just some things that are going to be more important to you than others.

For us? Health is the biggest motivator.

*I wish we could eat 100% organic foods, but that is impossible. So we buy organic when we can. It's more important that I can afford to buy lots of fruits and vegetables rather than a few organic fruits and vegetables.

*I stay away from toxic cleansers- but when the stomach bug hits our house I reach for the Lysol!

*We use cloth diapers- but there have been times in our lives that we have temporarily used disposables (for instance when I had severe morning sickness/fatigue and could not get the laundry done and this week when the stomach bug hit!).

*We avoid medication unless it's completely needed. My grandpa taught me that. :D I believe in natural birth and promote normal birth as much as I can (I am a Lamaze instructor ;) ).

*We recycle- everything we can! We try to reuse and not waste. We try to conserve energy as much as possible. But we drive a minivan because it's the safest vehicle for my family.

I'd like to eat even more fruits and veggies, cook more meals, exercise more, learn yoga and meditation......the list goes on........;)

Driving a minivan can be very earth friendly over other options. A newer, easier on the gas one especially. I have 3 kids, and with sports and friends, typically end up with a min. of 4 kids in my car, plus 2 adults...a minivan is indeed the smartest choice. I need a 7 seater, 8 would be ideal for a year or so from now....but 7 works for now. And in the 7 seater area, minivans were the best on gas that we saw a few years back. So we got one. (o:

Where do we focus it? I will start by saying I'd like to do more, and maybe oneday my time, money and house/land will allow....but since it doesn't right now, allow all I'd like, here is what we do do...

1. Organic produce is better for you. When I have time, I drive 20 min to the health food store for it. When I don't, I buy organic local in the stores, if it's available and fresh. Not always this way though.

2. We recycle a lot. We have 6 recycle tubs, and filll them weekly. Anything that can be recycled, we do. Ours is picked up curbside.

3. We don't use lawn chemicals whenever possible.

4. We reduce our home chemicals whenever possible.

5. We use re-useable things, from dusting cloths to plates (I am shocked that some families use plastic plates daily, all 3 meals, and throw them away...all the time.)

6. We buy organic milk or organic soy

7. No red meat, mad cow is just too scary and not worth it

8. Organic chicken when possible for the meat eaters here

9. Organic eggs only

10. Healthier but premade cleaners cost more, but I buy them anyow.

Many things it's a matter of cost. It costs me more to reach for the organic milk, and eggs, but not only is my health better for it, but so are the animals who gave me the milk and eggs to begin with. I owe them at least that imo. And if I can afford that $1-3 more, I will...and do. Same with cleaners. I can reach for the cheaper and chemical filled crap. But my kids health is worth more, and though I don't have time to make my own and mess with that, I can pay $1-4 more for a bottle of soap or cleaner knowing it's safe and toxin free (I recently read that 60% of whatever gets in your skin is absorbed into the blood! Organic Style magazine had an article on it, April 2005)

My health, and my kids health, are worth the easy and simple things I can do. I'd like to do more, and hopefully oneday. But for now, I can make a difference for us and those animals who give their lives or etc. for me to have milk, eggs, etc., it's worth it. Ignorance is not bliss for all...by far. I believe how people treat children, the elderly and animals all are a BIG sign of their faith, priorities and ethics. JMO of course.

Lately, my big focus has been on switching over to all natural cleaners. The only thing I use that's not natural is laundry detergent. I've found great deals on everything else but can't afford twice as much for the 7th generation detergent. I also use Dr Bronners. I think I'm finally getting close to the bottom of the gallon I bought 2 1/2 years ago.

Here we must recycle (which I think is great). I live in an apt complex, so we have all the sorted bins out back. This makes for easier recycling since I don't have plastic bottles piling up until pick up day. I also try to reuse as much as I can. I'm on an extremely limited budget so I need to get the most use out of things as I can. Since I have 3 girls we do a lot of clothing recycling as well.

I try to buy organic, when I can afford it. I shop around & have found good deals here. The organic chicken costs less at the grocery store here than the regular brand. Whole Foods is opening their first area store here soon so all the grocery stores are starting to compete for the organic, natural shoppers. This makes for less expensive organic produce & products.

We all have allergies & medical issues. This leads to high risk pregnancies, very medical deliveries & no breastfeeding due to the girls' medical problems. We don't use any natural medicines since we've had a few life threatening allergic reactions.

I'd definately do more & buy more natural if I had more $$. It stinks that organic often comes at a higher price.

It stinks that organic often comes at a higher price.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I get so annoyed that it costs so much more to be/live healthier lifestyles. I do it anyway for the benefit of my family.

My hope is that someday more and more people will make better choices thus a demand for more organic foods, natural cleaners and the like and hopefully drive down these ridiculously high prices. :rolleyes: