I am becoming more & more frustrated by this. Don't get me wrong - Its been an issue I've been concerned about for years. But at some point I got lazy & wasn't quite as concerned as I used to be. And if I bought a few throwaway cleaning products or some such thing I could rationalize it. I mean, a busy moms gotta do what shes gotta do -right?
wrong!!!!
ugh. I am so tired of all the rationalizations. Too overwhelmed to wash diapers?
buy paper. too grossed out by your toilet brush? buy 1 use foam heads to clean with. dont want to wash sippy cups? throw them away instead! and on & on & on....
since when was our life supposed to be easy? Since when did our comfort become more important than the enviroment? Our EARTH!!!! Why are people who KNOW BETTER so willing to say "to hell with it, I wont feel guilty" and feel entitled to disposable products just so they wont be overwhelmed? What happens when our planet is overwhelmed? What of the legacy we will have left our children? Will it have been worth that load of laundry you didn't have to do? The toilet brush I didn't have to touch?
sigh.....I am *so* recommiting myself to this issue!!!
This Christimas I am giving canvas shopping bags as gifts. It makes me nuts to see people load up all their disposable products into plastic bags. I am shocked by how few things the baggers put in each sack, too. And what's the point of putting a plastic bag of potatoes into another plastic bag just for the ride home?
I know these are not sippy cups, but they are so cute and tiny and do not break. I bought a few a couple of years ago for playgroup. Enamel cups at www.novanatural.com The kids love them.
You can also get cheap camping mugs as well.
Have I been all over the map enough in this post?
PS I just checked the website and the enamels are out of stock right not. Bummer.
I am with you, 100% Anne Marie! It is maddening!! I am about as overwhelmed as it comes these days, but you don't see sposies on my baby or paper plates on my table. I just couln't buy those things in good conscience.
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How Time Flies ~ Luna Blue is Two!
Tree hugging, vegetarian, breastfeeding, cloth-diapering, home schooling, drum playing Step-Mama to my sweet Nico Sage and Mama to my curly Kaya Jade and wee Luna Blue. Lovin my hottie ~ J. Blogging From the Boonies My Etsy Shop
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I agree. It frustrates me that the school will not let me use glass containers. (Course then Samantha's stainless steel thermos came home with a huge dent it in, so maybe I sorta understand. How do you dent stainless like that?) That is the only place I use "disposable" items. We use mason jars for storing leftovers, flours, nuts, seeds, noodles, etc.
I think my parents (mom) is terrible and I am hoping my girls are learning more from me about disposable items. I go through 3 or fewer rolls of recycled papers towels every 3 months or so. My mom goes through 3 rolls of Bounty a week. She puts all kinds of stuff in huge ziplocs (little stuff). They fill their outdoor trash receptacle every week. We usually only have one bag. Drives me nuts. And all the little single serve things she buys for the girls. Ugh!
How do we educate the masses?
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Michelle
-- Mom to Beth, 11 and Sam, 8
I'm with you, and I have to be more vigilant. I bought some re-usable "sandwich bags" from a mama here--now I have forgotten whom. I hope to use those often when we send lunch and snacks.
DH LOVES paper plates, and he will use them even when the dishwasher is empty and waiting to be filled with dirty dishes. Fortunately, (LOL) we are short on cash and have been without them for a couple weeks. I am hoping it is breaking his habit. The same is true of paper towels, though I use them occasionally for cleaning up something gross.
__________________ Jody
Mama to two boys (5-10-98 and 6-01-01), and two girls (11-18-03 and 1-11-07)
I totally agree. My friends keep looking for my paper towels and I keep reminding them that we don't use them anymore. I have a little tree-like stand so I can wash and reuse ziploc bags (if I even use them at all). Some woman told me the other day "oh, so you're one of those 'save the earth' people, right? Well good, you can save the earth for my kids since I'm too lazy." OMG!!!!! I almost died.
__________________ Janet -
Mom to Mary "gotta go to work!" 12-11-90
Hannah "Bubbie" 1-21-01
Kali "Peetie" 5-5-03
and wife to the wonderful, the awesome, the fabulous, the one and only, Alex since 9-16-00
I have to admit we use paper plates a lot - and even though we do we're still running the dishwasher 3 times a day some days (there are 7 people in this house - 4 adults and 3 kids). I don't usually pay too much mind to the disposable things we use but I've started paying attention and we take the trash out twice a day!
(We did, however, buy a set of glass storage containers for leftovers and I got rid of all the plastic)
I'm stepping up and vow to work on this in our home.
I totally agree. My friends keep looking for my paper towels and I keep reminding them that we don't use them anymore. I have a little tree-like stand so I can wash and reuse ziploc bags (if I even use them at all). Some woman told me the other day "oh, so you're one of those 'save the earth' people, right? Well good, you can save the earth for my kids since I'm too lazy." OMG!!!!! I almost died.
Reminds me of my mother in law. years & years ago we were visiting & my oldest told her that we dont buy drinks that come in plastic bottles. MIL asked why & dd (then only 2 or so) told her it was because plastic is bad for the enviroment. MIL replied "so?" & then turned to me & said "I dont need to worry about that". Yeah... you just ignore it & we'll leave your grandkids to worry about the pile of trash you left behind....
I didn't use paper towels for years. For the last year I have. DS needs to realize he *can* clean the bathroom without them!
My SO is obsessed with things that he can just throw away. He is a clean freak and thinks that even if you wash things, if you re-use them, they are dirty. He uses paper plates and napkins and drinks bottled water. That alone makes me cringe. I try to make up for his eco-short comings though.
My SO is obsessed with things that he can just throw away. He is a clean freak and thinks that even if you wash things, if you re-use them, they are dirty. He uses paper plates and napkins and drinks bottled water. That alone makes me cringe. I try to make up for his eco-short comings though.
Ah! I actually kind of get it - I realized recently that I must have OCD to some extent. I think that is where the paper towels come in. Not wanting to put the dirty rags in the wash, especially with other wash used for other things. But I realized that I really need to come up with a plan to deal with it,so I have.(It never was an issue for me before though, so I'm not sure why that changed!) I can see how someone with cleanliness issues could have a hard time - and how maddening it must be to someone who does not! LOL
IKWYM. It drives me crazy when people use the excuse that something is so much easier. Not to go off on a tangent, but I hear that about parenting a lot. Not just diapers but bfing too. I have had so many people talk about it being easier to use bottles or need their freedom! Like you said, don't have kids if raising them well takes too much effort and deprives you of your freedom!Aaaccckkkk. Off to get my diapers off the line. Oh, gotta add a rant about our friends from France. They were in town for the summer. Everything I did they exclaimed how much work it was. CDing, EBfing, reusing things, etc. They could not get over all of the wonderful disposable products. They couldn't consume enough! Hmm...why don't we just quit washing our clothes, forget about repairing our cars, and reusing anything at all! That is a whole other issue of not repairing things any more just buying new ones. OK, better get off this soapbox now. Thanks for reminding us to keep at the reusing and take care of our world.
thank you for this post!
This is how I get after awhile too!
I get on myself about it because I use pull ups on my kids at night, I dont have recycling anywhere near me, and living in an apartment, i can only grow so much of my own food and dry stuff on two little folding sweater racks (one is about to fall apart).
I hate pull ups. i hate disposable diapers. I hate disposable feminine products too. I think they are all so very gross and every morning my kids throw away their pull ups and i cringe.
I dont know how to break them of bedwetting habits nor do i have the money to buy them new mattresses when theirs reek of overnight accidents, so i use pull ups.
if anyone has any suggestions to this, i would appreciate some advice.
we dont use paper towels at all, not for mirrors or windows..nothing.
I clean houses for a living and when i come home, i run my rags through a cycle with a tiny bit of bleach and hot water (yes bleach is bad i know, but it kills bathroom cooties), then wash regular with a load of laundry. then dry in the dryer or in the hot sun.
we use only cloth napkins, the majority of my cycle i use cloth pads.
i enjoy sewing cloth napkins, cloth pads, and have yet to recruit any of my IRL friends to using cloth pads...odd that i can't, none of them were keen on cloth diapering their kids either lol.
I buy what I can in bulk- azurestandard.com I think sells alternative brands to costco of more earth friendly items in bulk (dr.bronner's in gallon containers!)
ok, rambling.
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Becky,
SUPER DUPER single mama to my 2 lovely ladies!
patchouli wearin, dirt lovin, tree huggin, tiedye makin, tofu eatin, belly dancin, festival goin, vegetable growin, tea drinkin, hippy stinkin!
I have to admit we use paper plates a lot - and even though we do we're still running the dishwasher 3 times a day some days (there are 7 people in this house - 4 adults and 3 kids). I don't usually pay too much mind to the disposable things we use but I've started paying attention and we take the trash out twice a day!
(We did, however, buy a set of glass storage containers for leftovers and I got rid of all the plastic)
I'm stepping up and vow to work on this in our home.
So... post your favorite things you use instead!
We have 6 people in our family. I use the dishwasher once at night, but sometimes I wait until after the next morning's breakfast to run it. One thing that helps is that people use the same drinking glass through the day (my 7 yr old often makes nametags she tapes on the glasses if two people are using glasses from the same set. lol) . We only drink water, so it's not to much of an issue-- nothing sticky at the bottom. If I have more than one cup of coffee in a day, I rinse my morning cup and use it again. That helps keep down what goes in the dishwasher. I also have the hser kids reuse plates at times. Not gross dirty one that they had scrambled eggs on it, but sometimes the small breakfast plate that held toast for 5 minutes is used for AM snack and even for a sandwich at lunch, depending what's been eaten off it. Now, I don't save 6 breakfast plates--that's a mess. lol But for those who are home, we will often just put them on the island neatly. The glasses are neatly lined up near the refrigerator water filter.
Have I grossed you out? I can also say buying larger containers of things (yogurt etc) is less garbage producing than buying a million little yogurt containers. Everything helps.
Here is a pic of our water glasses. And behind them is a basket of cloth napkins. www.geminiskies.vox.com
I hope that doesn't sound germy-- we hardly, knock wood--ever get sick. But it does keep down the dishes.
and Sam, 8 
Jody
DS needs to realize he *can* clean the bathroom without them!
Tawnya, your memory lives on in your children.
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