Five fun green things we love

Welcome to the first monthly installment of 5 Fun Green Things We Love. Now that people are starting to know me as the green mommy they send lots of cool green ideas my way. So I thought I’d share in this recurring feature that will showcase the best five green things we’re loving right now. Books, movies, toys, food, jewelry, clothes, shoes and of course, inspiring people. Kinda like Oprah’s favorite things, except you’re not gonna leave this blog with a car. (Sorry peeps, I’ll work on it!) Continue reading →

green your swim party

I’m not the first to notice that birthday parties have changed. Gone are the days when a “party” consisted of your Mom throwing some pennies in the deep end for a diving contest and the only “present” the attendees got was the gift of puking from eating too many malt balls.

Which brings me to today’s post: pool parties. I’m not trying to start a movement here or anything, but does anyone else want to go back to pennies in the pool? That was fun! And easy for Mom! And costs mere pennies. (Literally!)
Continue reading →

green your road trip

When vacation time rolls around, so do the tire wheels: can you say road trip? Sure, it’s not the wild, carefree road trips of the young (let’s face it, when there is vomit in a Mom’s car, it usually doesn’t have anything to do with too much alcohol) but they can still be a fun, family-bonding time. While long car trips are not necessarily green in and of themselves (gasoline cars burn fossil fuels which emit carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming), there are things you can do to make it a little bit more eco-friendly.

Let’s green that road trip, shall we? Continue reading →

go green camping

When warm weather comes some people hit the beach, others the pool and some (like me) try to hide in air-conditioned movie theaters and malls until my hair defrizzes. But one thing families can – and should – do in warm weather is go camping. (Or so I’m told. I did one big two-week camping trip in my 20s and that kinda burned me out for a while – but I’m ready to try again!)

And who doesn’t love the smell of a campfire, the sense of adventure, the sky filled with stars, and the uninterrupted time together that camping brings? (As for the sounds of creepy nocturnal animals rummaging through your stuff, insects feasting on your legs, rocks jabbing into your back as you slowly suffocate in a too-small tent, and the lack of bathroom “amenities” like a toilet? Let’s not go there. Sometimes you have to suffer for your children.)

But can camping be green? With a little preparation we’ve found that the answer is yes. Yes it can. Continue reading →

Five Minutes to a Green, Clean Kitchen

Very few people do the “drop in” these days, so we usually have some warning before visitors come. However, there are those times when you get that text: “In your hood. Should we swing by?” in which case you have about five minutes to clean up. You’ll obviously need to divide and conquer. So deploy the significant other to the bathroom and the kids to the bedroom and living room. That leaves just you and your kitchen.

Remember, the faster you clean, the more time you’ll have to chill the wine. Continue reading →

worry-free fruits & veggies

School’s out. But that doesn’t mean we Moms are off the hook for lunches and snacks. The good news is that summer means lots of great fruits and veggies are at our disposal. The bad news? Some of them have pesticide residue that you don’t want your family ingesting. But the best news is that I have a go-to list for you of the fruits and veggies with the least pesticide residue, courtesy of Food & Wine magazine. (See? All that time sitting in the doctor’s waiting room is not always a waste.)

Enjoy this “worry-free” produce this summer. Continue reading →

Small Steps to a Greener Kitchen

Let’s face it, Moms spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen. Every meal that goes into my daughter’s mouth is peeled/chopped/cooked by me, the groceries shopped for by me, and packaged up and stored by me. The Husband has been banned from the kitchen after adding cinnamon to the spaghetti sauce because it “sounded interesting.” (He does clean though, which I realize is a gift.)

All this time in the kitchen has made me realize that mine is probably not quite as green as I’d like. Not the cleaning, we obviously have that part down. But I began to wonder: what else makes a kitchen green? Continue reading →

One Small Green Thing: Hang that Laundry

With summer comes lots of small pleasures: more family BBQs, an excuse to wear flip flops, and if you’re a mom, answering the relentless question about why your child has to go to sleep even though it’s still light outside.

Another fun thing about summer is that you can try hanging your clothes outside to dry. Line drying is one small thing you can do to be greener, as it saves energy and doesn’t use fossil fuels. It also saves you money because an electric dryer uses more electricity than every other appliance in your home. What’s more, line drying will make your clothes last longer since the dryer does do some wear and tear. Bonus: no lint catch to clean! (Is that thing gross or what?) And besides, what smells better than clothes dried naturally by the sun? Answer: nothing, that’s what. Continue reading →