Greene Housekeeping

I've been reading Ellen Sandbeck's Green Housekeeping with a cautious eye.  While I've been happy to switch to Method and Seventh Generation substitutes, I'm hesitant to ditch all of my green cleaning products in favor of white vinegar and baking soda.

Call me cautious, but the bottom line is that I'm new to running a household, and often feel overwhelmed.  This is what makes me easy prey for the big consumer product companies and their over-processed, over-packaged chemical fiestas in the cleaning aisle.

There is something about Green Housekeeping's tone that can make you crazy - at least if you're a novice like me, prone to feeling guilty.  But I'm happy to report that I got up the courage to try one of her suggestions, and it worked like a charm.

While our dishwasher is just a year old, I've never been sure how to clean it.  Other than wiping it out a few times, I've pretty much just put in dirty dishes and hoped for the best.  But after 14 months of hard service, it was undeniable that our clean machine needed some TLC.

So I grabbed Ellen's book and looked up her suggestions.  Here it is:

Fill a bowl with two cups of distilled white vinegar.  Place it on the bottom rack of the dishwasher and run a regular cycle.

Success!  It was easy, fast, cheap and impeccably green.

She has another suggestion for cleaning out a garbage disposal using vinegar and baking soda.  I'm going to try this one next week.  (I used up the last of my white vinegar on the dishwasher.)  

I'll also be taking a quick glance at the products I didn't buy to do these jobs - my local grocery store sells a $4 bottle of something designed to clean garbage disposals and a similar product for dishwashers.  Can I count those towards our financial savings?

Hmmm ... not sure about that.  But we can certainly count them towards a greener planet.

Ditching the Disposables

Crunchy Domestic Goddess issued a "ditch the disposables" challenge for September and October.

I was initially at a loss as to what to ditch.  While we haven't gone paper-towel free, we've cut down our use dramatically.  (And switched to sustainable, paper-from-paper for what we do use.)  But just thinking about the DtD challenge has me thinking differently.

Officially, we're ditching purse-pack tissues in favor of handkerchiefs.  Franklin asked me to buy some; my brother-in-law carries them faithfully.  And since Freddie's requests for a tissue are often, er, non-productive, I figured it would be an easy switch, and one that reduced our reliance on a heavily packaged product.

So far?  Easiest green thing we've ever done.

But here are a few other disposables on which we've reduced our use:

• I was an early adopter of Lysol wipes for quick cleaning; while I've switched over to rags, I've been in the habit of keeping the wipes on hand.  I realized the other day that I've all-but-stopped using them and wouldn't miss them if they were gone.
• Ding, dong the Clorox ToiletWand system is dead!
• After weeks of the Diaper Debate, we've ordered three cloth diapers to test out.  Assuming they work, we'll buy more.
• I'm keeping a handkerchief in our bathroom, reaching for it instead of a tissue almost every time.

Combined with our other ditched disposables - over the last year, we've taken to using refillable Sigg canteens and travel coffee mugs, reusable shopping bags and (mostly) refillable containers instead of plastic baggies and wrap - it feels like we're really cutting down on our garbage generation.

There's always more to do, but for the moment, it feels like we keep managing to find simple, straightforward and logical things to do to make a difference.

One Small Step for the Potty, One Giant Leap for the Greenes

When I first embarked on the greening of the Greenes, I agonized over costs.  Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid is nearly three times as much as Ajax; don't get me started on Burt's Bees shampoo or Tom's of Maine toothpaste.

I was willing to do it, regardless.  My family has given up so much recreational shopping that spending a little bit of extra cash to protect the Earth for our children is a sound investment.

But thanks to a bunch of other blogs and Diane's Big Green Purse, the light bulb finally switched on.  (Must've been a CFL.)

For the past few years, I've been cleaning our toilets with the Clorox Toilet Wand system.  I had an irrational fear of dirty toilet brushes.  And cleaning the toilet seemed like this huge job of work - hours of scrubbing, surely.  This nifty system made it so easy - just pop on a new head, swish and then toss the head into the trash.

Except.

The chemicals!  The waste!  And, as Franklin pointed out the other day, we've cut down on our trash so dramatically that the used heads lingered in our bathroom wastebaskets for at least a week, often more.  Not really an improvement on a dirty toilet brush.

And then I did the math.  It costs $5 for a box of six replacement heads.  (Let's not even consider what I spent for the wands initially.)  That's effectively 83 cents per cleaning.

Yesterday, I nipped out to Ikea and spent 99 cents on a toilet brush.  (Was there a greener, recycled plastic option?  Dunno.  I'll wrestle with that in a few years when we replace the brushes.)  That brush, plus a sprinkle of Bon Ami, will get the job done for a fraction of the cost.  Let's say I use the brush for two years, or about 100 toilet cleanings.  I suspect I'll go through about $3 worth of Bon Ami in the same period.  

That is FOUR CENTS per cleaning - or a savings of 79 cents every week.

Over the course of year, that's $40.  Multiplied by our four bathrooms?  $160.  No wonder Clorox advertised their ToiletWand system so aggressively.  They talked me into parting with a lot of cash!

I'm starting to get it.  I knew we couldn't afford to NOT go green, but I'm delighted to realize that we can save money, along with the planet.

Hallogreen

Somehow, the good people at Grandin Road decided I was a likely prospect to purchase items such as a $200 inflatable haunted house to go on our lawn, and so they sent me a catalog.

We don't have a lawn.  We have a sidewalk in front of our rowhouse.

Anyway, while I'm not about to buy something so dramatic - where we interested in decorating, it would be all cardboard cut-out tombstones and $5 worth of reusable cobweb - it did make me think that we haven't wrestled with what to do about my favorite holiday of the year.

Since I've been reading Diane's Big Green Purse, I'm well aware of the problems presented by major chocolate manufacturers.  In brief, beyond the obvious packaging, there's the real environmental impact of deforestation and the problems of child labor on cocoa farms.

All of a sudden, I can live without my Reese's peanut butter cups, thanks.

But what do I do about Trick'or'Treat?  Veggie Mom, my neighbor who tends to be so health-obsessed I fear her boy is going to rebel by sneaking out to McDonald's as a teenager, opts for pretzel packs.  I considered hitting Whole Foods to see if I could find fair trade organic chocolate in single-servings, but that clashes with my cheap gene.

The drugstore has bouncy balls that look like eyes and plastic spider rings - but is that stuff any higher up on the moral ladder than snack-sized Snickers?  After all, betcha those gew gaws were all Made in China under, ahem scrupulously monitored working conditions.

I've got a few weeks to wrestle with this one, but it does feel like there's no truly green way out, other than skipping the holiday entirely.  

And that is just NOT an option.

Electrify My Life, Please!

We drive a Jeep.  Not very green of the Greenes, right?  But we drive our Jeep Liberty all of 25 to 40 miles per week.  And since we have outdoorsy habits - notably Franklin's kayaking - and a growing family to haul, we will not be accomplishing these things in a Prius.

Because we're usually on foot, on Metro or on city bus, I don't feel so bad about our gas guzzling behemoth in the garage.  And, truth told, our Jeep Liberty isn't exactly a Hummer.  But when I was in the dealership over the summer, I was disappointed to hear that there were no plans in the works for anything more eco-friendly.  I figure plenty of Jeep drivers are also using them to haul bikes and kayaks and the like, and have an interest in saving the natural world so we can preserve our playspace.  Instead, the eager sales associate told me, they'd introduced the higher mileage Compass.

Meh.  Mileage is nice, but it was such a modest improvement that it didn't excite me.  And the style?  A little too soccer mom.

A few weeks ago, I was back at the dealership and noticed that Jeep had introduced Flex Fuel models - but only on their Grand Cherokee and Commander models, otherwise known as Very Big and Obnoxiously Oversized.  I'm not sure if the Grand Cherokee would fit into our garage.  (My best guess?  I could squeeze it in, but would then be forced to shimmy out through the optional sunroof, as the doors would be pressed up against the walls.)  As for actually acquiring Flex Fuel, at the moment we'd have to drive more than 20 miles each way to accomplish that task, so it pretty much torpedoes the idea.

As for the Commander?  I've been for a ride in a Commander, purchased by a safety-obsessed friend weeks after her firstborn came home in a Grand Cherokee that she decided was too small.  I felt like I ought to be invading a sovereign nation in that monster.  I'd have to park it in the distant reaches of parking lots, next to RVs and school buses.

The picture seemed bleak.  When I considered future car options, I found myself suggesting things like the Ford Escape Hybrid.  Franklin, whose dad worked for Chrysler back in the days of foot-powered Flinstone engines, would frown.

But then today, in the midst of misery on Wall Street and Franklin's job in peril, Chrysler announced that they're working on a Jeep EV for release sometime in 2010.  (The photo above is nabbed from their site.)  Check out all the details here at the Jeep EV site.  It's stylish and faithful to the Jeep legacy, and while we'd probably sacrifice some of our cargo room, it is apparently planned as a four-door model - one for each of the Greenes! 

We're optimistic that our current Jeep can carry us through to 2010 - it's really only a little more than a year away, and we've got less than 85,000 miles on our current ride.  Heck, if we can drive that thing until 2012, I'm happy to do so.  But I'm delighted to hear that eco-friendly options are coming from my favorite manufacturer.

Because 400 miles on 8 gallons of gas?  That sounds reasonable to me.

Raising Kids, Raising Cash

I'm all about fundraising.  Change in the world takes money, and it's not like there's enough of it for things that matter.  We give generously when able.  Heck, I've worked as a fundraiser and I know that giving can be transformative - for the donor and the receiver.

And I want to be supportive of Freddie's nursery school.  Really, I do.   Many of the families that attend the school have less than we do.  But I just can't do it.

Here's why:

Actually, that part of my problem comes in the spring, during candy sales.  The fall fundraiser that we're opting out of is slightly less problematic.  The cakes and pizzas are at least made by a Maryland-based bakery.  But they still arrive, over-packaged and with questionable ingredients.  I might not always use 100% organic ingredients when I bake, but I'm certain that we're at least generating far less packaging waste.

No Impact Man reported that 40% of municipal waste is packaging.  Walking Freddie to school on garbage days, I've little doubt of that.  We go to some lengths to recycle cardboard and paper, even the bitsy bits that are easy to overlook.  (Franklin, especially, is a champ about this.  He's been known to fish things from the garbage can and shoot me looks.)  We buy less.  And if I see something that is absurdly over-packaged, I'm quite likely to pass it up in favor of something less bundled.  Second-hand stuff, of course, comes with virtually no waste.  But most of the world isn't listening, and we see garbage galore.

I've considered suggesting alternate fundraisers, but I realize exactly how much work they are.  When many of the kids involved are infants, it's tough to argue for a read-a-thon.

So instead of selling cakes and pies and candy bars, we're just going to write a check.  It feels a bit lazy.  I'd be among the first to volunteer Freddie to hit up his adoring aunts, uncles and grandparents for donations in support of a walk-a-thon, but I'm not inflicting pricey lemon bundt cakes on the extended.

Actually, my Big Plan is to suggest that the elementary school - where Freddie will move next year for pre-kindergarten - do a trash-a-thon.  My friend Y's daughters do this, asking others to pledge for every bag of garbage the class fills.  They make a nice dent in tidying up their corner of the urban landscape, and betcha that those kids get the Don't Litter message loud and clear, as well as a very real sense of how much waste we generate.

It will take some selling on my part, I'm certain.  There's a general attitude of dislike and frustration towards fundraising.  Why don't they just raise the tuition?  one dad complained to me.  And I'm often left blinking, wondering why they'd want me to sell a dozen cheesecakes instead of just asking me for cash.

This year, they're getting the cash.  Like it or not.

The Trouble with Toys

A few days ago, I was shopping for a birthday gift for my cousin.  In one of those funny things that happens in families, she's actually just a few months older than Freddie.

So Rachel was turning four, and because I like Rachel and her parents very much, I was attempting to find a gift that would satisfy everyone - my 4 y.o. cousin, her busy parents, my not-so-secret green tendencies.

And what I found was that even toys that appear to foster creativity really do more to straight-jacket it.

I didn't buy the Barbie Sticker Maker - but I almost did.  A sticker maker seemed like a good idea - Rachel loves to draw and color and has recently discovered Barbies.  But the opportunity to create was so narrow.  It was all about coloring in an existing design, adding a few finishing touches.  Most of the work came pre-packaged; complete.  The verb "to make" seems woefully misplaced here - it was more like a fill-in-the-blank template than an invitation to imagine.

As I started looking at the other toys, I realized how few items were truly intended for open-ended play.  Even the race cars that Freddie loves seems programmed to do what they do on TV, imitating races that we see on the Speed Network.  It's not the end of the world, I suppose - the inclination with race cars is, of course, to go very fast while making "vroom, vroom" noises, even if you've never seen a race televised.

But in general, there are very few toys that require a heavy input of imagination and a huge number of toys that encourage children to follow directions.  Even Play-Doh comes in kits that encourage you to use the provided molds to create a finite set of objects.

I ended up buying Rachel a craft kit consisting of many giant, oversized pipe cleaners, but even that came with directions about how to make a tiara.  I hope she knows it's okay to make a lasso or a tree house or a doll cradle with them, too.

After we attended a 3 y.o.'s party, I was beginning to think that maybe I was a nut for thinking that way.  Every other guest bought a gift with more direction - LeapFrog learning books and the like - while we gave a relatively modest truck and book about trucks.  Was I just missing the point?  Were kids more into toys that told them how to have fun?  Was I the lame parent without a clue?

Let's leave open the possibility that I'm clueless and lame, but I'm not sure that I'm wrong.  On Saturday, Freddie turned down the chance to go to the big park with the train and the carousel to visit the local park.  He played catch with Daddy and we all took tree branches and turned a large, fallen branch into a drum of sorts.  Freddie ran in circles until he was exhausted, then we took him home, where he ran into some neighborhood friends and decided to run in circles with them for a while, too.

Freddie has toys - as he would say, a lotsa toys.  But we're doing our best to keep them creative toys that don't dictate how they are to be used.  It's getting tougher with every passing year, but so far, we're not doing so bad.

We'll see what happens closer to Christmas.