I found a source for shampoo, conditioner, and shaving soap/cream (and hand soap!) that requre no plastic bottles, and no chemicals or weird ingredients.
http://soap-lady.com/index.html
They are made in Oregon, too, so also local! (for us, anyway). I will report back and let you know how they work.
Now if I could just find laundry and dish soap in this kind of format...I guess I could use Dr. Bronners and get it in bulk. We need to get back to doing that.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Getting rid of stuff is addictive
This weekend we totally gutted our closet and got rid of 3 giant bags of clothes. I went to a clothing swap with a bunch of lovely ladies and got some great new clothes, too! It was awesome.
Went to goodwill and found some nice sheets for our bed. Nice to not have to buy them new.
Also totally cleaned out bathroom, and organized cleaning supplies and meds, etc. in the hallway closet. Got rid of some linens we don't use. We are now officially a chemical-free household and are cleaning everything with castille soap, baking soda, and vinegar. we gave away some still useable cleaners that are not so eco-friendly. seemed like a better thing to do than just toss them.
we gave away about 100 things this weekend, mostly toys, kids' books, etc. an old laptop, and a few other misc things.
organized the cups cabinet in the kitchen and got rid of some unused cups. we are now a plastic-free drinking container household, only having glasses to drink out of. there are a few BPA-free sippy cups that are plastic (and they are recycleable).
I also organized and swept out the garage and cleaned up the laundry area! woo!
now i just need to organize and declutter the office closet and today we are going to steam clean the carpet w/ vinegar and baking soda.
I also need to organize the other kitchen cupboards, especially where we keep the spices. i'm not entirely sure how to do that one yet.
Went to goodwill and found some nice sheets for our bed. Nice to not have to buy them new.
Also totally cleaned out bathroom, and organized cleaning supplies and meds, etc. in the hallway closet. Got rid of some linens we don't use. We are now officially a chemical-free household and are cleaning everything with castille soap, baking soda, and vinegar. we gave away some still useable cleaners that are not so eco-friendly. seemed like a better thing to do than just toss them.
we gave away about 100 things this weekend, mostly toys, kids' books, etc. an old laptop, and a few other misc things.
organized the cups cabinet in the kitchen and got rid of some unused cups. we are now a plastic-free drinking container household, only having glasses to drink out of. there are a few BPA-free sippy cups that are plastic (and they are recycleable).
I also organized and swept out the garage and cleaned up the laundry area! woo!
now i just need to organize and declutter the office closet and today we are going to steam clean the carpet w/ vinegar and baking soda.
I also need to organize the other kitchen cupboards, especially where we keep the spices. i'm not entirely sure how to do that one yet.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Plastics...again
I'm readng this book right now called "The World Without Us" which is this kind of cool thought experiment about what would happen to civilization if humans just disappeared today. What would happen to buildings, roads, farms, power plants, oil refineries, etc.
One chapter was about polymers, what will happen to plastics. Right now...nothing would happen to them. There is no mechanism to break them down. They can get smaller and smaller, but they never go away. As they get smaller, animals eat them at all levels of the food chain. Some particles are so small that krill and plankton eat them. Some companies make facial "srubs" that contain tiny plastic beads...these wash directly into waterways where the smallest members of the food chain eat them.
The worst thing in that chapter was about how much plastic is in the ocean...right now there is a floating "ocean" of plastic debris the size of the African continent in the middle of the pacific ocean. You can see it from space. Isn't that the most sickening thing ever?
Whenever I hold a piece of plastic in my hand...I can't help but think about where it came from and where its going. What did it take to make this, and what will happen to it when i throw it "away". Will it end up in the ocean, where some animal will eat it and die? Or will it just go to a landfill where it will likely remain for the next million years until some bacteria evolves to digest polymers? What toxins were poured into the air and water during its manufacture?
I want to stop consuming plastic, i really do. Is it even possible? What do we buy that comes in plastic, and is there an alternative?
Cleaning products
soap (like castille)
laundry soap
dish soap
shampoo/conditioner
food that comes in plastic containers like bottles of oil, etc.
food in plastic bags such as crackers, etc
bread bags
occasionally shopping bags
i think we can start getting shampoo, conditioner, and laundry soap in bar form. i'm looking into it.
food...we just need to recommit to not buying a bunch of packaged crap. sigh. its hard!
One chapter was about polymers, what will happen to plastics. Right now...nothing would happen to them. There is no mechanism to break them down. They can get smaller and smaller, but they never go away. As they get smaller, animals eat them at all levels of the food chain. Some particles are so small that krill and plankton eat them. Some companies make facial "srubs" that contain tiny plastic beads...these wash directly into waterways where the smallest members of the food chain eat them.
The worst thing in that chapter was about how much plastic is in the ocean...right now there is a floating "ocean" of plastic debris the size of the African continent in the middle of the pacific ocean. You can see it from space. Isn't that the most sickening thing ever?
Whenever I hold a piece of plastic in my hand...I can't help but think about where it came from and where its going. What did it take to make this, and what will happen to it when i throw it "away". Will it end up in the ocean, where some animal will eat it and die? Or will it just go to a landfill where it will likely remain for the next million years until some bacteria evolves to digest polymers? What toxins were poured into the air and water during its manufacture?
I want to stop consuming plastic, i really do. Is it even possible? What do we buy that comes in plastic, and is there an alternative?
Cleaning products
soap (like castille)
laundry soap
dish soap
shampoo/conditioner
food that comes in plastic containers like bottles of oil, etc.
food in plastic bags such as crackers, etc
bread bags
occasionally shopping bags
i think we can start getting shampoo, conditioner, and laundry soap in bar form. i'm looking into it.
food...we just need to recommit to not buying a bunch of packaged crap. sigh. its hard!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Spring cleanin'
Ok, so it's not really spring yet. But it certainly feels that way thanks to 3 days of sunny over-fifty degree weather.
This inspired us to get some stuff done. Well, actually what inspired us was that we were out taking a walk, and our neighbor was putting a Very Nice Futon out on the curb. We were all "ho ho, what's all this then? This is much better than our shitty futon." See, our computer/guest/random piles of crap room has this futon in it that came from my stepmom Marie's friend Diana. I think Diana bought it like 20 years ago or something because it is more comfortable to sleep on the ground than to sleep on this thing. Seriously. After my stepmom got some years of use out of it, it sat in their basement somehow getting more and more "firm" (read: hard as a rock). And also uglier. Its frame was painted black at some point and a very ugly tropical-plant themed futon cover was placed on it.
Well, on this day, our Lucky Day, our neighbor was putting out a nice wooden futon frame with a nice brown neutral-ish colored cover. And it was still soft! So we had to get it in the car to get it home. This caused us to notice that our car is full of massive piles of crap. So jay totally cleaned the car out, vacuumed, it etc.
This caused us to notice that our computer room was totally cluttered. Which caused us to notice a similar thing about the rest of the house. So we spent the next two days putting crap on the curb for people to help themselves to, putting many belongings on the free section of craigslist (including our old futon which was taken in a record 5 minutes), and aquiring an item like this on craigslist for elsie's room to put toys, books, etc. This caused us to notice that the kids have far too many books, several of which we hate and would be glad to never read again, so a lot of those went, too.
All in all, we totally organized our computer room, elsie's room, the toys in the living room, the backyard, the kids books, the bookshelves, the car, and some of our bedroom. And we went on several walks, spent a lot of time outside, did some yardwork, etc. It was a pretty successful weekend.
We are keeping a decluttering tally on the right hand sidebar. So far we've gotten rid of like 250 things. We have given up completely on all items that "may have some future use if a bunch of things change." If we aren't using it now, it goes. If we don't love it, it goes. We've also given up on "maybe we can sell this." No. Things aren't going to get sold. We aren't going to deal with that. We hold on to things because maybe someday we will get it together and have a garage sale. Sooooooooo not going to happen.
So...so far, we have decluttered, organized, and gotten rid of all non-necessary items in:
The kitchen island drawers and cupboards
Elsie's bedroom
Elsie's closet
All books, kids, adults, etc.
The living room toys area
The computer desk/office space
The office bookshelf
The yard (believe me, there was a lot of crap out there, both literally and the non-disgusting kind)
some of the garage
the two hall closets (except the top shelf!)
the entire computer room
The minivan
We have left to declutter/organize/get rid of junk in:
Office room closet
our bedroom closet
top shelf/medical type supplies in hallway closet
bathroom (should be somewhat easy, there isn't too much in there)
kitchen cupboards
rest of the garage
the camry. if it doesn't die first.
oh, and steam clean the carpet
we're getting there...
It feels so good to get rid of stuff. It just feels so liberating. I fought back the urge to go to Ikea this weekend and buy a bunch of organizing stuff. It seems stupid to buy stuff when you are trying to get rid of stuff...but that is the grip our consumer culture has on us, i guess. I think I might get some plastic totes off craigslist or something to store winter clothes during the summer, etc. But I don't need to get it new. The organizer thing I got for elsie's room was $25 on craigslist. A similar thing at target is anywhere from $60 to $90. At Ikea its $60 to $130. Jeez! just for some plastic bins on a shelf. Lame.
This inspired us to get some stuff done. Well, actually what inspired us was that we were out taking a walk, and our neighbor was putting a Very Nice Futon out on the curb. We were all "ho ho, what's all this then? This is much better than our shitty futon." See, our computer/guest/random piles of crap room has this futon in it that came from my stepmom Marie's friend Diana. I think Diana bought it like 20 years ago or something because it is more comfortable to sleep on the ground than to sleep on this thing. Seriously. After my stepmom got some years of use out of it, it sat in their basement somehow getting more and more "firm" (read: hard as a rock). And also uglier. Its frame was painted black at some point and a very ugly tropical-plant themed futon cover was placed on it.
Well, on this day, our Lucky Day, our neighbor was putting out a nice wooden futon frame with a nice brown neutral-ish colored cover. And it was still soft! So we had to get it in the car to get it home. This caused us to notice that our car is full of massive piles of crap. So jay totally cleaned the car out, vacuumed, it etc.
This caused us to notice that our computer room was totally cluttered. Which caused us to notice a similar thing about the rest of the house. So we spent the next two days putting crap on the curb for people to help themselves to, putting many belongings on the free section of craigslist (including our old futon which was taken in a record 5 minutes), and aquiring an item like this on craigslist for elsie's room to put toys, books, etc. This caused us to notice that the kids have far too many books, several of which we hate and would be glad to never read again, so a lot of those went, too.
All in all, we totally organized our computer room, elsie's room, the toys in the living room, the backyard, the kids books, the bookshelves, the car, and some of our bedroom. And we went on several walks, spent a lot of time outside, did some yardwork, etc. It was a pretty successful weekend.
We are keeping a decluttering tally on the right hand sidebar. So far we've gotten rid of like 250 things. We have given up completely on all items that "may have some future use if a bunch of things change." If we aren't using it now, it goes. If we don't love it, it goes. We've also given up on "maybe we can sell this." No. Things aren't going to get sold. We aren't going to deal with that. We hold on to things because maybe someday we will get it together and have a garage sale. Sooooooooo not going to happen.
So...so far, we have decluttered, organized, and gotten rid of all non-necessary items in:
The kitchen island drawers and cupboards
Elsie's bedroom
Elsie's closet
All books, kids, adults, etc.
The living room toys area
The computer desk/office space
The office bookshelf
The yard (believe me, there was a lot of crap out there, both literally and the non-disgusting kind)
some of the garage
the two hall closets (except the top shelf!)
the entire computer room
The minivan
We have left to declutter/organize/get rid of junk in:
Office room closet
our bedroom closet
top shelf/medical type supplies in hallway closet
bathroom (should be somewhat easy, there isn't too much in there)
kitchen cupboards
rest of the garage
the camry. if it doesn't die first.
oh, and steam clean the carpet
we're getting there...
It feels so good to get rid of stuff. It just feels so liberating. I fought back the urge to go to Ikea this weekend and buy a bunch of organizing stuff. It seems stupid to buy stuff when you are trying to get rid of stuff...but that is the grip our consumer culture has on us, i guess. I think I might get some plastic totes off craigslist or something to store winter clothes during the summer, etc. But I don't need to get it new. The organizer thing I got for elsie's room was $25 on craigslist. A similar thing at target is anywhere from $60 to $90. At Ikea its $60 to $130. Jeez! just for some plastic bins on a shelf. Lame.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Getting out
As per our simple livin' resolution for this year, we are getting out more. we finally got around to buying a bike trailer ($125 on craigslist) that is a lot nicer than our old one (which was given to some homeless people who asked for it). we've used it for jogging, also, since it has a jogging attachment. there have actually been a couple of days lately that it didn't pour down rain in the evening, and that's when we are going out. it feels good to move the body--i feel like we've been in hibernation mode for months!
this week we had the sad duty of taking our dog Barry to the humane society of sw washington so we could get him out of the county. the oregon humane society pulled a lot of strings for us to get him in there. he couldn't be in multnomah county any longer because the mailman filed a complaint and had him listed as a "Level FOUR dangerous dog"--it required him to be muzzled, never outside, always on leash, a sign up on our property declaring that there was a vicious dog on the property, etc.! it is so crazy. this dog has been in our family for 6 years and has never even come close to biting someone. the mailman gets what basically amounts to a scratch on his hand and suddenly he's public enemy no. 1. There was no way we could rehome him in our county and no way we could keep him. it was a gut-wrenching decision. we are keeping tabs on him at the shelter, and he is doing well and they think he is going to go fast. if you know anyone who might want a GREAT dog (who just happens to hate mailmen) please send them the link to the shelter.
we are in the process of applying for the oregon health plan right now. i know we probably won't get it because your income has to be ridiculously low to qualify, but we really can't afford health insurance right now. its quite the process, but if we got in, it would be so huge for our family. i don't know what we can do otherwise.
this week we had the sad duty of taking our dog Barry to the humane society of sw washington so we could get him out of the county. the oregon humane society pulled a lot of strings for us to get him in there. he couldn't be in multnomah county any longer because the mailman filed a complaint and had him listed as a "Level FOUR dangerous dog"--it required him to be muzzled, never outside, always on leash, a sign up on our property declaring that there was a vicious dog on the property, etc.! it is so crazy. this dog has been in our family for 6 years and has never even come close to biting someone. the mailman gets what basically amounts to a scratch on his hand and suddenly he's public enemy no. 1. There was no way we could rehome him in our county and no way we could keep him. it was a gut-wrenching decision. we are keeping tabs on him at the shelter, and he is doing well and they think he is going to go fast. if you know anyone who might want a GREAT dog (who just happens to hate mailmen) please send them the link to the shelter.
we are in the process of applying for the oregon health plan right now. i know we probably won't get it because your income has to be ridiculously low to qualify, but we really can't afford health insurance right now. its quite the process, but if we got in, it would be so huge for our family. i don't know what we can do otherwise.
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