The Ultimate in Living Simply

Living simply seems to be as big a fad lately as Buying Local. There are countless television shows devoted to the--apparently--hideously awful tasking of ridding your life, your cupboards, and your closets of all the flotsam and jetsam of modern life. One gentleman has discovered the secret, for him at least, to living much, much simpler: he packed up his life into an RV. His story is interesting, undeniably. A twist on my own "cottage in the country fantasy," where I have one small, cosy room that serves as kitchen, dining room, and living room, with a loft overhead for a bedroom. Key to this fantasy is the charming cottage decor and a large, wood-burning fireplace. I haven't worked out how my husband and kids fit into this fantasy yet!

The author makes a particularly interesting point regarding vacations:

It’s interesting how much we enjoy vacation — even if we’re not going anywhere exotic. I know people who will go on mini vacations just by staying in a hotel in their own city! Why is that so pleasant?

I would argue that it’s because it requires us to leave most of our possessions behind. We bring only the few precious things that we need for that weekend. When we’re at home we’re forced to pay attention to, maintain, organize, clean, and interact with our massive collection of things-we-don’t-really-need. Vacation frees us from that.

While I would perhaps argue that there are many other reasons to enjoy a vacation, he does have an interesting point to make here: that our possessions, rather than providing us with joy, or at least usefulness, instead weigh us down and prevent us from enjoying life. Personally, I always think that I would love to pare down on my "things," but every time I try to do so I wind up sitting in a pile of old letters, reading them, or mired hopelessly in trying to decide which decorative dishes I don't want, and will the gift-giver be insulted if s/he doesn't see his/her gift on display when they visit...

Of course, this process is exponentially more difficult now that children are in the picture. They collect more things, grow out of those things more quickly, and somehow the amount of attachment I have for a piece of clothing is inversely proportional the amount of time it was used. A sturdy winter jacket my son wore every day last winter? If it's too small, it's gone. That side-snap white shirt my daughter wore in the hospital that is exactly like the five I have saved from when my son was born, and which my daughter out-grew practically before we were home from the hospital? I can't bear to part with side-snap tee #6, I just can't bear it!

Let's not even get into the scads of clothing that I promise myself I can fit into again, someday...never mind the fact that the clubware of my college days doesn't exactly fit into either my work wardrobe or my playdates wardrobe...

How to Dispose of Old Medicine

Whether you have wee ones with wandering fingers or not, one of the best things you can do is clean out your medicine cabinet, or wherever it is you store your medicine--prescription and over-the-counter. For us, it's a shelf on one of our kitchen cabinets, which I figure is pretty child-safe, in close proximity to the water and glasses needed to take most medicines, and somewhere in plain sight so we actually remember to take said meds! My husband and I are pretty med-free...or so I thought. But a quick rifle through the various bottles clogging up turned up a lot of old stuff (pain medication prescribed after my son's birth via caesarean two years ago!) that just needs to go. Flush those puppies right on down the toilet, right?

WRONG. So, so wrong. All that lovely medicinal sludge leaves our homes and makes its way into our water system.

[C]ommon sense and some worrisome signs — such as the appearance of fish with both male and female characteristics in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. — call for keeping our waters as drug-free as possible. USA Today, April 22, 2007.

Instead, it is recommended that we: "Crush pills or dissolve them in water; dilute liquid medications, too. Then mix the drugs with kitty litter, coffee grounds or other unappealing materials. Place the mess in a sealed plastic bag and discard." On the one hand, that's a lot of steps to have to go through...on the other, it's easier than trying to find a pharmacy or doctor's office that will accept old prescriptions and dispose of them properly!

Arlington County Hazardous Materials Guidelines

DC Hazardous Materials FAQs

Northeast Maryland Hazardous Materials Guidelines (Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Frederick County, Harford County, Howard County, Montgomery County and Baltimore City.)

Image thanks to these folks.

I am a LOHAS!

Who are we?

Did you know that we are an ever-growing, aggressively courted market? Nope, I didn't either. Falling as we do in between the aging force-to-be-reckoned-with known as the Baby Boomers and the yet-to-be-reckoned with "Millenials" (born 1982-2000), I always figured us Generation X/Yers (born 1963-1978/1981, depending on definition) were destined to be lost in the middle. Perhaps not!

According to the magazine Fast Company, the LOHAS market segment (for "lifestyles of health and sustainability"), is

"a $227 billion domestic market for goods and services focused on sustainable living, social justice, and alternative health care. These are the consumers, in other words, who are eating organics, driving hybrids, and buying fair-trade morning lattes. And there are 63 million of them out there, making up 30% of the American market. They are not necessarily wealthier than other Americans, but they have proven themselves willing to spend up to an astounding 20% premium on clean, green products over the non-sustainable alternatives." Source

A 20% premium for clean, green products? That figure astounded me, until I did a little looking at my own purchases lately.

Gallon of Whole Milk...................$2.65 at Costco (DC Metro)
Gallon of Whole, Organic Milk........$3.45 at Wegmans (Fairfax, VA)
.....................................................30% difference

3 Plastic Gerber Baby Bottles...........$3.75 (Amazon.com)
3 Glass Evenflo Baby Bottles............$8.00 (ingeling.com)
...................................................113% difference


Granted, there are many other ways in which we do save money. But, clearly, even though we're just as tight with finances as any other young family with two kids under 2, we do choose to spend a little more when and where we think it matters.

Why does this matter?

Just think of the possibilities...in a world where women age 25-44 are being so aggressively courted by both traditional venues (child- and household-care) and, increasingly, non-traditional (automobile makers come to mind), we hold the buying power!

What do you think? Are you a LOHAS? (LOHASer?) Is it all just marketing hype? Or do we Gen Y/X women really hold not only the buying power, but the power to change the world?

Green Cleaning Solutions

Why is Green Cleaning Important?

Well, three wonderful reasons:

(1) It's better for the environment--no nasty chemicals heading down your drain and (eventually) into your drinking water.

(2) It's better for you--no danger from chemical burns, no toxic smells in your house, no worry that your child will break open the cabinet lock and find your stash of bleach and ammonia, and decide that it's science fair time.

(3) Budget, baby! It's much cheaper to buy a big container of white vinegar and a box of baking soda than it is to invest in the 50 million different cleaning products you need just to keep your kitchen sink clean.


For just a few dollars, invest in these Green cleaning items:

• Baking soda
• White vinegar
• liquid soap (dish-wash soap, to be used sparingly, as a little goes a long way!)
• Scouring pad
• Cotton washcloth or a sponge
• Cotton rag without much lint
• 16 oz. spray bottle

And then go to town trying out these Green cleaning recipes:

• Tub and sink cleaner: Baking soda, liquid soap
  
  Sprinkle baking soda on fixtures and rub with wet rag. Add a little liquid soap. Rinse well to avoid leaving a hazy film.
  
  
• Window and mirror cleaner: White vinegar, water
  
  Put 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the spray bottle and fill to the top with water. Spray on the surface. Rub with a lint-free rag. For outdoor windows, use a sponge and wash with warm water with a few drops of liquid soap in it. Rinse well and squeegee dry.
  
  
• Linoleum floor cleaner: White vinegar, water
  
  Mop with a mixture of 1/2 cup vinegar in a bucket (pail) of warm water. The vinegar odor will go away shortly after the floor dries. This works with those ever-popular Swiffer-style mops too. Instead of buying the throw-away mopping pads, simply take a washcloth, dunk in the vinegar water, squeeze out excess, attach to Swiffer, and mop away! Rinse and repeat as needed.
  
  
• Toilet bowl cleaner: Baking soda, liquid soap
  
  Sprinkle baking soda inside the bowl as you would any scouring powder. Add a couple drops of soap in also. Scrub with a toilet bowl brush and finish outside surfaces with a rag sprinkled with baking soda.
  
  
• Oven cleaner: Baking soda, water
  
  Mix 1 cup of baking soda with enough water to make a paste. Apply to oven surfaces and let stand a little while. Use the scouring pad for scrubbing most surfaces. A spatula or a bread knife is effective to get under large food deposits. This recipe will require more scrubbing effort, but it is not toxic to you or your child. Commercial oven cleaners are severe irritants. NOTE: Do not use this cleaner recipe on self-cleaning ovens.
  
  
• Drain cleaner: Baking soda, white vinegar, boiling water
  
  This recipe will free minor clogs and helps to prevent future clogs, so don't wait until the sink is stopped up--do this weekly! Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain first, then 1/2 cup vinegar. Let it fizz for a few minutes. Then pour down a teakettle full of boiling water.
  

Here's a nice article talking about the importance of Green cleaning and providing additional tips for how to make your own green cleaning solutions.