More Natural Living

I have been growing in the areas of more natural living over the last year, as was my desire. However, I doubt I will ever be one of those people who makes their own shampoo out of coconut oil and refuses to touch anything that's not organic. Costs are just too high here and many whole foods aren't even available.


Here is a list I made about a year ago regarding my natural living goals. I've highlighted in blue the ones that we've accomplished thus far! It's amazing to me how far we've come in just a year!



*Make some cloth diapers and go back to using cloth during the day. I learned to make them and even taught others to make them! We are currently stocked up until Justus is about 6 months old with disposables from his baby shower but then we will be back to cloth.



*Drink herbal/green teas in place of or in addition to a cup of hot cocoa each day. I've been drinking more water and in an effort to lose baby weight have given up my beloved hot cocoa.

*Eat more quinoa/brown rice in place of white rice. Quinoa is yummy! We've switched from using a variety of rices to now using only brown or wild rice. We love quinoa too but it recently raised in price from $3 a pound to $6 a pound so when our stash runs out I doubt we'll be buying more until it goes down.

*Drink soy milk instead of cow's milk. (Tried it for a while before I got preggo with Justus. I like it but it's expensive and there are mixed reviews on whether it's really that good for you or not.)

*Learn how to make hummus and homemade pita bread. Need to try pita bread sometime.

*Take evening primrose oil capsules to see if it helps with PMS. Haven't done this yet since I've been pregnant for most of the last year but I did buy them right before I found out I was pregnant and plan to begin taking them soon!

*Buy some eco-bulbs to conserve on electricity. King Jo said no on this since our bad wiring in our building tends to blow lightbulbs every month. When we have our own place, but it would just be a waste of money here.

*Eat more fruit in place of sweets. Did this during the summer but need to continue doing so now that baking and cooking season is upon us.



Far-fetched goals:

*Buy a juicer and make fresh juices. Didn't buy a juicer but I did start making a lot more fruit smoothies and yogurt/fruit smoothies this summer...that's a start!

*Buy most, if not all, organic produce and meats. Produce, nope! Not an option here where they have about 2 fruit options in the entire store that are organic and they are more than double the cost of regular. Thanks to my folk's we have had lots of elk, for free, which is the tastiest, most organic meat ever!

*Get my hubby and kids to like whole wheat spaghetti. Still working on this!

*Learn to make my own laundry detergent. Since I started this in Feb. I haven't stopped! I love homemade laundry detergent and it's sooooo easy. I just mix 1bar of grated ivory, 1 C. of borax, and 1 C. washing soda and use 2 T. per load. I've tried making the liquid form too but it's simpler to do the powder and works just as well!

*Learn how to make all-natural soaps. Thanks to my friend Heather's blog, I got a recipe for making your own hand soap out of castile soap and almond oil. Something I definitely want to try soon!

*Buy all our drinking water in recycled jugs instead of drinking chlorinated tap water. Instead of buying all of our water, we ended up with something even better! I got a Brita pitcher on a major clearance with a great internet coupon for $2. Since then, Walgreens has done three different months of free pitcher cartridges (and yes, they fit the Brita) so we've had delicious-tasting water for the last 6 months for only $2 total thus far!



For the future, when we have a house of our own:

*Dry my laundry outdoors, especially in the summer (but for now washer and dryer are free in our building)

*Have a large organic garden

*Use all-natural cleaners. I'm using Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds for most cleaning and vinegar in a spray bottle for the rest.

*Teach my kids to reduce, re-use, and recycle! We work on being frugal, using things up, and not wasting food, but I still have a lot to teach them in this area.

*Start a compost pile. My hippie neighbor started one for all of us to use here.


Other things I'm making an effort in:
Since reading a book on the 14 superfoods, I've started trying to incorporate more salmon, pumpkin, flax, and berries into our diet. I no longer buy Fruit Roll Ups or Fruit Snacks even if they are on a good sale (with the exception being for birthdays) and am trying to cut back my calories personally to get back in shape after baby.