Small Changes

A while back I read this great post from Stacy Makes Cents that really clicked with me - a lot of people have jumped on the whole foods / totally organic / clean living train in the last few years (longer I know...) and while I would love to say that we only eat all the good stuff, and never put anything on or in our bodies that we can't pronounce, and my garden is overflowing with produce that I will be spending huge amounts of time canning for the winter, in our house it's more important that I don't have to spend hours picking through apples at Farmer's Markets so I just get the bag from HEB. I still buy the cheap shampoo because that's what my daughters like. And my garden produced three yellow squash before the Texas sun obliterated the plants.

However, we have been doing a lot of little things differently for the last couple of months...

I started making our laundry soap (I started with this liquid version, and want to try the powder version next, just to compare). It was a lot quicker, and much easier than I anticipated!
Pros: it was quick and easy to make, it softens just as well as adding a second product, one gallon lasted almost 2 months.
Cons: I don't like the scent of the soap I used and now we're stuck with it until the next batch gets made, it doesn't suds up which to SOME people in our house indicates that our clothes aren't really getting clean...they are.

I changed over to the "No Poo" method - shampoo that is. While I haven't convinced anyone else in the house to join me, I've been completely happy with the results of not using shampoo or conditioner.
Pros: I don't have to wait for a sale to stock up on shampoo and conditioner; I don't have to "wash" as often and my hair doesn't get as oily as quickly as before.
Cons: You don't quite get the same massaged clean feeling as with shampoo; slight vinegar smell while your hair is wet, but that disappears as it dries.

We no longer use paper towels for EVERYTHING! I was able to find great deals on both cloth napkins (for meals)  and surgical huck towels (for cleaning up messes). I do one load of towels each week and those get tossed in.
Pros: paper towels are expensive, we've had the same towels and napkins for almost six months and they still look great; doesn't require any extra work (except folding - bleh); it's easier to just grab one towel instead of just one paper towel - most clean up jobs "required" 3 or 10 paper towels.
Cons: folding; wish I wouldn't have gotten white napkins; folding.

I bought a used bread maker and have been making all of our bread. It's mostly used for lunches, but since some people refuse to eat anything but "good" bread and everyone else only wants the cheap white bread, we had a lot of waste when we didn't go through the "good" bread quickly enough.
Pros: it tastes better (everyone agrees); it's easy to do with the machine because it can bake overnight and be fresh in the morning; the most expensive ingredient is the yeast, and one jar has lasted almost 2 months.
Cons: the loaves are small so I have to make it every other day, but that's ok because the bread gets stale about as quickly because it doesn't have all the preservatives of store bread.

I've slowly weaned us off of bleach-based cleaning products. The only left are the Clorox wipes that Hubby insists are necessary for when he cleans. Now that I'm out of shower cleaner, this is my next thing to try.
Pros: no more bleach stained towels where the girls have "dried off" the sink after cleaning it; the smell was making me sick (yay first trimester) when I started this so it helped with that; most of the cleaners I use now, we already have the ingredients on hand.
Cons: haven't noticed any...

When school started back I started packing lunches in small bowls instead of plastic bags. The only thing that goes in a baggie is the sandwich and that's just because I haven't found a good size container that doesn't take up more room than necessary.
Pros: flexibility in what I can pack without it getting smashed; being able to send more fun meals than just sandwiches.
Cons: extra dishes; finding a lid for every bowl at 5:45 am; getting all of the bowls back *ahem Husband*.

After I read Stacy's post I realized that while I might wrap some of these changes in the pretty paper of "clean living" or "healthy lifestyle", because those are the types of blogs I got them off of,  a lot of the decisions came down to one thing: it's cheaper and works just as well. Overall, it's better our family - for our time and resources and life.

We eat simple, but healthy, meals - pick a meat, two veggies and most of the time a starch. I make homemade french fries on occasion, but that doesn't mean that I'm ready to stop buying boxed macaroni and cheese...especially when I can get it in bulk at Sam's. There are still days when my quick fix for dinner is pizza...because I have a coupon and am willing to drive and pick it up instead of stand in the kitchen and cook, either because we've got something going on or I just don't want to!

These changes aren't for the purpose of being able to say I'm saving the environment and not harming my family by exposing them to chemicals and additives (we still have Cheetos in the pantry...) but because, well life is expensive! We're saving what we can right now so we don't have to rack up a bunch of medical bills when #3 comes along. We're trying to pay off the last bit of debt that we have. We have two kids who are starting to get more involved with extra stuff outside of school. I'd eventually like a new car that everyone can fit into once we add a car seat. Most importantly, we want the ability to occasionally say "hey - family night out, let's go." We'd like to be able to take care of unexpected expenses without cringing and pulling out the card - and these little changes make a huge difference!

So while we are trying to make better / healthier choices, it's not taking over our lives (or our budget) anytime soon :)