My February focus is still all about going green. I’ve shared my favorite green cleaning products that I use everyday. I really love having them now that Hailey is into helping with everything and wants to “clean” her kitchen (and spray it herself) all the time. I’m so glad I know it’s safe!
Lately I’ve come upon other green products that are intriguing to me. Let me be upfront by saying that I am FAR from being the greenest person around, but I am trying to make improvements. You have to start somewhere, right?
Here are some green products that have recently caught my eye…
Favorite Green Kitchen Swap: Reusable Paper Towels
I’m not sure I could ever give up paper towels altogether, but having a reusable option would certainly cut back on the number of them I use each day. Plus, these are so cute and I’d love to have them in my kitchen!
Favorite Lunch Helper: LunchSkins Reusable Snack & Sandwich Bags
We go through a decent amount of snack-sized Ziplocks around here and having a cute, green option to use instead would certainly help us out.
Favorite Baby Food Necessity: The Little Green Pouch
The company actually sent me some of these to try when Hailey was smaller, but by then she wasn’t eating pouches that often and I didn’t get the chance to try them. However, I look forward to using them for baby #2! We will still most likely do baby led weaning, but these look great for applesauce on the go!
Favorite Festive Must-Have: Lilywrap
Lilywrap was started by my friend, Ashley, and she’s turned her brilliant idea into a household staple. Lilywrap is stretchy, covers all shapes and sizes, is really cute and is reusable. Plus, it helps people who can’t wrap presents to save their life (ME) be able to still show up to parties with an adorable looking gift to give!
Favorite Sipper: Stainless Steel Straws
If you’re a straw-user, think how many of those plastic suckers you probably go through. This stainless steel option is durable, safe and reusable.
Favorite Backyard Want: The Compost Wizard
Ok, this and a swing-set for Hailey may be in a tie, but I throw away so many kitchen scraps and we have a large yard with lots of clean-up, so I really could see us getting a lot of use out of it. Plus, maybe it would help me actually be successful with gardening for once??
So there are some products that have caught my eye!
What are your favorite green, earth-friendly products to use?
Or what are some that you’d like to try?
Shannon says
Wow, those reusable straws are amazing! I am definitely going to buy them.
I usually just make sure I use tupperware that is reusable and easy-to-wash, but I really like the idea of the reusable lunch bags – they’re so cute!
Thanks for the share!
Linda says
Re-usable items are great, but at the same time when you have more than one young child you are very busy and the convenience of disposable often outweighs the “green” ideas. Less laundry, dishes, etc. and the need to keep things sanitized and clean quickly. Those little green pouches look challenging to wash and then completely air dry the inside.
Brittany Dixon says
I totally agree! Sometimes with having just ONE little one, convenience wins 😉
That’s why I want to be clear that I’m not a green guru, but am taking small steps to switch to some eco-friendly options that do work for us.
For example, fingers crossed that BLW works for us again. If it does, we use very little pureed food so using the green pouches for the occasional snack on the go makes a lot of sense for us, where it might not work as well for someone eating all purees.
Like everything with parenthood, you have to do what works best for you! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Heather @ What Does She Do All Day? says
I love my Lunchskins! Actually we also love our Re-Pac zipper bags better (no velcro for crumbs to get stuck in). But Lunchskins were my gateway reusable bag. We also compost and saw a big decrease in trash once we started doing that. I just saw those stainless straws for the first time recently and I’m very intrigued!
Brittany Dixon says
Oh, I’ll have to check out Re-Pac zipper bags, too! Thanks for the rec!
Mary says
SnackTaxi is another reuseable sandwich bag company. The designs are kid and adult friendly and easily washable!
Brittany Dixon says
Oh thanks! I’ll have to check all these out!
Stephanie says
I love reusable towels and napkins! We still keep paper towels and napkins (usually ones we acquire through take-out) on hand because sometimes we still need them, but the vast majority of the time we use cloth and it’s great! First, I find the cloth towels to be much better at clean up, especially wiping down kids. Second, when I use paper I feel like it’s so wasteful, not only because you use it briefly and toss it, but also because you’re paying for that single use thing that you just used to wipe your mouth during your meal and then tossed in the trash.
Other green things that I can’t imagine living without now are my homemade spray cleaner (just vinegar, water, and tea tree oil) and foaming soap dispensers (that I fill with a little Dr. Bronner’s and water). Both work great, they’re super cheap, and I know they’re safe for us to use. And of course our cloth diapers 🙂 And dryer balls! Love those too.
We compost when it’s warm (I hate throwing scraps in the trash now that I’m used to composting, but it’s difficult to make it to the bin right now. Maybe we’ll come up with a better option for next year!) and I really like that it cuts down on the trash we’re putting at the curb. We have so many easily-compostable scraps and my 4yo loves to be a helper and take scraps out to the compost bin at the end of the day!
Anne says
What do you think/know about all the controversy surrounding Shaklee and other pyramid schemes like it? I’m truly curious what your thoughts are on the matter, and how much research you’ve put into it. (Not trying to be snarky at all!)
http://shakleepyramidschemevictimrecordedall.blogspot.com/
Brittany Dixon says
Hi Anne! I appreciate your concern.
I’ve been researching Shaklee since August. I was initially drawn to the company because of their high quality green cleaning products, but as I learned more about their other product lines, I became more intrigued. They make incredibly high-quality cleaning products and supplements that are thoroughly researched and proven in effectiveness by scientific studies published in peer reviewed medical journals. They’ve never had a product recalled in over 58 years of being open and I’ve personally felt a physical difference since beginning to take their vitamins.
For me, it wasn’t about joining an organization to make money. I was (and am) using and loving the products myself and joined as a distributor because I am excited to share them with others. It also is a way to make some extra income and as a stay-at-home mom to (soon-to-be!) two children, I think it’s great!
For more info, here is a link to a third-party article on Shaklee as a legit work-from-home option for moms http://www.wahm.com/articles/shaklee-a-wahms-guide.html
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do email me! I’d love to share my findings with you!
Andrea says
Definitely get a compost bin! I love being able to throw all our scraps in it and it significantly reduced how much garbage we produced. However, now I have two scrap bowls in my kitchen…one for scraps to go in the compost bin (coffee grounds/filters, egg shells, onion and garlic scraps) and one for the chickens (almost everything else!). But I guess in a way it all ends up in the compost bin because when we clean out the coop we put their poop in the compost bin.
Brittany Dixon says
Can I tell you how jealous I am that you have chickens?! One day I’ll have them too 🙂
Also, I have so much to learn about composting, but anyone I know who has one has great things to say. Thanks for your input!
christina says
how cute are those paper towels? neeeeed those straws.
Katie @ Pick Any Two says
We just transitioned to re-usable paper towels, and so far it’s gone really well! I thought I would go crazy without my disposable ones, but it has been an easier transition than I imagined. You just have to get used to it, I think.
Laura @ Mommy Run Fast says
We have that compost bin, or at least one that looks just like it… it’s great! I’m excited to use some of our compost to get a garden started here. We have a lot of shade, but I’m hoping to find some good, sunny spots. I love the Lilywrap- what an awesome idea!
Heather says
We love those Little Green Pouches at our house and have a few reuseable snack pouches as well that come in handy. I really like the idea of reuseable paper towels, though! I don’t know that we could completely stop using paper towels right away, but I think something like this would definitely help us cut down on how many we use. I think those and cloth napkins would both be a good thing to start using in our house… especially since my toddler couldn’t tear them up. :p
Jen says
We’ve really cut back on our paper towel use and just use dish cloths now, but I feel like I do so much more laundry! I’m going to look into the reusable paper towels you posted because they’d probably take up a lot less room in the washing machine — and they are super cute!
Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl says
I NEED those reusable sandwich bags! I go through plastic baggies like it is my job…which I am slightly embarassed about :/
Hala says
You NEED to get the composter!!! I started composting all my stuff, and it makes a HUGE difference in slashing how much stuff I put out on the curb every week. It makes me feel SO good to know that not only did I save something from going into the landfill, it is quietly and magically turning into something I can use to grow more beautiful things. It’s really the cycle of life 🙂
Brittany @ Delights and Delectables says
love these!! going to check them out now!
Ali says
I got reusable paper towels for xmas and I love them!!
Matt @ Runner Savvy says
Definitely getting some reusable paper towels!
Maria says
I know that reusable bags are everywhere these days and it’s not a new concept, but I really really love my Baggu bags. I can tuck three of them into my purse and they take up no room at all, so I am never without them (great for impromptu grocery store trips). They also hold a ton of groceries and are super durable. I stick mine in my washing machine to sanitize (my biggest complaint about most bags – they get gross!) and after multiple uses, are still new looking. I plan to buy a few more as I end up using them for everything from groceries, to dirty laundry on trips, and rebagging takeout so it doesn’t spill in my car. Oh, and they come in super fun prints!
Giselle@myhealthyhappyhome says
I LOVE Little Green Pouches! They hold so much and are great for traveling. The reusable paper towels seem like a good idea but I’m not sure I could give up the regular ones either. Cute though!
Chantal says
Those reusable paper towels look pretty awesome! I’d definitely use them.
GiGi Eats Celebrities says
Those stainless steel straws – AMAZING!! I must invest! 🙂 And I love those sandwich bags too!
Chrissy says
Hey Brittany! Check out LunchBots (http://www.lunchbots.com) when you get a chance. We use these for our food containers and love them! Also, check out Glass Dharma (http://glassdharma.com) for glass straws! 🙂
Ashley says
Thanks for the feature, Brit! I am behind on my blog reading and am just seeing this – love SO many things you have listed. I am definitely ordering those paper towels (now) since this is an area we really need to improve on.
We started composting two years ago and LOVE it for our garden. Ryan received this small, electric one for his birthday – and it’s been perfect for us.
http://www.naturemill.net/compostbins.html
We just put kitchen scraps in it (avoiding meat out of personal preference) and in just TWO weeks it churns out 2 gallons of compost for our veggie garden – just the right amount that we actually use it. It is electric – so it doesn’t require manual turning – but it’s also why it can produce compost so fast. Even though it’s electric, it uses minimal energy – $.50/mth – and is really quiet. We store it in the garage for convenient access and it’s really quiet and doesn’t stink at all. Anyway, LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
char eats greens says
I LOVE stainless steel straws. They are my absolute fave!!! Also, I was JUST looking into reusable bags this morning because one of my favourite Canadian websites has them on sale this week! I should totally snag a few 😉
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