Eco-friendly hair removal, take II

I'm on my last disposable pink razor. A few months back I wrote about my search for an eco-friendly hair removal alternative: razors, waxing, nothing, etc. I have since tried waxing and discovered that natural childbirth (twice!) is a far more pleasurable experience. Oh. My. Gawd. Never again. So I'm seriously considering the Recycline Preserve Triple Razor system, recommended by several readers, wherein I'll only need to replace the blades.

But check out what my husband has been using for the past few months:

I'm so proud of him! He uses a heavy-duty steel safety razor with replaceable blades. The blades aren't encased in any plastic and are recyclable. Add the bar of shaving soap and a brush and he's created a pretty low-waste shaving routine. You might wonder why I don't just use the safety razor. Well, I really don't trust myself not to completely remove the skin from my legs. It doesn't have a soothing, protective strip -- it's just an exposed razor blade. My husband emerges from the bathroom unscathed most mornings, but it still scares the bejesus out of me. So for now I'm sticking to something familiar.

Have you disposed of the disposable razor routine yet? Anyone discover a natural remedy that will cease hair growth with the exception of head, eyebrows and lashes?

Oregonian subscribers: dive into your roll cart and remove that DVD!

It wasn't until this morning, as I was reading the letters to the editor, that I realized the Oregonian had inserted a DVD -- a paid advertisement -- into the Sunday paper. The Oregonian is getting slammed for this act; after all, the DVD is a copy of the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West. My first reaction upon learning this was, "Oh my gosh, we threw a DVD into the recycling bin. Think of how many other people have done that, too." My incredulous husband asked, "Really? That's your first reaction?" Apparently, yes. There are plenty of people outraged over the act itself, so someone has to be outraged about this contaminant in the recycling process!

Seventy-five other newspapers around the country have also distributed this DVD. I never noticed it on Sunday because I seldom look at anything that resembles an ad or pull-out circular. The DVD just got swept up with the whole stack of paper and tossed into the bin. If your garbage hasn't been picked up this week, crawl into your roll cart and pull that sucker out. In the Portland area you can recycle the DVD at the Master Recycler Plastics Roundup being held over the next two weekends.

Camping cooler aids in trip-chaining and grocery shopping

Do you ever read books or articles that make something sound really wonderful, like voluntary simplicity or eating locally for a year? I do. I get all excited and start brainstorming on how I'll make that work in my family. Then reality sets in. I have young children. Next, I go into a funk and have to fight off urges to eat a whole pint of frozen yogurt in one sitting.

This is what I went through when I first learned about trip chaining -- where you plan to do all your driving in one great big outing, in a logical order with no back-tracking, avoiding as many left turns as possible. The challenge with young kids is that you can't often make outings last longer than two or three stops. Otherwise you enter the melt-down zone. No one wants to go there. So crazy ideas about hitting the library, park, hardware store, book store, fabric store, grocery store, followed by the kids' clothing consignment store quickly are written off as next-to-impossible.

Regardless, I have learned one important thing that helps with trip chaining. The grocery store does not have to be your last stop. Thanks to our good, old camping cooler, it can be my first stop or middle stop. I just pop the camping cooler in the trunk of the car prior to going out on my errands. After grocery shopping, all cold or frozen things get packed into the cooler. Then I'm good to go for however many more errands we need to do in that trip before approaching the melt-down zone. Prior to figuring this out, I always used to think the grocery store had to be an out-and-back errand to make sure the cold and frozen foods didn't melt or go bad sitting in a hot-box car while the kids visited a park. I also have one of those insulated hot/cold bags that keep a few items cold on walking or biking trips.

What do you do to make trip chaining with kids a breeze?

Precycle and Reuse: Halloween Costume Challenge!

There's no denying it. Back to school is old news for retailers. It's all about Halloween now if my grocery store is any indication. Giant cardboard bins out front are filled with pumpkins and gourds of all shapes, colors and sizes. Primo shelf space is packed with more tooth-rotting candy than you can shake a scarecrow at. And of course, the costumes. Racks and racks of imported, cheaply made costumes of witches, ghosts, goblins, firemen, Pokemons, Harry Potters, princesses, Hannah Montanas, and any thing else that is trendy and will sell this year.

I have a simple request: step away from the costume racks. Avoid all contact with Halloween super stores. We are better than that. Let's save some money this year and be kind to the environment. Even though I have a soft spot for Halloween and go into a frenzy each year making one-of-a-kind costumes for my kids, this year I'm taking on something new: the EnviroMom "Buy Nothing New" Halloween Costume Challenge.

So what does that mean? We'll be shopping in our own closets looking for things than can be used or reused in creative ways. We'll be hitting up friends or visiting thrift stores to find those perfect accessories to finish off their looks. We'll be dumpster diving into our big blue recycling rollcart to find recyclables that might find new life as part of the Halloween outfits. Our costumes this year:

• one Statue of Liberty for the 6.5 year old. I was thinking white sheet, some cardboard for a hat/crown and torch, dressed up with a bit of aluminum foil. My daughter had a different idea. Since the real Statue of Liberty has that patina effect, she says the sheet has to be green. Amazingly, I actually have a patina green twin flat sheet still hanging around from my college days. Score!!
• one little pink mouse for the 4 year old. We're starting with the blue and pink mouse mask she claimed as a prize during the summer reading program. If we can't find any pink t-shirts and leggings in our closets, I'll probably die of shock and amazement. With two girly-girls, we have a fair amount of pink. Add a tail and a chunk of cardboard cheese. Voila!

Welcome Portland Monthly readers!

Portland Monthly's green issue (October) just hit the stands, so if you've found your way here from there -- thanks for stopping by! We were flattered that Portland Monthly included us in their fine publication (well, until we discovered they referred to us as Ecofreaks). But, seriously, we're proud to be a part of Portland's sustainability movement, and this issue celebrates all that is good and green about our fair city.

You don't have to be a mom or from Portland to participate in this site. We discuss subjects that most anyone can relate to, and we've created a supportive, respectful community here that celebrates the journey to greener lifestyles. We hope you'll join us!

How to stay organic & fresh without spending too much green?

Are you as nervous about the economy as I am? All of these uncertainties about Wall Street and the impact on the economy and job security have got me rattled. My family is trying to cut back everywhere, and it's made grocery shopping a real challenge. I look at the milk section. I could spend hours looking at the milk section. Do I spend $7 on a gallon of organic milk or half that on a gallon of non-organic, rBST-free milk. Do I continue to spend $5/dozen on the local, pasture-raised chicken eggs from the farmer's market, or do I go with the so-called 'free-range' eggs for $2.50/dozen at the grocery store? I try to focus on the long-term impacts: definitely want to support local and organic farmers and definitely want to feed my family the healthiest food possible. Knowing that I could probably slice my grocery bill in half, though, does make it tempting to choose the less expensive options.

One bright spot: a friend is giving us his upright freezer for free. So I can justify a trip to the distant bakery outlet where our expensive sandwich bread is discounted and buy up ten loaves at once. When that organic chicken is on sale, we can load up. Cutting back on our consumption of meat would definitely help us save money. And given the amount of organic yogurt we eat around here, I think it's finally time to try making our own. But, at the end of October our CSA program will be over for the year, and I'll be back to paying a premium for veggies at the grocery store. It's a real juggle.

Are you feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Are you making any trade-offs? What are your best tips for feeding your family the freshest, healthiest food possible without breaking the bank?

[And, hey, Portlanders. Have you been wanting to try out New Seasons' home delivery? If you click on their ad on our sidebar, you can try your first delivery for FREE. It's typically $9.95. Give it a try! I've used this service a ton, and I do find that when I shop online I can save money because I'm not tempted to impulsively buy stuff we don't really need. Plus, while I'm shopping online I can check the pantry and fridge to see what we already have.]

Another Successful "Green" Birthday Party!

My daughter turned 5 last week, so a birthday party was inevitable. We decided to have her party at our local park and make it as green as we could. It turned out fabulous and everyone had an amazing time!

I used my same basket of plates, cups, utensils that I used for my son's birthday party back in March. This time I cut up some thermal material to make cloth napkins (thanks for the idea, Renee!). We didn't really need a lot of games for the party since it was at the park, but my daughter really wanted a pinata. She and my husband made the pinata using an old cardboard box, flour, water, and newspaper. It was surprisingly easy and very cheap! 

As for goody bags, we decorated paper lunch bags as puppets and included a cloth napkin for every child. Once they broke the pinata, they were able to stuff their bags with candy and hopefully will reuse them as puppets once they got home!

Disposable hat. Useless products. Buyer beware.

I did not mean to buy a disposable hat, but that is in fact what I did. A little background. On our family vacation to Florida last summer, I knew there was no way we'd leave this tourist magnet without spending a little bit of money on souvenirs. Gift shops abounded. We were shocked and horrified at how much some of the Disneyfied trinkets go for. So the siren call of the mermaid store, which was between Disney World and our vacation rental, soon became irresistible. She beckoned not only with her giant mermaid sculpted body in bas relief along the expanse of the storefront -- but with shopping teases such as "beach towels as low as $2.99!" and "Disney t-shirts for $1.99." Sure, we knew all this stuff would be poorly made, overseas, probably in sweatshops. But the alternative was spending about ten times as much for the same stuff in Disney shops. So we stopped to shop.

We spent a long time shopping. I told my two daughters they could each pick one thing. My younger daughter had a hard time deciding. After picking up and putting down about 200 items, she settled on a toy Tinkerbell made-in-China cell-phone that started falling apart before we were even 10 minutes from the store. Price: $9.99. My older daughter, ever practical, opted for a sun hat. I was overjoyed. What a wonderful, useful souvenir! What a sensible child I have raised! I have not been good at enforcing sunscreen and hats when we work in the garden, but felt this would make that job easier if she could wear a hat of her own choosing. Price: $12.99. Much self-congratulation for not spending a lot of cash on souvenirs.

Now, I have done a good job in recent years of religiously reading the labels of all foods we buy. We routinely say "no" to the overly processed, high fructose corn syrup, GMO, individually packaged, trans-fat containing food-like substances (thank you Michael Pollan). Woe to me for not examining the label on my daughter's hat. It reads: "100% paper."

What's for breakfast?

What are you guys eating for breakfast? Around my house, the kids and I usually eat whole wheat toast schmeared with peanut butter and honey; Nancy's yogurt with granola; or eggs and toast when I feel like making it. When berries and other fruits are in season, I'll add some to the offerings. My husband is wedded to his Barbara's Shredded Oats. I'm not complaining because I'm just happy he's eating something in the morning, and the handful of ingredients in that cereal are pretty good. Shredded Oats is the only cold cereal (well, other than granola) we buy anymore. After a local store stopped carrying Clifford Crunch a couple of years ago, I just stopped buying cold cereal for the kids. I really want them to get a good dose of protein in the morning and fuel their day with something other than sugar.

I'd love to expand our breakfast repertoire, but it's going to take some planning. I admire Angry Chicken's tactic of baking muffins on the weekend and freezing them. Each night she takes out enough for breakfast, and by morning they are thawed and ready. This would of course require me to bake a healthy muffin -- a scary proposition. I can easily ruin a batch of brownies from a mix, let alone muffins from scratch. French toast seems like it could be do-able. I'm determined to make a palatable hot cereal for my kids this winter -- be it oatmeal or another grain -- perhaps by adding our stash of frozen berries and maybe some honey or maple syrup. I think I need to experiment on the weekends to see what my kids will actually eat.

What does the breakfast scene look like at your house?

Chicken lays first egg. There was much rejoicing!

I was starting to think they were deadbeat chickens. Defective layers. Ungrateful compost eaters! But finally. One chicken stepped up and nestled herself in the egg box, and produced the incredible, edible egg. Isn't it a beauty??

Sometimes a discrete, well-worded letter is all it takes... No, actually it took something else. I've been heavy into Chicken Mom duties as our neighbors have been away for two weeks. During this absence, there was a near food crisis. They had grit, they had oyster shell, but the grain feed runneth low. So there I am google searching "what do chickens eat." Since we've seen them eat their own feathers, slugs, worms, carrot tops and pretty much anything else we'd throw into our compost bin -- I wasn't too worried. But the mom in me wanted them to have a well balanced diet. By lucky happenstance, I came across a container of free oats. But in my searching I found a helpful site about what chickens eat, as well as a tidbit explaining that if you don't gather the eggs quickly enough, they stop laying. It occured to me that the plastic Easter eggs we'd put in the egg boxes to teach them where to lay may have backfired and taught them NOT to lay. So I took the fake eggs out Saturday morning, and voila! First egg was layed that afternoon. As you can imagine, we are all quite proud of our little egg!