Literature That Has and Continues To Inspire Me

Since this blog is to be a record of experiences and inspiration I thought it appropriate to record some of the writings that have affected me over the years. I think you can learn much about a person by examining their interests.

1. The Bible: The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
2. Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich
3. G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide by Elisabeth Hasselbeck
4. Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck
5. Minimalist blog by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus
6. Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry
7. The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living by Scott Nearing

8. Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine

9. Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter, and Simplify by Francine Jay

10. Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

Maybe you've enjoyed reading some of the same titles. What book has inspired you? Please comment so that others can savor it too.

The Television is History!

This week was a first for us...we decided to take the television off the wall and put it out of sight. Did we die of boredom? Nope. The opposite came true. In my mind, I was more relaxed. The kids didn't have as many spats amongst themselves and I think the week was just all around better.

Isn't it true that sometimes the technology around us changes our thinking patterns. We know instant gratification is right by the 'ON' button. It's there lurking, waiting, waiting...will you do it? Will you? You know that it will make you feel better. It promises to help us forget our troubles and live in someone else's home, their life which inherently looks better than ours, right? 

The grass is always greener on the other side, until you realize that it's only synthetic grass!

Why not try to live without your television for a week and choose to refocus on the little pleasures life grants you? 

My Plastic Free & Minimalist Baby Diapers

Most of you know by now that I had my third child in May. He's a beautiful, bouncing boy! Meet Jonah...

He along with my older two children are a great source of joy. With babies come more "things" and most of those perceived needs are commonly "plastic things." The most prolific plastic baby item is definitely diapers. The average child will use more than 2,700 diapers in the first year alone, which can add up to more than $550 (based on an average price of $0.20 per disposable diaper). The average baby will use 3,500 - 4,000 diapers before potty training is completed. 

I have an intense dislike of disposable diapers for many reasons. The first one that comes to my mind is that they really don't seem to do my baby justice to contain the 'leftovers' that his body can produce. If you've changed many diapers you know exactly what I mean...the leg gussets aren't sufficient or the waist band. It always seems to escape the hatches up the back, out the legs. GROSS!

My beautiful mother cloth diapered four out of five of her children during the 1980s and 1990s. I remember her hanging the cloth diapers out on the clothes line. Such a fond memory. When we were expecting our first child I informed my husband of my desire to cloth diaper our baby. At the time he had just retired, due to a medical injury, from his career as a professional fire fighter. You can only imagine the things that he encountered during his daily duties in public service. However, when it came to changing baby #2 diapers he freaked out. I still remember him using a spatula to remove the solids from the diaper in the toilet while holding his nose. Holy cow, if he got pooped on by the baby or the baby's tummy was upset, the neighbors could hear his screech a mile down the road. Three babies later, we're still cloth diapering and his screech has lessened. His dislike of changing poopy diapers will always be there no matter how many he changes - cloth or disposable.

The beautiful thing about cloth diapers is that the waste rarely exits the diaper unwanted. When I first made the decision to cloth diaper, I purchased my cotton pre-fold diapers and organic Little Beetle wool diaper covers. The initial cost was an investment. It cost around $500 for the whole shebang - diapers, cover, pins, wet bags, etc. This investment covered the entire diaper experience for our first and second child. I finally decided to part with my cloth diapers last year. One month later, I found out that I was pregnant!

With Little Beetle no longer in business and my love of wool diaper covers, I decided to take on the task of making my own upcycled wool diaper covers. My motivation came after seeing a couple handmade diaper covers by Ozark Mountain Mama. She makes beautiful covers! We excitedly started frequenting thrift stores in search of 100% wool items to craft into our own covers for Jonah. It wasn't difficult to locate the wool at all. I got such an adrenaline rush when I would find a sweater with moth holes that had finished it's useful life as a sweater and now would have a second life on my baby's bottom. What can be more zero waste about that!

Next I thought, if I can make wool diaper covers why not my own pre-fold diapers? I set my mind to making a minimum of one dozen newborn and one dozen infant pre-fold diapers out of 100% cotton t-shirts and an old flannel blanket. I had many remnants left from the t-shirts and thought why can't I turn these into my wipes? Yes, the remaining t-shirt pieces and sometimes sleeves were cut into 8 x 8 inch squares to be used as diaper wipes.

I have never been a inventive person, creating my own patterns. But I can follow instructions well to create almost anything. So I found a few ideas & patterns that other bloggers had already published and got to work. Here's a great blog by Rita. We diaper Jonah with three soft wool diaper covers (in each size) and two dozen pre-fold cloth diapers. Now that I've made the same pattern several times, I can whip them up fast! I hope to keep my 4,000 diapers out of the landfill. I love my minimalist, plastic free diaper routine and wouldn't change it.

If you'd like to see step by step instructions & pictures please post a comment to the blog page.

Show Your Plastic Challenge: Week 6

SHOW YOUR PLASTIC CHALLENGE - WEEK 6

Total - 61 PIECES, 25 OZ

After 6 weeks, I feel a sense of, umm, not of failure but of disappointment. With expectations set high I wanted to see significant change by now. I've been working hard to ensure that my bread is homemade, we do without conveniences, sourcing plastic free food locally, etc. Yet why do I not see a change in the amount of plastic consumed? Each week there is a new hurdle to jump over or through. Do I feel pulled by alluring packaging? Less work, immediate gratification. Wow, advertising does a doozy to our minds! Remember...life style change!

I'm still determined to keep treading water to prevent this plastic sea from swallowing me!

SHOW YOUR PLASTIC: WEEK 6

                 

Recently we welcomed a few laying hens to our flock and as a result were in need of cedar shavings for our chicken house. Ordinarily I would pick up a big plastic wrapped bale of shavings from the feed store. Here in North Central Arkansas we are surrounded by logging companies and tree mills. As I was driving through our town one day, on the same route I always drive, a light bulb came on. Why do I pay some unknown company across the country to ship plastic encased cedar shavings to Wal-mart or the feed store when I drive by a cedar mill everyday?

The answer can be summed in one word - CONVENIENCE.

When we go to a big chain store, it's a one stop shopping experience. They have programmed our brains to believe that every need can be met within the four walls of the megaplex SUPERSTORE. It's funny, I've hardly been in those stores lately. They don't sell very much that I want to buy. I decided to call our local cedar mill and ask if I could buy some of their 'waste,' leftover cedar shavings. The end result of a brief phone call was that we were able, for free, to load as much of the shavings as we wanted. We brought a couple of garbage cans and a big shovel and filled up without any expense or plastic consumption.

The lesson for me was: (1) don't be afraid to ask and (2) think outside the big plastic box that I've been trained by for so long.

PLASTIC FREE PROGRESS:

• I do see the plastic in my cupboards lessening. My husband is having withdrawals!
• If we do have a processed food: bread, crackers, chips, etc. I try to limit it to one product per day.
• We did without store bought sweets/cookies this week. I didn't buy any!
• I contacted Enjoy Life Foods about plastic packaging.

SUMMARY:

Week 1 Total - 52 items, 13 oz

Week 2 Total - 59 items, 18 oz

Week 3 Total - 44 items, 14.1 oz

Week 4 Total - 50 items, 17.9 oz

Week 5 Total - 37 items, 12 oz

Week 6 Total - 61 items, 25 oz

GOALS:

• Source local honey in my own refillable jars.
• Make homemade crackers.
• Make another batch baby wipe solution (baby care post to come)

I CHALLENGE YOU TO TRY TO THINK OUTSIDE THE PLASTIC BOX THIS WEEK!