Hello, Friends! How have you been? I haven’t written “A Few Green Things” in quite some time. I have been super busy building my virtual assistant firm and as you may have noticed, I have hired a few writers to help ensure that Sweet Greens is being updated with great green content each week! In fact, if you are interested in being a contributor,please email me, I would love to chat!
Eben started 8th grade this week – it really is amazing how quickly time flies. He was only 8 years old when I started writing Sweet Greens and now he is in his last year of middle school. Can you believe that it is almost September? I am already dreaming of our fall family trip – it is quickly approaching. Do you have any fall family traditions that you are looking forward to? A favorite pumpkin patch? Apple orchard? Fall hiking trail? While I lay back and dream of fun fall activities, here are a few green things I thought you might enjoy!
Back-to-school time is upon us which means most kids will need a new fall and winter wardrobe. Because buying a new wardrobe each season can get expensive and wasteful. I have been working with ECOlunchbox to help your family go green and buy smart, so we’re sharing a few ways to keep the process green and thrifty. Read on for our top 4 ways to save money and go green when purchasing your student’s back-to-school wardrobe.
#1: Buy Second Hand Thrift stores and garage sales are usually great places to find kids’ clothes because kids tend to only wear their wardrobe for a season before they’ve grown out of it, thus providing you with a selection of used clothes in pretty great condition—at a much lower price! If the thought of thrift stores turns you off, seek out local consignment stores where the selection is likely to be a little newer and higher-end. The one item I don’t usually purchase second hand is kids’ shoes. Properly-fitted, comfortable shoes are so essential—it’s best to buy these new or acquire a used pair from someone you know, perhaps at a clothing swap.
#2: Arrange a Clothing Swap Finding a hand-me-down buddy, or someone who’s always willing to give you the clothes their slightly older kid has just grown out of, is also great, but with a clothing swap you get to give back while offloading some outgrown clothes! Clothing swaps for kids tend to work best with a group of families with kids in several different age groups so that you’re not just exchanging too-small clothes for new too-small clothes. Families with multiple kids or siblings staggered between your kids will do just fine! Set a date, time, and pick a house and bring gently worn, washed and folded clothing to the swap—oh yeah, and don’t forget to bring your kids! You’ll want to be able to use the old hold up method or let your kids try on the clothes to make sure they’ll fit. Bringing the kids along also gives them a chance to pick out a few pieces themselves.
#3: Go Green & Local When Buying New If there are clothing items you can’t find used, consider eco-friendly and sustainable companies to purchase new items from. There are tons of brands and smaller businesses selling organic, sustainably made kids’ clothes just a Google away, and some big box stores like H&M even have organic lines for little ones.
#4: Keep Clothes Nice One of the best ways to preserve clothing so that it can be passed down to younger siblings, donated, or re-sold at consignment to bring some cash back in is to keep it nice enough to be reused. When clothing encounters a stain, treat it with a non-toxic stain remover before throwing it in the wash so that the stain isn’t set forever. Having a few sets of “weekend clothes”, casual, or lounge clothes at home for your kids to change into after school is also a great way to preserve the life of their school clothes—and help them get cozy and settled into homework time!
These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg! What eco-friendly, back-to-school wardrobe tips does your family have?
Full Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored 10 post series with EcoLunchbox – you can find all 10 posts below:
During the month of July, you can help donate a tree just by tweeting! The folks at the blog, Choose Cartons, are partnering with Trees for the Future to donate a tree each time the hashtag #shopcartons is mentioned!
By partnering with Trees for the Future, Choose Cartons, an Evergreen Packaging initiative, aims to help replant as many of the valuable resources they use for their packaging as possible.
In fact, they are donating up to 10,000 trees during the month of July. All you have to do is tweet. Pretty cool, huh?
Learn more about !
Choose Cartons is a blog for eco-conscious parents (particularly moms!) that teaches the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling through DIY projects, up-cycled crafts, and fresh ideas. They also speak to the importance of using renewable resources, and as the name suggests, the positive effects of choosing cartons at the grocery store!
Top 3 Reasons You Should Choose Cartons at the Grocery Store:
They are recyclable & renewable
Cartons keep the contents inside super fresh
Cartons take up less space in your fridge so you can buy even more groceries for the kids!
A water tornado, otherwise known as a waterspout is exactly that a tornado that forms over water. I remember the first time that I saw a water tornado (waterspout), the mister and I were on our honeymoon in the Florida Keys and were several miles off the coast, snorkeling at a reef. While they were in the distance, I didn’t find it to be scary and wasn’t really even concerned! Since we are camping on the beach, the mister and I like to spend some of our mornings sitting next to the ocean while we drink our coffee, observe wildlife and chat. Last week while in the Florida Keys, we got another show entirely – we sat and watched a large thunderstorm in the distance that was shooting off water tornadoes left and right.
Here are some photos I took of one forming:
It was very cool to sit and watch them happening in the distance, but now as a mother whose child was a few feet away sleeping the in the RV, I couldn’t help but think, “Please do not get bigger and please do not come this way!”
Have you experienced any interesting summer weather? I would love to hear!
Hello, Friends! We are still in the Florida Keys enjoying our family summer vacation. We have been spending our mornings paddleboarding and our afternoons snorkeling and beach-combing. We even spent one entire afternoon relaxing – which means the mister and dogs took a nap, Eben drew and read and I caught up on a little blogging! It was so nice, especially since we spent the entire day before paddleboarding, snorkeling and kayaking (my arms are sore!)
We are still trying to decide how we want to spend our 4th of July evening. Some years while in the Keys, we have visited a nearby town for a 4th of July celebration with fireworks and patriotic music on the beach, other years we have hiked to the top of the old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge and watched a different type of fireworks display, bio-luminescence in the ocean below! To be honest, the latter is my favorite! I have my fingers crossed that is what the boys want to do tonight! And of course, sometime today we have to stop by the marina to pick up an ice-cream cone to cool off!
I hope you are spending the long weekend eating watermelon, sipping lemonade and maybe even snoozing in a hammock with someone you love!
Hello, Friends! How have you been? I haven’t written “A Few Green Things” in quite some time. I have been super busy building my virtual assistant firm and as you may have noticed, I have hired a few writers to help ensure that Sweet Greens is being updated with great green content each week! In fact, if you are interested in being a contributor,please email me, I would love to chat!
