Opened Eyes: saving money

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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Green week 4

I can't believe April is over. What a busy month it was. I figured since I've been busy talking about educating ourselfs about toxic chemicals in our cleaners at Earth Day Events I'd use that as some of my green tips.

Green Tips:

** Educate yourself and your kids. Learning about the ways to go green is one of the most important things you can do, and as I saw over the last 2 weekends there are many interactive activities at Earth Day Events for kids to learn. When I was in school they also had activities for use, find out if there's something going on in your area where you can take your kids out to.
**One great way to go green and include your kids is to have your own garden, you and your family will enjoy watching the plants grow and eating the fruits of your labor :) I look forward to planting our own garden this year although we're still deciding on where we're going to place the garden.
** Hang up your laundry to dry instead of using the dryer and reduce the amount of electricity you use. Also with laundry wait until you have a full load instead of doing mini loads. You can also use a green laundry detergent, softer, and dryer sheets. These dryer sheets go right in your paper recycling when you're done. And this stain remover and laundry booster can double as a toilet bowl cleaner and is safe enough that it won't hurt your pets if they accidentally drink it.

Green website/paper: www.worldwatch.org

This site talks about why going green is important and ways to do so and also gives you resources to buy about sustainable living.

Green Person: The Late Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work in planting trees in her home country of Kenya, Africa. She founded the Green Belt Movement which has planted over 30million trees in Africa!
I learned of her because she is very well respected in the Shaklee community this year I learned about the I am the Humming Bird campaign where this year Shaklee has a goal of planting 1 billion trees world wide in honor of the late Wangari Maathai.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Green Day 2

Green Tip: Eat less meat.

I read this in a book last week and found it interesting although I don't remember the name of the book I remember how it said that by eating 2-4pounds less of red meat we would be saving as much water as if we didn't shower everyday for a year! Wow since I do like to shower a bit on the longer side that's a great way to save water so we've started doing this! Then today I learned that there are a lot more reasons we need to take in less red meat to help the environment, like saving gas, money, grain, water, and greenhouse gas.
I don't have any issues with cutting my meat intake. I love fruit, veggies, and grains. My family however does not feel the same way, they are all big meat eaters but I've been very lucky in that my husband has jumped on board and agreed to go vegetarian at least one meal a week. And we have also quit drinking cows milk and found that we love Blue Diamond Almond Coconut Milk better than dairy milk and that it has more calcium. Also Dark Chocolate Almond milk is the best chocolate milk I've ever had!!
I plan on this summer going meatless 2 times a week.

A look at what's in my fridge now...since we couldn't find the Blue Diamond milk that we like so much

Green video: Wall-E

This is a great movie the whole family is sure to love. My husband probably watches it more than my 3year old daughter! There are a few messages in this cartoon: we need to take care of our planet, we are going to start running out of places to put our trash and have to reduce how much we are putting in landfills, we are lazy people and have learned how to become helpless and that we can change. Let us hope that in 100 years this our planet is still beautiful and that this movie is still just fiction.

Green Person: Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee

Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee founded a wonderful company that was created with nature in mind. The company he started has lead the way in many health and environmental ways.
"Follow the laws of nature and you'll never go wrong." -Dr Forrest C Shaklee
Here is a list of just some of the environmental heritage of Dr. Forrest Shaklee:

1956 Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee founds a company based on Living in Harmony with Nature® that is committed to developing products to improve the health of people and the planet.

1970s Shaklee introduces one of the first biodegradable laundry detergents that contains no phosphates, nitrates, or borates.

1987 Shaklee is selected by Jacques Cousteau and the Cousteau Society to provide environmentally friendly

cleaning products for use onboard their research vessels, the Calypso and Alcyone.

1989 Shaklee helps build schools and health clinics and plants more than 1 million trees in Asia through a partnership with the American Himalayan Foundation, an organization chaired by Sir Edmund Hillary

2009 Shaklee commemorates the planting of the 1 millionth tree, a culmination of a three year campaign, “A Million Trees. A Million Dreams, with program Ambassador and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

2009 Shaklee is honored with a Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in recognition of its commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market.

On my facebook page I'm going to keep posting 1 green fact about Shaklee everyday so like it and learn more about this great company Dr. Forrest Shaklee started!!

To learn more about Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee check out these links: youtube, The-Shaklee-Name-History-ebook, The-Shaklee-Story

Thank you Dr. Forrest Shaklee for founding this great company with such a strong foundation that is bonded with nature.

Thank you makers of Wall-E for creating a movie to make kids and parents aware of where our world is headed if we don't change!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Truth about our Cleaning Products

Do you or your children have asthma? Do you get headaches or nauseous while cleaning? Have you ever thought about what's in your cleaners that you use?

I use to gag every time I cleaned because of the fumes, but even so I never thought about my cleaning products as being harmful as long as no one drank them. Then I saw some eye-opening videos and I started to do some digging to find out more. What I found scared me and I hope that by sharing what I've found I'll open everyone's eyes, especially other mothers, that we can all live a little better and healthier and make our world a little more safe and green. I'll have all links at the end of this blog.

The chemicals used in our cleaners have so many side effects that aren't listed on the container...actually most don't list their ingredients at all because they aren't required to. Fragrances are considered trade secrete so the chemicals used to make that scent you may like so much could be what's causing your headaches, allergies, asthma, and many contain phthalates which are know hormone disrupters.

Here are some photos of cleaners I was using before. Notice how they don't list all their ingredients.
What's in the other over 90%?

These chemicals used to make our cleaners have been found and known to be poisonous, cause chemical burns, respiratory irritation, birth defects, cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and more. Many are considered to be hazardous waste and are harmful to people and our environment. And that's just of the chemicals that we know of. There are over 80,000 chemicals in the USA but less than 500 have been tested for toxicity.

Yes, we knew that our cleaners are toxic and to keep them away from our children-it says so right on the bottle, yet 90% of all poisoning occurs at home and household cleaners, particularly those containing Bleach, are the number one cause of poising children!!

Every time we turn around there's something new that causes cancer, so while I was surprised to hear that something we use to avoid getting sick can cause cancer, it's not really that surprising. But the good thing is that by knowing about this we can make changes and reduce our risk.

The rest of the side effects really did surprise me and made me worry...

Did you know that 1 in 10 children had asthma in 2009? And that asthma is the number one reason children go to the hospital? Have you wondered why asthma rates keep rising? Why are kids with no family history of respiratory problems now coming down with them? For the same reason our air pollution levels are 2 to 5 times higher indoors than outside. The same study found that in some cases the pollution levels were 100 times higher. OK, so outside we have cars and factories yet our pollution levels are higher inside our homes which should be safe. The average house has over 62 toxic chemicals in it! Many of these chemicals irritate or even cause asthma. People who have any respiratory issues or heart problems should avoid cleaning with or even being around chlorine bleach and ammonia because they emit such harsh fumes. The fumes are instantly causing irritation to your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. That's just each of the chemicals alone, combine them together or mix them with any other chemicals (especially oven or toilet bowl cleaners) and now there's a lung damaging gas in the air. Read your labels as they will tell you if your cleaner is a respiratory irritant. Look for words saying, "use in well ventilated area" or anything of the sort. It could even be like this one I found on my old toilet bowl cleaner :

It says in bold "Do not close toilet bowl lid" I know I usually close the lid when I clean because I don't want any toys or other items in the house to go in the toilet...and not only that but is your bathroom ventilated well? I know I don't open the windows or turn on the fan in the winter when it's cold out.

Then it goes on to say "Do not use with chlorine bleach or any other chemical products"

This one is big Hazards to humans and domestic Animals I was surprised at looking back at all my other cleaners I uses to use and seeing that label on most of the cleaners! It says it's "Hazards to humans" yet we're cleaning with these, breathing in the fumes or over-spray, and using them around our kids and pets!!

And it doesn't stop there this one goes on to say that you should use protective eye-wear, gloves, and to wash your hands afterward before going to do anything else!

Here are two more photos of the same product:

Where do you store your cleaners? Before I found a safer cleaner, all of my cleaners were together under the sink...that's not well ventilated.

Look at the First Aid Warning label of this

If on the skin rinse with water for up to 20minutes and call poison control...if inhaled move to fresh air, and if not breathing call 911...just from being in contact with a cleaner...yeah that's scary! And this use to be under my sink! Very happy and relived to say it's not anymore.

Many all purpose cleaners that are to be used on counter tops require you to rinse the cleaned surface afterward to make sure you get most of the chemicals off like I found on this bottle:

So why are we using these cleaners that are so harmful? Because they are what we see advertised on TV and in the newspaper, and what we can clip coupons for, convenience, right? I know that was the case for me. Then I'd look at the "green" cleaners and look at the price and say "That's not really in my budget." So I never switched over to the green cleaners because I didn't know how bad cleaners are for us. Now that I know all I do, I also know that not all green cleaners are safe and the words on the labels aren't verified by the government.

I'm very happy to say I've been able to replace all my toxic cleaners for a great safe, non toxic cleaner and I've been able to save myself a lot of money. There are sites out there to find out how to make your own cleaner but I don't want to make my own cleaners out of vinegar or peroxide or anything like that. It seems like a hassle. But this cleaning system I found is a concentrate, and it comes with spray bottles that have how much cleaner you add to the bottle to make your window cleaner, all propose cleaner, degreaser, and there's hundreds of ways to clean with it. It's easy and hassle free! And it works!

I did my research on this company and found that they are the #1 natural nutrition company in the US, they've planted over 1million trees, and are even used in the White House (and have been since 2008)! And they are one of Oprah's favorite products

By buying the whole Get Clean kit to change over all my cleaners for these safe, non toxic, environmental friendly ones I spent $99, saved over $3,000 and have saved the world of 248 pounds of greenhouse gas, and kept 108 pounds of packaging waste out of the landfills. How awesome is that!! Not only is that part amazing but I've also been able to rest easy with cleaning around my daughter. She now loves to help mommy wash the windows, or clean whatever I'm cleaning and I can give her the spray bottle of Get Clean and let her have fun without worrying about her poising herself. It's awesome to know that we have a cleaner that works, (and it does), and it's safe enough for her to use...it won't even hurt her if she drinks it! That made a world of difference in our home.

To learn more about anything I talked about or to look into switching over your cleaners here are all the sites and videos where I've gotten all of my information.

Children Poisoned At Home

Asthma in the US

Air Contaminants -EPA

video: Household cleaners Cause Health Problems

Bleach

video: Toxic World

Indoor Air Quality - EPA

Asthma Triggers

Asthma Statistics

videos: Real Dirt on Clean part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4

video: Oprah and Get Clean

Oprah and going Green