Mom Goes Green

(This giveaway is now closed for entries… see “comments” for the winner!)

You got it, baby!… this one is for baby (and peace of mind for mommy and daddy too!)

It’s been a few years since either of my babies were actually babies but I certainly still take extra care in making sure their bath and body products meet my standards! You would be shocked (SHOCKED!) to know what’s contained in some of the better-known commercial products too.  Quite honestly, it’s awful…

But, not these products, my friends!  Mild by Nature has a fantastic line of Shampoo & Body Washes, Hair Conditioner, Everyday Lotion (scented and unscented), Bubble Bath and Bitty Bottom Cream. They literally take care of your baby from head to toe.  Okay, truth be told, they’re great for anyone, including my  6- and 9-year old “babies” and I’m considering arm-wrestling one (or both) of them for the Everyday Lotion!

The great thing about these products is their on-going  commitment to using only the best ingredients.  They like to say that their products contain NO “No-No’s”: No sulfates, parabens, dyes, animal testing or animal ingredients.  They DO contain natural and naturally-derived ingredients including beneficial oils and extracts that smell amazing.   I especially like that they cross-reference information and data about all of their ingredients to make sure they give us only the very best products.  Impressive, right?…

… and you want to try them out, don’t you? How about one of each product then… just leave a comment here saying who you’d like to win these for (you CAN say yourself!), or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog. Facebook friends can also leave a comment to be entered. The winner will be randomly selected on October 18! (U.S. entries only… sorry.)

So there you have it, baby… another chance to win!

(This giveaway is now closed for entries… see “comments” for the winner!)

Yes, that cliché use of the word “bee” is referring to exactly what you’d think… those amazing little creatures we rely upon to pollinate a substantial portion of our food supply. My husband swears by bee pollen, in fact.  He takes a dose each and every day by way of JOEBEES, for nutrition and energy.

Aside from the pollination work of our busy bees, they also provide fabulous honey… and Beecology has formulated some amazing body products just for us. Everyone will love these body washes, hand and body creams and lip balms.  Everything is paraben- and preservative-free, but chock full of renewable, sustainable ingredients that nature provides!

Not only are Beecology’s products great but they’re also “pollinating society with charity”! 10% of the profits from the sale of their products will be donated to the charity of your choice.  (See why I like them!?) You can GET some great products and GIVE to a great cause!

I think you should check them out now… but, is anyone interested in winning some products?  How about three Body Washes in all three scents (peppermint, grapefruit & lemongrass, and lavender w/bergamot!), an Original Honey Hand & Body Cream and two Beeswax Lip Balms?!?!

YES, you say?  Well then, just leave a comment here saying you’d like to win, or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog. Facebook friends can also leave a comment to be entered. The winner will be randomly selected on October 12! (U.S. entries only… sorry.)

Now, shoo!… go check them out & enter to win… you’ll BEE happy you did! (Sorry, I just had to!)

Mom Goes Green is always sharing ways to try to improve the things around you… your family’s daily life, your home, your community, our planet.  But what about you? What’s a stressed-out and tired Green Mom to do?

Well, this weekend is a long holiday weekend for many of us.  Why not take time for YOU (for a change!)? Here are three simple ways (with relatively earth-friendly twists) to naturally rejuvenate and leave the stress behind (even if only for a night!):

• Go ahead and splurge – take a bath and add some natural and organic bath salts.  Studies show that the salts increase prolactin levels by up to a third and help in relaxation!
• Grab a cup of hot organic coffee or tea – it can actually trigger psychological warmth and pleasant feelings, even after only holding it for 10 seconds!  For a natural antidepressant, add a nice spice… cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, you choose.
• Turn off the TV and read – stimulating your mind actually creates happiness.  To be eco-friendly, borrow books from the library or a friend, make your purchase at a used book store or, for the avid reader, buy a Kindle or Nook.

There you have it… simple steps… and what it takes for a stressed Green Mom to shake the blues!

Everyone knows the standard list of ways to go green in the bathroom (and I’m not talking about all of those green beers you’re planning to drink next week for St. Patrick’s Day!).  I’m talking about turning off the water while you brush your teeth, low-flow shower heads, water efficient toilets, chemical-free cleaners, short showers and low-volume baths… okay, you’ve heard them all, but what about those little things you overlook?

Think there aren’t any?  Well, think again… here are some things you may have missed:

• Soap – choose bar soaps over liquid shower gels and avoid excess plastic packaging. Although many of the bottles are recyclable, the caps often aren’t.

• Cosmetic foundations & eyeliners – choose foundation sold in glass bottles or jars over those in plastic tubes and containers so they can be recycled. Choose wooden pencil eyeliners over plastic tubes too.

• Shampoos – (if you must use a conditioner) choose a 2-in-1 product where the shampoo and conditioner are combined.  You will use one less container but also shorten your shower by skipping an extra step.

• Razors – choose a refillable razor versus disposables.  Plastic razors simply become needless trash.

• Toilet paper – choose recycled content toilet paper… a simple choice.

• Q-tips – choose those with a paper spindle instead of plastic… plain and simple also.

• Antibacterials soaps – skip them… they do more harm than good.  (Read more here.)

• Towels – choose bamboo options.  They’re soft, snuggly and (most important) sustainable!  Organic cotton towels are another great choice.

• Greywater – Add a bucket in the shower with you and capture it!  Showers actually account for over a quarter of a home’s typical water usage, and there are plenty of uses for this greywater.

• Shower curtins – avoid the additional plastic liner.  Instead choose a curtain that is waterproofed on the inside without the plastic.

Now, what you consume on St. Patrick’s Day is all your own business, but with these tips you can “go green” in the bathroom the more natural way!

I sure hope you entered the White Cloud GreenEarth “Imagination Unrolled” contest, because today a few families have a lot of extra cash in their pocket!  I would love to know if one of the winners is a Mom Goes Green reader (and I won’t even ask for a commission or “finders fee”, I promise!).

You might recall that the contest encouraged you and/or your children to let your creativity flow and put together a craft project using toilet paper and paper towel tubes, the packaging and/or the product!  The grand prize winner received $1000(!) and two runners-up received $500 each!  The winners are shown here and I hope one of them is yours!

Even if you didn’t enter you can still visit MyWhiteCloud.com and get ideas for making some fantastic crafts that would make the perfect holiday gift for someone special.  It’s amazing what you can do with some tubes and an active imagination!

It’s also an appropriate time to add that the average household output of trash actually increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s (yikes!) so you should be sure to visit your local Walmart and pick up some White Cloud GreenEarth toilet paper (bath tissue!).  Remember that White Cloud GreenEarth is always made from 100% post consumer fibers so hopefully, while you keep your holiday trash volume at a minimum, GreenEarth can help offset some of the other waste that happens this time of year!

I’ve included a coupon so you can keep a little extra cash in your pocket too… we could all use a little savings right now, couldn’t we?

(Disclosure: I am a White Cloud blogger.  While I am compensated for my time, my opinions are entirely my own.  White Cloud neither directs nor edits my posts, comments, views or opinions.)

So, imagine this scenario:  You find yourself shopping for a product and, among the array of choices, you notice “unscented” or “fragrance-free”.  You might opt to choose one of these over a scented variety because it implies that there is at least one less additive in the product.  But are these terms synonymous? And do YOU know the difference?

Until recently, I didn’t.  I mistakenly assumed they meant the same thing.  Guess what?  I was wrong.

“Fragrance-free” does mean that there is nothing added to the product, but unscented is a whole different ball game.  In fact, “unscented” is a fragrance additive, used to mask any other chemical smells, and it most likely contains phthalates.  What’s bothersome is that phthalates are known hormone disruptors and can affect fertility in both men and women.

Sure, some of us may not have family planning in our near future, and our brood may already be complete, but isn’t this a chemical we’d all simply like to leave out of our systems?

Stay “free” of the phthalates and, given the choice, always choose “fragrance-free”!

So, I recently told you about my participation in a blind test of White Cloud’s GreenEarth 100% recycled fiber toilet paper (bath tissue!) versus the leading recycled brand.  And yes, in the Mom Goes Green family opinion, GreenEarth is the clear winner in the recycled TP world, but now YOU have the opportunity to “unroll your imagination” and win some serious cash!

This “Imagination Unrolled” contest encourages you and/or your children to let your creativity flow and put together a craft project using toilet paper and paper towel tubes, the packaging and/or the product!  And it just so happens today is “America Recycles Day”, so it’s the perfect time to get those wheels turning and dream up your best idea imaginable of how to recycle and CREATE!  The grand prize winner will receive $1000(!) and two runners-up will receive $500 each… Once your creation is complete, submit the photo to:  http://MyWhiteCloud.com/Imagination

Voting is now open, so don’t wait!  The entry with the highest number of votes on December 3 wins big (plus two runners-up!).  And even if you aren’t feeling creative, just VOTE! You can vote for all of your favorites but only one vote per entry each day.

Now, I admit, I’m not the most crafty creature on the planet (by far!), but even the Mom Goes Green family is taking a shot at it!  My “family pirate” was committed to creating this spyglass so we can spot those scurvy dogs and scallywags that come to pillage and plunder our treasures!  Arggggg! All it took was some toilet paper and paper towel tubes, recycled aluminum foil, a bottle cap with the end cut off and skulls & crossbones printed on the opposite side of a piece of paper bound for recycling!

Now… “get ye selves to creatin’ and a votin’, Mom Goes Green crew, or we’ll make ye walk the plank!”

(Disclosure: I am a White Cloud blogger.  While I am compensated for my time, my opinions are entirely my own.  White Cloud neither directs nor edits my posts, comments, views or opinions.)

Yesterday, I posted the Mom Goes Green family opinion for our “Rate the Rolls” Challenge.  We tried two brands of 100% recycled content toilet paper (bath tissue!).  One was White Cloud’s GreenEarth, the other was the leading competitor, but we didn’t know which one was which. Today we got the results…

So, did we pick GreenEarth? Drumroll, pleeeeze… we did! They’ve won us over… and, ironically the other brand was Seventh Generation and that is the brand that my husband nixed when I tried to make the first switcheroo!  Fortunately I have his blessing to begin buying GreenEarth (woohoo!) and buying recycled is really important to me.  In fact, if every U.S. household replaced just one 500-sheet roll of regular TP with one recycled roll, it would save nearly 423,900 trees annually. Now, that’s a big deal!

I also now know that while both brands are 100% recycled, White Cloud GreenEarth is always made from 100% post consumer fibers, while Seventh Generation only promises 80% post consumer.  Another big bonus in my book!

I hope you’ll take the challenge too and just give it a try.  For now, GreenEarth is available exclusively at Walmart, and you can save some “green” by downloading the coupon below!

If you give it a try, let me know what YOU think.  Now click, print, buy and… well, you can handle the rest of it!

(Disclosure: I am a White Cloud blogger. While I am compensated for my time, my opinions are entirely my own. White Cloud neither directs nor edits my posts, comments, views or opinions.)

Loyal readers know all about my on-going search for the “right” brand of recycled content toilet paper.  I’ve tried to make several changes from our regular “cushy” brand but my husband immediately called a foul every time and insisted I stop messing with the “business”!

So, when White Cloud offered to let me take their “Rate the Rolls” Challenge, I jumped at the chance.  They sent two rolls of toilet paper (okay, bath tissue, if you prefer!) simply marked “A” and “B”.  Both are made from 100% recycled fiber and, obviously, one is White Cloud’s “GreenEarth” brand and the other is the leading competitor, but I have NO idea which one is which.

Without any other information, here is what the Mom Goes Green family concluded:

• Roll “B” simply looked more “user-friendly”, if you will.  It appeared fluffier and even whiter.
• There didn’t seem to be a dramatic difference in thickness, although I will admit that there may have been a psychological advantage to the quilted appearance of Roll “B”… Roll “A” looked a bit flat and less inviting.
• As far as softness, they were fairly close, but we all agreed that Roll “B” had an ever-slight advantage… even when you crinkled it in your hand, the “crinkle-sound-factor” was a bit less for Roll “B”.
• Without getting too graphic(!) they felt fairly similar when… umm, “used”.  I’ll just leave it at that.  Stalemate.

All things considered, what did the MGG family choose?  Drumroll, please!…  Roll “B”!  While there weren’t extreme advantages, Roll “B” just seemed a bit closer to what we’re all used to (and my husband even agreed he would give a thumbs-up to Roll “B”!)  Knowing that they’re both 100% recycled content, we’d choose Roll “B”, every time.  And let’s face it, there is a psychology to everything we choose… while our own families might not care so much what our toilet paper (bath tissue!) looks like, we never want guests in our home to feel like we stole our TP from a public restroom or put out the cheap stuff!

Did we pick White Cloud’s GreenEarth? I have no idea.  They haven’t told me yet!  Stay tuned to find out… you’ll know when we do!

(Disclosure: I am a White Cloud blogger.  While I am compensated for my time, my opinions are entirely my own.  White Cloud neither directs nor edits my posts, comments, views or opinions.)

Yes, will the worries ever cease… it seems not, because after researching new bath products for our kids I not only discovered some potential candidates, but also reasons to worry.

It seems there are some serious, and harmful, chemical “monsters” lurking in far too many children’s bath products.  This includes the most common products we all used on our babies (and often continue to use) – Johnson & Johnson, Gerber, Baby Magic and L’Oreal – all are major offenders.

And the two scariest ingredients, you ask? They are 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde (doesn’t THAT one conjure up some horrible images?).  Both are known carcinogens and unbelievably harsh on the skin, especially for young children.

1,4-dioxane is common in personal care products as a foaming agent.  Of course the ingredients won’t actually list it under this name, so avoid ingredients called sodium laureth sulfate, PEG-100 stearate, polyethylene, myreth, oleth and ceteareth-20.

Formaldehyde comes into play when common preservatives (like parabens) used in the bath products release formaldehyde but, of course, this won’t be on the ingredients list either!  Instead, look for and avoid names like quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea and diazolidinyl urea.

It’s absolutely mind boggling.  Sometimes I truly don’t know what to look for and what to avoid, because it seems we need a chemistry degree to have the ability to read between the lines (and I think manufacturers count on that)!

I have heard good things about both Gaia and Weleda, as well as the line of Burt’s Bees Baby (often much easier to find at a local retailer) but we’re currently giving Organix South TheraNeem a try!  The kid’s Shampoo & Bodywash and Conditioner are in use and (as far as my “non-chemistry-degreed-self” can decipher!) they don’t contain any of these scary ingredients!  I also find it fairly interesting that they seems to work wonderfully (and make our kids smell fabulously citrus-y) but they don’t foam-up as much as the common brands and aren’t nearly as thick… hmmm?  A likely side effect of what happens when you remove some of the bad stuff!

I know it will take extra effort, but there are plenty of products out there that are safer options.  If you have something you recommend, please share!

But whatever you do, don’t settle for the old stand-bys just because they’re easy to find and an ad campaign and some slick marketer appealed to your emotional side to sell a product.  Believe me, I used to be one of “them” and things aren’t always as they seem.