The Wrong Impression?
>> Tuesday, April 3, 2012
I think in some of my conversations with you, my readers, I may have given you the wrong idea that I am somehow much more practiced at the art of living clean than I really am. Honestly, we just embarked last week on living purposefully in this area. It's all very new and I really feel like I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. At times I am also very overwhelmed with where I want to be versus where I am in this process. The only reason we may appear to be farther along than we really are is because I have massive food allergies (gluten, soy, dairy, etc) and we had to eliminate a lot to accommodate me.
Where I want to be:
- making my own lotions, lip balms, and deodorant
- soaking beans from bags
- cooking more
- have Z's snacks be all homemade (applesauce, crackers, cookies, etc)
- shop at farmers markets
- have my snacks be all homemade
- jar my own veggies and beans and spaghetti sauce and tomatoes and fruits
- grow a lot of my own veggies
- use non-toxic homemade cleaners
Where we actually are:
- buying lotions and deodorants (Clean of course)
- using canned beans and veggies & fruit
- I'm not cooking much, Hubby does a lot but he likes it
- Z eats store bought applesauce, crackers, and cookies
- shopping at the commissary and whole foods
- my snacks are often store bought
- I'm not jarring anything yet
- still using store bought cleaners (although what we're using is what we've had - not buying new)
See? We have so much farther to go. And this list is not by any means complete. We still buy a ton of processed foods. And while the goal isn't to get rid of all store bought processed foods, to me that is a big marker of success - when my pantry has more dry goods for baking and cooking from scratch and me-made jarred foods, etc.
Granted, the store bought processed food we buy tends to be organic and with ingredients I actually can pronounce and understand, so I know we're doing better than I feel we often are.
My goals for the rest of April after we get back from Easter Break with Hubby's family:
- Me-made yogurt
- Me-made deodorant
- Me-made lotion
- Me-made lip balm
- Eliminating canned beans
- Me-made applesauce for Z
- Switching to me-made home cleaners
Processed Foods we buy that I don't plan on changing:
- frozen peas and carrots and other veggies
- Pacific Natural Soups
- Lara Bars
- Terra Chips (occasionally)
- Annie's Organic snacks for Z (until I figure out g-free alternatives)
- canned tomatoes (until I figure out how to jar my own from fresh)
I'm sure there is more, but right now that's what I can think of.
Honestly, I cannot recommend the book Making It enough. I cannot believe how simple it is to make my own stuff and how cheap it is overall, once the raw materials are purchased. I priced everything on Amazon for lip balm, deodorant, and lotion ingredients and up front it will cost me about $80 with an additional $24 in shipping, but I'm buying stuff in 16 oz or 1lb quantities. I'm guessing that I'll need to replenish my ingredient stock maybe every 6 months to a year. Or maybe even less. Much much cheaper than buying lotion or lip balm or deodorant at the store, especially clean varieties like Burt's Bees, etc.
Where I want to be:
- making my own lotions, lip balms, and deodorant
- soaking beans from bags
- cooking more
- have Z's snacks be all homemade (applesauce, crackers, cookies, etc)
- shop at farmers markets
- have my snacks be all homemade
- jar my own veggies and beans and spaghetti sauce and tomatoes and fruits
- grow a lot of my own veggies
- use non-toxic homemade cleaners
Where we actually are:
- buying lotions and deodorants (Clean of course)
- using canned beans and veggies & fruit
- I'm not cooking much, Hubby does a lot but he likes it
- Z eats store bought applesauce, crackers, and cookies
- shopping at the commissary and whole foods
- my snacks are often store bought
- I'm not jarring anything yet
- still using store bought cleaners (although what we're using is what we've had - not buying new)
See? We have so much farther to go. And this list is not by any means complete. We still buy a ton of processed foods. And while the goal isn't to get rid of all store bought processed foods, to me that is a big marker of success - when my pantry has more dry goods for baking and cooking from scratch and me-made jarred foods, etc.
Granted, the store bought processed food we buy tends to be organic and with ingredients I actually can pronounce and understand, so I know we're doing better than I feel we often are.
My goals for the rest of April after we get back from Easter Break with Hubby's family:
- Me-made yogurt
- Me-made deodorant
- Me-made lotion
- Me-made lip balm
- Eliminating canned beans
- Me-made applesauce for Z
- Switching to me-made home cleaners
Processed Foods we buy that I don't plan on changing:
- frozen peas and carrots and other veggies
- Pacific Natural Soups
- Lara Bars
- Terra Chips (occasionally)
- Annie's Organic snacks for Z (until I figure out g-free alternatives)
- canned tomatoes (until I figure out how to jar my own from fresh)
I'm sure there is more, but right now that's what I can think of.
Honestly, I cannot recommend the book Making It enough. I cannot believe how simple it is to make my own stuff and how cheap it is overall, once the raw materials are purchased. I priced everything on Amazon for lip balm, deodorant, and lotion ingredients and up front it will cost me about $80 with an additional $24 in shipping, but I'm buying stuff in 16 oz or 1lb quantities. I'm guessing that I'll need to replenish my ingredient stock maybe every 6 months to a year. Or maybe even less. Much much cheaper than buying lotion or lip balm or deodorant at the store, especially clean varieties like Burt's Bees, etc.
1 comments:
You're doing an amazing job--it's very inspiring and makes it less overwhelming for the rest of us because you're blazing the trail, so to speak. I'm not exactly going green and clean, but I love to feed us less processed stuff and being the nerd I am, I love make-your-own stuff, like detergent, etc--if it works out to be cheaper. What is your deodorant recipe? That's something I've been dying to try! Keep up the good work!
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