Category Archives: Going Green

Making Your Family Home Environmentally Friendly

environmentally friendly, family, tips, advice, kids, environment

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Nowadays, kids are being educated on all sorts of matters that may affect them directly during their lives. Environmental damage and pollution may be one of the subjects that they are taught at school. Why? Well, human activity is the number one cause of environmental problems right now, and things that we do on a day to day basis are making the world an increasingly problematic place for our species to survive. It’s therefore up to us to change this and kids are likely to be the leading generation to implement real change! So, if your little one comes home all hyped up about becoming an eco warrior and saving the planet, encourage them! Work hand in hand with them to make real change in your family home and create a greener living space for everyone. Here are just a few steps that you can take to make your family home as environmentally friendly as possible.

Say Goodbye to Plastic

Sure, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be able to completely eliminate plastic from your family home. There are certain items and products that you will have to use that come wrapped in plastic whether you like it or not. Examples include bottle caps and pill trays for medication. However, you can significantly reduce the amount of purposefully disposable and non-necessary plastic from your family’s lifestyle. Buy fruit whole rather than pre-cut and wrapped in plastic containers. Use bamboo toothbrushes rather than plastic ones. When it comes down to it, all plastic is bad for the planet and its use should be seriously minimized.

Insulate Your Home

If your home automatically lets heat and energy escape, you’re going to have to burn fossil fuels constantly to keep it warm and functional. So, make sure your property is as well insulated as possible. Make sure that windows are double glazed and coated in Residential Solar Films. Make sure that your roof and loft have insulating materials in the cavities. Use draft excluders between rooms. Small steps can make a massive difference!

Compost

Families tend to use more ingredients in their meals, as there are more mouths to feed. But the more food there is in a home, the more waste there is likely to be too. Try composting natural waste. You can invest in a compost bin where you can dispose of potato peels, vegetable cuttings, tea bags, and other forms of food waste. This can then be used as a great natural fertilizer.

These are just three different steps that you might want to implement into your family’s home and routine. Sure, they may seem like small changes. But they would make a massive difference if every kid’s family tried them out. So, get the ball rolling in the right direction and give them a go!

Green Toys Rescue Boat & Helicopter Review and Giveaway

What comes to mind when you hear a name like Green Toys? When I first heard of the company, I figured the typical eco-friendly manufacturer that only uses a percentage of recycled material to create products. Well, I was wrong…..

green-toys-logo

About Us
At its core, Green Toys Inc. has always been an eco-friendly toy company. In fact, we say that to us, “every day is Earth Day.” Our commitment to sustainability and playfulness is part of our DNA and we hope to inspire others to share in this passion.

From our 100% recycled materials to our US-based manufacturing, we’re raising awareness about sustainability while delivering unquestionably safe products. We believe that the best way to encourage environmental change is through goods people buy and use every day—and in our case that’s children’s products.

We care about your kids – how they play, what they play with, and what the future holds. We are constantly exploring and innovating to deliver the best products possible for a playful planet for all.

I love the philosophy that every day is Earth Day, just as it should be. Since I’ve realized just how passionate Green Toys is about their products and who uses them (our kids), we slowly started collecting a few for Avery. With her current love of all things construction, their construction trucks were an obvious choice. Her first pick was the Cement Mixer (his name is Dizzy), who she only got after being on her best behavior.

green toys, cement mixer, recycled toys, eco-friendly

Cement Mixer was a hit, and it wasn’t long before we added Dumper to her Green fleet. Then I reached out to Green Toys about working together in exchange for another one of their products. Not only did they happily agree to send Avery their Scooper (the last one needed complete her Green Toys construction truck set), but also their new Rescue Boat and Helicopter.

green toys, giveaway, rescue boat, helicopter, eco-friendly

Perfect for play on land or in the water, this set offers plenty of imaginative play time. It’s offers a two-in-one combo with a big yellow helicopter that fits perfectly on the back of a red a light gray rescue boat that floats on water. To operate the machines, Captain Duck and Pilot Bear are included.

Many toys claiming they are great for the water always end up with water stuck inside that never comes out, but not this Rescue Boat & Helicopter. Green Toys designed the boat to open for easy draining and it’s even dishwasher safe. No wonder it won Dr. Toy’s Best Green Toys Award for 2016.

green toys, eco-friendly, made in usa, kids, playing

Made in the USA from 100% recycled plastic with no BPA, phthalates, or PVC, I feel confident in giving my daughter a toy that’s safe and Earth friendly. Even the packaging is made with recycled materials using soy ink for printing.

Avery loved seeing the new boat and helicopter in the box and she started playing with the set right away. She enjoys the helicopter more than the boat right now. But both the Rescue Boat and Helicopter use her trampoline as a giant landing pad shared by her other Green Toys friends. They all get along well together, probably because Avery formally introduced everyone to each other.

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But the helicopter enjoys flying solo every now and then.

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Avery plays with her Green Toys more than anything else right now, and I must admit, I enjoy playing with them too. They are simple without too many moving parts that can break or get lost, and best of all, super fun, safe, and open to using imagination. That said, I don’t enjoy them to the point of hugging…

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How would you like to get your kids’ arms around a Green Toys Rescue Boat & Helicopter of their own? Thanks to Green Toys, they have allowed me to giveaway one set to one of my readers. All you have to do is follow the instructions below to enter. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And maybe, if Avery doesn’t behave, I’ll add in one of her construction trucks to sweeten the deal.

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What?!

Okay, okay, just kidding, I’d never get rid of these toys.

Phew, you're silly, Daddy.
Phew, you’re silly, Daddy.

Green Toys provided their Scooper and Rescue Boat & Helicopter free of charge in exchange for this post. I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are 100% my own.

Going Green: Going Mom’s DIY Cloth Wipe Solution

Hey, it’s Earth Day! While I don’t think we should have only one day set aside for such an important aspect to everyone on this planet, hopefully it helps get it in our heads to treat our Earth right! Just like our bodies, the better you treat (i.e. nourish) it, the better we all feel.

My wonderful and beautiful wife, Going Mom (Kelley), agrees, and today I’m proud to hand the reigns over to her fora guest post on the cloth wipe solution she’s been making since Avery was born. We do our best to reduce our impact on the Earth, and Going Mom is going to share with you her easy DIY cloth wipe solution recipe.

We’ve been using her solution for a couple years now with no issue. It’s easy, highly customizable, and way more cost effective, so why wouldn’t you do this for your baby/toddler? Without further ado, I’ll hand the floor over to Going Mom.

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Earth Day, DIY Cloth Wipe Spray, natural parenting, green living

Hi there! Going Dad has asked me write a post on Going Green and I happily agreed.

We weren’t always the most earth friendly people but over time we made small changes to lessen our impact on the earth and keep harmful chemicals out of our home. We are constantly learning about ways to improve and most recently have switched to using cloth wipes with our own homemade solution.

What? You stopped by the blog today only to see cute baby pictures of Avery? Well here- maybe this will help.

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We always knew we would use cloth diapers because of the obvious benefits but didn’t really think much about cloth wipes. I mean, how bad can the store bought ones be? They’re just wipes! Well, like everything else in this world, the package can be deceiving.

I had purchased some flannel wipes when I was building my cloth diaper stash thinking I would use them eventually. But then Babyganics wipes went on sale at Babies R Us for $10 a case. So we bought two cases- big mistake. A product named Babyganics must be good and wholesome, right? Wrong!

We couldn’t keep Avery diaper rash free for more than a day. After further research I found that Babyganics are the least chemical free “organic” brand out there. Sure, they have a few less chemicals than some of the bigger brands, but that’s where the baby safeness ends.

So, enter the flannel wipes. I had been looking into solution for a while and decided to finally make some. I perused a few different blogs to get recipe ideas. There are a lot of recipes out there that include essential oils and even tea bags (seriously, way too complicated for a working mom). I decided to try out the basic recipe first and then adjust from there.

Here is the recipe I followed, found on the Zany Zebra blog. http://www.zany-zebra.com/cloth-wipe-solution.shtml

I didn’t want to make that much in the beginning since I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. So I only made a quarter of this. I also added a few drops of lavender oil (only pure essential oil). I love the smell of lavender and I think the solution turned out great. I found after using it a few times that it was soapier than I liked and it left a residue on her bum, so I added another cup and a half of water to further dilute it. This is much better! I still get all the goodness without the soapy feeling.

There are several ways you can use the solution, but we find it’s easiest to keep it in a spray bottle and squirt her little bum (carefully so it doesn’t get into her eyes) and then wipe with the flannel cloth. I didn’t want to have to deal with a musty wipe container so this method works best for us.

It’s been almost two weeks and her rash is gone. Why didn’t I do this sooner?

Like I said earlier, we are always looking for ways to improve. RC takes care of the healthy food research and I focus more on the cleaning and skin products. There are so many products that I still use that aren’t up to par with my (new) standards. I can’t stand to waste the product I have left so I will slowly switch to better products as I finish my old stuff. 

We have been so focused on making sure Avery gets the best but never really looked into the things we use. Just this week I have been doing lots of research on the harmful chemicals in cosmetic products. It reminds me so much of the food world- products that are packaged with labels to make it seem “all natural” and good for you, when in fact it’s crap. Well, more to come on that subject later.

Anyways, if you are considering cloth diapers and wipes- don’t make the same mistake I did. Do both! It’s way better to know exactly what is going on your babies precious skin than to chance it with “natural” products. Don’t be a fool to labeling!

Thanks for reading!