When giving gives a Fresh Start

For many people I know, “going green” isn’t just about buying a few select products. Instead, it seems to be part of an entire lifestyle overhaul that reflects on largely simpler and less chaotic living.

As part of that reduction of chaos in my life, I’ve been slowly paring back the “stuff” in my home over the last few years. I admit that I hate to get rid of things. What’s worse is this is a learned trait from my mother, who hung on to things for sentimental or other reasons. I still remember when I came home from the hospital when my daughter was born – and my parents greeted us with two moving boxes full of artwork, random items and paperwork from when I was a child.

Paper clutter aside, I’ve learned over the years that good things can find good homes. And while it’s easy to pass along outgrown baby clothing to an expecting friend, what to do with other things may not seem so obvious. Perhaps you’ve splurged on new dishes or furniture, or received an heirloom item and no longer need redundant items cluttering up your life.

That’s when donating good items to good causes makes sense. While many of us know about Goodwill, Salvation Army or AmVets, the reality is these items go to showrooms of randomness and may end up being severely marked-down castoffs. It’s great when looking for a random find, but not so great about getting things directly to people who could use them.

One cause I’ve held dear to my heart since moving to Indianapolis is Fresh Start of Indiana, a domestic violence organization that provides transitional services to families leaving the shelter. As having a stable homelife can help prevent victims from returning to their abusers, getting these families re-established with a home – not just an empty apartment – makes all the difference in rebuilding their life.

Fresh Start provides everything from bedroom furniture to kitchen supplies to clothing for these families. It helps nearly 100 women each year, which is an amazing feat, given that these are all donated items.

If you’re considering some serious spring cleaning or just want to give green, consider this untraditional way of caring by donating your unneeded things to causes that help families rebuild a home.

This month's APLS Carnival is focusing on ways we can give green. For more posts, visit Green Resolutions on March 20.

Rethinking your Christmases

The room dims. A spotlight shines. And Linus, alone on a stage, recounts the true meaning of Christmas. It’s not about pink or aluminum trees or lots of presents. It’s about a family expecting the birth of a baby who would change the world.

“That, Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about,” Linus reminds us all.

It’s a lesson revisited each holiday season while watching this Christmas classic. But it’s one that we need to come to terms with.

More and more, I hear of people just feeling depressed this holiday season. I can’t run an errand without overhearing a parent have “the talk” with a child about how this Christmas, things will be lighter and less gifts will be under the tree. Or how people are down because they can’t buy the gifts or do the things they were used to in years past. Or how one super-creative friend confided to me, “I just don’t even feel like making Christmas cards this year.” Maybe that seems frivolous, but it was the one way she showed her friends she cared.

So here’s my challenge: This Christmas season, make new traditions. Call it being green. Call it being frugal. Or just call it getting back to the roots of the spirit of the holiday season.

I know a chaplain whose calling is to assist Hospice patients and their families. Each year, she offers a holiday grief program and insists that traditions can be changed. So maybe this year, you bake a homemade pizza instead of a ham, turkey and the fixings. Or you volunteer somewhere. Or you forgo gift swaps. Find something that works for you and your family this year.

Other ideas on altering your traditions:

• Keep it light. You don’t have to buy gifts for everyone, or as many people. Enlist your kids help as well. Many kids understand that times are tougher and may offer to help make gifts or find more cost-effective ideas.
• Watch how you stuff your stockings. They don’t have to be stuffed with gadgets or many trinkets. My mother-in-law introduced me to the tradition of a large apple, orange and candy cane in the stocking. (I will confess that the baby will get apple puffs to snack on instead!)
• Get creative. Instead of trading gifts with neighbor friends, we invited them and their kids to make Christmas cookies this weekend. Messy, true, but far more memorable than another $5 or $10 toy.
• Prioritize presents. Given our family’s financial situation, I requested specific types of gifts rather than more toys. Yes, I know the baby is getting a toddler bedding set and which one, but it will be needed (hopefully later than sooner.) And my sister will be buying shoes for Amelda Marcos, I mean, my daughter. Planning helps us fulfill our family’s needs but also lets people feel like they are making the most out of their limited dollars and resources.
• Do rather than buy. I loved going to the Plaza and the Nutcracker at the Midland each Christmas in Kansas City. When we moved, we decided we’d rather our kids have fond memories instead of just opening up gifts. So this year, we attended a Cookies with Santa to benefit a hospital program. It was simple, but more memorable and less stressful than waiting in line at the mall. My daughter to this day still talks about “Miss Claus” visiting her daycare last Christmas.
• Be scenic. Look at the lights while returning from work or from errands.
• Live the moment. Listen to a Christmas CD. Attend Vespers. Play board games. Make popcorn and cocoa with your kids and read holiday books. But most of all, just enjoy the season.

Reducing your plastic consumption

Plastic - it's all around us. Whether you're picking up a prescription or a toothbrush, it's nearly an inescapable part of our society.

BBC reporter Christine Jeavans has done what so many of us cannot even fathom how to do: She attempted to go a month without any new plastic entering her home. While she wasn't perfect - and few of us who have undergone environmental challenges are - she managed to reduce her plastic intake by an impressive 80 percent.

Some tips from Jeavans and readers of her blog and her online reports:

Containing your container habit:

• Switch to a reusable water bottle and a coffee mug. Keep reusable plates and silverware at the office.
• "The idea of taking my own reusable containers to shops such as the butchers or even the local takeaway curry house - as suggested by some 'zero waste' enthusiasts on the blog - feels a little odd but it is logical and maybe something we will all be doing in future years, just like the way that reusable bags have taken off," Jeavans writes.
• "Bring a to-go container/utensils with you when dining out to bring home leftovers. Yes, it takes some getting use to to remember to do it," Jeavans writes.
• Buy bulk, and bring a reusable container to the store.

Eating right

• "We found we prefer bread from the bakers rather than the pre-sliced loaf so we'll be staying with that on grounds of taste if nothing else," Jeavans writes.
• Bake or cook at home.
• Cut back on your soda habit.

Habits at home

• "The wooden toothbrush, however, was not a winner for me and will be redeployed as a mini-scrubbing brush," Jeavans writes.
• Use natural cleaning products like baking soda and vinegar - rather than buying a product for every cleaning use.

What other tips do you have?

Meditations on snapping beans

There's something oddly therapeutic about snapping green beans. It's the kind of mindless task that gets things done without a lot of effort. You can wash berries, but you don't feel you are doing anything. You can slice tomatoes or peaches, but your concentration is that of making sure you don't slice your finger yet again.

But beans? Lift, snap, done. Repeat.

It's oddly comforting, and so simple a toddler can do it. Which is probably why I appreciate it. I can listen to the news, talk to my child, pray, listen to the birds, make my list of things I'd forgotten to do at work that day, and not feel that something's been dropped in the process.

Today, I realized just how therapeutic snapping beans can be. We've had a difficult last few months, coupled with a child who's discovered biting as an attention getter, unusual stress with projects and budget season in the office, and a home that's just shy of looking like a tornado whipped about its contents. And yet, after receiving beans not only in the CSA share but also from our sitter, I caved about buying beans today. At the farmers market, I asked my oldest what she'd like to buy after surveying the contents: Green beans, of course.

Well there's always a freezer. And so, I spent nap time standing in the kitchen, feeling the breeze from the unseasonable cool day, listening to the Olympics recapped on the television, snapping beans one by one.

The tomatoes and peaches I'd chopped? Not so therapeutic. Yes, I'll love the Romas in homemade spaghetti sauce this winter, and we'll enjoy the peach cobbler tonight, but I always have that sense that maybe, just maybe, given my clutziness and lack of depth perception that I could wind up a casualty of the process.

But beans? There's a casual easiness to them that's appreciated on the most needed of afternoons. And even more appreciated when my husband cooks them!

Green birthdays in a pink-and-purple world

"My pink birthday." "My purple birthday." Turning the big 3 has been the talk of the house for the last few weeks. OK, months.

Birthdays and Christmas has always conjured up images of piles of plastic packaging, wrapping paper, tissue, bows and about 4,000 wires to tie every possible moving component in place. As my baby becomes much less so, I fear that's a trend that just won't quit any time soon.

Take my friend's son's birthday last weekend, where no less than 15 neighbor children crowded the place with presents galore. (The interesting thing was he was far more interested in the interactive stuff or even a book on submarines than the action-hero equipment that would likely break within days.)

Our own gift-giving for our child has been obscenely practical - this week, she'll receive PJs and shirts from us, chapstick (a huge deal for preschoolers!) and ponytail holders from the baby, with the "big gift" being an apron and chef hat for my budding cook. It's been hard convincing others that my child doesn't know what she wants for gifts - she doesn't know she has that choice! - and that she isn't big on any cartoon or other marketing character. It's not like we visit the toy aisle at Target, or watch Saturday morning cartoons. Yes she knows Elmo, Dora and High School Musical (thanks, Aunt Stacy), but she doesn't have to have them in her eyes yet.

My sitter: What would she like for her birthday? Does she like Dora?

Me: Well, I guess she likes it, but she hasn't really asked for anything.

Sitter: (Confused expression.)

Me: Honestly, she likes my scrapbooking stuff to play art with. Or cooking.

Sitter: Oh, does she like toy dishes to pretend?

Me: No, she likes the real thing.

Sitter: (Silence).

Me: She always likes to cook with me, and she also likes playing with her "baby 'matoes" in the garden too.

Sitter: (Pauses.) Well, maybe I'll get her some Crayola stuff.

Excellent!! In fact, nothing would please her more than things that tap into her creativity, particularly if it will divert her from trying to experiment with the ink-stamps-on-carpet look again.

My in-laws, however, were determined that she needed a little toy kitchen. Aside of the huge amount of space that one of those things take, I was a little concerned. After all, kids' interests change so quickly. Not to mention, where do little plastic toy kitchens go once they're outgrown? They have to go somewhere. As they sent us the money, we ended up going to a used kids' store, where we found the ultimate kitchen in her eyes. ("Mommy, let's take this home," she uttered breathlessly as we saw the kitchen from the store's doorway.) One kitchen saved from the landfill, and we had enough left over to buy some dishes - real ones and pretend - and she's been slaving away at such culinary creations as strawberry soup, salads and cupcakes all weekend since.

It's one little - or in this case - large thing I can do to foster my child's imagination and still make a small difference toward the massive amounts of junk we create each day. So maybe my daughter's "pink birthday" isn't the greenest in the sense we won't have spudware or recyclable plates. But by thinking creatively in our gift giving (and reusing those gift bags and tissue papers just one more time) we're taking one small step.

Finding hopes among frustration

Graced with challenges. It's a hard notion to cope with, that a frustration, large or small, might play out for a greater good.

It's a notion though that I'm watching time and time again play over as I watch the victims of the recent floodings in our county.

"Sometimes God's blessings are hard to see. This was certainly true as many of us were watching the waters come through our homes," noted the founders of a local organization devoted to getting the homeless on their feet. The couple themselves lost everything in the floods.

But, they wrote in this week's church bulletin, they can see the blessings in it: "We did not need the stuff we had anyway, and we thank God for making it easy to throw it away."

The couple's amazing attitude is a strong lesson for myself, as we are ending month two of being an unexpected single-income family. With this, I'm forcing myself to take serious stock of what we own, what we need and how we spend the resources we have. I've become a more creative cook, cleaned out my freezer, squelched my desire to stock up on handmade candles or soaps at the farmers market (and admittedly, am still using the ones in the freezer from last summer). Free time has been reassessed. Netflix is gone; instead, we go to the library or, heaven forbid, play outside. Making positive changes in our lives, however small, makes a larger impact on our children's developing attitudes towards "stuff," and hopefully, how we take care of the world around us.

A time of crisis, large or small, is an opportunity presented to take stock of your lives, whether spiritual, emotional or even environmental. It's a chance to see the waste we create and see how they might more positively impact those around us.

• The clothes, still in great condition, that you never wear? Send it on to someone you need.
• The baby items you've hung onto "just in case" or for sentimental reasons? Find it a loving home.
• The extra furniture that just clutters up your room? It would make a happy home for a family re-establishing itself after losing everything in the floods.
• That morning Starbucks, added up over a week, could be $20 that is needed at a local food pantry.

This week, I encourage you to find a little more gratitude toward the gifts we have, great and small, and look to find ways to stretch our resources to help those in need. When headlines such as the American Red Cross, which responds to disasters in this country, is going broke, we all need to reassess how we might use our resources for the greater good.

Raising Baby Green: 10 tips for new parents

Recently I read Dr. Alan Greene's book, Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care . It is very much written for the parent-to-be, though I found several great tips for those of us with little ones already in the house.

10 things I learned from Dr. Greene's book:

1. If you're nervous about the gels or liquids inside traditional teething toys (as I am, since one leaked with my first), you can buy organic, machine-washable teething toys from several sources online. Or, moisten a wash cloth and cool it in the freezer.
2. Talc-based powders, often used for diaper rash, may have small particles that can irritate your baby's lungs. To prevent diaper rash, instead, use a little fresh air.
3. The best foods to buy organic are peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery and nectarines. The least worrisome are mango, pineapples, sweet corn, avocado and onions.
4. Instead of commercial air fresheners, you can squeeze a lemon into the diaper pail. (Or, you can do as I do, and open those perfume samples from the magazines and place them at the bottom.)
5. Look for plastic toys for your child that are PVC-free.
6. If you are bottle feeding, consider replacing rubber or latex nipples with silicone ones.
7. If you're formula-feeding, choose powdered over liquid. BPA is present in many cans of conncentrated formula and can leach into it.
8. If you choose any time to go organic, the most beneficial is before three years of age, when development is fastest.
9. If you use cloth diapers, don't bleach. Bleach is absorbed by the cloth.
10. Before loading up on adorable baby clothes, think green. While you can buy organic, the best things you can do are hit up a resale shop, get hand-me-downs or simply limit your purchases. Remember, your child will outgrow these clothes fast.

Read great tips that anyone can use from this book.

Independence Days

It is far from July, but Casaubon’s Book last week proposed an "Independence Days" challenge to promote what she calls food independence. It's an interesting concept - something we ought to do anyway, given soaring food and gas prices.

Sharon offers these ideas:

1. Plant something.
2. Harvest something. "Independence is really appreciating and using the bounty that we have."
3. Preserve something. "The time you spend now is time you don’t have to spend hauling to the store and cooking later."
4. Prep something.
5. Cook something. (Sad that she has to spell this out, but the reality is so many people rely heavily on take-out, frozen dinners and other convenience foods."
6. Manage your reserves. "Clean out the freezer.... Find some use for that can of whatever it is that’s been in the pantry forever. Sort out what you can donate, and give it to the food pantry... Independence means not wasting the bounty we have."
7. Support local food systems - the local CSA, farmer's market, farm stand. Share seeds. Support a community garden.

I originally thought, Nice idea, but I don't have time. I have work, two children, swarms of family coming in for Memorial Day weekend... But unemployment set in, and I'm realizing rather quickly that having the comfort of where your next meal is truly is important. (We're not that bad yet, but realize how quickly our situation could progress if our limited savings run out.)

What I've learned in the last week that, like any other thing we want to be committed to, change can happen in baby steps. And while I am focusing on stretching our budget at this time, there are lessons that can be learned.

What have I done in the last week or so?

My oldest and I planted (finally) our onion sets in our backyard and added 100 strawberry plants in an area where grass hadn't been growing. (Strawberry purchase obviously pre-change, and more as an experiment in ground cover.)

We've done serious meal planning and prepping, stretching things in ways we hadn't before. The leftover steamed broccoli became tomorrow's cheese broccoli; the leftover rotisserie chicken shredded and frozen for future use. (Hey, three consecutive days of rotisserie is enough!)

We've definitely managed our reserves, what we have of it. Our deep freeze is seriously accounted for, and we're actively planning our menus to stetch those contents and break up the monotony.

Admittedly, I guiltily admit while I've refrained from any eating out, I have resorted to eating leftover ice cream sandwiches in the office freezer for lunch a few days, when schedules and meal planning didn't work out. I'm getting better. Where I used to just run out before, with $3.98 a gallon gas and limited incomes, I am figuring out how to make due.

Sadly, I'm still waiting for our CSA to kick in. There's been a two-week delay due to weather, but the company promises to start up Memorial Day weekend, just in time for our massive company.

If you haven't had a chance to read it, check out Sharon's post on her "Independence Days" challenge.

Pulling together in tough times

Maybe I've read Casaubon's Book one too many times. Or maybe I've just been seeing too many headlines about shortages in Mexico or Zimbabwe.

But today on CNN Headline News I was shocked to see a story on food rationing at an American Costco. And I have to wonder: Is the U.S. approaching a food shortage, and what can we do about it?

It's no surprise that pain at the pump is impacting Americans. Prices overall are going up. Food banks all over Indianapolis - and, I suspect this country - are experiencing fewer donations and greater need.

What can we do?

From a humanitarian perspective, support your local food banks. Our neighbors need our help, and it doesn't take much to make a difference. Pick up an extra can or two of food when you're shopping next and deliver it to your local food drive. (My church makes it easy - just drop it in the shopping cart at the door.) Or bring by a meal to a neighbor who's experiencing tough times, whether it's a return home from the hospital or a loss of a job. If we all made minor adjustments to our habits, we could help so many people.

From a household perspective, support the local guys. As I found last weekend, often the cost for farmer's markets are similar to the stores (even with organic products), and the quality is better. Not to mention, you are supporting your local/regional economy, and you are reducing the amount of fuel associated with transportation costs.

Those of you with green thumbs can always plant a garden - no matter what the scale. Even a few pots with tomatoes can be planted from an apartment deck. And onions and garlic are among those simple plants that can be planted and can grow, no matter how brown your thumb actually is.

And, finally, watch your diet. Try to simplify where you can. Potatoes are more sustainable and require less resources than potato chips. Reduce the amount of animal proteins in your diet, as they require space for grazing as well as the grain resources to be fed. Create your own pasta dish instead of buying boxed Pasta-roni or another prepackaged item, which costs more and feeds less. By making simple, smart choices, you are reducing your environmental impact and your overall food costs.

Yes, we may be in for challenging times, but pulling together resources can go a long way towards making a difference.

International Downshifting Week: A reminder to slow down

International Downshifting Week, not surprisingly, starts on a weekend. What better way to begin than on a lazy (or it should be) Saturday morning.

The sad thing is, we apparently now need a week to remind us to slow down. And it's no wonder. With two children under the age of 3, it takes me three hours to get to the office, I cram in my eight hours, rush back to daycare, do dinner, fight over how we don't have to watch a movie, begin the bedtime routines, attempt to clean up and go to bed, only to begin again. And my friends with older children only say it gets worse as homework and activities collide.

International Downshifting Week is a great notion. Slowing down doesn't mean turning in your notice to be a stay-at-home mom or move to a rural area. But ut does entail being cognizant about what resources you spend - financial, environmental, emotional and timewise.

Just a few ideas on how I can downshift in my life:

• Reduce - or at least don't add to - my extracurricular commitments. Not saying no, particularly when it's a cause I am dear to, adds extra stress in my life as I work to squeeze those projects in on a hectic schedule. Not to mention I expend a lot of gas going back and forth to activities.
• Prep my meals on a weekend. By doing my shopping and chopping in one day, I'm ahead of the game for the week. This reduces extra trips to the store and the stress of a "starving" child as I'm trying to get meals started later in the evening.
• Use some of my scrapbooking supplies and create my own cards. It saves an extra trip, and I'll have cards on hand when I remember at 10 p.m.
• Buy in bulk when it makes sense. It can save money and reduce packaging.
• Try that slow cooker again.

Read other tips on how to get started on downshifting your life.