Seed sale - Seed Savers Exchange

Need an excuse to stock up for next spring? Seed Savers Exchange has a number of 2014 season heirloom seeds and organic seeds at 50 percent off. While it's a somewhat small selection, it's a way to stock up on tomato, cucumber, flower and other seeds at a reasonable price. Seed starting is just around the corner!

5 baby products you can make from home

I was well into child #2 when I realized that many of the products I'd been scrambling to find discounts on - not to mention keep up with the ingredients on the labels - could easily be made at home. We easily made the move from cloth diapers to cloth wipes, using a homemade solution when needed. But it wasn't until I got more and more into the use of essential oils that I realized all the opportunities I'd missed to potentially save money and use greener options for our babies.

Here are five baby products you can easily make at home:

Infant Massage Blend 

Mix:
2 drops Lavender essential oil
1 drop Melaleuca essential oil
1 drop Roman Chamomile essential oil
2 Tablespoons doTerra Fractionated Coconut Oil 4 Ounces

Diaper Cream 

¼ cup coconut oil
15 drops dōTERRA Lavender essential oil
Glass measuring cup
Saucepan
Glass storage container

Pour coconut oil into glass jar. Put 1 inch of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, put the glass jar with coconut oil into the saucepan until completely melted. Remove from saucepan and let rest for 5 minutes. Add essential oils and stir until combined.

Pour into glass storage container and allow to cool. Just apply a small amount when needed.

Talc-Free Baby Powder 

½ c corn starch
½ c Arrowroot powder
1 drop Roman chamomile essential oil
1 drop Lavender essential oil
¼ c finely ground oats

Mix well and place in a shaker-style bottle.

Baby Wipes 

1 roll premium paper towels (use cloth for reusable wipes Our family used flannel.)
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons doTerra Fractionated Coconut Oil 4 Ounces
3 drops Lavender essential oil
3 drops Melaleuca essential oil
An airtight storage container/empty wipe container/wet bag

Cut paper towel roll in half. Use half the roll now, and half later.
Combine water, fractionated coconut oil, and essential oils in a small bowl.
Pour the mixture over the paper towels and then cover with the airtight lid letting the mixture absorb for 10 minutes. Turn the container over and let sit for another 10 minutes.

Remove and discard the cardboard middle. Just pull the wipes from the center when you are ready to use. Store in container of your choice.

Air Freshener 

1 small Mason jar with a lid and band
1/4 cup baking soda
5-6 drops of your favorite essential oil
Hammer
Small screwdriver or nail

Put 1/4 cup baking soda into your small Mason jar. Add 5-6 drops of your favorite essential oil or blend.
Recommended Essential Oils: Balance, Cassia, Geranium, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemon, On Guard, Purify, or Wild Orange.

If you do need a resource for essential oils, please consider using my referral link for doTERRA products. My family uses them and loves them. (You can also save 25% off of retail prices by becoming a wholesale member or independent consultant - even if you just "consult" to yourself. Please email me if you have any questions about that option.) 

Note: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com.

Two-ingredient upholstery cleaner that works

Finding the months-old puke stain in my van was the final straw. My car needed a serious scrub-down. And of course, I was out of Resolve cleaner, which I admit is my usual standby.

On this evening, I decided to bypass the store and see if there wasn't a way to make this easily myself. And what I found impressed me: a two-ingredient option that was worth the attempt even if it didn't work.

Homemade upholstery cleaner
2 cups warm water
squirt dish soap

In a mixer, blend on medium or higher until foamy.

Sounded easy enough, but did it work? I put my dirty, puke-stained floor coverings to the test.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I may never buy Resolve again.

The only challenge with making your own upholstery cleaner? It's your 8-year-old discovering how easy it is to make, and coming out with extra bowls of the cleaner that she's whipped up herself. Before I knew it the kids were slipping and sliding all over the back of the van. But then again, I have to say, my floor hasn't looked this clean since the day I brought it home!

Natural Air Freshener for our Brownie Household Elf

The Brownie Household Elf badge requires the girls to learn about ways to naturally freshen the air, whether it's to grow and care for an indoor plant or creating a natural air freshener.

Unfortunately, the book gives an example that requires boiling liquids - not something you want to do with 16 excited girls!

We found some great ideas on Pinterest, though. One was particularly easy and got rave reviews from the girls and parents alike. ("We needed it last night," one mom said!)

Natural Air Freshener

1 oz Amber Boston Round Glass Bottle with Fine Mist sprayer

water

doTERRA Wild Orange essential oil

Fill bottle with water until it begins to curve at the top. Add five drops essential oil. Cap and shake.

We designed Avery labels that the girls could label their bottles too. I'll post the template soon!

Follow Robbie @'s board Girl Scout Projects on Pinterest.

Looking for more Girl Scout ideas? Visit my new scout leader resource site, Use Resources Wisely. 

Green on the cheap - Diapers, dishwashers and more

Shockingly I went to Babies 'R Us yesterday, and stumbled on a few finds worth sharing:

Despite my efforts to make major headways on the potty training front, I still need disposables for day care. Earths Best diapers are on sale for $5 a package, limit 3. (And just so you don't think they're in smaller packages, a size-4 package had 30 diapers inside).

Also, somewhat unmarked were their cleaning products. There's a clearance tag but no actual price marked on them at our store. I checked at the register and was able to score 20-packs of Method dishwasher tablets (which are phosphate-free) for less than $3.50 each. There were also Seventh Generation cleaning products, including laundry detergent, marked clearance, but I either didn't have a need anything they had at the time, so I don't have a price on those.

I believe the sales are this weekend only, but it may be worth stocking up while you had the opportunity!

Bargain hunting at the farmers market

Last night, I did the unthinkable. I didn't race right home to feed hungry kids.

Instead, we stopped by the Wednesday evening Greenwood Farmers Market to see what's available during the week. I was surprised to see the large number of vendors who've succeeded in doing what's eluded me in the last week or so: growing tomatoes, zucchini and other vegetables. (We're currently in a dying slump in our little garden.)

At quarter to 6, I realized something: Just as I'm ready to go home at the end of the day, so are the vendors. And the last thing they want to do is slug more things home than they have to.

The first booth I stopped at, the woman practically loaded my bag with the corn. "I usually sell them half-dozen for $2, but I just don't want to mess with it. You can have it for a buck," she said.

At the next, the genteleman wordlessly upped my container of cucumbers.

At a third, the woman threw in a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, which my son was lusting after (until of course, he tasted it, and realized it was a tomato).

And at the tomato stand, I just said to give me a dollar's worth of "ugly" tomatoes (which, for the unitiated, means they're not 100 percent perfect but perfectly usable). He loaded me up with eight. They pushed the rest of their cukes at me, saying to just give them a quarter.

So for my $9.25, here's what I got:

• 8 cucumbers
• 8 tomatoes
• 2 onions
• 6 ears of corn
• 4 lbs. green beans
• a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes

I dare you to beat that at the grocery store!

Green on the Cheap: APLS Carnival Round-up

Welcome to the revived APLS Carnival! This month's theme was "green on the cheap" - in other words, balancing sustainability with smaller pocketbooks. If the recession's got you down, no worries! We've got some great ideas to get you motivated again.

Speaking from experience.
Several APLS'ers shared openly how their family overcame or averted a financial crisis by simply living more frugally.

Abbie at Farmers Daughter shares her evolution in going greener and living more frugally, giving three easy ways to pare back expenses and live more sustainably. Read her post to see how she saved $7,000 last year alone! Impressive!

Heather at Simple-Green-Frugal shares her life of voluntary simplicity and how she got there. "I believe it is in times of crisis that we discover what we're truly made of," she writes. Read on to her comments - she's so simplified her life that she could make a move with only her compact car - taking one trip! I'd love to hear more about how she was able to pare down - our family has a long way to go!


Another Heather, at Heather's Homemaking, offers simple ways her family was able to live more frugally so she could stay at home with her children. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to make the cloth napkins - what a great idea!

Steph at Greening Families shares how her family overcame debt by following the three R's. "Anything that broke or wore out was examined for possible other uses and most of the time there were multiple possibilities," she writes. As an example, she shares ways to get new life out of old pants.

I come clean on how my family's financial crisis has impacted our lifestyle choices and admit to wondering whether I'm being good somedays simply because I must. "Like a dieter who’s craving chocolate, I think about the things I want to buy but are simply out of reach at this time."


Spending smart.
Perhaps any future problems will be averted just by watching how we use the resources we have.

At the Green Adventures of a Big City Girl, Heather cost-comparisons shopping while cutting coupons with buying locally from CSAs and other local vendors. "I was a big coupon clipper. I mean BIG. Like I had a big binder filled with baseball card sleeves of thoroughly organized coupons," she writes. "I had no idea I could do this and actually NOT spend more money than I used to on groceries. Cheap, unhealthy, processed, full-of-pesticide-and-fake-ingredients groceries. And I'm really enjoying the process of learning about new vegetables and introducing them to my family. Dinner is an adventure every night and so much fun to be trying new things."

Kellie at Greenhab shares the challenges of greener birthday party planning when the guest of honor thrives on Chuck-E-Cheese. "I decided to stop hanging my head in shame when my son's birthday came up, and to put my money where my mouth was. Or...put my money back in my wallet and put my conscience where my mouth was. Something like that," she writes.


The Conscious Shopper at the Green Phone Booth admits to her green envy but realizes that prevention can be the best policy when it comes to waste. "Going green can be expensive - at least in some ways - but sometimes the greenest path is also the cheapest," she writes. "And once I realized that, my green envy subsided, and I was able to get creative with what I have."

Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green talks about the toughest lesson of learning to be more sustainable: That buying less truly is more. "Green has become so mainstream everywhere you look is some new product telling you how it will help you be more green when most of the time we don't need it," she writes.

Beany at the Middle Way, who admits to "being a tightwad when it was uncool," waxes on how we've put our money where our mouth was and what morals our economy has supported. "I think a strong evaluation of the new American values is long over due. I think people do need to think long and hard at what it means ...when one can zip 100 miles to a job with no consideration of that mode of transit is doing to the environment that surrounds us. Who benefits when one can buy apples for $0.10/lb from Guatamela. Why does one have to maintain vigilant eye on what product is currently the subject of a salmonella outbreak?"

CRSTN85 writes about how you can help the economy and the environment at the same time. "It should be second nature to check in with neighbors to see if they could use something you're getting rid of, and if not, it should be donated rather than left by the curb where hopefully someone will take it before the trash pick up date," she writes.

Thanks to those of you who participated in this month's carnival! Look for September details to be posted shortly on the APLS blog.

8-20: My apologies to Jenni at Web of Life! I'd forgotten to include her in the initial post. Check out her tips on being green while saving green, from thrift-store shopping to investing in microfiber cloths. "Basically, I spend next to nothing to keep my house clean. Now if only I could get somebody to clean it…" she writes.

August APLS Carnival

The APLS Carnival is back!

Join us for a discussion of "Green on the Cheap" in August.

Has the economy impacted how you live green? Do you buy fewer green products to save money? Or have you redoubled your efforts to live sustainably? What have you learned about living environmentally friendly on a budget? Let us know your thoughts!

Please send links to your posts by Aug. 15 to goinggreenmama@gmail.com. Even if you're not a regular contributor to the carnival, we'd love to hear your voice.

We'll post a wrapup of what other writers have to say here on Aug. 19.

Green on the Cheap: Steal on Laundry Soap at Kroger

Landed a great steal at Kroger today. In their organics/naturals section, I found Seventh Generation laundry detergent for HE washers at a manager's discount of $4.99 each (for 32 loads worth). Add the "$1 off two" coupon from the leftover "Earth Day" coupon books, and I ended up with two containers for $9. Not bad, considering that "regular" laundry detergent is easily $5 or $6 these days. It's worth checking to see whether your Kroger has a similar deal!

Chicken for one

Making the most out of a main dish may be easy for those of us with larger families, but when you're the head of household (and the only head), cooking conservatively gets a little more challenging.

It's all too tempting to just eat out or rely on frozen or pre-prepared meals, which are costly and generate a lot of waste. Even if you have great intentions, when you're cooking for one, it's challenging to use up everything you've purchased for the week.

This morning, my brother, a computer programmer who's never before worried about his wallet, confessed to me that he's stumped about how we can cut back on his eating expenses. He's given up routine meals out but isn't sure how to make cooking dinner efficient for a person whose definition of cooking is "putting dead meat in a pan." And, he said, it's challenging to finish up what he purchases before it goes bad.

We had a short talk about what he likes, doesn't like and is scared to cook. In the end, we decided he wouldn't be too chicken to cook with chicken.

His meal base? A rotisserie chicken from the grocery. Nothing fancy, and it conserves the heat that would go to roasting a chicken on his own. As we're able to stretch a rotiserrie chicken to three or four meals, I figure he could be set for a week.

Meal 1: Enjoy hot rotisserie chicken with sides of his choice.

Fast meals with leftover chicken can include:

• Chicken fried rice. (Stir-fry with cooked rice, a bit of peanut oil, soy sauce and desired veggies. We use green onions liberally.)
• Chicken tacos or quesadillas. (If you buy the flour tortillas, you get soft tacos and quesadillas out of your effort.)
• Sandwiches - hot or cold. Fix how you like.
• Hot chicken sandwiches. My mother used to rely on leftovers with a can of cream of mushroom soup with leftover chicken, pork or steak, served over bread. Not fancy, but it was always cleaned up.
• A casserole or simple rice or pasta dish with leftover chicken tossed in. (Not comfortable with cooking? Simply stretch out one of those boxed rice side dishes with meat or veggies.)
• Chicken Caesar salad (or other salad of your choice.)

Getting tired of poultry? Is it approaching day four in the fridge? Just shred the leftovers and toss it into the freezer for future use on a lazy day.

Yes, they're not fancy meals, and probably something you've already considered. But keep in mind that at 7 at night, fast makes sense.

A green (and red) way to get rid of ants

If ants are around your home, then it must be late summer. But figuring out how to deter them without blasting a lot of ant killer is a challenge.

Water has no lasting impact. And vinegar, a solution I'd read about somewhere, didn't work for my mother, as she's often quick to point out.

In a moment of frustration recently, I asked my husband if he'd seen anything on ants in a green flyer we'd gotten in the mail. He had. The solution? Cayenne pepper. I thought he was nuts.

Good thing we have a large bottle. He grabbed the cayenne, went outside by our tomato plants and dumped the cayenne vigorously. "They spread like crazy," he reported.

According to wikihow.com:

You can also apply scents and substances that ants simply don't like for various reasons: vinegar, peppermint oil, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne pepper, whole cloves, and bay leaves. Some of these might be harmful to pets and irritating to curious children.

Yes, but still better than insecticide when little ones are around.

Green on the cheap: Creating kid art

Last night, my daughter was in a creative mood. Before I knew it, she was into the box for one of her birthday gifts - a Crayola magic paint sprayer of some kind. Allegedly it sprays ink that can only be seen on specialty paper. All I know is I'm fighting a battle against finding this plastic contraption and its colors being toted around my house. Whatever happened to crayons?

It's a personal reminder that sometimes you simply have to sit down with your child and unleash that creative potential. Particularly when arts programs are being cut left and right, it's our obligation to help foster creative expression in our little ones.

This week's Green on the Cheap focuses on simple ways you can support that creative impulse in your little ones and still be environmentally friendly.

• Reuse your supplies. Create a stash of leftover papers of all types - direct mail, printer paper, Christmas cards, etc. - for art projects, making cards, wrapping presents, pretend post offices, etc. Likewise, I hang on to extra stickers and scrapbooking embellishments for my child to create her "heart" with.
• Recycle. Plagued by broken crayons around your house? You can melt them in sprayed muffin tins at 250 degrees to create new crayons for your little ones. If you're truly adventurous, make your own paper.
• Give a second life to kitchen trash. Plastic bottles, coffee filters, egg cartons, bottle caps, and other household items can easily be converted into kids crafts.
• Use Mother Nature. Remember potato stamps from when you were a child? We (OK, an adult) occasionally carved designs into a halved potato to stamp them on paper. Easy to compost when the thrill is gone. Older children may enjoy creating dyes from fallen leaves.

Green on the cheap: Save that shopping list!

Grocery shopping in my family typically means one of two things:

• A hastily written list, scribbled on a piece of scrap paper or the back of an envelope
• A frantic phone call to the other spouse, wondering what we needed in the first place.

Neither of these choices are particularly great and inevitably result in additional unplanned purchases and extra trips back to the store.

I recently learned about a new service online, Don't Forget the Milk. This admittedly simple Web site helps you track your grocery list and even send a copy to your e-mail, cell phone or Palm.

The site allows you to jump-start with your choices from a basic list of groceries, which, if you have time on your side, you can track by price point, location within a store and the store of your choice (i.e. grocery X and warehouse club Y). I did play with it a little bit, and while it wasn't entirely intuitive for me, it certainly would make far more sense than those tiny scraps of paper and partially wasted trips.

If you're interested in taking a look, the Web address is http://www.dontforgetthemilk.com.

Raising Baby Green: 10 great tips for non-parents, too

Dr. Alan Greene's book, Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care, is a great resource guide, but it's definitely geared for the mom-to-be.

I did find many great green tips for non-parents, though. Here are 10 new things I learned from Greene's book:

1. There are alternatives to plastic toss-away silverware. You can actually buy "SpudWare" - forks, spoons and knives that feel like plastic but are made from potato starch and soy oil. Not sure whether they taste potato-ey.
2. When buying cling wrap, you should look for products made with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) which is safer than PVC (polyvinyl chloride, the #3 plastic.) According to the book, some of the brands that are LDPE-based are Glad Cling Wrap, Saran with Cling Plus, Saran Premium Wrap and Diamant Food Wrap.
3. To control your fridge's energy use, make sure there is space around every side, including the back. Vacuum coils on the back of your fridge biannually.
4. Insulating your water heater can reduce its energy use by up to 9 percent.
5. If you have clothing stains, try to soak the fabrics in water mixed with borax, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar.
6. Take care of your car. Keep your tires inflated correctly and change the air filter regularly. The author estimated those two tips could save more than $1,000 a year in gas money - and that was before the recent price increases!
7. Park your car in the shade. "It lowers the temperature of gas tanks by four to seven degrees, which curbs emissions, the author writes.
8. Using vinegar when doing laundry helps get soap out of the cloth, minimizes possible irritants and reduces static cling. The author suggests using a quarter cup of white vinegar in the wash water.
9. Looking at a remodel, or just a new look in your house? You can consider more earth-friendly options as salvaged or recycled materials; natural, milk-based or zero- or low-VOC paints; or wood, bamboo or natural cork flooring.
10. Since it's summer, it's worth mentioning that soapy water or citrus essential oil and water can kill ants quickly.

Read on for tips for parents.

10 simple ways to go green without losing green

Today’s growing awareness of “going green” or more environmentally aware often brings the cynics out. It’s too difficult to recycle. The organic products cost too much. I can’t make ___ lifestyle change.

Just as you don’t stick to your diet perfectly each day, it’s OK to slip a little and make small changes as you go. Finding the steps that fit your lifestyle can make a significant difference over time, and it certainly is better than not doing a thing at all.

You can go greener without spending significantly more money out of pocket. By making simple lifestyle changes, you can make a difference.

Here are 10 simple things you can do to go greener without losing all of your green:

1. Invest in local producers. You’ll find many deals at your local farmer’s market, and the quality will be better than what you’ll find at your grocer. Buy in season and freeze (or can, if you’re adventurous) the rest for the winter.
2. Shop smart. As with any “regular” thing you buy, watch coupons and sales to get the best deal. You can get great deals on organic products.
3. Consider natural cleaning. And I don’t mean buying Clorox Naturals or any other branded product. Many household items, including baking soda, vinegar, even toothpaste, can do double-duty as a cleaning product.
4. Watch your energy output. Unplug the cell phone charger when you’re done. Unplug appliances you don’t use often. By just being plugged into your outlet, they are utilizing energy. If you don’t believe me, feel how warm your charger or other plugged-in item is.
5. Be mindful of your CFLs. You pay more upfront for these energy-efficient bulbs, but to maximize their lives you need to leave them on for at least 15 minutes at a time.
6. Turn the car off. Idling is a complete waste of gasoline. Avoid the drive-through; turn off the car and go inside on your errands.
7. Find a good home for things you no longer use. Many non-profit organizations will gladly accept clothing and furniture in good condition, craft materials, leftover homebuilding supplies and more. Even electronics such as your abandoned cell phone and computer can be recycled or repurposed for a person in need. mygreenelectronics.org
8. Watch your water usage. Shorten your shower; fix the drip in your faucet. The savings will quickly add up.
9. Let your grass grow. Grass ideally should be cut no shorter than 3 inches tall. Shorter, and the root system is not as developed and you end up using more water. And, you may have the benefit of mowing less.
10. BYOB. Bring your own bag when shopping. You can buy inexpensive reusable bags at many area stores, or simply tote your own tote bag.

Green on the cheap: Baking soda’s benefits

What if I told you about a natural cleaner that you could buy in bulk for about $6? That you wouldn’t have to worry if your children got into it, and even better, that it actually worked?I have one for you: Baking soda.

These days, baking soda is considered for little more than cooking. But it’s a cheap and effective – and green – way to get many of your cleaning tasks done without buying another bottle of green cleaning products.

Turns out, baking soda (with a little white vinegar) is the only thing that’s making a difference with my hard water stains in the bathroom. My child loves to help me “clean” with it, and it’s actually making a difference in the shower.

Here are other cleaning tasks that you can tackle with baking soda:

• Unclogging drains
• Removing strange smells from your fridge
• Preventing odors in the litter box or trash can
• Removing stubborn stains from coffee cups
• Removing tarnish from your silver
• Brushing your teeth

Want to know more? Here are a few links to get started:

• 27 Ways to Clean with Baking Soda
• Many uses of baking soda
• Wikipedia – sodium bicarbonate

Green on the Cheap: Boxing out weeds

I learned a little something from my friends at Casaubon's Book this week: Your cardboard boxes are good for something.

If you're like me and wondering what to do with your used, unwanted cardboard boxes, they can find a second life as mulch for your garden.

Writes catskillmamala:

I pick up appliance boxes from the appliance store. I only use brown cardboard with minimum or no ink. I peel off the tape, open the box up flat and lay in in my paths or on new beds that I want to keep growth-free. I find if I use smaller pieces and there is any crack between pieces of cardboard, weeds will find a way.
Paper degrading can lead to slightly acid conditions so you may want to use a bit of lime.

Violet Lane writes that she uses cardboard to start new beds over the winter. It's not pretty, but it's practical. See pictures here. While I probably can't get away with it given my homeowner's association rules, maybe shredded or covered with wood chips could work. Thoughts?

Green on the Cheap: Grounds for your garden

It seems that everyone loves Starbucks. Even plants.

Coffee grounds, as it turns out, make for excellent additions to your garden soil - great if you're buried in clay as we are. My husband used to tell me that strawberry plants love coffee. Cynical, I would pour his leftover coffee and grounds occasionally on my small strawberry patch. It apparently helps improve the nitrogen in your soil.

The plants thrived. I was sold.

One day, my husband told me he had a treat for me from Starbucks. It was a 2 lb. bag of coffee grounds, packaged and ready for the garden. As it turns out, you're often able to request your own bag of grounds at Starbucks locations. From there, you can mix it into your compost or soil, or, if you're lazy like I am, unceremoniously dump it on your plants and let the rain wash it into your soil.

If you don't see bags readily available, ask at the counter. I inquired about the coffee grounds. The barista asked how much. I responded a bag or two -- and received a kitchen-sized trash bag filled with grounds. Great fertiziler for the soil, for free.

Green on the cheap: Cheap find this week

Everyone knows that the price of food has gone up considerably in recent months, most notably due to gasoline prices and speculation. So I have to share a great find at an even greater price.

Yesterday, I broke down and went to the grocery store. The fridge was bare, with the exception of juice and milk. It was looking pretty bad.

While at Kroger, I saw they still had out coupon books for their organic brands (used to publicize Earth Day). Inside, there are coupons for $1/2 items by Horizons Organics dairy products. The yogurt is listed as 99 cents each (no cheaper than regular yogurt, really anymore).

At the register, the Horizon Organics yogurt cups rang up as 69 cents. Factoring the coupon, you can buy 6 oz. containers of organic yogurt for 19 cents each. Given that my toddler asked for a second container of it in one sitting, it's not a bad deal.

If you decide to stock up, please, recycle what's left of the coupon books and the No. 5 plastic containers, if you are able!