Comments on: Thrifty Green Thursday

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:07:39 +0000

Thanks for commenting! I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while now, so it’s nice to finally be part of the conversation!

By: Christy @ Chrysler Creek

Christy @ Chrysler Creek — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:08:54 +0000

We did the same thing with the cloth diapers and washclothes. I had received one of those baby wipe warmers though and so I filled that with plain water and then dipped the washcloth in it to use. Then the wipe was nice and warm.

I have gotten away from most of the chemicals by making so much of our stuff myself though. Then I know what is in it and that it truly is natural.

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:53:20 +0000

1300 square feet- is not bad for a family of 3

I think you jump into a bigger house when a family is over 5

Clothes diapers is very cheap, because you always can reuse them

I also use baking soda not because of the price, simply because it gets the job done.

Baking soda can also be used as a deodorant

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:50:44 +0000

1300 square feet- is not bad for a family of 3

I think you jump into bigger house when a family is over 5

Clothes diapers is very cheap, because you always can reuse them

I also use baking soda not because of the price, simply because it gets the job done

baking soda also can be used as a deodorant

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:24:49 +0000

Green Me – I tried just dumping the vinegar too, but it used way too much… most of it just ran down my back. Spraying is a lot easier, and you don’t waste any. I started using vinegar as a conditioner a long time ago, with a regular shampoo. Now that I have the baking soda trick, I don’t have to buy any hair products at all. I learned this idea from Mrs. Accountability: http://www.outofdebtagain.com/

By: Green Me

Green Me — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:10:22 +0000

Great blog — I’ll add you my rss feed — we are working hard right now on cutting expenses and saving more! Thanks for the details on hair washing with baking soda. I tried a vinegar only challenge earlier this year, but didn’t like the results. Maybe the baking soda vinegar mix will work. Spray bottle is also a great idea, as I just poured vinegar on my head, and man does that burn your eyes!!!

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:58:30 +0000

Thanks FT!! For toothpase, I just wet by toothbrush and dunk it in a bowl full of baking soda.
For shampoo, I keep a container of dry baking soda in the shower. I get my hair really wet, and then scoop out a handful of baking soda and use it to scrub the top of my head. Then I get another handful and use it to clean the ends of my hair. I probably use about 1/3 cup total to wash my hair – they’re small handfuls. Once I rinse out all the baking soda, I spray my hair with vinegar that I keep in a spray bottle. Rinse that out, and I’m ready to greet the world. My hair no longer smells like shampoo – it doesn’t have any smell at all, which I like – since all those fragrances in shampoo are just chemicals anyway. Have fun with it!

By: Frugal Trenches

Frugal Trenches — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:50:15 +0000

Best post you’ve ever written! I’d love to know what mix/ratio you use with baking soda for shampoo and toothpaste, I’d love to make the switch too!

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:44:54 +0000

Jessica – I was a vegetarian years ago, but started eating some meat after I moved in with my husband. He now eats meat about three times a week, but I don’t eat it at all anymore – I went back to being vegetarian about two months ago.
We started preparing ourselves for a baby about six months before we started trying to conceive. Kristin’s Raw has tons of great posts about the things you can do to get your body ready for a baby:
http://www.kristensraw.blogspot.com/
The green smoothies were something I came up with midway through my pregnancy, although I’ll be making them forever now that I know how great they make me feel and how much more produce we consume because of them.
As far as green baby products, I’ve found that less is more. For example, we haven’t used baby sunscreen all summer… we just make sure we keep our baby covered up with a thin blanket whenever we’re outside. And every other time we bathe him, we skip the soap all together. He still gets clean with a washcloth and water – it’s green, and very frugal. We made our own cloth diapers, and we use washcloths as wipes. We keep a little container of water by his changing table, and use that to wet the washcloths. Works great, we know it’s green since there’s nothing to throw away and no chemicals involved. The 18 pack of washcloths cost about as much as one container of wipes, and it will last until he’s out of diapers. Small things like that have made it so that so far we haven’t really had to go searching for baby products at all.
The furniture in his room came from other areas of our house (except the crib – my parents bought it used and called the manufacturer to make sure that it still met code… they fixed the things that didn’t). Most of his clothes were hand me downs – reusing is a great way to be green, and of course it’s frugal too. If you don’t go into places like Babies R Us, you won’t know what you don’t have, and you’ll probably be just fine without it.

By: Movingonup!

Movingonup! — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:40:56 +0000

Wow! You do a lot more than I do to keep things simple. I like reading websites like yours because although I don’t make all the changes to be frugal and green, I do make a few.