Recently Joy and I were interviewed by a reporter who wanted to articulate the difference among all the eco-terms out there: natural, green, non-toxic, organic, etc. Our conclusion? Most people use these words interchangeably! The word “green” is especially slippery. When we use it here on the Green Baby Guide, we’re usually referring to something that helps the planet by limiting our impact on it. However, more and more we see people equate “green” with non-toxic—even when the product in question may not be “green” in other ways. (A sulfate-free shampoo in a small, non-recyclable bottle, for example.) So now we’re wondering: when you use the term “green”—what do you mean?

Celebrate Green is not just a blog written by the mother-daughter team Lynn and Corey—it’s a book.  Celebrate Green started with an attempt to make Halloween eco-friendlier. Soon they extended their ideas to every holiday and celebration. Here are some of the things they’ve blogged about recently:

Top Five Newest Trends in Natural Products

Five Things You Don’t Need to Buy when Celebrating Green

Sucked in to buy? Stop it!

Celebrate Green, the book

We’re especially grateful to Lynn, who regularly stops by the Green Baby Guide to comment. And thanks to both Lynn and Cory for creating such a helpful website and book!

Walking through the baby aisle in through any big box store, you’d think tots require blinking plastic playthings for constant entertainment.  As we point out in The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, parents need far less than they’re pressured to buy in those months leading up to baby’s arrival.  Plus, everyone knows the story of the child who receives a brand new gift only to end up playing with the ribbon and cardboard box.

So what do you have around the house that might fascinate your baby and toddler?

Cereal boxes, egg cartons, and toilet paper tubes. Young children bat them around and sit on them while older kids can use them to construct castles, caterpillars and many other three dimensional art projects.

Paper sacks and measuring cups. I love seeing how many hours a six-month-old can spend observing a paper bag.  It crinkles, it has an inside and outside, and it collapses.  What a fantastic device!  My children spent many hours nesting measuring cups and clanking them together.  Plus, the fact that these are obviously real adult objects that parents use regularly makes them extra appealing to tots.

Real pots and pans, wooden spoons, and grains or pasta. Sit your child at the table with a bowl of dry noodles or rice, several measuring spoons, and various bowls and cups.  They’ll be entranced by their cooking experiments and you may just get time to prepare a meal.

Keys were another hot item that parents listed when we solicited info for the The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, but then they aren’t always safe.  What are the favorite non-toys that your baby loves to play with at home?  Is your child chewing on Tupperware at this very moment?

Earth Day is approaching–time to renew my vows to the planet. I’m going to keep it simple this Earth Day, and make just two eco-resolutions:

1. Waste less food—or NO food
2. Stop buying items encased in plastic packaging

If these pledges sound vaguely familiar, it may be because they functioned as my New Year’s Resolutions as well.

How will you save the world this Earth Day?

One day, when we were out of boxed mac and cheese,  I tossed a few ingredients together to discover the easiest and most delicious mac and cheese ever.

We were shelling out nearly two dollars a box on organic macaroni and cheese that used a powder for sauce, and this new version is much more delicious while costing just pennies per serving!

Recipe:

• 1 cup macaroni noodles
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 3 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
• ¼ Cup shredded parmesean cheese

Optional additions:

• 1 Tbsp cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp. Nutritional yeast sprinkled on top (You may or may not be able to get away with this.  My kids call it “flakey cheese and really think that it’s a yummy addition.  Older kids may challenge you on this!)

Simply toss the noodles in a pan of boiling water until cooked, drain them, and then add in the other ingredients.  If the hot noodles aren’t quite warm enough to melt the cheese, zap the pasta and cheese for about thirty seconds in the microwave.

My son actually LOVES this homemade macaroni and cheese and favors it over the boxed stuff any day.  It’s simple, delicious, and saves packaging and money—and honestly, it takes me the same amount of time to prepare as the premade brands.  (I just grate the cheese and gather the ingredients while the noodles are boiling)

If you’re searching for a Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe, you can give this one a whirl.  I haven’t tried it, but the ingredients look appealing.  Great luck!

After five years of constant use, my Maclaren Triumph is looking a little worse for the wear. I’ve hosed it off a few times, but it seems like I’d have better luck pushing it through a car wash—it is that grimy. Any stroller cleaning tips?

Brenna of Almost All the Truth is a mother of three in the Pacific Northwest “exploring how to improve and protect the health of our children and their world through living, learning, and parenting.”

What’s she blogging about these days? Here are some recent highlights:

Top Ten Tips for Conserving Water

Make a Still Animation Movie with Your Kids (I have got to try this!)

Positive thoughts with Japan today (This great post lists five Japanese children’s books to enrich your child’s library.)

Almost All the Truth offers consistently topical and interesting posts about green issues. And if that doesn’t motivate you, it also features fairly frequent giveaways—so check it out!

As frugal souls, we love that you can get our book for free at your local library. It’s even more exciting when the price of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide randomly falls to below eight bucks on Amazon! You can now score a copy for just $7.98, which is sixty percent off the original price of $19.99.  Considering that our little gem can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars, it’s worth the meager investment in a green baby guide that’s infused with humor and humility.  These price dips usually last just a few days so you might want to pick up a few for gifts while the sale lasts. Good luck!

I certainly didn’t invent this tip myself—I’m not sure where I first heard of it. But ever since I did, it changed the way I clean my house. It’s simple: set a timer before you clean. I do a 15-minute burst if I don’t have much energy. Sometimes I get extra motivated and allow myself a whopping 45 minutes on the clock. What is the purpose of this, you ask? I find I work more efficiently under pressure—even if it’s artificial pressure like setting a timer. Also, it removes the whole “how will I ever be able to tackle this pig sty” from the cleaning equation. And that’s the beauty of it: you don’t have to clean the entire house—you simply have to clean for 15 minutes. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in such a short burst of productivity!

For many expectant families the new The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ban on the manufacture of drop side cribs won’t be an issue. It’s easy to pick out a non-drop side crib and there are several eco-friendly option including the DaVinci Kalani Convertible Baby Crib or the DaVinci Richmond 4-in-1 Crib each of which go for just under $250.

Still, what about those of us who bought used cribs, or are still using drop side cribs that we bought for our first child? In The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, we suggest that families consider buying a used crib if it’s in excellent condition. Is that advice suddenly outdated? Should we all turn our cribs into sweet pea trellises and invest in another piece of furniture? What about cribs that we’re done using? Are they safe enough to be passed on to another family?

Happily, families can now get a free crib immobilizer kit that will make any drop side crib into a safe, stationary sleeping space for baby. Most manufacturers offer them at no charge, but if your company is not listed on the previous link you can also buy the crib immobilizer hardware for about ten bucks online and install it in under an hour. Even though we never bought this device, early on I simply stopped using the drop side option for our crib. The intensity of sleep deprivation made my sad memory even worse than ever and I was worried that I’d forget to put the side back up while stumbling out of my baby’s room after a late night feeding.

I will be passing our used Childcraft drop-side model on and sharing the information about a crib immobilizer kit with the next family to use our sturdy baby bed. It hardly seems worthwhile for every family in America to trash their cribs and buy new ones, but I do want parents to feel safe about their baby cribs.

What’s your take on drop side crib recycling or reusing? Do you know of any other resources for green-minded families?