From the Hygeia EnJoye Breastpump, to a copy of Fifteen Minutes Outside, to a Smartklean Laundry Ball, we’ve been hosting fabulous giveaways in the last few weeks.  And now it’s time for a drum roll:

Juley A. from Anchorage, Alaska will soon be getting her copy of 15 Minutes Outside on her doorstep.  Enjoy!  Now that the weather is getting a bit warmer, it will be even easier to gain inspiration to be outdoors with baby.

In just a matter of days, Andrea B. from Chandler, Arizona will be able to toss a the Smartklean Laundry Ball into her washer without using any laundry detergent–for an entire year!

And, our biggest winner so far of the Hygeia EnJoye Breastpump is….Ashley B from Los Angeles, California.

Thank you so much for your comments and interest.  We have some more exciting giveaways coming up so keep coming back to see if you’ll be our next lucky winner!

Is it deciphering cloth diaper vocabulary?  (Like hybrid, chinese prefold, pocket diaper, all-in-one?)  Is it being able to afford the organic produce you’d like to buy?  Is it the physical challenge of early breastfeeding?  Do you need some homemade babyfood recipes? Or are you still trying to prepare for baby’s arrival with the planet in mind?

My children are now leaving the realm of babyhood and hearing your questions and challenges keeps us connected with what our readers need in those early days of parenting.  If you have a problem, chances are there are dozens of other women face the same dilemma.  Thanks for sharing ideas that we can present to our readers for future Friday questions!

Here at Greenbabyguide.com, we’re all about simple eco-friendly changes.  They have to be things you can do while sleep deprived, nursing, and trying to get at least one load of laundry done per week.  That’s why we love Marcal Small Steps 100% recycled paper products  All you have to do is throw them into your cart instead of traditional toilet paper and you’ve just made a difference!

Marcal is a small company that has been making paper products for more than 60 years.  Their products are easy to find in mainstream stores, affordable, and high quality.  Since we just use rags around here, we haven’t yet given their paper towels a try, but we love Marcal’s Small Steps toilet paper.  While some other recycled paper products can be flimsy or extremely rough, Marcal’s Small Steps toilet paper seems indistinguishable from any mainstream brand.

If a family of four switches to 100% recycled paper products, in just one year they’ll save two trees.  And in 20 years, they’ll save about 34 trees.  (That’s a small forest!)  Imagine if businesses and schools switched to fully recycled paper products.  It seems like such a small change but the benefits are tremendous!

If you chose to “like” Marcal on facebook, you’ll get a $1.00 off coupon for your next purchase of Marcal Small Steps recycled paper products.

Do you buy greener paper products?  If so, what are your favorites?  If not, what’s holding you back?

We just bought a 2300 square foot house.  I’m wincing as I type that because although it’s actually now the average size of an American house, it’s more than twice what we currently own.  That means a much bigger carbon footprint (and mortgage.)

Honestly, I didn’t plan on falling in love. We had set our criteria for size to be no bigger than 1800 square foot for our family of four, but the moment I walked through the doors I knew I was a goner.  It’s surrounded by massive pine trees, is south facing with raised garden beds and lots of light, and there’s plenty of room for for play dates and extended family visits.

By the way, the photo to the right is not our house, or our dog.  It comes from the book The Not So Big House, by Sarah Susanka, an architect who has pioneered the smaller house movement.  Interestingly, the plans she designs come in at 2400 square feet, which assuages my eco-guilt a bit.

Beyond the size though, the  new location is one mile away from where we currently live, on a hill, which will make it less bikable too.  But it is within close walking distance of schools, parks and a community pool and biking distance of the grocery store.

Is there anything green about it?  A ductless, high efficiency heating pump was just installed last year and it has almost no lawn despite the fact that it’s nestled on a quarter acre.  I also love that every inch of that 2300 square feet is liveable for our family.  We didn’t want walk-in closets, a formal dining room, or a breakfast nook simply because we’d rather have more space dedicated to the kitchen, living room, and family room.

I know my eco-cred has taken a hit, but I still believe in smaller houses–especially in the early years with children.  In the 1950′s the average house size was about a thousand square feet and most families had at least three kids, so our perception of how much space we need has certainly shifted.

And truly, babies don’t need a whole lot of square footage, especially if you manage to cut back on the mounds of blinking gizmos threatening to take over the living room.  I have to say though, now that I have a toddler and a preschooler, play dates with four or five kids in this house are pretty challenging.  Plus, I would love to host friends and family more often without always relegating them to an inflatable mattress on the living room floor.

Because we didn’t rush out to buy a bigger house or a minivan when I was first pregnant, we’ve had more time to save up for this step in our life.  We rent out a mother-in-law unit in the back of our current house that has also really helped us save money.  We have no furniture for the new house, and probably won’t be able to afford it for awhile, but I think we’ll be just fine with bean bags and lawn chairs until I have the time and money to pick up secondhand furniture at garage sales.

I’m going to miss never being more than 15 feet away from any member of my family and having four people in the bathroom engaged in various acts of toiletry together, but there will also be something nice about the kids having room to run, explore and play inside.  (Oh, and being able to send kids to a different bathroom!)

Have I become just another suburban mother?  I hope not!  Feel free to lessen my eco-guilt or condemn me for my drunken square footage greed!  (or perhaps offer me congratulations? )

We’re still getting mailing info from our recent giveaways but we should be announcing our EnJoye Breastpump winner and our 15 Minutes Outside winner soon! Also, there’s still time to enter the SmartKlean Laundry Ball giveaway!

My pregnancy moved my thrifty, green tendencies to a whole new level, but people discover this blog at different points in their parenting journeys.  Why are you considering eco-friendly, budget-friendly choices?  Was is economic necessity?  A newfound environmental awareness?  A friend or relative who blazed the trail?  (Rebecca was certainly a huge help for me since we were both pregnant at the same time and she tutored me in cloth diapering, buying used, and reducing purchases.)

Whether you’re just beginning to make frugal, green shifts, or were eco-conscious to begin with , you may want to read our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet.  Request it at your local library to read it for free or pick up a copy of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide on Amazon for less than ten bucks.  (That’s 60% off the cover price!)

Please share what helped you become a greener, more resourceful parent to inspire the rest of us. And don’t forget that today is the last day to enter our Hygeia EnJoye Professional Grade Breastpump giveaway!

Just what is a laundry ball, you ask?  It’s a device designed to replace laundry soap that lasts for an entire year.  (If you wash approximately 18 pounds of laundry per day.)  The SmartKlean Laundry Ball is a perforated plastic sphere filled with ceramic pellets.  Don’t ask me about the specific chemistry involved, but the product claims that the pellets eliminate mold and bacteria, elevate PH levels to simulate soap, and break down water clusters to reduce rust in washing machines.  Honestly, the other features of these pellets are a bit too science-saturated for me to grasp.

Skipping detergent altogether and throwing a ball into a washing machine filled with stinky socks and sour milk smells seemed a bit crazy, but I have to say that it works.  You can hear the ball bouncing around inside which must help agitate the laundry a bit more.  We even used it with our diapers, which are mostly wet these days since Jovi uses the toilet for bowel movements, and they came out smelling great!  It doesn’t do a whole lot for stain removal, but if you pretreat your clothing, it comes out just fine.  (The company also recommends adding white vinegar and sea salt to very soiled clothing to boost the cleaning power.)

Would I buy this product?  Probably not.  I simply am not a purchaser of new-fangled laundry devices and it costs $45.00.  Some people spend this much on dryer sheets and laundry soap in a year, but I don’t think we actually do.   Still, I have to say that our laundry ball stays in our machine and we use it most of the time.  It can be recycled if your local site accepts #7 plastics or it can be sent back to the company.   It does require a bit of maintenance since it should be placed in the sun to regenerate the pellets once a month.  For more information on the product, head to their FAQ page.

You shall have a chance to try it out for yourself if you’re the lucky winner of our SmartKlean Laundry Ball giveaway!

Three Ways to Enter the SmartKlean Laundry Ball Giveaway:

1. Simply post a comment

2. Like us on Facebook (then tell us you did it in the comments)

3. Spread the news about the giveaway! Email someone, post it on Facebook, tweet it, blog it, or send someone a message about it via carrier pigeon. (And again, don’t forget to tell us all about it in the comments!)

This contest ends on Friday May 13th and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Just a friendly reminder that you have until this Friday, May 6th to enter our Hygeia EnJoye Professional-Grade Breastpump Giveaway! There are multiple ways to win and the prize is pretty fantastic so make sure you get your entries in by Friday.  Great luck!

In our research for The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, our favorite organic choice was Nature’s One Baby’s Only Organic Formula.  And in our recent exploration of hexane, Baby’s Only again stands out as the best choice.

So what is hexane anyway?  It’s a petroleum derivative that’s found in glue and gasoline and has recently been used in infant formula to help obtain the DHA and ARA fatty acids from fermented algae and fungus.  Since breast milk is packed with DHA and ARA, there has been a recent drive to get these components into formula.  (Don’t get us started on the advantages of breastfeeding.  If you possibly can breastfeed, there are a million reasons that it will provide you with better health, your baby with better immunity, and save you heaps of cash.  Since not everyone can, we want to be sure to share organic formula options. If you are breastfeeding, don’t forget to enter our Hygeia EnJoye Breastpump Giveaway!)

Similic Organic Formula and Earth’s Best Organic Formula both state that no trace of hexane is detectable in their formula and that it’s just used to process the DHA and ARA.  But Nature’s One Baby’s Only is the only organic formula to derive their DHA and ARA fatty acids without hexane.  They are also the only organic formula to have 100% BPA free packaging.

There’s just one problem with Baby’s Only Organic formula.  In an effort to encourage breastfeeding, the company recommends their formula as a follow up to a full year of breastfeeding.  However, they offer a nutritional chart comparing their formula to others on the market and recommend that you consult with your health care professional.  It’s clear from viewing the chart that Baby’s Only  meets or exceeds other brands with its nutritional components and would be more than adequate as an infant formula.

Baby’s Only Infant Formula isn’t even the most expensive option!  It comes in at $0.88/oz. while Earth’s Best Organic Formula costs $1.15/oz. and Similac Organic is a bit cheaper at $0.73/oz. (These are my current rough estimates based on buying from Amazon in large quantities)

What’s your favorite organic infant formula?  Any tips on finding the best prices on formula?

The Hygeia Enjoye Professional-Grade Breastpump was invented with working moms and the environment in mind. I have to say that I would have loved to have one of these incredible machines, and one of you will be getting one for free very soon!

So just why is Hygeia EnJoye so unique? It actually has a device that records your child’s cry or cooing so that you can play it back while pumping to help you with let down.  I personally had to sprint into our school’s filing room and try hard to envision my baby’s faces so that I could produce milk in the allotted fifteen minutes I had to pump.  Hearing their voices would have been a huge help!

The Hygeia EnJoye works as a double or single pump, comes with a battery and electrical cord, and is intended for long-term and frequent pumping.  Plus, these pumps are designed not to end up in a landfill anytime soon. They can be reused when each new mom buys new tubing for the pump or sent back to the company to be refitted for another mom.  (And all the components that come in contact with breast milk are BPA/DEHP Free)

At just eight pounds, the Hygeia EnJoye pumps are far smaller and more portable than the giant unit I toted around for a full year. And one of you will win a pump (valued at well over $200!) this week!

Four Ways to Enter the Hygeia EnJoye Professional-Grade Breastpump Giveaway:

1. Simply post a comment

2. Like us on Facebook (then tell us you did it in the comments)

3. Visit Hygeia’s Website and comment on what you learned.

4. Spread the news about the giveaway! Email someone, post it on Facebook, tweet it, blog it, or send someone a message about it via carrier pigeon. (And again, don’t forget to tell us all about it in the comments!)

This contest ends on Friday May 6th and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Great luck!

We’ve posted about this before, but when I wrote about my Top 5 Green Cleaning Supplies, I realized that not everyone knew what I meant when I said to wash windows with vinegar and a newspaper. So check out washing windows the green way and learn the secret to saving money on paper towels and commercial cleaners.

Good old-fashioned white vinegar