How did you spend Earth Day? I was hanging out at McDonald’s, sipping iced tea out of a gigantic plastic cup. This is how far I’ve fallen. It’s been a downhill slide since my first admission that, for me, the thrill of green living had gone.

Nothing but the finest organic foods touched her lips

Sometimes I like to imagine I’m famous. Every time I do something environmentally reckless, I wear a wig and sunglasses so the paparazzi can’t identify me—the co-founder of Green Baby Guide—purchasing Mexican tomatoes or going into Starbucks (not even a local roaster! It gets worse by the second!) without a reusable coffee cup.

What she’s become

This is a far cry from where I expected to be six years ago, full of lofty ideals. My daughter didn’t have one grain of sugar or a morsel of non-organic food until she was two (recommended by . . . some expert, probably. It’s all such a blur now). Now she survives on Cheez-its and sheer will.

So what now? Earth Day used to be a time of hope for our planet. Joy and I would rattle off lists of Earth Day resolutions and our readers would inspire us with their plans. This year, my only resolution is to rediscover my excitement for green living! How do I do it? Help me out!

Tightwad. Skinflint. Cheapskate. Penny Pincher. I’ve been called all the thrifty names in the book, and been proud of the way the reduce, reuse, and recycle mantra has fit into our family life. But what happens when it’s healthier for your home environment to spend a little money on greener products?

In my case, my decision making goes incredibly slowly. I do research, I take polls of friends, family, and greenbabyguide readers, and finally I make small decisions to replace some of our possessions with healthier alternatives.

My current pursuits include a healthier food storage system (since our decade-old plastic containers were made before there was an awareness of BPA in plastic) a greener non-stick skillet, and cloth napkins that are actually nice enough to be used by guests. Our napkin current set was purchased eleven years ago and now has faded from green and yellow to a rather dingy grey. Also, there is no way I would ever iron my napkins, but they emerge from the laundry as wrinkled messes that aren’t much fun to display.

So here is my poll:

1. Do you too struggle with spending money on healthier kitchen ware when your current stuff seems useable?
2. Do you have a food storage system that works wonders for you? (Even when you have to pack multiple lunches with tiny containers?)
3. Do you have a cast iron or porcelain skillet that you’d love to recommend?
4. Are there such things as wrinkle-free cloth napkins that aren’t horrible polyester? Have you managed to make some yourself for your family?

Thanks so much for helping me to overcome my thrifty habits and invest in some replacement items that will truly last!

For the month of May, I’m thinking—just thinking, mind you—about slashing my grocery budget. The last time I tracked my expenditures, I spent $280 on food in a month on three people. (We also entertained five house guests during that time.) So this May, I’m thinking of going much, much lower: $33 a week. That figure will include going out to eat, which just might put a cramp in our weekly brunching habit.

Time to dust off the homemade bagel recipe.

What do you think? Can we feed a family of three on $33 a week without starving or subjecting ourselves to a month of beans, rice, and ramen? Give me your advice for cheap eating!

Well, you called it. After bragging about my newest time-saving, energy-saving, water-saving contraption two years ago, you remained skeptical. Can’t you boil eggs in a pot like everyone else? Do you really want to buy a cheap single-use appliance that will wind up in a landfill in a couple years?

Audrey and eggs, in better days

No, I protested. I need this thing. I can bake my own bread, whip up a smooth roux, and make yogurt from scratch, but I can’t hard boil an egg to save my life. My parents received an egg cooker as a wedding present in 1968 and it’s still steaming along after all these years. It has outlasted their marriage by over twenty years.

So why did mine have to die on me after two years, right when I needed it most? It just doesn’t seem fair. The West Bend Automatic Egg Cooker. Did I really spend $30 on this piece of crap?! Somehow this seemed like less a tragedy when I was imagining it cost $10.

The worst part is that I haven’t learned my lesson. I can’t go back to boiling eggs in a pan, I just can’t. Trying to find a new egg cooker. One that will last forever. Have any of you tried these brands out? Most of them are around $30 and hard boil, soft boil, and poach eggs:

Krups Egg Cooker

Cuisinart Egg Cooker

Nordicware Microwave Egg Boiler (Intriguing! And only $10.74!)

Chef’s Choice Gourmet Egg Cooker

Home Image Egg Cooker

Henrietta Hen Egg Cooker

Maverick Egg Cooker

Have you tried any of these brands? Want to yell at me for my egg incompetence and environmental wantonness? Let me know in the comments!

Pregnancy and breastfeeding motivated me to find safer, and often greener methods for cooking and storing food. But the recycler in me had a very hard time tossing the high quality Circulon skillet we’d received for our wedding. We’re still using it, but I’m finally ready to invest some money in a healthier option. And I’d love to hear your input!

Stainless Steel Skillets seem entirely safe, but I’m so used to having a non-stick surface that the transition may be tricky. I also worry that I’d be using lots more oil in my cooking just to avoid burning food while sautéing.

I’m intrigued by Bialetti Aeternum Skillets that use a nano-ceramic nonstick coating. They are made of aluminum with a silicone exterior and are free of PFOA, PTFE and cadmium. Still, one one pan costs about $40.00 and they can’t be used in the oven.

At this point, my top choice is a cast iron skillet. The one above made by Lodge Logic is pre-seasoned and I know my mom’s trusty cast iron skillet still works like a non stick surface after a decade of use. Plus I’d love to get small doses of extra iron in my food while I cook. Cast iron works in the stovetop and the oven at all heats and costs just $22.95 for a 12 inch skillet. Am I missing something, or is cast iron the obvious choice?

While I’m greening my kitchen, I may also toss all my old tupperware that could have BPA in it to find a safer and more uniform system. Stay tuned for my review of food storage options!

Just five years ago, I was shocked to see that major manufacturers weren’t making more BPA-free baby products. Now, you can wander down the aisles of any big box store and find dozens of shiny plastic goods with BPA-free labels. But what can you find beyond your basic BPA-free plastic baby dishes?

Green Sprouts has several options for baby dishes including the one above, made from a cornstarch based biodegradable plastic. It’s BPA and phthalate free but can’t be used in the dishwasher or microwave.

Fresh Baby’s Divided Dish is made of stainless steel, which can be washed on the top shelf of the dishwasher. It’s safe for the freezer, but obviously not the microwave. It’s snap-on lid makes it convenient for toting snacks or transporting meals to daycare. It’s also BPA, lead, melamine and phthalate free.

And now for my all time favorite…the custard cup. It’s made of thick, nearly unbreakable glass, it will be useful once your tot outgrows baby food, and it is usually microwave, dishwasher, freezer and, oven safe. Unlike many other food containers jumbled into your cupboards, custard cups are stackable and compact. Many styles come with snap on plastic lids that make them instantly into small tupperware containers. (Double check to make sure the lids are BPA and phthalate free as well.)

What are your favorite eco-friendly dishes for baby? How have they held up over many meals of mashed yams and applesauce? Did you even get baby dishes or just work with what you already had?

Do you wish for an affordable green disposable diaper made of milkweed? Are you thinking that your children’s boundless energy could be harnessed to heat your entire home? Do you long for organic, local produce that’s cheaper than those waxy apples flown in from Chile? (This exists! Join a local CSA and be amazed by what you’ll get!)

My personal obsession is with a hybrid minivan. Why hasn’t this happened yet? Or maybe someday they’ll create a crossover vehicle for up to eight passengers that runs entirely on the old crackers and raisins that lurk under car seats.

Also, why can’t our shower, bath, and sink waste water run directly into our gardens in the summer time? There are systems available that can recycle this runoff, but why isn’t it standard in every home?

Why aren’t gyms somehow rigged so that the treadmills, stationary bicycles and other machines generate electricity for the facility?

Does anyone else enjoy pondering such simple, eco-friendly solutions while folding cloth diapers? (Which are a miraculous eco-friendly, budget friendly invention!) What are your desires for green, money-saving solutions?

When I was ten weeks pregnant, we excitedly stepped through the hospital’s revolving door to see our OB/GYN doctor. After a thirty minute wait, we met with a stressed out physician for ten minutes who asked us some routine questions. We were shuffled off to the front desk where we received a plastic bag full of brochures. When I imagined giving birth in that environment and it me nauseous (although it could have also been the morning sickness….) Luckily a friend told me about the Peacehealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.

This time we walked across the front porch of a beautiful old home, through a cut class door and into a completely different experience. We met with the midwife for about forty five minutes, most of which she spent listening to our questions. I was so thrilled to have found a clinic that didn’t treat me as though I had an illness, but embraced our excitement about having a child.

Both of my births were in the same room of that home and both were incredibly supportive and positive. Afterwards we also attended a free baby clinic where we met other new parents and bonded immediately like war veterans over lack of sleep, colic, and the challenge of showering every few days.

Peacehealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center gets clinical support from their OB/GYN physician partners when needed and allows the mother to choose whether she’d like to deliver at the clinic or the hospital. They can also bill insurance, which makes them a great option for people who can’t pay for a midwife out of pocket. In the years since I delivered by babies, the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center has opened a new clinic nestled among thirty foot evergreens. It’s within two minutes of the hospital and can now facilitate water births.

I know there are incredible OB/GYN’s across the country and that midwifery births aren’t for everyone, but I do wish more people had access to midwives so that they could make their own choice. Did you have a wonderful experience with a midwife? Would you list the name of the clinic so that other readers can know about their options?

After two years of research, editing, and writing (with spit-up on our shoulders and cloth diapers in the dryer) The Eco-nomical Baby Guide hit bookstore shelves in the spring of 2010. We packed the book with practical tips to help families save thousands of dollars by going green. The insider secrets we’d learned in the trenches of early motherhood and from hundreds of Green Baby Guide readers were finally organized into the book that we wished we’d had as new parents.

Since then thousands of copies of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide have ended up at baby showers and green boutiques across the nation––and even the world! In December my cousin wrote me from Seoul where he and his wife are on a temporary teaching contract. Their South Korean birth coach had a copy of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide prominently displayed on her shelf. I have no idea how it made it that far, but it’s a thrill to know that our down-to-earth message is resonating with readers.

More than anything, Rebecca and I want to get copies into the hands of new and expectant parents. The Eco-nomical Baby Guide has been selling for under $10 on amazon lately, which is a great value for the amount of money it can help you save! If you’d like to read it before you buy, check it out at your local library. We have hundreds of copies in media centers across the country. If yours doesn’t have one yet, just make a request! We’re also happy to add that our publisher has just released a Kindle version of the book.

Thanks so much for your enthusiastic support of our exploration of green baby rearing on a budget. Who knew that whirling up sweet potatoes, finding secondhand strollers, and getting the best value on green goods could be such fun?

Have you used cloth diapers? What would you tell a pregnant, overwhelmed friend who doesn’t know a pocket diaper from a prefold?

If you have tips on buying diapers, laundering diapers or dealing with other challenges, please share! Today is the last of our posts this mont on cloth diapering and our favorite insider ideas always come from our readers. (Oh… and our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide!)