1 Year Later...

It has been just over 1 year since I went green. The peppers died, the parrots mutilated the zuccini, tomato, and cucumber plants. I use Crest toothpaste. BUT I thought I'd do a year in review follow-up!

I have no regrets about going green. I still incorporate green living into many, many aspects of my life.

• I still wash my clothing with vinegar and salt in super hot water. (I cheat occasionally and use Mrs. Myers (organic) Clean Day--the Lemon Verbana scent is the best!!!)

• I still use baking soda for deodorant. (It's better than anything else!)

• I only clean the house with organic, essential-oil scented cleaners. (Mrs. Myers Clean Day!!)

• We only shower with organic soaps. (Exception: shampoo & conditioner--my hair is damaged from hair dye and apparently required deep conditioning...) Our favorite soap is the dead sea mud we get from Greenwise or the South of France collection!

I buy mostly organic groceries, with a few exceptions. We buy organic:
meat
milk
strawberries
lettuce
tomatoes

I do not buy organic:
bread
apples
potatoes
olives

And we eat mostly Lean Cuisine microwave meals during the week. :-\

Funnily enough, my husband, once the skeptic, is now almost more gung-ho organic than I am! He makes his own preshave lotion using purely organic oils and essential oils! Now he's trying his hand at home-made organic shaving cream and organic home-made soap!

He's also saving to get a steam vapor cleaner, as he believes that chemical-free cleaning is far better than anything else!

I guess in sum I would say that Going Green has been one of the best changes in our lives. Although I've given up some of the home recipes (James swore if he smelled vinegar again he'd leave, one day), I've replaced many of them with organic, essential-oil scented cleaners that are easily available at local organic grocery stores. The home-recipes for personal care have been great--and I still love the baking soda deodorant, but on the whole it is easier and less time-consuming to just buy the organic version at the store. :)

Healthwise, going green has helped enormously with my asthma, and James's face breakouts. Sophia rarely plucks or mutilates any of her feathers. When we started, she'd chewed all of her back and chest feathers, and had plucked her leg feathers up to the hip. Now she only keeps the shaved-leg look to her mid-thigh, and doesn't chew any of the other feathers. (woohoo!)

Hope this inspires you to take the plunge yourself!!