Alternative / Home / Regular Schooling AND Organic Parenting

[ChemFreeKids]

Hi - I don't want to hijack another thread, but wondering how many Alternative education or regular education parents are also concerned about organic food... clothing... blankets / bedding... etc. Or are concerned about providing a healthy home and learning environment for children.

Monika

[zoebird]

i know that i am. i don't have kids yet, but we're slowly converting our home into an organic house. I'm starting with cleaning products.

i discovered long ago that many people love the various ecover products and the like--but they never worked for me, so i went back to regular commercial products. But, i wasn't happy with that. Then, i learned about the wonders of white clear vinegar. I'm starting to covert my major cleaning to a mix of vinegar and baking soda if you need a scrubbing powder. Then, i looked into an all-woman, all-organic company called THe Thymes for the other three products I use: dish soap for the sink, dish soap for the dish washer (even though i could use vinegar there, my husband prefers to use some sort of soap), and laundry detergent. All of the products are sulfate, phosphate, and chlorine free.

I'm also switching our diet from regular to all organic slowly but surely. My husband eats meat, and we've switched entirely to organic/biodynamic meats for him. My eggs and our dairy (raw) are also organic/biodynamic. Our breads, pastas, and beans aer all organic. Right now, we're in the process of finding ways to convert all of our vegetables and fruits to organic and still not break the bank. We spend about $180 per week for food on the two of us--and we are able to get about 50 lbs of fresh produce for only $35 or so. We haven't found an all-organic source that is as affordable, but we do get strawberries, grapes, peppers, and the like as organics.

We've finally started to wear-out our regular linens, i hope to replace them with organic, and when we can afford it, i'm definately changingg to a formaldahyde free matress and box spring. Our furniture is not organic, but it's in good condition. Anything new that i would buy (such as children's furniture) would be all organic/sustainable.

we already use quality paints that are low vox and virtually chemical free. and we do our best to voz out other things. We're in the process of getting new flooring--i've picked a form of sustainable bamboo flooring that is formaldihyde free, now i have to find someone to install it.

We're hoping, eventually, to have a house off the grid. We're also hoping to convert cars to grease cars. Right now, both of our cars are "regular" and not convertable. You need diesel engines. SO, i'm hoping to get a used mercedes or something with a diesel engine and then have it converted. my husband wants to get a new VW in diesel and convert that. That'll be after our current cars die.

uhm, what else? oh yeah, i want to avoid plastic toys (a la waldorf suggestions), and i am considering organic clothing for the kids. It's tough for me to find organic clothing that i like--though girl skirt mission has some great indian skirts and pants that are colorful and good for yoga (girlskirtmission.com). i'm pretty sure their stuff is organic. A lot of organic stuff is rather shapeless, sometimes frumpy, and often more modest than i want. i'm not a big exhibitionist, but i like things that fit and make me look nice. I haven't found a lot of organic clothing (for adults) taht fits this bill--and particularly not for adult men going into offices. Although, i do love all of the baby and childrens clothes that i've seen. i'm also going with organic cloth diapers and the like.

i have high hopes for my home to be as chemically free as possible. I'm doing a lot now to make that possible too. I can't do it all at once, but i can do it over time. It's something that i strive for. :)

what do you do? any suggestions that can help me out?

[Kreeli]

i think you'd be hard-pressed to find a parent that WASN'T concerned with providing their kids with a healthy environment.... :confused:

anyway, these are admirable goals for all famillies, going completely organic/chem-free, but they aren't realistic for my family in particular. considering the cost of most of these "all natural"/"organic" products (food, clothing, toys, etc.) i don't foresee us ever being able to convert completely. we do what we can, but for the most part rely on hand-me-downs, freecycled and/or thrifted household items no matter if they are all-natural/organic or not..

i clean my house with vinegar and baking soda, though they aren't organic! heh.

[rincaro]

^^^ What Kreeli said. I have been trying to move towards all organic groceries for my family of four, but I'd be broke! My grocery budget would probably triple if I bought only organic food. So I try my best to choose which things I think are the high priority for organic, especially with fruits and veggies.

With the blankets and bedding and such, that's a much harder call. I won't buy the family any leather or fur, but it's mostly about finding affordable clothing and housewares that don't make my conscience scream.

[zoebird]

i think that you're right--the cost is the largest factor. To me, it's similar to when a new veggie goes--oh no! what to do with all my leather? and what if someone gives me (hand me down) wool? and similar. It's kinda like, we do what we can, we dont' necessarily buy new, and we buy what we can afford.

in our case, the organic veggies that we do buy are often frozen (from trader joes) and the rest of the veggies are not organic, just because of basic volumn. i bought 7 heads of lettuce for $4.50, non-organic, and had i bought them organic it would have cost $3.50 per head, and the heads were about 1/3 smaller. So, it would have cost a lot more! it's just tough.

but i agree, i think most parents are interested in having safe, healthy environments for their kids.

[ChemFreeKids]

The cost thing is also what I typically hear about natural and organic toys....

DD and I spend about $200 per month on food. We buy staples and avoid the finished / prepackaged organic foods...... and buy at a food co-op.

OK - we do get chips and candy.... :) but other than that, it's rice, pasta, flour, sugar, spices, tofu, fresh veggies... and DD is WF as well as a veggie kid.

It is tough sometimes to get past the initial cost to see the long term cost of non GMO... or organic... or.... by cost I mean to the body and the environment.

I also know that any parent wants to provide a healthy environment! I think I should / could have said that differently. Hmmmm....

Well think of it this way -- Waldorf parent's want a natural environment, wood furniture, natural fibers, etc. Crayons that are natural instead of the chemical / heavy metal / toxic ones that are the major brands ----- Avoiding those and choosing healthier options. Using organic or at least natural fiber clothing and bedding????? that's the kind of thing that I mean. Choosing things that are better for the environment and teaching a child to respect the earth in that way.....

[zoebird]

i know what you mean, but cost is a factor. i mean, there is a huge economic component to this--it's not just "oh, i don't want to spend a little extra money in order to protect my health and htat of the planet." i do, but i just don't have the money to make it all possible yet. But, i'm doing the best i can, i think that's all anyone can really expect from themselves or anyone else.

my husband and i don't buy a lot of packaged foods (other than frozen fruits and veggies, and some frozen chicken--all organic). we don't have enough money in our budget that would allow us to purchase the amounts of fresh produce that we go through in a month. here's our breakdown.

last thursday, i spent $35 on fresh produce and i got:

10 apples
12 oranges
8 kiwi
6 pears
4 grapefruit
2 large bags of red grapes

7 heads of lettuce
8 tomatoes
6 cucumbers
6 red onions
10 red potatos
2 heads fresh cauliflower
2 heads fresh broccoli
1 large bag of white mushrooms
4 avocados

my husband and i have consumed most of it; the fresh produce will last us until thursday. If i were to buy this amount all organic (even at our local co-op), it would easily cost a lot more. Here's the basic break down from the pricing that i've been doing:

10 apples: $7
12 oranges: $9
8 kiwi (unavailable)--substitute with 2 pts fresh berries: $5
6 pears: $6
4 grapefruit: $4
2 large bags of grapes: $5

7 heads of lettuce (each head is smaller, i'd need 10 heads at $3.50 ea): $35
8 tomatoes: $6
6 cucumbers: $5
6 red onions: $4
10 red potatos: $5
2 heads of cauliflower: $6
2 heads broccoli: $6
2 bags of white mushrooms (which equals the one bag i have): $8
4 avocados: $8

My food co-op total would be: $115.
Add this to my trader joes bill: $50 per week (frozen fruits, veggies, and organic chicken--i usually buy $100 every two weeks)
And my HFS bill: $50-75 per week (depends upon meat prices, but we usually get our grains, beans, eggs, raw milk/cheese/butter)

and my total is: $215 to $240. This is for only two people--i can't imagine what i would do if i had kids to feed! I'm sure the budget would jump up another $50!

Right now, my husband and i are rather tight. We do what we can when we can to buy the highest quality food available to us. Right now, we can't afford another $35 to $60 per week to spend on food, as we do have other bills that we have to pay. We don't go out much (not to eat, not to movies and the like--prehaps about once a month or so, and only to a matinee)--so it's not like we're burning money here. We don't have cable, long distance, and my cell phone is on a low minute plan and used only for business. We carpool often to save on gas. We've streamlined down to a few cleansers which we do spend more money on to be sulfate free (soaps, etc for body/hair), and to be sulfate/phosfate free in our household cleansers. We're looking at going even more streamlined and buying castille soap for everything.

i can't tell you how many corners we've cut to come this far, but then to have someone say "oh, it's not so expensive! and look at the long term!" is a real pisser. we're doing our best, and we don't have any extra money to spare. We've already given up a lot in order to do what we are doing now. . .and i'm sure as we earn more money in the future, we'll be able to afford more of the things we want to (things i mentioned above).

for me, it's about doing what i can now, and setting goals for myself in the future that will allow me to move into more alignment with these ideas. i read a lot of books on the topic, i'm learning a lot about it. but again, i can only afford so much right now, and we've downsized a lot in the last five years, so what more can i do but educate myself and wait for the next income increase?

[zoebird]

btw, i went to your web site and it was cool. there's so many great toys out there. they're pricey, but that's the sort of stuff that we hope to buy for our kids in the future. I want to home school, and i'm inspired by many waldorf ideas regarding child rearing. there are things that i don't like, but overall, they have some good ideas.

[ChemFreeKids]

Thanks Zoebird! for looking at the site.

You know, you can always email me directly and I can see what kind of 'fellow vegetarian' discounts I can work out for you - I offer discounts to homeschoolers, why not vegetarians!

I wonder what kind of store you are shopping at - is it a co-op? DD and I work on a $250 food budget per month. We do OK on that. (4 -5 y/o's eat more than adults at times.... growth spurts and all...) But - I have to say that we do garden in the summer and do some canning.... that helps some.

Monika

[zoebird]

we don't have access to a garden space (as we live in a condo and the nearest garden areas available for rent ask us not to be 'organic" because the other plots may not be organic, etc), so we're unable to garden. also, i don't know how to can, and now i'm looking at vaccum sealing and freezing.

i could join the CSA, but i've noticed what the boxes for families consist of and it's not enough to last us three days. so, we'd have to buy multiple shares. the food co op and hte health food store (related to each other, and connected to the CSAs), all cost the above prices. of course, prices do change based on season, etc. but, it's way too expensive.

we're at about $150 per week on food, because we want high quality food (better to pay for food than medicines, you know?). one of those things. but, we spend way less on cleansers and what not now. :) yay!