Holiday Shopping/ Get ready for Cyber Monday

There are tons of great deals to be had around this time of year , but also a lot of neat tricks used to make you buy more than what you needed. I almost always have a phone buddy when I am out shopping who I can call to check and see if it is a really good deal or not. Unless you have a really cool Iphone then you can scan the barcode and search for yourself, but I am cheap and have a phone that just calls people, so I have a phone buddy.

I always get excited at the idea of getting my goods for an insanely discounted price if not free. I have my certain places I know to hit and blogs I also follow to keep abreast of new deals.

First Black Friday is an alright place to start, but I always look forward to Cyber Monday, no crowds and usually they give free shipping .

I kept informed of Black Friday deals via TheThriftyMama and I am sure she is doing a lot for Cyber Monday too.

Also a quick reference guide for the sites I hit check out our Saving Your Green section.

Keeping in line with the previous post I also want to encourage donation of any used items to your local charities and pass on the good cheer this holiday season. And if you find particularly good deals on things YOU don't necessarily need you can always donate those things too if you are in such a situation to do so.

This time of year we all get a little spend happy and wrapped up in the things that don't really matter. So keep your emotions in check! And remember no matter what you give your kids the best thing is your time and patience.

So go grab some awesome deals and I'll post any green/eco friendly ones on the Facebook wall!

Have a safe and happy Cyber Monday :)
Elizabeth- Who's Green

When to say enough is enough

Stuff is everywhere. It fills your closets, gets laid out in the floor, it's everywhere and it's causing you grief! Those dresses you never wear, those shoes that always stay in the closet. Those purses hanging unused. Little knick knacks all over your house collecting dust/have to be dusted. It's everywhere and it's time to say ENOUGH!

Part of being green is knowing when you have enough and be content in where you are. If you haven't used it in a year it's time to let someone else have a go. Your items that go unnoticed might end up being someone's new treasure. I am not saying throw out your grandmother's china or extremely sentimental items. But I can say as a woman that one dress I wore for one performance that I keep in the closet won't last forever. Take a picture, remember the moment you had in it, and let someone else have it.

I used to sell my items and trade them, but now I have realized how much time and effort was spent to do so and I have switched into a total giving mode.

Example- My pest control guy game out and was inspecting different rooms and we went into our basement den where all the riding toys for the kids are and he was just admiring this ride on plane and talking about where I got it and going on and on and so forth. Well, I had gotten it from a kid's consignment so it wasn't likely he was going to find one anywhere. My kids are 2-4 and really didn't miss it when we had to move it downstairs.. so when he came back in.. I gave it to him and his two little boys :) It freed up space in my life and also impacted another human being in a positive way. And that needs to happen more often!

I believe in making space in your life for the good things you open yourself up to. If you are constantly clinging onto everything your hands and hearts are not open to receive what it coming your way.

So I challenge you on this very day to go pick one item out of each room that you don't use and give it to someone/donate it to charity. I guarantee you will not miss it and your kids won't miss those toys that rarely if ever got played with in the bottoms of the bins.

Good luck!
Elizabeth- Who's Green

We Reached 51! So mini giveaway!

So post a comment with your email address and one thing you are thankful for :) I will use Random.org to determine the winner. Goodluck!

The winner will receive a coin mini coin purse from ArtCow.com with our adorable owls on it!

Drawing will be held on my birthday :) Nov 14th

Thanks for following along!
Elizabeth

The Learning Curve

Everyone has one. And it's great to get excited about all the new wonderful things you can discover like couponing, essential oils, how to cloth diaper and so on and so forth. But I have found the more I learn the more I feel I don't know and that can be disheartening when you hit that wall.

Nobody knows everything, but it's the journey and curiosity that drives us to learn more and more each day that gives us our satisfaction or at least it should. With me I am very competitive so that makes me even more upset when things go wrong or something doesn't turn out perfect the first time.

So with everything you learn be thankful for knowing that one tidbit that helps you out. You might not be this huge healing herb guru but you do know how to make Hand Sanitizer ( and that's very useful!)

Take a deep breath and keep things in perspective. And remember you are doing this to make your life better, greener, and ultimately simpler.

Who's green?
You are!

NetiPots -freaky but fantastic!

So I decided that yesterday was a great day to just sweep dust around my house and claim to be cleaning...and I guess it wasn't because my eyes puffed up and I used half a roll of toilet paper trying to blow my nose as it needed to. The constant drip all day long was enough to drive me mad. And it did.

I got this NetiPot for free off of NeilMed's Facebook Page and I had stocked it away thinking one day I might try this if I get desperate enough to actually put something up a nostril and then let water run out the other. I HATE nasal sprays because they sting and are nasty so I pretty much wrote that off. SO after spending a complete afternoon in watery itchy runny nose misery I decided enough was enough.

I read and re-read the instructions then looked for YouTube Videos on it ( Visit our YouTube Page HERE or directly to the video HERE.

I have to say it is the weirdest sensation ever. You feel like your should be drowning and wondering why this actually works! I would highly recommend not waiting all day like I did because almost immediately after my nose dried it stopped running and completely stopped itching.

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS? oh yeah.. Dr. Oz did.. my mom did.. the people on NeilMed's Facebook page did.. but it was freaky sticking a teapot up one's nose. Now I can honestly say it works and I will be using this every time my allergies kick me to the ground.

Made my own laundry detergent

And so far so good. FYI you REALLY need to be right there with it while it's boiling even just simmering on low this stuff can boil over fast. That being said. No other mishaps happened while making it. Instead of the Fels Naptha soap or ivory I used a Dr. Bronner's All in one soap bar. But it did fine.

Right now I have a load of towels done and they smell and feel great. I am waiting for my prefolds to get out of the dryer to see if they upset my baby girl's bum. I ran out of Allen's All Natural ( which is my favorite cloth diapering detergent) and the store I buy from is going out of business so I really hope that this is gentle on her skin. I use ECOS for all my other laundry, but it tends to break her out in a rash, I think it might be the lavender in it.

I will update later, but as of right now I am really excited!

Please post and let us know how yours turned out!

Dunk N Fluff Coop

Dunk N Fluff is running a wool short/pant/soaker Co Op on her facebook page
Information on pricing here.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=118560021519062&id=60259752767#!/notes.php?id=60259752767

Go Comment on the thread here
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=118560021519062&id=60259752767#!/DunknFluff

Being Green on a budget

Being Green on a budget can be extremely frustrating, but there are more blogs, websites, coupons, and sales than ever before to help you! All you need is to take advantage of them.

See our section Saving Your Green and look at some of our favorite savings blogs/websites.

Elizabeth's Birth Stories

Are up on the website!

http://www.whos-green.info/elizabeths-birthing.php

Make your own Laundry Detergent!

How to wash cloth diapers at home video

A great video added to our GreenMotherhood Channel on YouTube!

Babywearing section almost complete!

Let us know if we are missing anything! Check out the babywearing section www.whos-green.info

Facebook Giveaway!

Like us at our Who's Green Facebook page and comment on the giveaway thread and you might be the lucky winner of this beautiful handmade 100% cotton newborn hat and washcloth set once we reach 100 people!

Asian Baby Carriers now up on website

Go to http://www.whos-green.info/asian-baby-carriers.php

Elizabeth's Cloth Diaper Journey

I got kind of a late start on diapering as I didn’t start cloth diapering until my son was about 10 months old. It’s better to be late than never because it started me down not only a more earth friendly path, but a budget friendly path as well. I was completely overwhelmed by the choices I had, when to wash, how to store, completely and utterly befuddled by the newbie I had now become.

My first stash was loaned/given to me by some sweet local cloth diaper addicts. I had 3 pockets, a dozen or so prefolds (both premium and premmie for inserts) and some PUL covers made by one of the lady’s who is a super sewing diva. I don’t even remember if I had a wetbag or not. At any rate I was cloth diapering! It took some convincing on their end because I am on the road quite abit and didn’t want to be slowed down by these cloth diapers and washing all the time. But once I got my stash settled and some actual wetbags instead of plastic grocery bags.. it made it TONS easier than I could have ever imagined.

Now I cloth diapered him until he started potty training now we use a combination of pull ups for night time accidents and regular underpants. And that seems to be a good balance as I have found for a 3 year old.

When my daughter was born I was given just enough disposable diapers to last me until her cord stump fell off. I didn’t buy any super small cloth diapers as my babies usually chunk up quite quickly (Laura on the other hand stocks up! ) So my stash with her was quite different than all the different types of diapers I had tried and gone through with my son. I had a stash of 24 infant prefolds and a dozen premmie prefolds to use as doublers, 6-10 small/medium pul covers I think I used 6 proraps colors, and 4 baby behinds colors.

When she got older I started using wool covers. I started using wool with William after Laura explained to me that lanolizing just meant that you put lanolin on the wool… nothing more! It sounded way more intimidating than that. Anyways once you switch to wool it’s hard to go back to pul covers ( at least for me.) So much easier to take care of and I love the smell of wool wash. I don’t buy small wool because I find that breastfed poop liked to get on them and you wash them a lot so I stick to pul during the first few months but after they get into mediums I switch to wool.

I never even used pins or snappis with my son I just folded a prefold into the newspaper fold and snapped it on. Now you can’t use pull on covers but that never really bothered me. With my little girl though I started out trying to use pins but quickly realized how wonderful snappis are. I love them and continue to use them with her as I bought a lot of pull on wool covers and knit a lot of her covers.

Another thing I like was fleece covers and acrylic knit covers. They look like wool but you just wash them after every other use with your diaper load like you would pul covers. I find that if I am working on a pattern to knit with I knit it in acrylic first so it’s cheaper if I mess up/the pattern is wonky. I also learned to sew my own fleece covers which saved me a lot of money versus buying them. But they are fairly inexpensive if you have to buy them too.

I went though my experimental phase with my son. I tried fitteds and I loved baby behinds hemp/bamboo on him they fit him really well. I tried pockets which I liked for their extreme ease while on the go and out and about. I tried prefolds ( and found my love in their simplicity. I tried all in ones and didn’t much care for them .

But all in all you must try to find what fits your lifestyle and your budget. Prefolds+wool is my thing, but it might not be yours so feel free to experiment try things out. Even with the next baby you might find what worked for your first doesn’t do well on your second just because of body shape, or weight. Most of all have fun and enjoy this new wonderful thing you’ve found!

The Beginning

This is the very start of our long journey as mothers!

We have searched and scowered the internet

for the most useful websites, links, photos,

and tutorials and are in the process of

containing them to one useful website.

Please bear with us as we organize our website.

We would love any one who wants to contribute to the website either through video, pictures, or articles to contact us as WhosGreen@hotmail.com