Mooncups!

Going through my bathroom I realized I'm tired of using pads. I've been wanting to stop using them for a while, but out of repetition's sake I keep buying them.  I wanted a green alternative that would also cut down on the odor that I worried so much about.

Before I got pregnant with my last child, I wanted to try out mooncups. They are like Divacups, but made out of silicone. Now, I'm no longer pregnant and figured I would take the dive.  I read the reviews and I even looked up instructions on youtube on how to use it.

I received it last month and for the first time in a long time, eagerly waited for my period. Finally 2 weeks ago, I tried it on for size. I ordered the size for women who are over a certain age or have had a vaginal birth. (Size A) Many women have complained about the initial first usages as having some spillage when removing the cup, that it's messy or uncomfortable. There is a tab that you can cut off, it's just there so you can pull it out. I cut mine off completely because even when I left a little bit on, I still felt it when sitting down.

I'm happy to say that I had no problems with the mooncup at all. I didn't leak in the middle of the night, and I have a heavy flow. I just emptied it before I went to sleep. The plus of the mooncup is that you can reuse it over and over and you can also leave it inside for a whole day if you like without there being health risks. I've heard of some people getting UTIs, but that could be from the material or even the soap they use to wash the cup in.

I'm not going to post the instructions on the usage because I will post the youtube video that helped me out a great deal instead.

mooncup troubleshooting

Finally done with the kitchen!

So, it  must've been over 3 weeks since I've started this kitchen and finally I'm done. I will post pictures later, but I'm so excited.

GreenEx came this morning to pick up all my junk and they were super fast and awesome. Of course because everyone seemed to be spring cleaning as well, it was hard getting an appointment.

Now all that is left is bathroom, living room and bedroom.

Throw your sponge away!

Do it, now!

Here is a better and cleaner way to wash dishes. Instead of using a sponge that will spread germs from one place to another use a dish rag. A clean one for every new job around the kitchen. Now, you might think that is a waste of money buying all these rags and even waste of water to wash them all, but here are some tips.

• When you have old towels, hand towels or other, cut them to size and use them for dish rags. This goes the same for using them as dusting rags. You can also use socks that are missing a partner, old cotton shirts and so on.
• Get a separate laundry basket or something similar to place your rags that are used to wash dishes. Kitchen rags are greasy and you don't want them mixed in with your clothes.
• Before placing them in said laundry basket let them dry, so you don't get moldy rags.
• At the end of the week you can wash them. Use the hottest and longest setting for your rags to ensure they will be clean.
• Use the plastic mesh bags that carry oranges and onions as a scrubber. Just place the rag inside the bag, tie it off and your ready to go.

• After you are finished just hang it to dry. See, you are recycling already. :D

Here are before and after pics:

Drought washing.

Once again another useful tip from Organic Housekeeping:

Wash your dishes as if you were in a drought. Remove all dishes from your sink. Start off with utensils, place them in the sink and add dish detergent to your dish rag. Wet it with hot water and proceed to wash all the utensils with just the rag. Put the utensils in a rack to "marinate" as you wash more. Once you are finished turn on the hot water and rinse off the soap and let the utensils dry.

Then do the same for the plates. Soap them up, set them aside, and once all done wash them off.

Last but not least, your greasy pans. Repeat the process and you're done.

This way you save water.

Bags of clothes!

This is my kitchen before all of these things get picked up. The majority of these are bags of clothes. I can only imagine what it will look after all of this is gone. Can't wait until Thursday.

A new site!

Thanks to my friend and owner of the awesome Barcey's in Bushwick, NY, Christine, I now have a site for another green place in NY.

It's called Build it Green, NYC This place will take old building materials, furniture and other household items for free and sell it. After the sale you will get a tax receipt. They have some really nice things for sale. I saw a nice antique stove, I love antique stoves.

The awesome thing about this place is that they will deconstruct your kitchen for free and sell everything. So not only do you get free demolition, you also get paid for the things you get rid of. Paid in the sense that you get a tax receipt. Well come the time I decide to remodel this ugly kitchen I will give them a call.

A place kind enough to take my junk...

I was hesitant on cleaning a lot of my rooms because of the fact that it was getting harder and  harder to take out large amounts of garbage.

I started becoming irritated because this was going to take forever to finish. I surfed the web and found this place: http://greenexcleanouts.com. Of course I find the site on Thursday at midnight so I can't call to ask for a quote, but I'm so excited anyways. I called the next day and the owner answered and he sounded really friendly.

Of course there is a fee, but considering it's NY, it's a reasonable fee. $280, was the estimate he gave me. I have a lot of things to get rid of and if it stays in that amount I will be super psyched. Come Monday I, as well as everyone else, will know how this all turned out.

Can someone help me out of here?!

I'm typing this while cleaning up my kitchen, again. Technically, I was never really done with this place. I managed to rearrange some of the cabinets, but honestly it doesn't seem to have made a dent in this kitchen.
I make room in one area only to find that now there are places that need a home and I have to find room for them and then I end up filling up a place that I was enjoying the emptiness of.

The things that are taking up the most room in the kitchen are the baby toys. I have a huge exersaucer, an old chair and a tummy time mat. Unfortunately, I don't know many people that might be in need for these so I'm going to give them to my sister hoping one of her friends might. At least in her area she's more likely to find a donation area.

Wll, back to work for me.

My head is spinning trying to figure out where I should put what. I just cleaned my art room and I'm debating on if I should place a small plastic cabinet there

Yesterday was a killer clean up day.

I received a DVD/CD/VHS(Yes I typed VHS), cabinet and the thing is huge. It's made real well and it's beautiful and holds tons of DVDs and video games.

Normally it takes me a good 2 hours max. to build a large piece of furniture. Apparently this was the exception, thanks to me misplacing my screwdriver and having to clean up the tool room to look for it, it took me 6 hours to build. I think the fact that I was so tired also had something to do with it.

Today, I will place all my DVDs, CDs, and video games in this thing, thus bringing me one step closer to finishing my organization process. It's funny how unorganized I am with what room I start in. I'm trying to focus on the kitchen, but I'm doing both the kitchen and living room because of the furniture I get in.

The plus to this is that misplacing my screwdriver forced me to clean up my tool room and organize it. The negative is that I found the screwdriver near my washing machine.

Might take months.

As I cleaned the hell hole I know as a kitchen, I realized this might take me months. Not the whole process altogether, although I'm sure it will, but the kitchen itself. There is so much to get rid of and so much to donate. I don't know if it will all get done before my mom visits and loads her trash off over here.

Of course upon cleaning I find all these aerosol cans full of poison and cleaning stuff that has been there since before I moved in. I have no use for these products and now have to wait to hear back from environmental services so I can get this handled.

Argh.

Before and After

BEFORE

A

AFTER 

New Kitchen Stuff!

So I just got in some things I ordered from Bed Bath and Beyond and decided I was going to organize the under counter cabinet so I could fit things in and throw out old pans and such. I wanted to do this quick because I promised to make my daughter ice cream. Well this quick 5 minute process, turned into an hour and I'm organizing a whole bunch of things in the kitchen.

I had to make space in one cabinet for the holiday plates and platters that I never use; and for other rarely used items. Then I had to make space in our tool closet for the things I pulled out of the cabinet. I'm cleaning the tool closet a day at a time because there is a lot to do in there.

So...off to finish the clean up and onto making some ice cream. At the rate I'm going it will take a few more days to really get the kitchen the way I want it; especially considering garbage days.

Tip of the Day!

If you have a rat problem(I don't know if this works on mice, but there is a chance it does), plant catnip.

Rats, logically hate catnip. I don't know if it's because they know it brings cats or if it's because of the smell of the catnip.

Research done on big cats and catnip shows that there is a chemical in catnip that produces a similar smell to cat urine. Researchers don't know for sure if that's what is making the majority of cats crazy.

If it is the smell, it does explain it. Animals use scent to communicate and they are able to tell who lives where and owns what just by scent. If you just have cats in your home, that is usually enough to keep rodents at bay. So, if you can't keep cats for allergy reasons or because your landlord doesn't allow you to, try planting some catnip and tearing a couple of leaves to release the odor. Plus, catnip has other uses as well. Catnip makes a good calming tea with the right mixture. I will post the measurements later.


I have a feeling that soon this blog will just consist of random tips and trivia that have nothing to do with the main purpose of the blog. Oh, well.

Why haven't we done this yet?

I just learned from my co-workers that India and Guyana no longer use plastic shopping bags. Customers have to bring in their own cloth bags for groceries. Amazing how America boasts about its greatness and we are still using plastic and paper bags. Yes, many more people are using cloth or nylon bags, but the country isn't mandating it.

Biodegradable and Compostable garbage bags!

Check out WWW.Nat-ur.com for biodegradable and compostable garbage bags, cup lids, straws, plates, bowls and more.

Amazon carries Nat-ur products!

I posted a site above that is called Nat-ur.com and I realized that you can't buy anything from their site. Thank god Amazon has their stuff. On top of this I found another company that does the same thing: natur-tec. You can order from their online catalog. Yipee!

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." A quote to live by. When it comes to the things we use everyday, we have to make sure everything gets used to its fullest potential. Turn damaged pants into shorts or skirts. Shirts with damaged sleeves into vests and old socks into rags. Utilize every inch of paper.

The quote as well as the tips here and most of them in this blog are from Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck

Project Organization is on it's way.

I just started reading this awesome book called: Organic Housekeeping
by Ellen Sandbeck and I have been inspired!

Normally, I love to organize around the house, but with 2 kids it's pretty hard. To add to this, I tend to get lazy or overwhelmed and stop part way through. This is mostly with laundry. I will wash, dry and fold it, but I can't seem to get to the putting it away part.

In this book there are many tips on living an organic lifestyle that will work with your budget(which works for me).

Throughout many years I've collected tips on how to live greener. The problem: I haven't really enforced it. Since I was in grade school I've been environmentally conscious and recycled. I tried to produce the least amount of waste and reused as much as possible, but I didn't have the resources I do today. Of course, now I have lack of motivation or, for the most part, money.

So far I used gDiapers, but my Mother in Law says we live in America and shouldn't be reusing diapers so she keeps buying pampers for me against my wishes. So I used gDiapers for a couple of months and they did work wonderfully, except I pretty much wasn't "allowed" to buy them anymore. Since my living situation is, I live with my mother in law, she buys the diapers and I can't return them. At one point she was throwing away the gDiapers because she wasn't aware that she just had to throw away the insert. Plus, she never knew how to put them on right.

My next "green" thing was mostly for the health benefit of my son, I'm breastfeeding. I use only 2 bottles. This is because when I work I have to leave a supply at home. I have silicone breast pads instead of the disposable ones(they work better than the disposable), and I buy lots of organic or toys made from recycled products. I'm also making my own baby food.

Still, I want to do more, or in this case, less. I'm really on a budget so I can't afford the best stuff out there. I also live in an apartment so a composter(sp?) is out of the question. In this case I looked up a cheap way to compost food scraps. EARTHWORMS! I found a way to make cheap worm bins. Earthworm bins
Unfortunately, I ordered my bins online and they are on back-order. :( Once I start I will let everyone know how it's turning out.
Now, thanks to this book, I will be learning to make my own cleaning products. I'm saving all my old spray bottles and plan on reusing them.

So, to sum all this up: I'm starting an organization project. Each day, starting tomorrow because it's 11:30pm here, I will organize a room or closet at a time. I might even do it 3 times a week to coincide with garbage day. I will post before and after pictures to show my progress.