Accidentally Green

Making Healthy Decisions That Honor God and Happen to Help the Environment

Make Your Own Insect Repellent

Read more mosquito prevention and repelling tips in my eBook, Repelled. Last summer I researched and wrote about natural ways to repel insects, but at the time my family was living in a tiny apartment in the city. We had no yard, no deck or patio – absolutely no way to relax outside. I tried a homemade mosquito repellent over a holiday weekend trip to my parents’ home in the country, and loved it. At the time, I longed for green space to raise our children and stretch our legs. God answered ... Read more

Foodie Friday: Barbecue Sauce

Just in time for Memorial Day weekend – here’s an outstanding recipe for BBQ sauce! Prince Charming and I have been whipping this up for our summer barbecues for years. It’s easy and tastes better than anything you can buy in a bottle. (Disclaimer: I hesitate to share this recipe with you because of the tomato sauce. I haven't found a tomato sauce that doesn't come in a can - and tomato sauce's acidity really releases a lot of the BPA that lines cans. If you don't mind exposing yourself to ... Read more

Make Your Own Menu Planner

I’m pretty terrible at certain aspects of housekeeping (of course, I'm also pretty fantastic at others). Now that I’m the dishwasher and there’s no appliance to help with that, there’s always a pile of dirty or clean dishes in my kitchen. I’m slow to put away my family’s clean clothes. And I definitely struggle with making weekly meal plans for the four of us. Granted, since we moved into our home six weeks ago, I have an incentive to do it and it’s going along pretty well. But I know that if I ... Read more

Mild to Wild: How Food Affects Children

Once a week, I watch a group of children at my church – typically four boys and two girls are there (this includes Big Brother and Little Sister). Each time, all six children quietly play together. Last week, my helper gave each child a packet of fruit snacks, a cup full of Goldfish crackers, and water. Within 10 minutes, all four boys transformed from quiet and polite to hyper and out of control. They ran, wiggled, screamed, hit, wrestled – the transformation was so sudden and so extreme I ... Read more

Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Happy May Day! So many healthy, natural products can easily be made in the comfort of your own home. To highlight some of these recipes, I’m dedicating this month as “Homemade in May.” Today’s post originally appeared on Feb. 19, 2011. This was my go-to laundry detergent recipe for years. Unfortunately, I can’t use it any more because of my high efficiency washing machine – and I can’t use Fels-Naptha anymore because we now have a septic system. This recipe’s an easy one to try, and I can ... Read more

You’ll Never Guess Why I Can’t Use Fels-Naptha Soap

Even though it’s been sold for more than a hundred years, I never heard of Fels-Naptha bar soap until I started making my own laundry detergent four years ago. I bought a case of the soap and loved smelling the fragrance – both when I made the soap and then when I used it when washing clothes. I never gave a second thought about its safety, though – until I noticed an article on Livestrong.com. One potential conflict is that naptha is a petroleum-derived ... Read more

Recycling By the Numbers

This week I’ve admitted to my previously mediocre attempts at recycling, and I also posted a handy list of recyclables. Today, I’ll explain exactly what the recycling numbers mean on the bottom of plastic containers, and I’ll share a few recycling conversations I had with readers this week. What’s commonly recycled Four kinds of plastics are commonly accepted through recycling programs. Not all programs may accept these plastics, though, so be sure to check first. Number 1 ... Read more

What to Recycle

If you’re like me and you’re fairly new to serious recycling, it might be a little confusing to remember what materials you can recycle and what ones you can’t. Here’s a list to help with your recycling efforts: Paper Beverage, food, and detergent cartons Books Cardboard boxes (if it’s a cardboard food box, remove the liners or wax paper) Copy paper Corrugated cardboard Greeting cards Junk mail Magazines Newspaper Pizza boxes (remove the greasy paper liner) Paper ... Read more

My Recycling Confession

I have a confession to make. As green as I’d like to become, I haven’t become an amazing recycler yet. In fact, during some seasons of my life, I’ve been an absolutely horrid recycler. Granted, I don’t throw away intact and usable household items, clothing, or electronics – instinctively I donate them to organizations that can help someone else with my unwanted belongings. But when it comes down to trash – discarded mail, plastic food containers, glass bottles, and food scraps – my level and ... Read more

Celebrating Earth Day Every Day

“The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” – Psalm 24:1 I love music. And since I’ve always been a musical person, I know I can learn something really easily if I turn it into a song. Because of this, I try to teach my children Bible verses by making up melodies. Last year, one of Big Brother’s Bible verses was Psalm 24:1, so I promptly made up a little tune. For some reason, I’ve been singing “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” a ... Read more

Environmentally Friendly Carpet Options

On Monday I explained what toxins lurk in carpet. Sometimes, though, a hard surface floor just isn’t feasible. After Prince Charming and I ripped up the hideously smelly and stained carpet from our new home, we discovered we had finished hardwood floors in the upstairs – but we’d need to recarpet the downstairs. (Well, we couldhave installed new hardwood ... for triple the price we could afford.) As dutiful bargain hunters, we searched local flooring stores and chain stores. On a whim, we ... Read more

How Can Carpet Pollute Your Home?

Ah, the merits of carpeting. It’s plush. It makes a floor feel comfy. Certain carpets can hide the appearance of dirt. Once you look past the comfortable advantages, though, carpet can be downright unhealthy: Many new carpets are made with toxins and carcinogens like benzene, formaldehyde, p-Dichlorobenzene, 4-PC, and xylene that offgas in your home for years. (Those definitely aren't the kinds of chemicals I want to keep inhaling on a daily basis.) Keep in mind that the carpet fiber ... Read more

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