Accidentally Green

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

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Aluminum Foil

Have you noticed the price of aluminum foil lately? In my community, 75 feet of Reynolds Wrap is on sale this week for $7.99. $7.99! About once a year I replenish my rolls of aluminum foil and wax paper, and twice a year I buy a roll of plastic wrap. Whenever I run out of aluminum foil I’m shocked at the cost – yet I’m reminded that I should use it sparingly. When I lived very mindlessly and never gave a second thought about my purchases or consumption, I remember buying these products every ... Read more

Avoiding Artificial Food Coloring

One of the reasons I stay away from processed food and choose a diet of real food for my family is to avoid artificial food colors. Found in pretty much every kind of processed product, artificial food colors have a host of nasty effects. (Wondering why your excessively energetic children are having attention issues? Carefully think about what foods and drinks they’re consuming.) Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net To read more, check out my posts: A ... Read more

Safe and Simple Ways to Feed Your Infant

Unsure how to feed your infant? Check out these safe and simple tips. When I became a new mom, the first year of my baby’s life was filled with joy and so much uncertainty. I didn’t know what to do with babies – and I knew I didn’t know. Childbirth and breastfeeding certainly were uncharted territories – but so was everything else, including basic developmental stages, diapering, sleep patterns, teething, and introducing first foods. For quite a while I just wished I could exclusively ... Read more

Reducing Toilet Paper Waste with Control-n-Roll

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product from Control-n-Roll for review purposes only. All opinions are my own. As I write this, I realize it sounds completely ridiculous … but my family is committed to toilet paper use. After contemplating a switch to “family cloth,” my husband adamantly refused the practice. We may be green in the Bernstein home, but we’re not THAT green. I did repurpose one of our older flannel baby receiving blankets into family cloth – and I even tried it. But I ... Read more

How to Reuse Plastic Bags

Why are most store-bought items overpackaged? If you notice, your groceries typically are enclosed in boxes and bags. And children’s toys! On Christmas morning it’s apparent – and appalling – that there’s more packaging than product. I hate having to dispose of the overpackaging, but I do. When I can find reusable elements, though, I gladly repurpose them. Whether its shoe boxes or bubble wrap, I prefer to recycle the packaging by reusing it. One of my favorite types of packaging is the ... Read more

Safe and Simple Baby Care

Disclosure: Purchasing items through links in this post will result in a commission for Accidentally Green. Are you preparing for the arrival of a baby and wondering how in the world you could simply make your baby's world a little safer? I started making greener decisions when my firstborn entered the world – so for me, having a baby and making healthier choices go hand in hand. Since I hadn't formed any unhealthy baby care routines, the healthy ones seemed completely normal and doable ... Read more

Keeping My Beauty Routine Safe and Natural

Welcome to the February 2014 Natural Living Blog Carnival: Naturally Beautiful. This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and Crunchy Farm Baby through the Green Moms Network. This month, our members are talking about skincare and other personal care products. You'll find a variety of posts about choosing natural beauty products and even tutorials on how to make some of your own! Be sure to read all of the posts listed at the ... Read more

8 Ways to Reuse Coffee Grounds

If you’re a coffee drinker – and you brew your own coffee – you have a lot of coffee grounds to deal with. There are some not-so-green ways to dispose of them – like throwing them in the garbage. (Why leave coffee grounds in a landfill for years??) And there are greener ways to dispose of them – like composting them. But if you’re looking for creative alternatives besides the garbage or compost pile, what in the world can you do with the remains of your cup of joe? Here are 8 ... Read more

How I Moisturize My Dry Skin

Disclosure: Purchasing items through affiliate links in this post will result in commissions for Accidentally Green. Long before I knew that many personal care products were made with toxic ingredients, I LOVED to shop twice a year at a popular store known for their fragrant perfumes, body washes, body lotions and soaps. I made a mental note of their spectacular semi-annual sales and would stock up on products for myself, as well as gifts. Then I made the decision to buy products that I ... Read more

Choosing Safe Moisturizers {Safe and Simple Monday}

It’s the time of year for dry skin. Does anyone have a bad case of winter itch this year? My hands and feet have quite a way of drying out each and every winter. Moisturizing is necessary to treat dry, cracked or itchy skin. But many moisturizers on store shelves today are filled with toxic ingredients. {Please, please, please – check all your personal care products and stop using ones that include parabens!} Out of 2,344 moisturizing products rated by the Environmental Working Group, 852 ... Read more

Reusing and Repurposing Sheets

In the past week I’ve shared why I keep my family’s sheets and towels instead of buying new ones – and I’ve explained how I reuse and repurpose our old towels. But how do I repurpose old sheets? If one of the sheets in my sets rip – or the elastic on a bottom sheet stretches out and just won’t stay on a bed, what do I do with my leftover flat sheets? One easy solution is to use your old, stained or mismatched sheets as paint dropcloths. Sure, you could buy plastic dropcloths at the ... Read more

Keep Sheets and Towels {Safe and Simple Monday}

Somehow, today’s safe and simple tip of keeping sheets and towels doesn’t seem so exciting to me.  Keep your sheets and towels? Why wouldn’t you do that? And why in the world is that a green tip? If you live in America, it’s not surprising to you that it’s hard not to be materialistic. In fact, if you’re not affected by consumerism you’re definitely swimming against the culture. Everywhere you look, advertisers and retailers are enticing you to buy more. Update what you already have to ... Read more

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