Us, accidentally enviro-friendly

So, a few of the basics about my life.

I have three kids, a husband, a dog, a house, and a book I just published through Amazon. (The title is "Hard Core Poor - a book of serious thrift"  - it's also on Kindle for $3.99.)

My husband is a super-handy electrician. He's the reason we have nice things. If we can't buy it, he can build it. If he can't, we probably don't need it that badly.  :)

My oldest is my girly-girl. She's 12, very sweet and sometimes sassy, and she goes to Catholic school because 1) our public schools stink a bit, and 2) we're Catholic. She sings, does a little Irish dance, and is really good with little kids. Oh, and she has a face painting business, if you're hiring. 

My middle is my aspiring Pokemon master, my 9 year old boy who is still waiting to see when his Hogwarts acceptance letter will arrive. He's homeschooled because 1) the schools stink and 2) he doesn't do well in classrooms anyway. We use Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool curriculum - it's a FREE, high quality, online curriculum for preschool to high school. You should look at it. Seriously. If only to marvel at the level of work being offered for free.

My baby boy is going to be 2 in January, and he's funny and sweet like toddlers are. He can also be a holy terror, like all toddlers. We breastfeed (still) and cloth diaper, but it's not like a hobby or anything. I don't collect the pretty diapers or even use the fancy ones - just cotton diapers and snap covers. It's not an environmental thing for us - it's a money saving thing.

I mean, we do things that are environmentally friendly, but we do them for other reasons. Like, I ride my cargo bike around town to save gas (because it's $3 a gallon), and I need the exercise. I converted my sewing machine and serger to treadle power - it saves electricity, but I also love the control that I have when I treadle vs. using the electric powered machine. We buy used clothes, not to keep them out of the landfill, but because they cost less than a quarter of the original price. And the diapers cost me $250 over the past 22 months, instead of the $1300+ that I would have spent for the questionable privilege of throwing away disposable diapers - and I never have to run to the store for more.

I can't get satisfaction from thinking "well, I didn't burn fossil fuels to get here, and the millions of diapers in the landfill aren't mine", but I can feel satisfied by thinking "I saved $8 this week by washing those diapers, and I burned 500 calories and saved $2 by biking here". It's cool - I'm still doing good stuff, right?  :) Right?

Good!