What they don't tell you about BPA

It makes me worry when they actually have someone on the local news telling you about the harms of BPA for you and your children. It makes me worry even more that no one is doing anything to get this chemical out of our everyday lives. I’m sure you have all seen the newer baby bottles that say BPA free but if you’re giving your baby formula there could be BPA in the container storing the formula. These are the people we should be protecting they can’t protect themselves. Here is just a few notes about BPA and what you probably haven’t heard before.




First of all maybe you don’t know what BPA is. BPA or Bisphenol A is a chemical compound used in making polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin in tin cans. You can also find this in food storage containers, water bottles, medical devices, CDs, and even receipts. Yes, just touching this can be harmful. In Japan they have completely banned the use of BPA and Canada has now named it a toxic chemical. So, why is the United States denying all of this and still using it in our everyday lives?



This has been linked to many health issues like; cancer, diabetes, obesity, infertility, hyperactivity, impaired learning and memory, increased aggression, and early onset of puberty. I have said for many years now there has to be a reason kids are physically maturing alot earlier and now we know.



Even though you can’t avoid this chemical completely right now there are ways to keep your young ones safe. Avoid plastics marked with 3, 6, and 7. Many companies are realizing the consumers are paying more attention to the amound of BPA they come in contact with so there are many products that will say BPA free. As for canned foods it can be a little more difficult. Canned meats, pastas, and soups have the largest amount of BPA in the can. If your rinse canned fruit or vegetables before eating it can lower the amount of BPA that you consume. If you use plastic food storage containers check the number on the bottom of the container with the ones I mentioned earlier. Do not heat these in the microwave and you should either wash them by hand or put them on the top rack in the dishwasher. I’ll be looking for new containers soon!

Fluoride toothpaste or Fluoride free?

I recently switched my toothpaste to fluoride free and a friend of mine asked if we needed fluoride to protect our teeth from decay. For once I didn't have much to say. I didn't do much research before hand but had just briefly read up on fluoride poisoning. So being me I had to look more into it and I'm worried now that I did. Not for my toothpaste but for our water! Fluoride is being added into our water and even Nursery water for babies! Too much fluoride can be harmful!
There is a pro to fluoride, but just one that I can find, which is that it helps protect the enamel on our teeth making cavities less common. However, if your an adult this doesn't really help as much as it does in children who still have growing bones. You really need to watch how much fluoride they are consuming though. You should only use a pea sized portion of toothpaste with fluoride for children to brush their teeth since they naturally swallow pretty much anything you put in their mouth.
Now lets go into the cons! Fluoride has been linked to certain cancers and Downs syndrome. It also has been linked to thyroid problems and too much fluoride can actually damage your teeth not help!
60% of Americans drinking water has fluoride in it already. Some fluoride is naturally in the water but shouldn't have more added like many places have been doing for years! Call your local water department to find out if you have fluoride added in your tap water. Fluoride can also enter through your skin while bathing. You might think that since you buy bottled water your safe from fluoride but it is also added in this water as well. Last night I was just thinking why is cancer more common? Could this be one of the reasons?

How to become a Tightwad!

So, you might be thinking that you need to start saving money as you never know what could happen in the future. I went through the same thought and had to make a start somewhere. Now days everyone makes decisions minute by minute and doesn't really plan for the future. Being a tightwad is going to change you! If you make small changes to plan ahead for the week with a dinner menu you can cut down your food costs and gas costs on making last minute trips to the store (plus less waste of food). If you plan ahead for the month you could cut down food costs even more by being able to buy in bulk (or split bulk items with a friend). If you want to think even farther ahead start on Christmas now or buy summer clothes for next year now (which will be very cheap out of season). We have started planning Christmas gifts which are pretty much all handmade but by planning ahead we are able to recycle wine bottles into the bottles we will be using for our gifts instead of having to buy them. Make this first step at becoming a tightwad and see how much you can save!

What does your carpet hold?

Stains? Well unless you don't have kids, pets, and don't walk on your carpet often you might be lucky enough to not get a stain. But what about other things in the carpet like odors, pollutants, toxins, and even mold! Scary to think about as our children walk and crawl on these carpets everyday. Then as well as being walked on these odors, pollutants and toxins are being released into the air for all of us to breathe in! No one knows how much this harms our bodies.
So now you have decided to just get new carpet all together....well, sorry to say that may not be the best choice either. New carpets are made with many chemicals. If you just replaced your carpets then think about getting them frequently cleaned as this can reduce the amount of chemicals released into the air.
If your wanting to get your old carpets cleaned lets just talk about the most dangerous thing in old carpets. Mold spores are common in old carpets which can cause headache, congestion, fatigue, and has even been linked to childhood asthma. Your first thought after finding mold spores in your carpet is to get them cleaned but when getting your carpets cleaned they can use up to 100 gallons of water and with the heat used this can cause the mold spores to spread.
Eco friendly carpet cleaners are not very common but you can always ask the carpet cleaner around you if they offer eco friendly cleaning and some do! But its also good to keep up on your own carpets between cleanings. I often put up ideas on green carpet cleaning so stay tuned!

Gardasil Vaccine

I haven't really been paying much attention to this gardasil vaccine as I am past the age that they want women to get this by but it recently came up in a couple different conversations and I am shocked that this is still on the market. I understand that HPV can lead to cervical cancer but if your getting regular checkups they would catch this anyways. Our main problem is that women put their families first and forget to take care of themselves and don't go in for their yearly. I personally think if we just started paying attention to ourselves and making sure that we do get our check ups then this vaccine wouldn't be needed especially after reading about some side effects which have included death.
I have been reading http://www.truthaboutgardasil.org/ and am in complete shock. I hope they figure something out before my girls get to the age that they are trying to vaccinate girls. I encourage everyone to check out this site and read up on this vaccine before getting it and letting your children get this vaccine.

Green Cleaning 2

The smells from the drain cleaners on the market can pretty much make me feel sick so I loved the fact that I can use just vinegar and baking soda. Pour 1/4 cup baking soda and 2/3 cup of vinegar into the drain and cover for awhile then follow with very hot water.
You can even use hot vinegar to remove paint from glass after you were just trying to do a touch up and ended up making a mess on the window. Use a cloth to wipe away the paint after applying the hot vinegar.
Brush your carpets with 1 cup vinegar in 1 gallon water for the color to see a new life given to them! Also, use vinegar (4 Tblsp with 1 gallon water) to rinse your carpets after shampooing to remove residue from the detergent and save some of the life in the carpet.

Yes I'm a Tightwad

Craigslist is my new best friend. I just found and purchased some items cheap!! A huge box of fabric for $20 and 40 lbs of canning tomatoes for $20. We just made pasta sauce and canned it along with a couple more just tomatoes. I'm so excited to do more! With so many ideas running through my head it's hard to figure out where to start.
I have also started planning meals for the whole week on Sunday and making things ahead of time. The recipe from The Tightwad Gazette 3 (which is actually found in The Betty Crocker Cookbook) for refrigerator dough is going to be used in almost every meal this week. Amy used it for doughnuts, rolls, and breadsticks. I have also found you can make so many things in the crockpot! I now use this a couple times a week and definitely on the days I know I'm going to be tired.
I have also made more of an attempt to get to garage sales. With a young child this can be difficult but last week went great! So excited for this week and hopefully it cools down a bit so I can enjoy it even more. I used craigslist again to find garage sales in my area and a few estate sales as well.
I would love to hear more ideas on tightwadding!

Preparing Food for Winter

Maybe you aren't a canner or you just don't have anymore more room for cans. Try freezing some of the excess from your garden! I just finished some tomatoes to freeze and it was so simple. You have to prepare the tomatoes just as you would for canning. Peel (which is easier if you put in hot water til skin starts to peel then place them in cold water and peel) then chop them up however you would like them and place into freezer bags.
You can even freeze fresh herbs! Place in freezer bags chopped or whole depending on how you think you will use them, make sure the air is out of the bags and place in freezer. I have even seen where some people freeze basil in ice trays with water then when frozen they take them out and put them in a freezer bag.
The amount of food you can freeze is pretty easy to judge just by what you can buy frozen at a grocery store. Obviously lettuce, cucumbers and celery wouldn't do well but carrots, peppers, tomatoes, peas...and the list goes on can be frozen. Who wouldn't want to eat the produce from the garden over produce bagged, froze, shipped, and from the grocery store. I'm going to need a bigger freezer!

Green Cleaning

I have found a huge spider in my house which if your anything like me, it would completely freak you out. I get the feeling that bugs are crawling all over me after I see any spider. This feeling made me go to find pest controls that are natural.
Ants for instance are just annoying. We haven't found alot of them but even a couple is too much for me when I have a baby crawling around that likes to put everything on the floor into her mouth. Put lemon juice on door thresholds and windowsills or really anywhere you might think ant might enter. You can also place lemon peel slices outside around your main entrances. This also works with cucumber.
Fleas will keep me scratching just thinking about them. Take the juice of 4 lemons and 1/2 gallon of water and wash your floors. Also, washing your dogs bed in salty water will help repel the fleas.
I haven't had many problems with mosquitos this year but if your out grilling throw some sage or rosemary on the coals to repel them. If your thinking of doing some landscaping marigolds would be great to add since they repel most insects from their fragrance.
I'm already itchy from just writing about these bugs!

Tightwaddery!!!

My newest kick besides trying to make things better for the environment is becoming a tightwad. Not only does this save you money but if you try to reuse everything possible rather than buying new you are making an impact on the environment from the amount of waste going out.
My family did a book swap and out of that swap I took The Tightwad Gazette volumes 1,2, and 3 which apparently was huge in the '90s written by Amy Dacyczn. She has some great ideas of how to reuse items, cook from scratch recipes, and crafts. She started with a goal in mind in her case a house and worked on saving enough money for that house which then led to just a whole lifestyle change. I'm not there yet but I have a goal and am slowly making the change to being a tightwad. It is very difficult when the rest of the world is all about spending money and not saving. I'll be putting up ideas of Amy's, mine and other people I get ideas from up every so often on how to save money.
I just made the switch to not buying wipes but using homemade. This one is hard if you have a sitter that is younger and doesn't know much about cloth diapering and expects store bought. I have dealt with this by buying a pack of wipes (with coupon) and only using them with the sitter so one pack will last a couple months if not longer since we don't go out much.
I am learning about canning and freezing food as I go. There are so many things that can be frozen that I didn't realize. This helps save on the amount of food thrown out! I just froze my first batch of tomatoes that i will use for goolash.
One main things that sticks with me from the books so far is that if you read your dishwasher detergent it usually doesn't say to fill the dispenser in the washer some say only fill halfway. I just started this and mine says to only fill halfway so make sure to read the directions on the detergent!
A lot of the things I already did are saving us money as well. For example, using vinegar to clean and in laundry. A bottle of vinegar is roughly around $2-$3 and I can use it for a couple months for everything. Same goes for the baking soda and lemon juice.  So many more ideas to come! And would love to hear some ideas from others!