An Unexpected Bonus for Sustainable Living

Today I managed to do something wonderful for water conservation and I wasn't even thinking about it at the time!  This has gotten me thinking about other ways I can conserve water, but I'll probably go into those later.  Until we own our own house, it's going to be challenging to conserve water in any other way than to restrict what we use.

As I mentioned earlier, my family has been having a problem with lice.  These are the evil kind that can't be killed by anything but the most drastic of measures.  We got a prescription from the doctor to handle this problem, so hopefully things were going to get better.  Today was supposed to be the great delousing day.  Hair was to be treated or shaved, sheets would be washed, soft toys put away until cleaned, and the lice problem would be gone.  This isn't the best way to spend a birthday, but at least we would be lice free!

Unfortunately, this didn't exactly go as planned, but what ever does around here.  Thinking it would be smart to review the information on the prescription before I attempted to use it, I flipped open the page from the pharmacy.  This had all sorts of useful information like preventing this stuff from getting in the eyes and nose and cautioning children to keep their eyes shut while the chemical was put in their hair.  All of that seemed simple enough.  That's when I get to the warning.  It seems that it is unknown whether or not it is safe to breastfeed while using this medication.  There is a possibility that the chemical could transfer through the skin and into the bloodstream, only to get into the milk and poison the baby.  While, in theory, this shouldn't be a problem, there is no evidence that this is safe to use while nursing.  Further, it is recommended that a woman does not use this chemical while nursing, from the information I've managed to find out.  I don't have enough milk stored to go a full day without nursing, so I wasn't going to take the risk.  Who could blame me?  Isn't the health of my baby more important than killing lice by chemical means?  That would mean I'd have to wait a week or more to store up enough milk for an entire day of feedings, and I didn't want to make my family suffer with these bugs for that long.  My hair was shaved and that was the end of it.

So where does the water conservation kick in?  Do you have any idea how long it takes me to shower now?  Hop in, soap up, rinse off, shave, and out.  I can be in and out of the shower in two minutes or less.  Normally it takes me at least fifteen because of washing my hair and all of that.  I've heard that taking a bath actually saves more on water than showering, but I think in my case, I can shower and use less water than I would in a bath.  It's going to save a lot of water!

This has more benefits than simply water conservation.  Of course, conserving water means that less waste water is being produced.  The state of Texas isn't exactly known for being water rich and droughts happen.  Conserving water is one more measure to reduce the chances of a shortage.  Then there's the financial benefit for my family.  For those who live in states that tenants pay their own water bill, you may not understand the benefit.  However, in Texas, or for most home owners, the water bill is just one more expense to add to the list.  It's one more bill draining family funds.  Therefore, if I'm taking quick showers and using less water, the water bill is lower and that money can be put other places, such as paying off my car or past debts to get us out of debt that much sooner.  Who knew the act of shaving my head would actually save me on money?  On top of that, I'm not using shampoo and conditioner right now, so the water has one less solution dumped into it and I save on the cost of shampoo and conditioner!  It may not be a huge expense, but every little bit counts.  After all, every penny saved is one more that can go towards creating financial freedom and stability for my family.

Of course, all of this resulted from yet another positive act for the environment, and for my family, breastfeeding.  Because I breastfeed, I'm benefiting my family and the environment in a number of ways.  Obviously, my son is benefiting from all the positive effects breastfeeding has on baby, like increased immunities, reduced chances of allergies, and the healthiest, most natural source of nutrition available to him.  I'm benefiting by losing the baby weight that much quicker.  My whole family is financially benefiting because breast milk is virtually free, or at least significantly cheaper than formula.  Unlike the popular claim, I say that breastfeeding is not actually free.  Most mothers consume more calories and have to take prenatal vitamins that they would not otherwise take due to breastfeeding, but the cost of an additional three hundred or so calories to the diet and prenatal vitamins in comparison to the exorbitant cost of formula is still relatively small.  There's the environmental benefit because more formula packaging isn't finding it's ways into landfills and dumps.  Breast milk comes in a natural and (eventually) biodegradable package.  For many families there are no bottles to clean and sterilize, which reduces energy and water consumption.  Even for families that do use bottles for pumping and storage of milk, unless they exclusively pump (which some do), they are still using less bottles and therefore consuming less water and energy to wash and sterilize those bottles and their pump than formula feeding families use.  Finally, there's this unexpected benefit of breastfeeding meaning the only way to rid myself of these lice is through shaving my head, which means for quicker showers and even less water consumption by my family!  Who knew that breastfeeding would end up saving me so much on my water bill every month?

What does this have to do with sustainable living?  A good deal, actually!  Breastfeeding, for example, reduces my dependence on outside sources of food for my family.  This effects my impact on the environment in many ways, everything from the after effects of the packaging to the transportation of the formula to the factory that created it.  I have my own self-sustaining milk production center right here!  That reduces the negative impact on the environment left from my family, which is, of course, better for the earth.  The more sustainable resources we use from local suppliers, the less of a pollution impact we have on our environment.  With water consumption, all the crud that ends up in the water has to go somewhere, even if it's just purified out.  That takes energy.  It takes energy to pump the water to our houses.  Especially in areas where water is limited during portions of the year, water is a valuable resource that shouldn't be wasted.  Saving water could mean there's more available for livestock and crops.  Saving water also means consuming less energy to transport the water to your home, which generally comes from unsustainable energy sources, like most conventional power plants.  Financial independence may not strike many as a step towards sustainable living, but financial independence, freedom from all debt, will help with sustainable living.  It means you need to earn more money to pay off bills and creditors.  In a day and age where most people past the age of retirement can't afford to live off their retirement funds, it's a benefit to be out of debt and planning for your future as soon as possible.  If nothing else, I don't want my kids to be saddled with my bills after I die!  I would like to leave them free and clear, perhaps with something to inherit, even if it is just my house or some land.  Being out of debt means no interest payments, which means more of my money stays in my pockets.  That means more savings, or more money that can be put into creating an even more sustainable home, perhaps a place with solar or wind power.  Everything cycles back to being a possibility to living more sustainably.

So in the end, it all started out as a frustration that breastfeeding prevented me from being able to save my hair, but what's a little vanity for a healthier means of living?  I think the benefits far outweigh the inconveniences in this case.  Who knew breastfeeding and the lice that would not die would end up leading my family to having so many benefits to push us further towards a sustainable lifestyle and more financial freedom?  Maybe it was meant to be!