2011 Year Review

This has been an interesting year for us.  In many ways it's been better than the years in the past.  We managed to stay in one place for almost one full year.  That may not seem like much, but with all the moving we've done since leaving my ex, that's actually pretty good.  We're in a place that isn't perfect for us, but it will work.  We've learned to cook healthier, eat healthier, and shop more wisely, though we haven't been as good as we could be.  I've been building up a small list of recipes I know my family likes and home cooked meals made from scratch or from very few premade additives are becoming more common.  We're making progress.

On the homeschooling front, it may not seem like we did much this year in a lot of ways.  The year started off with a bang.  We did tons of arts and crafts, but as time went on we slowed down.  The summer was full of a lot of nothingness and idol time.  Thankfully, the fall picked up with the co-op.  We got to see just how smart the kids really were, and how good they are at what they can do.  Bunny Boo proved (finally) that she can read and is actually pretty good at it (when she's got the right motivation.  She's been reading Meet Marie-Grace from the American Girl collection.  She got the doll and book series from her grandmother for Christmas.  Link (as my older son has requested to be called on this blog) has shown that he's already learning some good reading skills and can already read a little bit here and there.  The littlest one is finally learning to talk and apparently has quite a bit to say.  They've all come a lot farther than I'd realized, and have grown so much too! Looking back at the past year, it's hard to think how much smaller they all were.

We didn't make a huge move towards sustainability this year, but we have been forced to make a few changes.  Given that we're without a car for the time being we've learned to do as much of our grocery shopping in bulk as possible.  As a result, we've cut back on grocery trips a good deal.  There's far fewer needs to run out for some last minute items forgotten.  Thanks to slippers for everyone under the tree this year and wonderful afghans sent by my aunt, we've also decided to keep the house cooler than usual this winter.  We're probably going to keep the house as warm as we can bear again this summer, since that worked out fairly well for us last summer.  We're looking for other ways to save on electricity too, but that's going to be hard with Chesh and his forgetfulness.  He has a bad habit of leaving the closet light on, as well as every single light in the kitchen.

Financially, we've made some progress on the debt-free thing without intending to.  Without having a car payment, we're going to be that much better off every month.  Living where we are now, rent is cheaper and water is included.  That means we're saving a good deal every month.  Unfortunately, Chesh is also out of work again, but I'll be employed as a nanny during the first half of the year.  That should buy him some time to find a new job and to keep pulling us that much farther out of debt.  The debt collectors from my past have finally tracked me down, so I've got all the contact with them I need in order to start working off my past debts.  This will put us in good standing when we finally decide to buy a home of our own.  I know the debts from my past can't technically hurt me any right now, unless I go for a line of credit somewhere, but it's better to have them all paid off and taken care of.  You never know when you might need your credit in good standing in the future, especially as many jobs do credit checks now.  I can't wait to have some of this consolidated and behind me.  Thankfully, moving to this place was our first step.

Overall it's been a wild ride of a year.  It's had it's ups and downs.  It's been interesting, that's for sure.  We've had to keep on our toes, but as a result, we've gotten a lot accomplished.  I can honestly say I hope the new year brings in better luck than this passing year, but I'm not too upset about the year we're leaving behind.  The challenges only helped us all grow.

Twain and our Economy

I was listening to CraftLit today while I was working on some knitting.  I'm a bit behind on the current episodes, so I'm still stuck on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  I'm nearing the end of the book and have been loving it so far.  I just wish I had more time to sit down with the podcast, but carving an hour out of any day can be daunting with Marrok, Chesh, and the kids hovering over me.  I'm beginning to think I'm just not allowed a moment of peace and quiet unless I'm working on my book!

During the podcast Heather made an interesting observation on the chapters we would soon be hearing.  She observed that Twain would make a commentary on the state of the economy, something that's still true today.  She kind of wished everyone would be required to read these chapters.  I have to say, I'm inclined to agree.

In this book, Twain makes a really good point.  People talk a good deal about wages.  Minimum wage gets a lot of attention these days.  When it was $5.12 per hour, people thought it was incredibly low.  Now it's up to $7.25 per hour and rising.  A lot of people see this as a great thing.  Everyone on the low end makes more money, so we must be doing economically better, right?

Unfortunately not.  With the rise in minimum wage we've also seen a matching, possibly even exceeding rise in cost of living.  For example, when I got to Texas just over two years ago we were paying $2.50 for a gallon of gas and that seemed steep.  The gas cost skyrocketed up to nearly $4 per gallon the very next summer.  Granted, gas prices drop and rise in a crazy way, but that's how everything is.  The cost of living isn't as close to as low as it was back when minimum wage was $5.12 per hour.

I hate to say it, but what we're looking at when we talk about wages is the base wage.  We're not talking about purchasing power here.  We're not taking a look at how much you can buy with that money.  Sadly, the amount we can buy with our dollar is going down faster than the minimum wage is going up.  What does this mean?  Our economy is going to tank, not because minimum wage isn't high enough, but because the cost of living keeps on going up faster than our minimum wage.

It was proven time and time again that your average family cannot afford to live off of minimum wage.  It would take approximately three minimum wage jobs in any given area to cover the cost of expenses to maintain your average home and family with two kids.  This isn't even talking about excesses such as car payments and things like that.  That should be telling us something.

I've heard a lot of people blame the feminists.  If they didn't insist that women work we wouldn't need two incomes just to get by.  The problem isn't the feminists, it's our standard of living.  Our need to live in excess, create debt for ourselves, and live above our means has caused the need for two working parents in a family. If we could all learn to live within our means, not buy unneeded things, and make the most of our time, perhaps the face of our economy would change.  I know it's just food for thought at this point, but isn't that where everything starts?

So what am I going to do?  I know there's really nothing I can do about the minimum wage or the cost of living, but I can take a stand and make sure my dollars count.  Instead of buying expensive toys for my kids, I'm going to focus on affordable, as I have been.  I'm going to watch my personal spending and make sure my money is only going out to things I can actually condone and support.  I'm going to make sure the items my family has are quality, even if that means paying a bit more or doing a bit more work.  In the long run, it will be worth it.  If it outlives it's value, that's all that I care.

In the end, we're not really so much better than all these other countries out there.  For a little bit of a shocking reality check, take a look at this article, courtesy of Heather Ordover from CraftLit.  Go down the whole list.  Pay attention to both the prices, and how much food their family survives off of.  You might just be surprised at the degree to excess in which Americans live...

Sustainability Tip: Home Made Cleaner

Over the past few years I've been hearing a good deal about the chemicals we've been exposing our bodies to on a daily basis.  It seems everywhere we turn there are more chemicals.  Some chemicals aren't so harsh on our bodies, like soaps, shampoos, and the like.  Others, like many cleaning products, are far more harsh.  There are a million recipes out there for cleaners to do any household chore, most of them very green and much safer for the family than the store-bought heavy chemicals.

After a visit to the ER for my poor, sweet baby boy today I decided we needed to do something about our laundry soap.  I know the boys and I have all had reactions to different perfumed laundry soaps in the past, but never as severe of a problem as my baby boy was having.  We can't positively identify the source of the problem, but the chicken pox turned into a bad rash which proceeded to get infected.  It's entirely possible that the rash was simply a bad combination of the open chicken pox sores and the bad reaction we had been observing with the laundry soap.  Because that skin was already raw and sore, it made the reaction go crazy, where as before it was causing a little minor redness at best.  The doctor recommended we not use cloth diapers until the infection clears up, bleach the diapers well to remove any chance of infection, and from that point on, change our laundry soap, just to be on the safe side.  If he breaks out real bad when we go to cloth again, obviously the problem is bigger than the laundry soap or some lingering contamination, and we'll have to either replace all our diapers or simply change to disposables, something I dread doing.  With luck, we'll be able to salvage the diapers and continue to use them.  As our diapers still had a residual smell after cleaning the last couple of times I washed them, I'm hoping a real deep clean is all that's necessary.

A few weeks back I was talking to some girls on an online forum about dreadlocks.  They had talked about deep cleaning solutions they have used for their hair.  Their deep cleaning process reminded me of the combination I was suggested for hand washing my diapers.  I decided after bleaching the diapers, I'm going to try out this combination and see if it does us some good.

Typically done in measurements, this cleaner can be used for hair, diapers, and I've heard of it being used for clothing as well, though I would definitely test it out on any kind of delicate fabric before you use it on anything with special washing instructions.  For my diapers, I've always kind of eyeballed it.  When hand washing, I usually mix it together in a tub or bucket full of water.  In a washing machine, I typically just add it as the water starts running, or after the water has already filled.  There are two very simple ingredients, baking soda, and typically apple cider vinegar.  Of course, some people substitute white vinegar as per preference for any number of reasons.  For use on the skin, apple cider vinegar may be a bit too strong.  Just be certain that it's all well washed out of whatever you use it on, be it clothes (check before they hit the dryer) or hair.  For those of you who prefer measurements, I've found information that suggests anywhere between 1/4-3/4 of a cup of baking soda combined with a cap full of vinegar.  I know a cap full is not a standardized measurement, but it's pretty easy to estimate.  I've found a couple resources that suggest 8 or so drops of tea tree oil and a couple of references listing lemon juice both with the vinegar and as a replacement for vinegar (an average of one to two tablespoons).  Keep in mind for mixing this to use in hair, you want to mix it well before you add it to your hair.  Obviously for dreads you will need to soak to penetrate all the way through each dread, but if you have normal hair, simply adding it to your hair and letting it do it's job for a while should do the trick too.  I've used it before and didn't even need to scrub my hair.  I just let it do it's job.  Unfortunately, with vinegar, it has a very strong smell, and rinsing it out all the way doesn't necessarily get rid of the smell as quickly as you might like.

So there you have it, a quick and easy cleaner for your hair or clothing that can be thrown together with simple ingredients from your grocery store.  I do apologize for the lack of formal measurement, but I've found that experimenting is really the best way to find what works best as all washers seem to be a little different.  I also find I need to use more baking soda on diapers than I would with regular clothes.  Personally, I'm not a huge fan of using it on my hair as my hair doesn't feel as soft as I'd like afterward, but some people do swear by it.  For me, I'm glad I remember mixing all of this to wash diapers.  It saves all the chemicals that are even found in free and clear products.  Better still, it saves money!

Another Green Suggestion to Holiday Shopping

This weekend's crazy sales have got me thinking a good deal about holiday shopping.  While everyone else is out raiding the sales, I started to think about some ways I could handle my own holiday commitment without, well, ending up committed!  Yesterday I talked about the benefit of home made gifts.  Today I want to think about those family members that simply aren't...well...the right match for hand-made crafts.  Let's face it, not everyone in our lives is willing to accept something that isn't store bought with excitement and joy.  Some will just shove it to the bottom of the closet and only pull it out when they know you're coming to visit.  To keep everyone happy, I've decided there are some people I just won't do crafts for.

Of course, handling the holiday crazies are bad enough when you've got people on your list to shop for, but I don't believe in going out of my way to shop for presents.  With the crowds and traffic of the holiday shopping weekend, often times it isn't worth it to go out just to hit up the sales.  There are plenty of alternatives to hitting the big sale weekend shopping and they'll save you on effort and gas.

Here's a few of my suggestions for getting all of that holiday shopping out of the way:  Some of these will definitely help you save some money during the holidays too!

1. Plan ahead.  Know what you're going to buy everyone in advance and where you can buy it.  If you don't know what to get someone, search around online for some ideas.
2. Stick to your list.  I know it's really tempting to change plans when you see that perfect gift for Aunt Mary, but you'll likely go through that about ten times during this holiday season.  Changing plans is a great way to get off budget or overbuy for your family because you simply "can't resist".  However, this is the perfect time to pull out a notebook and start getting ideas for next year!
3. Calculate your holiday budget.  Come the holiday season I can't count how many people I've known who stress about how they're going to afford everything they need to get their family for Christmas.  I know many families that put themselves into a great deal of debt, sometimes so much it takes the whole next year to pull themselves out of it.  Other families are choosing which bills not to pay so they have a little more for the holidays.  Instead of going broke for the holidays, just sit down with your family budget, calculate your expenses (if you haven't done this already) to see how much you have left over for holiday spending, including big family meals, something to bring to the potluck, whatever engagements you'll have.  You can also see where you can cut the budget for the month if you don't think you'll have enough to comfortably cover all your gifts, such as eating on the cheap for a while.  Once you've got that, calculate how much you can budget for each holiday need, decorations, cards, a tree (if you buy one each year), and shopping.  This should help you stay on track throughout the holiday season without going broke (unless you choose to!)
4. Keep within your budget.  If something you had planned to purchase turns out to be more expensive than you thought it was, take a moment to consider whether you can really afford to put out the extra money.  Also keep track of any items you get on sale or otherwise manage to save on.  If you've managed to hit great sales and stay well under budget, it's a lot easier to justify spending a little bit more on something that cost more than you estimated.
5. Plan holiday shopping trips with your other errands.  If you know that quirky little parenting shop you plan to get those cute diaper covers for your expecting sister is right near the grocery store, plan to go on your grocery shopping day.  If the book store is right near the post office, stop in while mailing out your Christmas cards, picking up packages, or buying stamps.  If you've got a bunch of locations that aren't near any of your scheduled errands, set them up in localized groups to save on gas and traveling.  Remember, the less you have to drive, the more you save on time and the less pollution you produce to damage the environment!
6. Check for sales and see if you can work your errands to coincide.  For example, if there's a great weekend sale where the toy you're buying for your niece is going to be 50% off, perhaps you could get up early to hit the post office's Saturday hours.  Sometimes these sales don't always hit, but it's worth keeping an eye on.
7. Don't wait until last minute!  Last minute shopping leaves you prone to panicking.  This doesn't do anyone any good.  You'll also be less likely to find the item you're looking for if it's a hot ticket item that year.  Shopping early allows you time to find the gift, even if you can't find it at the first locations you check, and if all else fails, you can always order online with plenty of time for the package to arrive.

These are just a few of the things that help me get through the holiday season without too much trauma.  I know many of these sound like they're obvious, but you wouldn't believe how many people don't know how to use these simple tactics to make the holidays as little stress as they can be.  With all of the plans for travel, arranging for big dinners, and everything else, there's plenty of stress to the holiday season.  Why add to the problem?  Just take your time, plan it out.  Budget, and enjoy the holiday season.  Isn't that what it's all about?

Texas WIC

Today was our adventure to the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) office today.  I'm the kind of person that doesn't believe in "using the system", so for a very long time I was trying to avoid having to use WIC.  My thought was I would leave the money from the program for other families, you know, the ones who really need it.  I've been on WIC before though I ended up stopping both times.  The first was benefits for my daughter when she was small.  We stopped getting them because the vouchers were too problematic.  The second time was a birth certificate issue with my youngest.  Now we're on it once again, though I was hoping we weren't going to have to.  I guess in a way it's just my sense of pride.

Years back when you were on WIC you would get vouchers or checks.  These would have a list of items you could receive on each.  It wasn't like you got a voucher for each item.  There were several listed.  For example, you could get two gallons of milk on one.  Another might have a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, and one 16oz box of cereal.  You were encouraged to buy everything on the voucher because you would lose it if you didn't.  Once the voucher was used, there was no chance to later pick up the items on it that you didn't at the time.  It's just like a check.  You can't cash half of a check and expect the bank to write you another check for the remainder until you wanted to get it cashed.  It was such a frustrating system that half the time we didn't remember the vouchers, the product list, or didn't need to get everything WIC required on a voucher.  I figured if we weren't going to use it all, we might as well not waste the systems money and everyone's time at the appointments.  Instead we'd just give it up.  We were getting by just fine without it.

Just last year I went on it again.  My older son was two, so still plenty young enough, and I was pregnant.  We weren't tight enough on money that we needed it, but we were certainly cutting it tight.  Paying for the birth center was a lot on us and we needed the extra help so we could prepare for the baby.  Anything extra was appreciated, so I went back on WIC.  The system had changed so much I didn't even know what to do with it!   I got an EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card with a little chip on it that stored what we could receive on each month.  It would automatically change to the next month's benefits on the first of the month.  I was finally allowed to shop from the list for whatever I wanted or needed at the time.  I no longer had to buy specific items.  More items were added to the list as well.  Whole grain breads and tortillas are now offered, as well as some fresh produce.  WIC became far more useful, and a life-saver.  The list of remaining benefits is printed out on every receipt after the purchase, which made things even easier.  All I had to do was keep the updated shopping list and I knew I would be just fine!

That's when things got frustrating.  I was scheduled for another appointment in December, "after the baby was born".  They told me the computer just spat out a date after my due date and I could call to change it.  All I had to bring was the birth record for the baby and both my boys and I would have my benefits update.  If only it had been that easy!  Thanks to the military hospital's lack of organization and their inability to keep their patients informed, the birth certificate went through without a name.  It was a song and dance that took eight months for a birth certificate to finally be printed up and shipped.  By the time all of that was done, I had completely forgotten about WIC.  I had too much else on my mind.

While I was pregnant a woman from my birth board was told me about this guy who does financial planning assistance and all of that.  His name is Dave Ramsey and he has a program called "The Total Money Makeover".  While I haven't yet read his book, I have listened to his podcast and seen a good deal of his ideas.  The basic goal is to live debt free, be financially stable, and be prepared for most emergency situations.  I had slightly looked into it at the time, but didn't think that was the right time to worry about it.  I was re-introduced to the idea from a friend of mine's Ravelry group list.  I saw "Gonna Be Debt Free" and decided it was worth a look.  It turned out to involve the same man!

Back to the WIC thing, I had been considering going on WIC again as soon as I had gotten the baby's birth certificate in order.  By the time it finally arrived, I had considered not going on the program at all.  I figured we were financially stable not to need it, and the money from the program should be left to families that need it more.  That's when the Dave Ramsey thing comes in.  It helped me realize I wasn't using the system in a negative way.  I don't plan to live off of food stamps, welfare, and WIC benefits.  In the case of WIC, you don't get it for long anyway.  However, I do qualify, and that means I have a right to those benefits.  I pay taxes, right?  My family pays taxes as well.  They pay for this system for families who qualify.  If I qualify, shouldn't I use those to my advantage?  Wouldn't using those programs help my family find financial stability?  Wasn't that the whole point of the programs in the first place?  The idea is while I'm on WIC, food stamps, whatever I qualify for, I can start putting some money away to save for an emergency.  I can start paying off my past debts to fix my credit.  I can put my family in a better position to take care of my family.  By the time I no longer qualify we'll have money put away for emergencies and our credit will be in much better standing, which will help us with some day buying our own house.  The idea is pretty sound.

So here I am, for once in my life not feeling guilty about the need to use the benefits that are available for me.  I'm looking at this as an opportunity to get my life back together and put myself in a better financial position.  It may not be easy, but I think we'll be okay if we really make an effort at doing this.  Sitting in the WIC office for an hour and a half wasn't exactly my idea of a good use of time to get my life back on track, but I know in the end it will make a positive impact and will all be worth it.

Moving On, Moving Ahead

A lot has changed since I last updated this blog.  It may seem like I've fallen off the face of the earth.  In a way, I think I have.  There's been so much chaos, so many changes that it seems hard to keep track of everything all at once.  I'm lost in the flow of things.

The biggest change is a huge step back from sustainability.  We're no longer living in the country, but in suburbia.  We're still dealing with Texas's strange and complicated weather system, but hopefully it will mean for a good growing season when we're in a better position to have our own garden.  However, it's definitely limited our potential for sustainable gardening.  It's still possible, but we'll have to talk to our new house-mates about what the possibilities are.

However, this step back from sustainability is proving to be a step forward in another sustainable living aspect.  Though it's not allowing ourselves to become a little freer from the negative impact on our environment, it is allowing us to become more financially sustainable.  By living in our current home, we've got a wonderful opportunity to pull ourselves out of debt and start working towards a debt-free life!  We're even looking forward to the idea of eventually purchasing our own home some day, possibly in this same neighborhood.  We love it here, and it could very well be a good move for our future.

Another direction that has been positively impacted is the homeschooling front.  I've busted my daughter back to kindergarten work, so she's back to things that are much too easy for her.  However, we're going to be working through to find out where she's more challenged and where she's more adept.  This way I can start off the year more tailored to her own needs.  I know she's still got some problems with reading, but hopefully I can figure out if that's her only challenge, and we should be able to get her back on track.  Living with other children on a more regular schedule has made homeschooling so much less of a challenge.  I'm actually finding it fits in the schedule and our system is starting to work out quite well.  We still need to work out a lot of the kinks, but we're getting there.

It's so nice to live with someone who wants to work towards a clean home as well.  The past couple weeks have been pretty chaotic, but we're finally starting to settle in to what needs to happen.  I'm looking forward to a cleaner home, somewhere I can feel proud to have company over!

This whole thing has been a wonderful experience, even if it comes with it's sad steps back and unhappy moments.  We're now one big, mostly happy family and I'm finding I quite like it.  We're moving from one small community to a larger one.  It's always hard moving on from a situation, but I think in this case, even with the set backs, we're moving ahead.

The Importance of Handcrafting

In this modern frenzy of mass-production, the idea of handcrafting has been long forgotten.  Why would you make something when you can buy it for so much cheaper?  Time is money, and all this time spent making things is money that could have gone to something else.  Free time is somehow so much better spent playing video games and the like.  Isn't that what the marvels of modern society is about?  Having all this free time to be idol?

Often times people forget how much better hand made goods are.  There's the obvious factor of creating heirloom goods to pass down through the family, true, but there's so much more than that.  Hand made goods are of such a higher quality.  They last longer and have a more personal touch.  Yes, it may cost more for the supplies, but don't people always say that you get what you pay for?  Then let's look at the time of entertainment and work in making it, and knowing that the product you end up with is a unique handcrafted item.  Better still, it can look any way you want it, using fabrics, patterns, and colors that you wouldn't normally buy pre-made on the market.

Handcrafting in this day and age has economic benefits too.  By staying busier, there's less idol time for boredom eating, video gaming, and everything else.  Because it takes time, there's less idol time to require entertainment.  As a result, time is more productively used, meaning less time has to be spent on diversions.  Since the diversions yield useful things, it means less money needs to be spent on useful things.  All in all, the money paid out does countless times more work than your average store-bought item.  There's the standard buyer's high that most people get when they by something new.  Then there's the joy of making something and seeing it finished.  Finally, there's the enjoyment of the finished product.

I think, perhaps the charm of handcrafted items has been forgotten.  Too many people think of it as something for old women at craft fairs.  They look upon hand-made items as things for the poor.  Their viewed as having a homey quality, sure, but not seen as anything beautiful and creative as once they were.  There was a point when home made was better than store bought.  Now we seem to see it the other way around.  It's kind of tragic and sad.

We really need to get back to the idea of handcrafting, for all it can do for ourselves and our families.  In these hard times, we've got to take every kind of positive pass time we can get.  If nothing else, it will teach future generations to once more honor the idea of hard work, and to enjoy the benefits of something made with love.

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!