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Eco-Friendly Back to School Supplies Guide

Good for you for being interested i learning how to do better for the earth while supplying your kids what they need for their education. We have lot of options now for reusable and/or sustainable school supplies than ever before.

Book Covers

We use stretchy cloth book covers. They have smaller and larger ones available. They stretch easily over my kids textbooks and don’t fall off. They’re washable, reusable, and come in lots of colors and designs. We have several book covers that have been around for several years. I think we’ve had one get a hole in it but they can be easily repurposed into hair ties, hacky-sacks, barbie doll clothes, or whatever you can think of. You can find them in-store at Walmart too really cheap.

Snacks

Our school allows our children to bring in snacks. We can send them in daily, weekly or for the entire month. Reusable snack bags are not only eco-friendly, but also saves money in the long run. I have 4 kids, I can go through a box of sandwich bags or freezer bags in a blink. Even buying the generic brand it adds up.

There are clear reusable snack bags that look more like the normal sandwich bags and freezer bags. Then there are cloth reusable food storage bags that come in fun designs.

Pencils

There are lots of options for more earth friendly pencils. There are plantable pencils, pencils made from recycled newspaper, and if you just have to have a mechanical pencils there are even mechanical pencils made from bamboo.

If you’re a pencil snob and just have to have the Ticonderoga brand #2 pencils well Ticonderoga envirostik is your answer. It’s a natural wood pencil from “responsibly managed” forests. And still the #2 designation.

Erasers

This one seems to be harder to find but not impossible. A company called Onyx and Green make erasers made from recycled rubber.

Glue

It seems Elmer’s used to make a natural glue but I can’t seem to find it available anywhere which makes me wonder if they stopped making it. But that doesn’t mean you have to. I found this great recipe for easy homemade glue. You can reuse an old glue bottle or use another similar reusable squeeze bottle. I’m even wondering if a clean, empty mustard bottle would work? What do you think?

Crayons and Colored Pencils

The elementary kids tend to use the crayons more while the teens seem to use the colored pencils more.

There are several choices for environmentally friendly crayons. There are crayons with reduced packaging as well as crayons made from beeswax.

You can even repurpose broken crayons you have by melting crayon stubs down and creating new chunky crayons. For mine I used a mini muffin tin for the shapes.

Onyx and Green comes through again with earth friendly colored pencils made from recycled newspaper.

Just FYI, for markers, Crayola has a program called Colorcycle for schools where schools can collect unusable markers and send them back to crayola for marker recycling.

This post does contain affiliate links. I will get a small commission from sales made through my links. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Easy and Affordable Eco-Friendly Swaps

I’ve been wanting to do better in regard to making better choices for the earth. I realize there is a lot of changes I need to make. It’s a little overwhelming. One thing I started doing was to keep a stash of reusable shopping bags in my car so I wouldn’t forget them when I’d go shopping. Here are a few more changes I’m making

Choosing Eco-friendly Stores

I’ve been shopping at Aldi more. Even though it’s a bit out of the way they’ve been more eco-friendly for a while and continue to make changes to do better, themselves. Aldi fairly recently announced they would be moving to fully sustainable packaging by the year 2025. There are tons of options for reusable shopping bags out there. I’ve actually got quite a few from local events, swag bags, etc for free.

Making Eco-friendly Swaps

So one issue I kept having was disposable utensils. We have a lot of get-togethers with a lot of people multiple times a year. The idea of washing that many dishes and utensils was daunting but the reality is, I don’t own enough for the amount of people that come to our parties. Initially when looking into biodegradable or sustainable disposable products they were pretty pricey for a minimal amount.

A fate, facebook post helped me to find Avoplast. Avoplast is 100% eco-friendly disposable utensils and straws made from avocado pits! As if there was any more reason to love avocados. How affordable are these? Well as a an example the Avoplast forks come in a 24 pack with free Prime delivery.

It doesn’t appear that Avoplast makes disposable plates or napkins though but there are lots of options for biodegradable plates and biodegradable napkins.

I also found this 114 pc set from Earth’s Naturals that has service for 16 people at a reasonable price.

Everyday Eco-friendly choices

My nieces have some kind of crazy obsession with straws. I keep stainless steel straws handy when they visit. What i like about stainless still straws is, they’re sturdy, they hold up well, and they come in different sizes. They have everything thing from regular size straws to Boba straws. I tried glass straws but they just didn’t hold up in our house. The stainless steel straws definitely do better.

Check out this set of 10 stainless steel straws with silicone tips (a little safer for the kids). It also comes with cleaning brushes. They actually gave me a coupon code to share with you too that is valid until Sept 9, 2019. Use code: METST5FF to get this set for only $5.99 with free shipping! (expires 9/9/19)

Some local convenience stores allow you to buy a branded reusable travel mug and refill coffee for a lower price or even offer so many free refills. Save money and the environment but using reusable water bottles too. There are plenty of different sizes and options from glass, stainless steel, BPA free plastic, and more.

Earth Friendly and Family Friendly Cleaning

There’s lots of reasons to swap out your cleaning products. Not just environmental but for your families health. Fumes and chemicals in some cleaning products can actually cause more harm than good.

There are more eco-friendly options in your grocery store with reduced packaging and free of chemicals but you can also make your own. A simple vinegar and water solution can be great for cleaning windows, counters, and more.

There are also essential oil companies that offer safer cleaning options and essential oil recipes. Simply Earth actually has a subscription service that send you several essential oils each month with natural product recipes. Everything from cleaning products, hygiene products, cosmetics, and more.

You can also choose products that are reusable and let you clean without chemicals using water. E-cloth is an affordable alternative with chemical free options to clean windows, scrub dishes, even remove make up with just water. I’ve used these products myself and they work better than I ever thought. Who knew you can get a good clean with just water?

Are you trying to make earth-friendly changes? I’d love to know what you are doing.

Make Spring Cleaning a Family Event

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Lysol®, Finish®, Woolite®, and Air Wick®. The opinions and text are all mine.

When I was growing up spring cleaning and fall cleaning wore events in our home. We were a family of 6. spring cleaning week was announced and we all knew we’d all be chipping in. Wiping down walls, dusting neglected areas, moving appliances to clean underneath, taking down curtains to wash, etc. Even the littlest ones were given jobs to do.

Our spring cleaning lists consists of:

stripping all beds and washing bed sheets
taking down all curtains to wash
cleaning windows inside and out
moving furniture and appliances to clean underneath
wiping down walls
cleaning off shelves and rearranging
rearranging furniture
scrubbing all floors
sweeping out floors of garage
cleaning and disinfecting things like: faucets, door knobs, hand rails, etc
putting away winter clothes, coats, and boots
cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer
cleaning under beds
cleaning out toy boxes and washing stuffed animals
wiping baseboards and trim
cleaning out and disinfecting garbage cans
clean out cupboards and wash kitchen items that haven’t been used for a while

My 4 yr old will be given jobs. She’ll be bringing her stuffed animals down to the laundry room to be washed. She’ll empty her toy box for us to go through. She’ll help wipe baseboards and walls. My 7 yr old can strip beds and take them to the laundry room to be washed. He can take care of emptying his toy box and retrieving things under beds. My oldest two boys, ages 13 and 14, can help with wiping walls, running vacuums before I scrub the floors, helping to rearrange furniture, and packing their own winter items. My hubby is usually on laundry duty. It’s his normal chore anyway. He can also help me rearrange furniture, take down curtains, and clean windows.

With all the work that needs to be done we also go through a lot of cleaning supplies. I like using Woolite High Efficiency Extra Dark for the darker bedding, curtains, and stuffed animals. I use regular Woolite for the other items. Right now you can get 5% off Woolite High Efficiency Extra Dark 100 oz at Target with the Cartwheel app. Also if you buy 2 – 100 oz Woolite products you get a $5 Target gift card. This offer is only available 4/2 – 4/3.

We’ll clean the door handles and hand rails with an all-purpose cleaner then finish it off with a spray of Lysol. You can find deals on Lysol and other products on this Target microsite ! When cleaning out the cupboards It’s so nice to be able to load the dishwasher with the items that haven’t been used in a while and need a freshening up. Finish Powerball Max is great for that and one of the few brands I’ll buy.

In fact, I love shopping at Target for a lot of the supplies because I can save money with the cartwheel app. I can also pick up some snacks for us for our family cleaning party. Maybe even some iTunes gift cards to keep the music flowing. And maybe even some Airwick products to keep the fresh clean smell going longer.
When you visit the Target microsite you will find all of these great coupons and promotional offers:

5% off any Finish item

5% off any Woolite item

Woolite: buy any 2 Woolite 100 oz, get a $5 Target gift card (available until 4/8)Finish: buy any 2 Finish L & XL (MiO & Quantum) & 16 oz RA additive – get a $5 Target gift card (availalable until 4/8)

Best Home Office Designs For Small Spaces

Having a small home office means that you need to make better design options, buy more

efficient products, and think ahead. It also means that you still can create a great, comfortable,

work-friendly space – even if it’s not as large as you would like. Sometimes you just don’t have

an option when it comes to choosing how big the office is, so you just have to make do with

what you have. If you need some tips or ideas on design ideas for a small home office, continue

reading below.

office pic

(Source)

Use A Nook or Under a Staircase

If you have a small home office you have to use the space you have. If you have a space that

you’ve made into a home office and you have a nook, recessed wall or room under a stairwell,

these are all ideal places to place a small filing cabinet, a desk, and a few personal items.

Invest In Bookshelves and Shelves

Bookshelves are a great place for books, of course, shelves, in general, take up the wall space

and not the floor space. Building up rather than out is always a good idea when you have a

smaller space available. Make sure that when you use your shelves and cabinets you aren’t just

throwing stuff in there either. Organize it properly using filing systems, boxes or magazine

holders.

Convert An Empty Closet Or Wall Cupboard

If you already have a small space or you can’t even find a space for your home office, why not

consider looking for spaces you don’t use. For example, closets and wall cupboards like this one:

office attic space

(Source)

Are a great way to utilize space you didn’t think you had. All you would really need to do is add

a few more shelves like with the picture above, and a desk top – which is the lowest “shelf” on

the bottom. Look you even have room for a printer and a trash can!

Paint Your Walls a Lighter Color

Light colors can make a room seem bigger than it really is. Don’t use white, though. Regular old

stark white can make the room seem boring. Instead, use another neutral but pretty color like

gray which is really popular right now, beige, tan and cream. Also, if you really want to trick

your eyes, don’t paint the ceiling. If you don’t paint the ceiling it will make the ceiling look

higher and in turn, will make the room look bigger. Of course, this isn’t going to help you fit

more stuff in the room, but it will help you from feeling claustrophobic and closed in.

L-Shaped Or Regular Shaped Built-In Desks

Chances are if you don’t have enough room as is, you don’t want a desk sitting out in the middle

of the floor. So in the same way you want to use wall space to add on to, you also want to use

those walls to maximize floor space. First off, don’t get a bigger desk than you need. Unless you

are some high paid corporate guy, CEO or a lawyer, you don’t need a large $5000 desk at home.

Second off, a built in (or even pushed up against the wall) desk is going to save space. L shaped

desks give you some depth and style in the room, but you might not always have the space for it.

Have Only What You Need

If you had a nice expansive office with lots of room, by all means, get the mini fridge, get the

relaxing couch to take breaks on in between work, get the floor lamps and whatever else. But, if

you have a smaller room, you can’t be having all these extra items. Instead, you will mainly need

a desk, a chair, one filing cabinet on the floor (or more if you anchor them to the walls) and a

garbage can. If you really want a place to put your beverages, use the kitchen or get a mini

desktop beverage holder or beverage dispenser. Other than that, you really need to minimalize on

the items you place in the space. Even lights, you can either install some ceiling lights that won't

take up floor space and instead of using floor lamps, use sconces on the walls or a desk lamp.

Stay Clutter Free

If you have a small space, you absolutely need to make a push to stay clutter free and organized

through the day. You definitely don’t want to be leaving things on the floor, having your desk

cluttered or having the waste bin overflowing. Make sure that every day before you leave that

room that you clean it up! Also, shut the door behind you. That way you won't be thinking about

work stuff when you should be thinking about family stuff.

Thinking of Buying Your Teen a Car? Consider this

Your teen is turning 16. Maybe you’re seriously considering buying your teen a car but can’t decide which route to go. Do you get a new car or a used car? Maybe they passed their drivers license test and you’re ready for them to start driving themselves so you can get some of your free time back. Here’s some financial aspects to consider when making your decision.

It’s not a secret that insuring a teen is EXPENSIVE. The reasons for that are pretty obvious: lack of driving experience, maturity, and statistics. Now I don’t want to scare you (I’m sure you’re already a little nervous) but the fact is teens are more likely to be in a fender bender than those 20 years of age or older. According to the CDC website that rate of accidents is at it’s highest within the first 30 days of licensure. Being a higher risk means higher rates.

car accident cartoon

The next thing to consider is what kind of car. Again, the insurance factors in. You might think a cheaper car equates to cheaper insurance. Not necessarily according to a report done by CNBC. It turns out SUVs and trucks are usually cheaper to insurance than coupes and sedans. Why? Because a larger SUV is less likely to sustain as much damage in an accident when compared to a smaller car. At the top of the list for vehicles that are cheaper to insure are the Ford Explorer, GMC Sierra and Toyota RAV4. In fact, some of the worst cars to insure are the Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze, and Hyundai Elantra.

You can contact your insurance agent before buying a car your teen has their eyes on and have them run the numbers.

Since driving a car is a big responsibility consider having your teen help with the car payments and/or insurance payments. Make sure they know how to change tires, what to do if they are in an accident, and have them learn how to do some of the basic maintenance of the vehicle like changing the oil, topping off fluids, and changing bulbs. It’s a good way for your teen to know the cost of driving and take more ownership of their own ride.

This post is sponsored by CF Search Marketing.