Baby Steps to “Going A Little More Green”!

Yesterday, we kicked off our “Going a little more Green” week with a really AMAZING giveaway, Our Giant Earth Conscious Giveaway.    One of the shops that we wanted to highlight today, as part of our For the Moms Tuesdays, is Anne Riggs Designs and I am going to share some of favorite “Pinterest” DIY cleaners below as well!  

I, like Courtney, am trying to take small steps to make our house a little more “green”.  With three little ones under my feet all day, I have tried to implement some small ideas that we can do our household.  Most of them are simple things…turn off the lights when we leave the room, unplug the appliances when we aren’t using them, using the same sippy cup for water all day long, etc.  I would love to hear some more SIMPLE ideas on how our readers find ways to make their kids and themselves more eco-conscious.

Last fall, an easy switch that we did in our house was from paper to cloth napkins.  Growing up, I learned to always set the table properly with a napkin for each place setting and habitually do it every dinner both for the kids and adults.  I have to admit that the boys’ napkins often get used once with barely a trace of food on it and go in the trash.  I decided to switch to cloth napkins because they are reusable, easy to wash, and still teach them good manners!  I haven’t bought a pack of paper napkins for family dinners since last fall and am so happy to make such a simple eco-friendly switch!  

One of my favorite set of cloth napkins comes from Anne Riggs Designs.    Anne, the owner of Anne Riggs Designs, has a FABULOUS idea that she started with cloth napkins called “Family Napkins.”  Here is the idea quote from Anne herself, “You want matching napkins for when you have dinner guests, but for everyday family use, it makes more sense for everyone to have their own distinct napkin, so you can get several uses out of them between washings. So I am creating family napkins, pick a different fabric for each member of the family, high quality designer fabrics, including kid-friendly prints!”  What a great idea and my kids love their fun printed napkins and trust me, there are many days that I can just put their napkins right back in the cabinet because they did not use them once!

Anne Riggs Designs creates many earth-friendly products that replace items that are typically used once and thrown away.  Using high quality designer cottons, Anne’s products include reusable “paper” towels, reusable baby wipes, reusable breast/nursing pads, reusable make-up/facial pads, reusable family napkins and clothespin bags as well as clothing for children. Her products are for sale at several stores in Maine and on Etsy.  Anne is offering free shipping on all reusable products and clothespin bags for the month of April. The coupon code is: EARTHDAY2013.