For The Kids | 5 Minutes For Going Green

Category Archives: For The Kids

Let’s Get It Started In Here: The Naked Binder Giveaway

Written on April 20, 2009 by SusanC

History of Earth Day

Most of you have probably heard by now that Earth Day is just around the proverbial corner, slated for this upcoming Wednesday, April 22nd.

I’m sure you’ve seen television spots, heard radio announcements, and read other green sites preparing to embrace the day, and the entire week, with wide open hearts and minds, in the hopes that together we can make a difference for our one and only planet.

Here at 5MinutesForGoingGreen we’re preparing for our own Earth Day shindig of sorts, gearing up to offer a slew of green products for you to read about and win ALL WEEK LONG, in addition to links galore, and helpful tips for how you can maximize your contribution to making our planet a greener place to be, five minutes at a time.

in Activism, Around the Greenosphere, Blog, Conservation, Eco-Friends, For The Home, For The Kids, For The Office, Frugal Living, Got Energy?, Green Business, Green Outreach, Green Thoughts, Reduce Reuse Recycle

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent!

Written on April 13, 2009 by SusanC

3 Comments

In my opinion, the word “reinvent” should absolutely be added to the “R’s” of recycling- as in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent!

Okay, I know, it is similar to reuse, but really, when I think of the word “reuse” it just implies to me that I should use the same thing repeatedly-such as cloth grocery bags. Recycle is also a similar term, but it always conjures images in my head of blue curb-side bins and pop cans. Reinvent, on the other hand, involves giving new spunk and life to an old, or apparently unusable, item to make it useful once more!

Recently I have come across some fun ideas that will hopefully inspire you to look for ways to reinvent items in your own home.

in Blog, Conservation, For The Home, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Parenting, Green Thoughts, Reduce Reuse Recycle, The Green Consumer

- 3 Comments

Recycling Yarn For Green Knitting (And A Giveaway!)

Written on April 3, 2009 by Velocibadgergirl (Pardon the Egg Salad)

8 Comments

As MacKenzie touched on in her February 5th article, knitting is a great and relatively green hobby. My mom has found a way to make it even more eco-friendly –- by using recycled yarn.

Recycled yarn can be purchased, but she takes more of a do-it-yourself approach, buying sweaters at thrift stores to unravel and reconfigure. Watching my mom and sister shop for sweaters to recycle is pretty funny. They barely look at the clothes, instead walking down the row and touching a sleeve of each sweater. If a garment feels soft enough to meet their standards, they’ll stop and examine it, looking at the color, the label (if it has one), and the seams.

in Blog, Eco-Friends, For The Home, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Giveaways, Reduce Reuse Recycle, The Green Consumer

- 8 Comments

A Step Beyond Cloth Diapers

Written on March 30, 2009 by SusanC

5 Comments

Over the past few weeks I have been doing a little rundown on what modern cloth diapering really looks like, and a few comments have been made with curiosity about how early my son potty trained. If you don’t recall from earlier posts, by 16 months he learned to pretty much exclusively go poo on the potty and by just over two-years-old he was fully potty trained (aside from nights).

Now, I must admit, these early results were prompted not only by our cloth diapering (which I do believe helped tremendously) but also by our elimination communication efforts.

So, what exactly is elimination communication (EC), you ask?

in Blog, Conservation, For The Home, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Parenting, Green Thoughts, The Green Consumer, Water Conservation

- 5 Comments

Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

Written on March 27, 2009 by SusanC

0 Comments

Here are some of our favorite posts from around the greenosphere this week, to help start your weekend a bit greener.

Monday Inhabitat announced that MIO will be releasing a new green outdoor line for Target, set to be available in stores April 12th. The product assortment includes eight outdoor items made from recycled and renewable materials including a watering can, trowel, cultivator, weeder, mini herb garden, solar lights, hammock and composter ranging in price from $7.99 – $99.99.

Tuesday Dot Earth ran an informative article on climate change and its immediate and long term effects on polar bears.

in Activism, Around the Greenosphere, Blog, Conservation, Eco-Friends, For The Home, For The Kids, For The Office, Got Energy?, Green Outreach, Green Thoughts, Green Travel, The Green Consumer

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Um, But What About The Poo?

Written on March 25, 2009 by SusanC

3 Comments

(This is article #3 in MacKenzie’s series What’s Up with Cloth Diapering? Read article 1 and article 2.)

So, after the last couple of posts on cloth diapering, you are probably wondering how you clean the sure to be nasty cloth, right? Do you have to dunk them in the toilet? Are they REALLY sanitary? Are they all stained? Do they stink? What do you do with them when you aren’t at home?

Well, I will tell you!

First of all, washing cloth diapers isn’t nearly as laborious or burdensome as everyone seems to think it is. Honestly, I spend as much time washing diapers as I did emptying the darn Diaper Genie!

in Conservation, Eat to Live, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Parenting

- 3 Comments

But I Don’t Want To Use Pins And Plastic Pants!

Written on March 20, 2009 by SusanC

4 Comments

(This is the second article in MacKenzie’s series, What’s up with Cloth Diapering?)

So, from my last diapering post you know why I decided to cloth diaper.

Today I will show you what modern cloth diapering really looks like.

My very first stash consisted of only 8 diapers! Yes, it can be done, although I don’t recommend it! I ordered 2 of 4 different kinds of diapers (from left to right- Happy Heinys, Fuzzi Bunz 1.0, DryBees, Bum Genius 1.0) to figure out what we liked the best. I subsisted on this stash of diapers for two months before I bought 12 prefolds and covers along with snappis to lighten my laundry routine- but we will get more into that later!

in Blog, For The Home, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Parenting, The Green Consumer

- 4 Comments

Get Thrifty, Go Green (And Save Green)

Written on March 17, 2009 by Velocibadgergirl (Pardon the Egg Salad)

2 Comments

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I LOVE to shop at thrift stores, but it wasn’t always this way.

When I was a middle-schooler, I absolutely hated it. I felt like it was embarrassing, something only poor people should do. If someone complimented a thrift store item I was wearing (which did not happen often, due to my complete non-thrift-store-related lack of stylishness) and asked where I got it, I would fib and say I didn’t remember. By high school, however, I had fully realized the awesomeness that is thrift shopping, and would gladly tell anyone who asked where I shopped.

in Blog, Conservation, For The Home, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Parenting, Green Thoughts, Reduce Reuse Recycle, The Green Consumer

- 2 Comments

Recycling With Kids

Written on March 16, 2009 by Lisa (Retro Housewife Goes Green)

2 Comments

Going green is everywhere now and can seem pretty overwhelming at times. With so much information out there it can be hard to know where to start.

You don’t need to go green overnight; take small steps!

Recycling can be a good first step, and it’s also a great way to teach kids about waste.

There are a lot of good resources out there to help you show your kids why we recycle. One site featuring a lot of great information is Kids Recycle. It’s geared toward schools but parents will find the information helpful as well.

One good idea to help kids get involved comes from an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 where Sara Snow visits.

in Blog, For The Home, For The Kids, Green Parenting, Reduce Reuse Recycle

- 2 Comments

What’s Up with Cloth Diapers?

Written on March 11, 2009 by SusanC

6 Comments

I recently received an e-mail from a fellow mama who was inquisitive about cloth diapers.

Her questions were simple and straight forward. “I see that they now have snaps, but can you tell me how it works?” “I cannot imagine cleaning a cloth diaper and I’m curious why would you do it when you could throw them away. More specifically, how do you clean those things?”

I appreciate her questions; most people don’t even bother to ask before they just assume that I must be crazy or a glutton for punishment!

Quite honestly, I completely understand that mind set though. I used to think the same way!

in Blog, Conservation, For The Home, For The Kids, Frugal Living, Green Parenting, The Green Consumer

- 6 Comments