well. i've come to terms with it.
i'm becoming a crunchy mom. i can't avoid the label any longer. it's true.
this transformation didn't happen overnight, obviously. but it's been rather snowball-like. the more crunchy things i do, the more i want to do. this has been fueled by several factors, not because i'm a hippie. and they are:
1. we need to save money. we just moved and bought a house to accommodate my husband's job and career. and in the long run, where we are now is better. but. we could have been more financially prepared, and probably a little smarter (hey, you live and you learn). if we were perfectly honest, we've been living above our means. not a lot--but enough that we're a little out of breath. we didn't buy a new car we couldn't afford, or a house we couldn't afford, or rack up credit cards by eating out every meal... but we also didn't expect my income to take such a hit when we moved. and by take a hit, i mean totally flatline. it quickly became obvious we had to make some changes. and can i tell you a secret??
it's kind of exciting. it's a challenge to meet. every time i think of some new way to save money, i wanna give myself a high five.
-also-
it's been good for our marriage. i'm not kidding. some couples argue over money, but we've come together on it. we're a partnership. a frugal team. he makes the money. and i research and incorporate ways to save it.
which leads me to...
2. we have a future to plan for. this isn't the end of the road for us. we're barely 30. our dreams don't die here. we want better things for our lives. and we'll keep reaching for them. the hubs and i have a legit, in-the-works design for a passive house. it's not a dream, it's not a "maybe some day"--it's going to happen. we want to be the first in alabama, but even if we aren't (because more and more are being built across the country all the time), we'll still have a passive home. and that is freaking cool.
but we're not just planning for our architectural future, we also have a growing family. not making any announcements here (no i'm not pregnant), but we want more children. and if there is one thing i want to provide for them, it's a college education. student loans are the devil. they make our financial life hell.
and with a growing family comes growing responsibility--the responsibility to pass along real world smarts. they don't teach budgeting in school. we want to be smart with money so that we can show our kids how to be smart with money. and we don't want to have to rely on them once they start earning their own money.
3. we value our health, physically and mentally. as more women started taking up full-time careers, it became harder for them to fulfill roles as moms. so the food and cleaning (and kid products) industry took advantage of that--producing things that were designed to be easy, convenient, and most importantly, make the companies that produced them extremely rich. (but in all fairness--can you blame them? we all want to come up with ideas that make us money while making life easier.) how did they do that? chemicals, preservatives, petroleum-based products, artificial hormones, artificial sweeteners and colors and flavors. oh, and also drugs. it seems like almost weekly, some scientific research team comes out with a study that links a chemical to a health problem. and while sometimes they are only linked and not proven, it still raises the question: what are all those chemicals doing to us??
i don't want to be the science experiment that finds out. no one out there--no matter how crazy you think my crunchiness may sound--can look me in the face and tell me with certainty that those chemicals are "probably ok" or "completely harmless." because we don't know.
now there's a fine line between living in fear of chemicals and doing what you can to live healthier. we can't avoid chemicals. but we can educate ourselves and make better choices.
jumping around a little, here's where i tell you that living a crunchy lifestyle isn't easy. i'm in the process of switching to cloth diapers for my toddler. and while most tell you that it's easy, it's certainly not easier. it takes more time. just like it takes more time to shop at 3 different grocery stores every week to get the food that is both healthiest and the least expensive. and it takes time to plan a healthy (gluten-free) meal every night so that we don't spend money eating out. if i still worked a full-time job, i don't know that i could pull all of this off while maintaining my sanity.
last week i had a slight panic attack because we were nearing the end of the month and quickly running out of money. "this is the lowest of lows!" i thought. and immediately i hopped online, bound and determined to find a job. i had to help bring in some extra income. but then, after i calmed down, i started thinking about all the reasons why me being at home is beneficial to my family. like spending time with my daughter, cooking mind-blowingly good meals (seriously, i've discovered my inner chef since being at home), not bringing work stress home, practicing how to live on one income, and having time to research and plan new crunchy ways to live :) and so we make sacrifices. it's not easy, but it's worth it.
and lastly
4. if it ain't broke, don't fix it. call me old-fashioned, but a lot of the old ways of doing things (like my grandparents' generation) just seem better. growing your own food/knowing where your food comes from, cooking your own meals, cooking with real butter (seriously), nursing babies, spending time with your family, making your own things in stead of buying them--you know what i mean--the simple life. somehow we got away from all that and i think we're actually worse off as a culture. now, don't get me wrong. i'm a product of modern culture. there are some modern conveniences i'd have a hard time giving up. and i'm certainly not suggesting we all go live on a compound somewhere or move out into the forest. technology can be good. if it weren't for technology i probably wouldn't be learning all the things i'm learning to help us live smarter and healthier. but some things were just better before technology got involved.
so there you have it.
if you're interested in learning about the money-saving "greener" methods we are starting to incorporate, please let me know! there are lots of good blogs out there that discuss these things, but i'd be happy to share as well.
