Is it even possible to go chemical free?
In my first move toward a chemical free home I return to something I did way back when my children were babies. I used this recipe for wet-wipes (excluding the Germicide). Because I have become accustomed to Chlorox wipes... I decided to make my own ...
I absolutely love the convenience of wet-wipes for everything. For a busy lifestyle they sure are quick!
So, in making my own I:
purchased a round, deep tupperware (about 6-8 inches high approximately)
purchased a roll of paper towels (thick ones)
cut the paper towel roll in half (literally)
removed the cardboard center
stuck it in the round tupperware
saturated the towels with my own *cleaning solution.
Now, when I need a "wet wipe" I pull from the center of the roll and viola! Out comes a ready made wipe!
*cleaning solution made with SHAKLEE'S Basic H (concentrated biodegradeable all purpose cleaner) and Basic G (concentrated biodegradeable germicide). I used 1 tsp each.
Totally easy!!
Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Simple Living
As I embark on my own journey toward Simple Living, I wish to document the steps and share my experience with it.
Though all events lead to this moment, I believe it's helpful to give you some background.
I grew up on a farm in the middle of Minnesota with 10 siblings and two parents who themselves spent their childhood on farms. We raised our own animals, grew our own food, chopped wood for heat and had very little. Yet, whenever I think back to my childhood, I am flooded with wonderful memories.
Of the entire group, I tended toward the desire for individuality and wanted to own my truth instead of living on borrowed ones. This desire to do things on my own led me to marry outside the Catholic church (a no-no) and move far away from anything I knew or was familiar with. Hawaii was my first stop with my new husband and there we lived for 4 years. With the event of my mother becoming sick, we moved back to the mainland and settled in Colorado. By 1996 we had 2 small children and I got involved in an environmentally conscious company called Shaklee. They sold environmentally safe, biodegradeable house cleaners and organic nutritional supplements. I worked with them for 6 years and while doing so learned alot about nutrition, wellness and the concept of living as close to nature as possible. In 1997 I decided to pull away from my Shaklee business and devote my time to being a full time mother.
By 2001, my children were 7 and 5 and I began to feel a certain and deep dissatisfaction. My husband was a successful provider and therefore we began to accumulate, build on to our house, buy larger vehicles, buy a vacation property, and expand our ownings to include those things that would provide the lifestyle we believed we wanted for our family. Though all the "things" were in place, my dissastifaction grew. I began to take a good look at myself, my values, my relationships. Where was my happiness? Surely, I had everything that the American Dream promised!
In my search for meaning, I realized that I did not share the same values with my husband. I did not share in his enthusiasm for pursuing a wealthy lifestyle, nor did I agree with the sacrifices that had to be made toward that end. This was not what I felt would create a high quality life; which for me was about family, community, quality time, deep appreciation for nature, peace and freedom.
Freedom! We didn't have it. I found that the more we owned, the more owned us. We were working for our money and employed by our own stuff!
I divorced in 2002, got my bachelor's degree in psychology at Naropa University, trained with the International Coaching Academy and began to coach women who were on a similar soul searching path as I. During this time I also began to paint portraits again (a gift I hadn't expressed in years), as well as open my own business out of my home called "Miss Gwen's Art Garden" -- here I ran a Kindergarten Program during the school year and day camps for kids between the ages of 6-12 during the summer. The camp was based on farm living, homemade food, gardening, fellowship with eachother, building structures for farm animals, creating a living pond, etc.. While doing these things, I was being financially supported by my ex husband and therefore, wasn't taking the "earning a living" thing seriously. These camps for children seemed like "play" to me. I didn't believe it was a 'business' .. I didn't believe it was something that I could sustain a living on.
I brought my first and only year of Miss Gwen's to a close in the spring of 2006. My 2 children and I went to Spain that summer and I returned home wondering what I was going to do to earn a living. Somehow, not considering what I had just done the year before was a viable option...
Sadly, I believed that following my passions and living in line with my values would not provide the income that I thought I needed. I found myself buying into the American Myth that if I owned a "real" business (a storefront) and worked hard that I could master that which all the "smart" people who make a lot of money do! I could grow a business and have wild success! I would be happy!
Leaving some of my most important values behind, I purchased a small Day Spa. At first, it was fun and I was fueled by the excitement and creativity of it all. But soon I began to feel that I was like a bee banging against a glass window trying to get out into the fresh air. In my attempts to make this business work, I was hitting wall after wall. In so many ways, I was being told "NOT THIS WAY". With my health and relationships deteriorating, my joy decreasing, my stress levels increasing, I realized I was doing the very thing that I left my marriage for! Thus, I made the choice to walk away from the business; to say "No" to this lifestyle of pursuing wealth through sacrificing my highest values. What was I thinking? And so, as of this Friday, December 19, I will no longer be "owned" by my spa. I will "own" my life - as I say Yes to myself.
And so here I am. The slate is clean. My heart calls me back to what I know, for me, is the most beautiful way to live; in line with my values and passions. Back to my family. Back to my art. Back to "Miss-Gwen's children." Back to Coaching. Back to loving and being authentic.
And this begins my blog and my hope to increase the number of conversations that are happening now. I wish to document my progress as I shift from the so-called "American Dream" to "My Dream" -- which includes voluntary simplicity, living congruently with one's passions and values, natural living, living in harmony with the earth. It includes coaching others in areas such as parenting, how to follow their passions, how to lead a healthy lifestyle through right nutrition, and exercise and ultimately, how to have freedom.
When asked, "Where will you start?" I answer, "with one small step at a time." As I reach for the Windex and Cascade under my kitchen sink and replace them with something a little more earth friendly.
Following, is my working definition for SIMPLE LIVING.
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of wealth and consumption. Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in 'quality time' for family and friends, stress reduction, personal taste or frugality. Others cite socio-political goals aligned with the anti-consumerist movement, including conservation, social justice and sustainable development. According to Duane Elgin, "we can describe voluntary simplicity as a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living." Simple living as a concept is distinguished from those living in forced poverty, as it is a voluntary lifestyle choice.
Though all events lead to this moment, I believe it's helpful to give you some background.
I grew up on a farm in the middle of Minnesota with 10 siblings and two parents who themselves spent their childhood on farms. We raised our own animals, grew our own food, chopped wood for heat and had very little. Yet, whenever I think back to my childhood, I am flooded with wonderful memories.
Of the entire group, I tended toward the desire for individuality and wanted to own my truth instead of living on borrowed ones. This desire to do things on my own led me to marry outside the Catholic church (a no-no) and move far away from anything I knew or was familiar with. Hawaii was my first stop with my new husband and there we lived for 4 years. With the event of my mother becoming sick, we moved back to the mainland and settled in Colorado. By 1996 we had 2 small children and I got involved in an environmentally conscious company called Shaklee. They sold environmentally safe, biodegradeable house cleaners and organic nutritional supplements. I worked with them for 6 years and while doing so learned alot about nutrition, wellness and the concept of living as close to nature as possible. In 1997 I decided to pull away from my Shaklee business and devote my time to being a full time mother.
By 2001, my children were 7 and 5 and I began to feel a certain and deep dissatisfaction. My husband was a successful provider and therefore we began to accumulate, build on to our house, buy larger vehicles, buy a vacation property, and expand our ownings to include those things that would provide the lifestyle we believed we wanted for our family. Though all the "things" were in place, my dissastifaction grew. I began to take a good look at myself, my values, my relationships. Where was my happiness? Surely, I had everything that the American Dream promised!
In my search for meaning, I realized that I did not share the same values with my husband. I did not share in his enthusiasm for pursuing a wealthy lifestyle, nor did I agree with the sacrifices that had to be made toward that end. This was not what I felt would create a high quality life; which for me was about family, community, quality time, deep appreciation for nature, peace and freedom.
Freedom! We didn't have it. I found that the more we owned, the more owned us. We were working for our money and employed by our own stuff!
I divorced in 2002, got my bachelor's degree in psychology at Naropa University, trained with the International Coaching Academy and began to coach women who were on a similar soul searching path as I. During this time I also began to paint portraits again (a gift I hadn't expressed in years), as well as open my own business out of my home called "Miss Gwen's Art Garden" -- here I ran a Kindergarten Program during the school year and day camps for kids between the ages of 6-12 during the summer. The camp was based on farm living, homemade food, gardening, fellowship with eachother, building structures for farm animals, creating a living pond, etc.. While doing these things, I was being financially supported by my ex husband and therefore, wasn't taking the "earning a living" thing seriously. These camps for children seemed like "play" to me. I didn't believe it was a 'business' .. I didn't believe it was something that I could sustain a living on.
I brought my first and only year of Miss Gwen's to a close in the spring of 2006. My 2 children and I went to Spain that summer and I returned home wondering what I was going to do to earn a living. Somehow, not considering what I had just done the year before was a viable option...
Sadly, I believed that following my passions and living in line with my values would not provide the income that I thought I needed. I found myself buying into the American Myth that if I owned a "real" business (a storefront) and worked hard that I could master that which all the "smart" people who make a lot of money do! I could grow a business and have wild success! I would be happy!
Leaving some of my most important values behind, I purchased a small Day Spa. At first, it was fun and I was fueled by the excitement and creativity of it all. But soon I began to feel that I was like a bee banging against a glass window trying to get out into the fresh air. In my attempts to make this business work, I was hitting wall after wall. In so many ways, I was being told "NOT THIS WAY". With my health and relationships deteriorating, my joy decreasing, my stress levels increasing, I realized I was doing the very thing that I left my marriage for! Thus, I made the choice to walk away from the business; to say "No" to this lifestyle of pursuing wealth through sacrificing my highest values. What was I thinking? And so, as of this Friday, December 19, I will no longer be "owned" by my spa. I will "own" my life - as I say Yes to myself.
And so here I am. The slate is clean. My heart calls me back to what I know, for me, is the most beautiful way to live; in line with my values and passions. Back to my family. Back to my art. Back to "Miss-Gwen's children." Back to Coaching. Back to loving and being authentic.
And this begins my blog and my hope to increase the number of conversations that are happening now. I wish to document my progress as I shift from the so-called "American Dream" to "My Dream" -- which includes voluntary simplicity, living congruently with one's passions and values, natural living, living in harmony with the earth. It includes coaching others in areas such as parenting, how to follow their passions, how to lead a healthy lifestyle through right nutrition, and exercise and ultimately, how to have freedom.
When asked, "Where will you start?" I answer, "with one small step at a time." As I reach for the Windex and Cascade under my kitchen sink and replace them with something a little more earth friendly.
Following, is my working definition for SIMPLE LIVING.
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of wealth and consumption. Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in 'quality time' for family and friends, stress reduction, personal taste or frugality. Others cite socio-political goals aligned with the anti-consumerist movement, including conservation, social justice and sustainable development. According to Duane Elgin, "we can describe voluntary simplicity as a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living." Simple living as a concept is distinguished from those living in forced poverty, as it is a voluntary lifestyle choice.
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