Soap Nuts. Yes, somewhat of a strange thing… Slightly out of my comfort zone when I first heard of them. But with the problems we had with hard water and build up, I was finally willing to try anything. Even if it was a nut (technically a berry) that grows on trees. Read more…

Wanna win some soft, organic, fair trade clothes for you little one? Nature’s Child is having a contest where you could win $250 worth of Speesee’s cute and vibrant clothing…all by sharing a tid bit of the best parenting advice you’ve received as a new parent. Just make sure to do it by the end of September 2008 or you’ll miss out.

After you enter the contest, come back here and tell us what piece of advice you shared with Nature’s Child by commenting on this post. If it’s the best advice ever, we’ll showcase it on our website with your name for all other parents to see so they can get a jump start on great parenting tactics.

Sometimes the hardest gifts to think of are those for birthdays. We usually don’t plan ahead for birthdays like we might for Christmas. Christmas can also be much more simpler because we can buy in bulk and give everyone the same of similar gifts. Birthdays tend to be a little more personalized.

I started thinking about what good, sustainable gifts would be for birthdays when my daughter was invited to one of her good friend’s fourth birthday party. Most people assume buying a toy of some sort is the best gift for that age group and if you can find a sustainable toy or organic t-shirt then it is a good option. For our family though, a sustainable toy is usually out of our price range for a birthday party. So here are my ideas for sustainable and organic gifts. Read more…

Recycling is an admirable thing to do but alone it doesn’t serve a just purpose. Reusing items is also a wonderful and sometimes creative act; although beware of items that really aren’t safe to reuse, like certain plastics. I’m amazed by the people who turn normal household items into functioning decor, such as water fountains and such keeping them out of landfills. But the best thing we can all really focus on is reducing. Read more…

Natural family living can sometimes be an expensive lifestyle. Buying natural remedies, healthy food and cloth diapers usually costs more than typical mainstream products. In the case of cloth diapers, it requires an investment that can sometimes be hard to come up with even though cloth saves money over the long-term… For some people it’s easier to spend the $20 every few weeks on disposables.

If all of this feels familiar to you then you just may be headed for a miracle…. Miracle Diapers that is. Miracle Diapers is a cloth diaper charity that sends families cloth diapers to use on their babies or toddlers. There are no income minimums or maximums so even if you don’t fit typical low-income guidelines don’t hesitate to apply. You simply give them your financial information and describe your personal situation to them. Then they determine which families can participate in the program.

Cloth diaper recipients are asked to pay for postage, sign and agreement and return the diapers when they are done. At that point, if you need to size up, Miracle Diapers will re-evaluate your situation and then send you the next size diapers. You can even get instructions on how to cloth diaper with your package.

Truly an amazing program. Miracle Diapers accepts all kinds of donations. Even cloth diapers that are in need of repair can be donated. If you want to cloth diaper or maybe need to for financial reasons but are having a difficult time with the initial investment, visit Miracle Diapers and fill out their easy online application. Applications are accepted every other month so don’t wait, visit the application page to see if you can apply this month.

If you’d like to donate new or used cloth diapers, Miracle Diapers would be glad to accept your donation and you’ll be helping them to ‘cloth diaper the world, one baby at a time.’