Back to School - Green Adventures Continue

Its back to school time, and it brings a few new green adventures into the mix.  But first, a quick card.....

I've really lucked out this year in that my son's kindergarten has a dress code.  I love that the code gets to be the bad guy, not me, saving me lots of money while school shopping so that I didn't have to buy all sorts of graphic tees that I'd never want him to be seen in outside of the house.  

The thing he's most bummed out about though, is not getting to wear a baseball hat to school.  (I'll be bummed out because I'll have to be more diligent with haircuts rather than slapping a cap on his head when it gets unruly!)  So to celebrate his first full week of school, and compliance with said dress code, I made him this card.  

Its green because 1)  Its his second favorite color.  2) We are from Boston - Go Celtics! and 3) I adore this Jack's World paper from Cosmo Cricket, just right for a school themed card...

As for the details, the stamp set is BRAND new from Gina K Designs and is titled "Just So Sporty."  This fun set was illustrated by my friend Melanie, who has such an amazing blog, I can't wait to see all the things she does with this versatile set!

Okay, so how about Being Green with back to school.  We decided to pay for the bus this year.  Not only is is massively more convenient for me rather than schlepping out all the daycare children to the school twice daily.  We also decided that it was both financially responsible and a good way to reduce our carbon footprint. 

The bus was going right by here anyways, so it isn't out of the drivers way.  And, otherwise, my car gets extra mileage each day and lots of idling time in the lot while I wait in the queue.  So, overall, despite the large payment we made to the town for the bus, I think it still in the long run saves money, gas and CO2 to have the big yellow bus stop by our house.

We're also **trying** to be really good about buying in bulk versus buying all those single servings for school.  For instance, single serve snacks, single serve applesauces etc.  Anything you can purchase with LESS packaging means LESS to throw away. 

So, if you shop at Costco or BJ's or any wholesale club, buy the bix box, versus the box with all the smaller packages.  I've got a little snack container for my guy to tuck his snacks -- trying to get away from ziplock baggies next.  

Tonight I'm off to search for a little sandwich container, and an easy open and close container for me to send yogurt in.  I'll admit, my green efforts backfired last week.  I tucked yogurt into a container he could open, but not close when he was done, and the excess leaked all over the lunchbag. Bleech.  My bad.  So, for this week, he was thrilled that he got the single serve yogurt (usually a big NO from me at the market.) I've actually seen the girl smile when she's heard me tell the boys "Sorry, we can't buy those yogurts, too much TRASH!"  

Another great example of this is the new soap I picked up tonight.  Kiss My Face is my new brand as it has no coconut oil, and some versions no citrus (my littlest has some really TOUGH allergies!)  My sweet husband and friend Ana both recommended this line and we're giving it a try. (Cross your fingers)  In addition to being allergy free for my family, I'm loving using the bar soap rather than a bottle of soap that then has to be recycled.  If you are using hand soap in a bottle, just be sure to add it to your recycling versus your trash at the end of the week!

Have a great week everyone!