Thanks for responding to this–and so thoroughly. It’s really helpful. Good plan–use things up and make the switch. I think I can swing that with toiletries, but I’m planning to just freecycle our cleaning products. When my husband I got married, we ended up with way too many bottles. I’d like to get rid of them and only use non-toxic!

We live in an apt. and our apt. complex permits us hanging anything outside. So this means all of our laundry hangs in our living room.

The only thing we don’t hang dry is sheets/towels and sometimes jeans because we’re in a hurry and they take 2 days to dry! We can’t hang sheets/bath towels because we don’t have room – but I do hang all washclothes/hand towels/kitchen towels/napkins (ie smaller towels).

I have 4 large drying racks and 1 small. I just put more in my Christmas list – and am always searching thrift stores for them! All but 2 were bought at thrift stores. On laundry ‘day’ I have a system of how I hang all the items in our living room. Some hanging items (such as button down shirts) get hung on any random chair/door knob. I do my laundry in the evening – and just have to make sure I don’t do too many loads at once – then usually by the next evening (when we’re home from school/work) the clothes are dry. I put away everything that is dry and consolidate everything else to 1 drying rack. If companies coming over, I can always stash that 1 drying rack in the extra bath tub to finish drying – and no one knows it’s there

Whew! I should’ve just done a post about this

For beauty products…I do still use mascara (not natural, just cheapest I can find), and chapstick. I recently am trying to switch to Burt’s Bees for chapstick…but it will take a while!

I also use Burt’s Bees Blemish Stick. But got rid of all other special ‘face potions’ (ie I had lotions for redness, wipes for acne, etc.)

For Shampoo/Conditioner/Body Wash/Soap we have switched to all natural products.

I haven’t switched face lotion/face wash yet because I’ve been using up what I had left. Even before this I used products for my face/body that had no dyes/perfumes because I have sensitive skin. Right now I am still using up Cetaphil (or the off-brand Walgreen’s brand) for my moisturizer and face wash – I really love it, it works the best. So I’m not sure when i finish if I’ll switch or not. It’s hard to find ‘natural’ lotions that don’t seperate all the time.

So my morning is:
Shampoo – Burt’s Bees (still trying out different brands)
Conditioner – can’t remember the brand! but all ‘natural’
Face Wash – Cetaphil
Shaving Cream – Kiss My Face – no fragrance cream
Soap – Kiss My Face bar of soap

Mascara – I think it’s Maybelline right now, 2 for 1 on sale!
Deodorant – Secret – I used to buy in bulk, so still using up what I have – will try a natural brand next (probably Kiss My Face)
Burt’s Bees Blemish Stick – if needed
Moisturizer/Lotion – Cetaphil
Blowdryer and sometimes straightener
Hairspray – Matrix Freeze Tricks, still using up a HUGE bottle I have, but use small amounts

And chapstick is always with me…but trying to slowly switch to Burt’s Bees.

Does this help at all?? I should do a blog post about it…its amazing how even 1 year later I’m still ‘using up’ what I had from before…so switching to organic is a process, cause I wont just throw out everything I had before (thats redundant!), so I use it up, then switch.

I have been thinking more about this list and wanted to ask a couple questions.

Since we also live in a cold environment, how do you dry your clothes in the winter?

Beauty products/toiletries: I don’t wear any makeup, but am curious–do you not use many products anymore or did you just replace them all with natural (lotion, deodorant, etc.)?

Thanks.

Thanks again. Jason . . .