BEING A HIPPIE* IS EXPENSIVE!

(If you suffer through this text heavy rant post I promise to share some pictures and inspiration tomorrow... deal???)

*And I use the term 'hippie' loosely...

Photo

I am by no means a hippie, but I have recently become somewhat interested in more healthy, sustainable, or natural methods of feeding, caring for, and clothing my family. Not that I am anti technology and modern advances that make our life all the more conveinient-- but sometimes I feel as though that conveinience comes at too high a price. There are certain things I can and try to do to make our lives a little more 'green' and there are some decisions I would like to make for my family that would reduce our unnecessary exposure to unnecessary chemicals and additives in the products we consume.
Unfortunately, because being 'green' is trendy, or becuase the over processed way of doing things is cheaper, or some kind of combination of those two... The things I think are going to be best, safest, healthiest for my family are EXPENSIVE. Which just doesn't seem right.

Take the nursery for instance. **
1 quart of normal lacquer for finishing furniture = $8 (+ dangerous fume-y odors, chemicals, fermaldehyde, and danger of off-gassing. awesome.)
1 quart of safecoat Acrylacq for finishing furniture = $19 (but, you can't get it at local store, so have to special order it bringing your total after shipping to $27) (low odor and VOC, seals in off-gassing, esssentially making furniture 'non-toxic')
      One is obviously a healthier choice for my nursery and my baby and my pregnant state, but yikes! $19 difference in price?

5'x7' Chevron rug, made of acrylic or polypropalene = $100 (yay, stiff synthetic fibers that are not easily cleaned and easy to get nasty)
5'x7' Chevron rug, Wool = $270 (naturally water resistant and anti-microbial, plus super soft natural fibers. ahhh...)
     Once again, I think you can guess what my preference would be... but the price difference is steep.

And lets not even get me started on Organic cotton bedding vs. poly blends and chemically treated fabrics. Minky and fleece in all their synthetic goodness kinda give me the willies, I don't want to touch them! Look, like I said-- I have not gone off the deep end here, and I am not a hippie, as my friends and family have accused me. I am just trying to make the best and most healthy choices for my family and my baby. I am not insiting everything in our life be 100% certified recycled organic fairtrade eco-friendly green and natural... I mean, that would be awesome... but even the most dedicated of you 'green people' out there must admit that would be an outrageously difficult and expensive lifestyle.
I would simply like the option of putting my baby in a nursery with cozy natural fiber bedding and clothing,  and safe, chemical free furniture, walls, and toys. I want my baby to grow up healthy, and with a healthy understanding of being a good steward of resources and caretaker of God's amazing creation.
On my more dramatic days (oh come on, we all have those, right?) when I am lamenting the lack of organic resources, cloth diapering supplies, and eco-friendly paint at my immediate disposal my friends laugh at me and wonder when it was I became an off the wall green-obsessed hippie. But if fulfilling all the previously mentioned desires makes me a hippie, then I am most definitely NOT a hippie, becuase I can't afford it! Yeesh.


**I am a bad blogger who is not good at citing resources for my research, so when i put htose cost figures and junk up above, you are all, um, is she just pulling those numbers out of her bum? Nope. I can give you specific sites and whatnot where I found those prices and info... but i was just too lazy to actually look up the links in the middle of my pregnant lady rant. If it's important to you, contact me... I'll send you the info. :)