Being Green on a Minimum-Wage Budget

My name is Erin, and I'm a mom. I love my kids and my husband, and am doing everything I can to give my girls a better life than I have had. I go to school full-time, and am due to graduate with my AAS (Associates of Applied Science) in Office Administration. I attend classs online in order to save money on transportation, and day-care. This does mean that I have to have internet in order to complete my classwork. But, it's either that, or drive 40 minutes to get to campus, and 40 minutes back again (with the price of gas, and our income, this is not an option).

 

My husband works full-time (usually 40-60 hours a week), and makes minimum-wage. He works hard, and is exposed to the elements daily. It wasn't always this way. He sank all his money into opening a small business. Needless to say, it didn't work out the way we had hoped. The business went under, and things haven't been the same since. I'm not telling you this to get sympathy; I just want to give you an idea of how I ended up on this journey.

 

About four years ago, I met a woman who is a true friend and really passionate about green living, and healthful whole food. At first I didn't think much about what she said about toxins, and addatives in food, but as she kept feeding me information, I started to pay attention. It all started to sink in.

 

About a year and a half ago, I started researching how to make household cleaners from natural, and safe ingriedients. I couldn't seem to manage to come up with the money to buy what I needed to start. About six months ago, I switched my daughters and myself from shampoo to the "no-poo" method with good results. Since all I needed for this was baking soda and vinegar this was an easy choice. Then, about two months ago, I finally got up the courage to spend the money, and try my hand at some other things. Since then, I have done a lot of reading about homemade, natural products, and how to improve the health of my family, and myself through whole foods. I have been shocked by a lot of what I have read about what is in the non-organic, and processed foods I commonly purchase at the grocery store. Which leads me to what I am doing now. This is a blog, documenting my journey, as I try to manage to cut these harmful things from our diet, all on $7.25 an hour. I hope you enjoy following me on this learning process. I will share with you things that I discover, and I certainly hope that you will share the things you have learned with me.

Erin

- Born May 9, 1980

- Mother, housewife, full-time student, and green enthusiast.

 

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I'm a mother to two little girls, Addison age 5, and Piper age 2. Like all of you I'm sure, I love my family and want to protect them from anything harmful. This includes the harmful toxins and chemicals that are in most of the processed foods, and common household cleaning items from the store. There's a catch though...I have to do it all on minimum-wage.