Inspiring DIY projects, beauty recipes and advice to green your daily routine.
Inspiring DIY projects, beauty recipes and advice to green your daily routine.
Welcome to A Green Routine! This blog chronicles our journey toward a greener lifestyle. We hope to inspire you to try some new things and that you’ll share your experiences with us too.
Clean but far from a germaphobe is how I’d describe myself. You don’t normally see me toting around hand sanitizer unless I’m traveling, camping or there’s a serious threat. What counts as a serious threat? Earlier this year when the flu was at its worst, I was going to be taking public transportation (not the norm for someone who lives in New Hampshire) to a busy office in a city where the virus had run rampant, causing the mayor to declare a public health emergency. So the night before I made the trip, I surfed the...
read moreLast weekend, I ran out of foaming hand soap for the kitchen and invented a new recipe worth sharing. My previous kitchen foaming hand soap recipe used lavender essential oil so it had a strong floral scent. This time I went a little lighter and brighter in anticipation of summer with an exotic, citrus scent. When I make foaming hand for the kitchen I always include a bactericide to kill any bad bacteria, like salmonella that may be left on my hands if I’m unlucky enough to handle contaminated food. Bactericidal essential oils also act...
read moreFull disclosure: I’m wearing one of my four pairs of Green Apple bamboo yoga pants as I write this. I got my first pair several years ago from the clearance rack at Marshall’s and the sustainable, organic label was really just a nice add. They were a great price and super comfortable. But I’ve always wondered whether bamboo clothing is really green or greenwashed After all, the same material that can be used for hardwood floors is being turned it into a soft fabric. That process must use some chemicals, right? As an avid...
read moreMother’s Day is just around the corner so in honor of my Mom I’m going to share a tip she gave me for unclogging drains. Short hair is nice because it washes down the drain without any trouble. Since I’ve been growing my hair out to donate it, however, my hair is now long enough to start clogging the drains in my bathroom. Previously I shared information about using baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice to unclog your drains, but when the issue is just hair it’s less expensive and just as effective to turn plastic...
read moreI’ve heard many fond memories from people who watched their mother or grandmother can ripe fruits and vegetables fresh from their farm or garden. Each story is completed with the naming of a favorite preserved food, something they still long for. Something that gave them the taste of summer in the depths of winter. What I also heard during the course of these remembrances was how time consuming and difficult it is to can your own food, and how it’s not worth the effort. Canning Is For Everyone Last year, however, with Kim’s...
read moreOne summer when I was in college I worked on a family farm and their clothes line ran just a few yards behind the farm stand. One day, the farmers’ whites, dancing in the breeze, became the backdrop for the farm stand. A customer commented: “You just don’t see that anymore.” She then went home and returned with her camera to capture a photo of white sheets against a background of green pasture and blue sky. It was probably a very homey, comfortable photo that would remind viewers of a simpler time. More than a decade...
read moreThis winter, I was on a mission to clean out my closets and basement. It was incredible how much stuff had been stashed in the dark recesses of my house. Although some of this stuff was my own, much of it belonged to the house’s previous owner who left the it fully furnished and complete with towels in the dryer, computer equipment in the spare room and construction materials in the basement. I thought a lot of the stuff I found might be recyclable, but I didn’t know where to bring it. Finding recycling programs for uncommon items...
read moreToday, more than one billion people will take action to save the planet, making Earth Day the world’s largest public service project, according to the Earth Day Network. Earth Day gives us something to rally around and the projects help raise awareness of environmental issues in communities around the world. Luckily, millions of people worldwide also extend their commitment to saving the environment year-round. At A Green Routine, we hope to inspire you to make changes to your daily life and help you make those changes by offering...
read moreIt is nearly impossible to find a natural mouthwash or a toothpaste free of flouride, triclosan and SLS in a local grocery story or drugstore. I’ve been searching for months. Ever since Kim wrote about switching to a natural mouthwash and why you might not want those three ingredients in your toothpaste, I decided to switch. About a month ago, I was excited to hear a new brand called hello was launching a line of “seriously friendly” oral hygiene products in Walgreens, Target and Duane Reade. As soon as the Walgreens near...
read moreThis Easter, my mom gave me a beautiful pot of tulips. (I also gifted her a nice pot of tulips in a slightly different shade of pink. Great minds think alike?) Sadly, all good things must come to an end and after enjoying the flowers for a few weeks, I now have a pot of dying leaves topped with wilted buds. Not wanting to throw out the bulbs, I first turned to the web to try to figure out if the bulbs could be planted and would bloom again next spring. Some websites said no, others said maybe and offered a long, involved process that might...
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