My greener, healthier lifestyle & products that made my summer awesome!

I think a lot of people understand what its like to be the only person in a relationship (or family) who is health, frugal or eco conscious. It can be a HUGE struggle! Whether its to save money, do things that are greener for the environment or, just plain, trying to live a healthier life. Here are a few of the things that I’ve been doing this summer and a couple products that made my life awesome!

One of the perks I didn’t see coming with the divorce was: OMG It is AMAZING to be able to have a household now that aligns entirely with my beliefs!

Not having an air conditioner was always a note of contention. Seriously though, my house stays incredibly COOL no matter how hot it is outside! And this is northern MN – it is so rare when its actually hot enough (in my opinion) for an air conditioner.

I literally have my windows open for months now lol I just love it though. Summer is my very favorite time of the year which is why I built a huge deck and have three doors out to it.

I built a screen door for one of my deck doors a couple of years ago and have had it on my list to either buy or build screen doors for the other two doors as well.

I have a confession to make: I kinda hate screen doors.

I know! I Know! I know! There is nothing more awesome or iconic to an old farm like mine then the bang of a screen door. And that 100 year old screen door on the front of my house is NOT GOING ANYWHERE.

But I digress…

They just don’t work very well! Even the very best screen doors I’ve seen still somehow let bugs in. So, I went searching for something else and I found it and I totally LOVE it.

They’re called magnetic screen doors and I’m really mad I didn’t discover them sooner! And they’re really affordable!

Now I have my doors to my deck open all evening before I go to bed. (Perk I didn’t see coming: Where my new magnetic screen doors are the birds no longer fly into those glass doors – it eliminated the reflection.)

Other little things really added up energy-wise like the TV and all the lights in the house always being on. Of course now I’m not leaving the lights on lol. But did you know your TV never really turns off either even after you “turn it off”?

I don’t have “normal” tv, I have Netflix and an Amazon Prime account all connected through an Amazon Firestick.

Now, I knew in my head that the firestick never “turned off” but it really hit me one day when I came home from work and turned my TV on and BOOM: my Amazon Prime Music was still playing… It had played ALL night after I went to bed and all day when I was at work because Firesticks do not have an OFF button.

(Thank goodness unlimited internet is the norm now, ten years ago that would have cost me a small fortune!)

At least with a TV you can turn it mostly off lol

So, I got myself a power strip, attached it to the back of my entertainment center and plugged my firestick and my tv into it. Now I just click it off.

I don’t watch a lot of tv so now I go literally days without ever turning any of it on. MAJOR ENERGY WIN.

I also now have a power strip by my bed too and have my lamp, my clock, my fan and my phone charger all plugged into it. I click it on when I go to bed and I click it off when I get up in the morning.

This goes for all of my kitchen appliances as well and any appliances I don’t use at LEAST once of month I put away.

Whenever I have a bulb burn out (which has only happened twice in the last 8 months!) I replace it with an LED bulb.

Better for the environment and they last FOREVER.

I can’t believe how lovely and quiet my home is. You don’t really realize how much NOISE electronics make!

(MAJOR ANNOYANCE: I live so far out in the country that just having electric service at my home costs me $38 a month without even using it. For the last four months my electricity use was LESS than it cost me to have the service.)

I realized that my laundry soap recipe works just as well leaving it in its dry form instead of melting it into several, 1 gallon jugs.

So I went from a full laundry cabinet to one little container, funny how that made me really happy. You know you’re an adult when… LOL

I’ve been able to remove a lot of meat from my diet. Am I vegetarian? No, but I’ve realized 1 pound of anything cooked up with enough veggies can literally feed me for supper all week.

My groceries went from over $400 a month to less than $50 – meat is expensive!

I’ve also eliminated almost all dairy from my diet which means I feel SO much better! Dairy and my stomach have NEVER gotten along going all the way back to when I was a baby. I still keep a little cheese on hand but, otherwise, I don’t add dairy to any of my cooking now.

Bread is no longer in my kitchen either as its simply something that has been affecting me worse and worse over the years.

I went to the grocery store for the first time as a single gal and, also for the first time, walked around in search of what my body actually wanted. (I think we all get into the habit of simply buying the “staples” etc.)

Instead, I approached eating in an entirely different way.

This is what I learned about myself: Beans, rice, fresh fruit and veggies, and eggs are three foods that I can’t seem to get enough of and that agree with me totally. Organic, gluten free rice crackers with a smear of almond butter on them is my new favorite snack.

The only real problem is I’m totally terrible at cooking rice. How is it even possible for someone to be bad at cooking rice? I don’t get it!

So, my best friend has an Instapot and I’ve been SO impressed with it. When looking on Amazon at Instapots (to buy for my mom for her birthday) I ran into rice cookers and got kinda excited.

I was worried because I think we’ve all learned the hard way what its like to buy a kitchen appliance, use it once and then never use it again. Its been two months and I’ve used my new Rice Cooker and Food Steamer at least a couple of times a month.

It makes me enough rice for several meals (my favorite is homemade fried rice) and I can also steam a meal in the top rack while I’m making the rice.

I had already eliminated most chemical cleaners but now I’ve done it entirely throughout my house and replaced them with my own homemade versions.

I even started making my own tooth paste which I am really excited about! Once I get the recipe just right I’ll share it here on the blog.

(One product though I just have not been able to replace (or find a natural or organic version of) is deodorant. Do you guys have any brands you would recommend?)

Going up to my master floor now is like ascending into temple to some goddess 10,000 years ago. The combination of mugwart and lavender essential oils I use to help me sleep is almost heady in how good it smells. And now I use just a couple drops of jasmine as a perfume too, I absolutely love it.

Anyone who has ever lived in a toxic environment understands why its been proven that stress can literally destroy your health.

So many of the small issues I was having health wise simply disappeared. From night terrors, to insomnia, to panic attacks, to queasiness and stomach problems constantly laying me up. It seemed like no matter what I did I was constantly getting sick.

I have never felt better and, of course, its a combination of so many things from my emotional well being to my new cleaner eating plan.

It is just so cool to have a home now that aligns with how I’ve always wanted to live!