A reader recently asked me if I thought she should go to the expense of getting an organic wool mattress for her little one arriving soon. Money was a BIG concern for her but she didn’t want to risk her baby breathing in harmful chemicals. Of course I cannot make that decision for anyone but I faced the same scenario three years ago when I had my third child.

I already had two crib mattresses and I didn’t want to be wasteful by buying a new one when I had two already. Of course the two I had were most likely filled with plastic and had a plastic cover. But since they were a couple years old I wasn’t very worried about off-gassing anymore. So I ended up using 100% wool army blankets that I got from an estate sale and I made a mattress cover with them. Then I topped the wool with organic cotton crib sheets.

I am happy with the compromise since I feel my son had a safe place to sleep and I didn’t have to buy new or spend $500 on an organic crib mattress. BUT this was my third child. If I could go back in time and get a do-over I would buy a nice organic crib mattress from the beginning and hand it down to subsequent babies.

Now of course you may be wondering why I had/have a crib in the first place since the eco friendlier option would be to co-sleep. Well, I wasn’t very green when I had my first child so I did buy a crib and mattress and then later we had a toddler bed that needed a mattress. Neither of these things got very much use since we did co-sleep with our first two kids.

My third child though did not want to co-sleep. He started out in my bed but he would fuss and flail around if anyone else even moved in the slightest. So I tried putting him in another bed with pillows around him and he slept like a lamb. He actually slept better on his own. He was my first child that would just lay down, stick a thumb in his mouth, and go to sleep the moment his head hit the pillow… IF he was in there alone… otherwise he would fuss.

At three years old he is just NOW starting to want to co-sleep and has been in my bed for a month now. But I digress… I would encourage any parent to wait to buy a mattress until they really know if they need it. If they cannot afford a pricey organic or natural crib mattress then they CAN make do with wool mattress pads and organic sheets. And if you really want to make the investment in a good mattress I have really come to like Natural Mat. In particular I like the Coco Mat. It is a breathable and natural organic crib mattress filled with coir from the only certified organic coir plantation in the world. Coir is made from coconut husks which are coated in natural latex to make a supportive and breathable fibrous layer. The coir is then wrapped in lambs wool which is bathed in a mixture made from extracts of lavender, lemon and eucalyptus making it completely anti-dust mite as well as maintaining the excellent thermal insulating properties of natural wool. I have a cut section from the Coco Mat and I wish they made King size cause it would go on my wish list… I will need to replace my mattresses soon.

Just look at it above. Does that not look amazingly natural and comfortable??? It passes strict US Fire Retardants standards without having to use toxic fire retardants. AND this is a big bonus… every element of the Natural Mat mattress is biodegradable and compostable.

About a year ago now I really became interested in the concept of voluntary simplicity and how it relates to family and green living. I can’t quite remember where it was I heard about it but I have devoured many books on the subject since and have reviewed some of them here. Check out Choosing Simplicity and Frugal Luxuries and Simple Living.

For me the concept has been slowly working its way into my life, one small change at a time… downsizing to one car, doing our Christmas shopping at garage sales in July, working less and spending time together more, etc. In a few weeks we are about to embark on our biggest adventure in simple living and I will be honest, it is kind of scary, but I am excited too.

We are moving from our 6000 square feet, 5 bedroom home on a private street with 2.5 acres  in a small country town to a 1000 square feet, 3 bedroom home on a city block in a suburb just outside a major metropolitan city. The move has advantages and disadvantages but overall I think it will be very good for us.

I LOVE our current home…adore it actually. It is a little slice of heaven. But we are about an hour away from the city where my husband works and where all the best shopping and entertainment is. And by best shopping I just mean you have more choices than WalMart… like Costco, Whole Foods, and farmer’s markets, for instance.

The shopping part I could live with and even commuting to places like the zoo and Whole Foods (even though its not so green) but the time we lose together as a family due to hubby working so far away has to stop. Currently my husband spends 1.5 hours commuting each way. That is 3 hours per work day that we lose. That is unacceptable to me and the town we live in is so economically depressed and has so few jobs that working here is not really an option. I am also unhappy with how car dependent we are here. According to Walk Score our current residence has a walk score of 3 out of 100. That is terrible!!!!

So we made the decision to move to the city and we decided to rent so that we could take our time trying to find the area that best fits our needs, since we are so unfamiliar with the area in general. I couldn’t find any houses in my preferred area so we decided to just look on Craigslist for something simple, in a good area, close to schools, and on the outer loop of the city. We figured we could move in a year if we fell in love with some other area. We also wanted something cheaper than what we currently have since I eventually want to phase my husband out of working outside the home altogether. It was important that I be able to handle all the bills myself if it came to that.

I also wanted something small so that we would be forced to downsize our belongings and get on track with simple living. Also, not having 3 bathrooms to clean is always a bonus.

What we ended up with is pretty darn small and uhm…not nearly as nice as what we are used to, but I really like it. It is 1,150 square feet, 3 bedrooms, it has a 2.5 car garage, a fenced yard with enough room for a pool, and a perfect work space for me that is just off the kitchen. My son is elated that it isn’t an apartment…we made that concession for him. He can ride his bike to his hearts content here and even ride it to school which is about a quarter mile away from our front door. And of course it is a city school which was also important to my son… his bad experience with the county school here has made him weary. I REALLY hope he likes it but if he doesn’t I take comfort in the fact that we have other options in a city… Montessori, charter, etc.

Behind the school is a big city park with a water park attached. I imagine that will make for one FUN summer. There actually 4-5 city parks in the area and residents have access to affordable activities such as sports, dance classes, karate classes, music lessons, swim classes, etc. Lots of 2 day art workshops for $10 a pop all summer long. They have a 80 page brochure that comes 3 times annually with all the fun stuff to do in our immediate area. I am giddy about it.

The library is within walking distance also. The walking score for our little city suburb is 68 out of 100. That is a HUGE improvement from what our current walk score is. We are less than a mile away from a large shopping complex with a big movie theatre… so the movie buff in me is happy.

Of course now we are back to the BIG issue. Pool or no? I am still terrified by the thought of a pool when I have a toddler. But there is a big circular patch of dead grass in the back now so the kids KNOW what was there. I admit I would love to have a pool so hubs and I could sneak out at bedtime and enjoy it together but the drowning thing….yikes…it would keep me awake at night and make me want to put deadbolts on their bedroom doors. BUT because of my neurosis about not having a pool, none of the kids can swim very well. Hubs and I both grew up in homes with pools in sunny Arizona. We could both swim like fish by the time we could walk… my kids have been robbed. :(

In addition to getting ready to host a yard sale of our own I am also busy shopping them too. Our current place has built in bookcases, desks, and closet organizers in most of the rooms so we will need to buy those as we are big on books, art, sewing, and workspace for our creative stuff. We need bookcases, desks, and dressers.  I want everything to be second hand if possible…yes…grumble, grumble, even the washer and dryer. ;) I have a few auctions to go to this week to look for them.

I am excited to green my life even more and start reaping the benefits of more family time and a simpler way of life in general.

Got ideas on the pool issue?

A guest post from Amy Thompson

Sometimes the most progressive ideas are the oldest and simplest, the ones that took place 100 years ago, when no one saw anything revolutionary about them at all.  Today there are so many parenting options, so many ways to feed, clothe and care for our children.  Many spring from media moguls and business tycoons, others are born in laboratories and research centers.  In the midst of all these high tech, color coordinated, safety tested, pediatrician recommended options, the most radical choice can be to simply say, “No thanks.”  

When we trust our intuition, and look within, rather than to external sources for the answers, we will often find that the simplest solutions are best.  Why feed our babies deconstructed, vitamin-fortified, puffed cereals when we can simply cook up some nice, hot oatmeal, vitamins all intact?  Do we really need an entire car seat/carrier/stroller system that makes it entirely possible to go hours at a time without ever touching your baby?  Hold that sweet babe tight to your breast, wrapped in a simple cloth as millions of mothers have done before!  The latest parenting books urge us to let our babies “cry it out,” when every cell in our body tells us to fold them into our arms and soothe them to sleep.  Listen to your body!  Forget the cribs, the baby food, the play pens.  We women have been doing this for eons.  Choose to follow the examples of our pioneer forbears;  live simply, live close to the earth and close to your loved ones.  

There is a line of reasoning called Occam’s razor that states that when faced with multiple theories, the simplest answer is usually the correct one.  So it is with mothering and life in general.  When all the world is turning to the latest gadget, the latest expert advice, the latest health fad, we can pioneer the way back to our roots, back to simplicity

****
Visit Amy at Progessive Pioneer

My weekend reads…

Home Sewn- It is too bad I am getting ready to move and cannot start any new sewing projects because I am so inspired after reading this book! It has 30 projects for every room in the house and they are pretty simple and easy. Plus the patterns come with the book!!!  Some of the lovely projects include basket liners, a farmer’s market tote, sheets, a bed skirt, a party garland, roman blinds, a bath mat, a shower curtain, , a scalloped tablecloth, coasters, and throw pillows… just to name a few. I really need to make a few tablecloths and place mat sets but guess that will have to wait. Oh and the ottoman cover may be first on my list…my ottoman is looking pretty sad. I totally recommend this book to home sewers.. even newbies.

The Double Daring Book for Girls – This is a follow-up to their other Daring Book for Girls. This one looks like it is a real winner too. These are probably the two best books any mom could give her daughter. They really encourage that DIY, nature girl, adventure girl inside of us and there are plenty of books for boys along those lines but not so many for girls. These books are priceless. Stay tuned later in the month for a more in depth look at the book and I am going to Double Dog Dare my readers. ;)

KaBOOM is a cool new site I have been hearing a lot about lately. It is a national non-profit that empowers communities to build playgrounds. The reason for it is that they believe unstructured play in particular helps make children happier, fitter, smarter, more socially adept and creative.

You can join as a member and find playgroups in your area, playgrounds and play places, and add ones in your area that you know about for the benefit of others. You just enter a zip code and see what it is in your area. I was suprised to see several places in my area already on the map.

KaBOOM is asking parents to help map online 100,000 playspaces in 100 days. Here’s what counts as a playspace: a playground, field, a skate park, roller hockey rink, lake, dog park, community center, basketball court or ice rink – any place where kids can engage in unstructured play for free or a nominal fee. A playspace listing on KaBOOM! consists of an address or cross street and a description, one photo and one rating. KaBOOM! has made creating this playspace listing easy: either a quick fill-in on their website or even easier -  a twitpic from your cellphone.

Start mapping your area today and help ensure kids have places to play!