5 Reasons Why You Should Buy Secondhand Instead of New

Saving money isn't the only reason you should buy used items! Most importantly, shopping secondhand saves the environment from resource overuse and waste.

Guys, I am obsessed with secondhand shopping. I’ve always loved a good thrift find and grew up on garage sales and antiquing, but only recently have I switched to buying only clothing and household items that are pre-loved. I actually have not bought an item of clothing for myself or my kids since the spring and the last time I bought anything home-related was last year for my nature-inspired holiday decor.

Sure, I still buy new things sometimes. Ballet shoes, craft supplies, gifts. But man do I have really good luck thrifting.

How to Decorate an Eco-Friendly Kid’s Bedroom

A kid's bedroom with a white wooden bench, a white shelf and a handmade superhero cape hanging on a hook.

Rooms for kids are the perfect place to go all out with eco-friendly decor. Why? Because so many parents already want their child’s room to be non-toxic and tend to gravitate toward natural materials anyway. (With the exception of all that unnecessary plastic. There are other options – I promise!) Kids’ rooms are also the perfect place to throw in some secondhand furniture and decor – because it means saving money! And, more importantly, it means there’s no need to buy brand new – and no need for all the packaging that comes with new items. Plus, by involving your kids in the decorating process, you can explain to them why you’re choosing green items and start them on the road to living an eco-conscious life. Because teaching the next generation to consider how they impact the environment in everything they do is the key to a sustainable future!

Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids (and Adults!)

Embrace lunches full of fruit, veggies and other whole foods. These five healthy, vegan lunch ideas are certainly tastier than a PB&J sandwich!

Even if you’re not a student, or don’t have kids in school (or kids at all), back-to-school season is still a great time to re-evaluate your life in terms of healthy eating. I actually find September to be a better time to start “resolutions” as it actually feels like a new beginning. (Unlike January, which here in central Alberta just feels really, really, really cold.)

Summers are so free-spirited – at least for me and my family. Perhaps, a little too free-spirited? Don’t get me wrong. I L-O-V-E summer. I’m totally a walking-around-barefoot-not-knowing-what-day-or-time-it-is kind of person for the entire month of July and about half of August. But then I get the itch. The itch for routine. For wearing shoes. For going to bed on time and eating home-cooked meals more often than takeout.

Green Your School Year with These 12 Eco Friendly School Supplies

Various school supplies - including a brown binder, green scissors and a hemp backpack on a white backgrround.

Back-to-school may be a stressful time, but with my eldest daughter entering Kindergarten – I’m actually pretty excited. I know she’s going to love it what with all the learning and the crafting and the playing. And – although having her away from home for two (sometimes three!) full days a week will be hard – I think it will be good for us as a family. Plus, sending her to school means I get to shop for school supplies – something I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with. And not just any school supplies, but eco-friendly ones!

I won’t lie, finding earth-friendly versions of everything on the list provided by her school was not easy. It isn’t that eco-friendly school supplies don’t exist, or even that they’re too expensive. But they weren’t easy to find in our local stores or on websites that would ship to us for a reasonable price. But don’t let that discourage you! The more of us that demand these types of products by refusing to buy anything else, the more readily available they’ll be.

10-Minute Vegan Tofu Scramble Recipe

Every vegan has to have a tofu scramble recipe. Why? Because eggs. Spices like cumin and turmeric make this savoury dish perfect for any time of day.

Every vegetarian and vegan has to have a tofu scramble recipe. Why? Because eggs. If you used to eat them regularly, they’re definitely missed when you go animal-product free. You’re probably also missing eggs if you can’t eat them due to allergies, which is one of the reasons that I don’t eat them – aside from the whole baby chicken thing.

Thank goodness for the versatility of tofu! This basic tofu scramble might not taste precisely like eggs, but damn it’s good in its own right. Especially on a wrap with some salsa. My four year old and two year old love it like that, even though the younger one can’t figure out how to hold a wrap and instead just sits in my lap and repeatedly says “bite” until she’s eaten all of mine. To be fair, she does this with pretty much everything I eat. Even when she has the exact same thing on her own plate. Sometimes food just tastes better when it belongs to someone else.

10 Simple Eco-Friendly DIY Projects for Your Home

Want to green your home decor and help out the planet? Instead of buying new, try these ten eco-friendly DIY projects. Simple, sustainable... and super fun!

Some people DIY because they love the process. Some people DIY to save money. Some people DIY because it’s eco-friendly. And some people, like me, DIY because of a three reasons! Here are ten simple eco-friendly DIY projects I’ve tackled over the last five years. I hope they inspire you to do all kinds of cool things yourself. To create, to save money and to save the planet.

How to Buy Eco-Friendly Laminate Flooring

You may be asking: "Is laminate flooring eco-friendly?" If you know what to look for, then the answer is - yes!

How did someone who once declared they would NEVER install laminate flooring find themselves in a flooring store, barefoot and walking on half a dozen laminate samples? Because laminate flooring has evolved a lot in the last few years. And truthfully, so have I.

I’ll admit, my initial change of heart had to do with the cost factor. Of course I’d love to buy a sustainably sourced hardwood for Our House in Trees. But, simply put, we can’t afford it. So I began to research green laminate flooring, myself wondering: “Is laminate flooring eco-friendly?” The answer? It can be!

3 Easy Steps to a Clean and Healthy Home

Whether you want to protect your family from chemicals or to do your part greening our planet - these are both great reasons to create a healthy home!

If you’re like me, your home is your sanctuary. And depending on what mood I’m in or the amount of chaos going on in my life, I can be a bit of a hermit. Which is why having a clean and healthy home is one of my top priorities in life. (It has nothing to do with my control freak tendencies. Nope. Not at all.)

Whether you want your home to be a happy haven from the outside world, you want to protect your family from harmful chemicals and materials, or you want to do your part greening our planet – these are all great reasons to follow the below three healthy home tips!

How To Make a Simple Paper Orb From Old Book Pages

Learn how to make this simple paper orb from old book pages. You could also use old newspaper, magazines, flyers - or any other paper product!

I’m currently redecorating my living room after deciding to keep out some of the nature-inspired decor items I had used at Christmas. You may recall (depending how closely you pay attention… don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz) that I also incorporated books into my holiday decor since I have oh-so-many of them. In fact, I have so many books that one of them dropped off a shelf the other day and smoked me in the face. Ouch.

After I had set my birch logs and twigs out, I realized I needed something else to help fill up the space and add a touch of paper to all that wood. Enter this DIY paper orb made from old book pages. There are a lot of DIY paper craft projects out there – and a lot of paper orbs in varying degrees of complexity. I wanted to do something super simple, which in truth is so unlike me. But it’s spring and spring is a time for new beginnings.

×