From Michael Kors to FuzziBunz

Before I had my first child, I loved to shop. Even after she was born, I loved to wear high heels and carry designer hand bags. That all changed back in September when my husband gave me the green light to stay home with my 1 year old little girl. I traveled for a living and I cried when I had to leave her for an extended period of time. It was a tough working through her first year, but now my dream has come true. I was over the moon!

However, when reality set in I saw that we were down to one income and no company paid health insurance. When Morgan was born I had every intention of cloth diapering and our care giver was so accommodating, but on the weekends we were lazy. Then as time passed my Mother Ease and FuzziBunz sat in a bin not being loved. It took about 3 months into staying home when our savings started to diminish and I could feel the effects of the reduced income. I pulled out my bin and started adding the diapers into the rotation. I then went to a cloth diapering meeting and a couple of the women starting to explain all the different types and brands of diapers and I was a little overwhelmed, but lapping it up. I also learned that one could make their own lotions, diaper rash creams, and there were reusable wipes.

Oh boy, what else didn’t I know? I don’t know what people did without the internet (even though I do because I was in college when the internet started to hit its stride), but the first thing I did when I got home from the meeting was jump on the World Wide Web to research everything. I found out that one could make their own cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. I started making my own home scents to put into diffusers, made my own almond butter, starting making my own wool dryer balls and we started getting our fruits and veggies from a local co-op. I also increased my cloth diaper stash and now Morgan is in a cloth diaper 99.99% of the time. Next week we are adding 4 back yard chickens to our family and in April we start the garden. I am still working on convincing my husband to install the rain barrels and I am going to attempt to make my own baby shampoo. There is really no limit to what I will do. It has been such an easy transition and I now know I should have been doing this all along. When I first thought of “being green” I thought expensive, but with all these little changes I have made I am saving our family money and doing my part to secure a livable planet earth for my kids. I still use my old designer bags, but my heels have been replaced by comfortable flats. I can’t bear to give them up maybe one day my kids will wear them.

Liz McGarraugh is a 35 year old SAHM of an 18 month old little girl Morgan and is currently pregnant with a second little girl due in July. She has been married to her loving husband for almost 3 years and currently resides in Katy, TX with her cat Otto and dog Buddy The Elf.