Environment, Organics, Fair Trade & Recycling at Big Green Purse

What About the INSIDE Air You Breathe? 5 Steps to Keeping it Clean.

We spend at least 85% of our time breathing indoor air, yet we spend 85% of our time worrying about outdoor air pollution! I asked Lori Denis (photo below right)for ideas on simple steps that keep the air inside fresh and clean. She should know. She's the star of HGTV's "The Real Designing Women" and author of Green Interior Design, a book I highly recommend. Here's what she said:

Here’s to your health!  When I first heard that our indoor spaces were more polluted than outside, I didn’t believe it.  Not in my house – I’m a neat freak!  But everything from furniture to plastics to electronics is constantly off-gassing, polluting our safe haven.  These toxins cause headaches, nausea, sore throat, dry skin, itchy eyes, and even loss of concentration.  Outdoor air quality is not only better for you, but Vitamin D production from sun exposure can actually help ward off sickness.  Here are a few ways to make sure you are enhancing your spaces to keep you, your family and friends healthy and happy.

1.      WINDOWS – Open the windows and let the sunshine in!  Sunlight is a natural disinfectant.  Even if you live in an apartment, you can place pillows, blankets and mattresses in front of an open window to allow solar rays and fresh air to help sanitize them.  It's a lot easier than steam cleaning them, too!

2.      PLANTS – Rooms with plants have been shown to have 60% less airborne molds and bacteria than rooms with no plants.  They soak up all the toxins your home is emitting and act as purifying organs.  Plants can also improve our mood by increasing positive feeling, improving creativity and reducing stress by producing higher dopamine levels.  They can even produce a healthy drop in heart rate.  As an added bonus – plants can make a room seem more expensive, making it look good and you feel
good.

Green and Clean Mom is Sexy, Sassy and Fun!

This month's Big Green Purse Ad Buddy is Sommer Poquette, founder of GreenandCleanMom.org, a wonderful site whose motto is "How being 'green' can be sexy, sassy and fun!"

I met Sommer when we both became co-founders of the Green Moms Carnival. She's become a great source of information on many green issues that relate to kids - and if you're looking for a bargain, chances are, she's got one via the many great contests she promotes on her site.

Recently, I interviewed Sommer to find out what motivates her to be so green. Here's what she had to say:

Why are you writing this blog or spear-heading your site instead of, oh I don't know, learning how to play the piano?  

I started Green and Clean Mom as a way to reach other moms like myself. Two years ago, in my small town, when I started talking BPA, non-toxic cleaners and organic food I had a third eye. I wanted to feel encouraged, motivated and inspired and give back to others. Green and Clean Mom really is like learning how to play the piano or sing – it takes time, practice, self reflection, an audience and self motivation.

What makes your site different from the thousands of other blogs/sites out there?

When I started Green and Clean Mom I really wasn’t trying to be different or set myself apart from other bloggers. As my site grew and then turned into a business I’ve had to learn some marketing technique, social media strategy and be competitive but I don’t really like to say my voice is “better” than any other blogger out there. The site as a whole offers a lot of variety, product reviews, giveaways, perspectives and unique content as well as a very large community of moms. Again, I really hope to encourage and support rather than judge at Green and Clean Mom. The idea of being some shade of green really applies at Green and Clean Mom.

Who are you trying to reach, and why?

Green and Clean Mom seems to focus on moms but the audience is vast and varied. Anyone going green can read the site and gain something. Parents, grandparents, teachers and companies are my main focus.

What has been your favorite blogpost? 

A favorite post – out of over 500 hundred that would be pretty hard to pick – like a paragraph out of a novel! This question has made me really think and scroll through my posts and out of all the posts I’ve enjoyed mostly writing about those that will help my audience and those that are a reflection of who I am, as a person. Here are two I particularly like:

http://greenandcleanmom.org/feeding-your-family-organic-without-going-broke/

http://greenandcleanmom.org/to-my-son-confessions-apologies-many-eco-friendly-wishes

What do you hate writing about but you do it anyway? 

I wouldn’t say I hate writing about anything but I’d rather not be pressured or under a deadline because the fun can be sucked right out of blogging when something has to get written. I like doing product reviews but they’re getting more difficult and it’s amazing to me how PR companies are really pushing bloggers. I hate getting emails from a PR company asking me to do a million things for a review, needing stats, comment numbers, asking if I posted, sending me reminders and just asking for lots but giving me nothing. This bothers me the most.

What is the one green action you've taken that has turned out to be much easier than you thought it would be? 

Ditching paper towels has been a breeze but something I hesitated doing. I thought it would be hard because we were so dependent on them. Once we started using the Skoy Cloth and old rags and wash clothes, it has been easy. A big money saver as well!

 What do you never want to do again? 

Truthfully I can’t think of anything I’d never do again. Everything I’ve tried has been worthwhile and educational.

 Where do you want to make the biggest difference?

 I’d really like to help ordinary moms realize that if they start to switch out one cleaning product to a safer alternative it is healthier for their family and children. Starting in your home environment impacts the bigger environment but it can feel more possible than thinking about global warming, for example.

 As my son gets ready to enter Kindergarten, I hope to have an impact on Michigan’s public school system and the traditional childcare and preschool classrooms that are using bleach, toys that are made of PVC and sippy cups and dishware that are made of BPA. This really concerns me that schools are where are children spend so much time but they’re sprayed with pesticides, have toxic cleaners and many lunch programs are far from organic or healthy.

 What advice do you have for anyone who wants to go green?

 Start somewhere. It is not a race or competition and if you’re open minded to doing something it usually become contagious and you want to learn more and do more. I always advise people to not go off the deep end and do so much so soon that they drive themselves and their families nuts (I did this). I find people quit and give up on their effort when this happens.

Thanks, Sommer!

Let's be "Ad Buddies"

Don't let the economy get in the way of spreading the word about your blog or website. Our "Ad Buddies" program gives you the opportunity to reach our audience in four key ways without having to spend a dime on actual advertising. What it will do is generate more traffic to your site so you can charge more for any advertising you sell.

Here's how it works:

* We will place one of your ads on our homepage or blog when you place one of our ads on your site in an equivalent place.

* We will run a feature article about you and your site on our blog. We would be delighted if you would reciprocate, but you're under no obligation to do so. If we become buddies, we want to make sure our readers get to know you, too!

* We will highlight your logo and link to your site in our feature on you. Again, you're under no obligation to do so, but we'd really think you were a great buddy if you did.

* We will add your site to our blogroll in our new Buddies category.

We're only exchanging ads with sites we value, so please: if you're one of those companies that is trying to unload a Hummer or sell reusable water bottles that have "just a little" BPA in them, don't waste your time or ours.

But if yours is one of those terrific "just got to know about us" resources, please get in touch! (Demand to participate is high, even though we've just launched this effort; it will help get you in the queue if you have traffic equal to or greater than our own, but since we believe you can never have too many buddies, we'll find a way to honor every request that meets the above criteria). The ads will run on a month-to-month rotation.

We hope you'll want to be our buddy! If you do, please contact [email protected] to get on our schedule.