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Living healthy should be affordable.
by Stephanie
There’s a common misconception that it costs a fortune to live more naturally, to eat well and to use products that are easy on our bodies and on the earth. Everywhere you look these days, new “green” or “natural” products are springing up, making enticing promises, but usually with a less-than-enticing price tag.
As a stay-at-home mom of a single-income family these past 6 years, many products like these have been beyond our means. Yet, our family was becoming increasingly aware of the negative effects of conventional body and beauty care, cleaning products, and especially of the processed, industrial foods that fill the grocery store shelves.
The more we learned, the higher priority it became for us to only use and consume things that were sustainable, non-toxic, well-raised and grown, less wasteful, chemical free, whole and healthful.
The challenge?
To do it on a tight, single-income budget, with a growing family!
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t have to cost more to live in a more natural, healthy and wholesome manner.
We eat a whole foods diet, with probably 80% of our food being organic or that we know has been grown/raised in a responsible, chemical-free manner. We are careful to choose only gentle, non-toxic products to use on our bodies. Our home is cleaned with simple solutions, many homemade and some of them purchased.
Best of all, we do it for the same amount of money (and usually less) than the average family.
Our desire with this site is to teach other families how to do the same. My goal is to help you to find better resources, get the best deals, live more frugally, and more carefully steward and make the most of what you have.
We believe that living in a healthy and natural way is really, truly possible– for every family, on every budget.
Even yours.
Together, my husband and I have lost 90 lbs in the last 3 months! We are completely changing the way we buy and prepare our food; and I have to admit, I have been shocked at the way manufacturers have distorted our grocery-buying experience. There’s something very disturbing about being able to buy a 99 cent bag of chips that add absolutely no nutritional value to our bodies! Then I turn around and want to buy healthier options and the price is 3 times as much! No wonder our nation keeps getting heavier and heavier. If we don’t help each other with tips and deals to be able to afford treating our bodies the way nature intended, we will all be unhealthy and unhealthy.
I’m only starting to learn about natural alternatives and more natural choices. Where do I start?
We stceihwd our cellphones to T-Mobile pre-paid and they cost us $100 a year now. You have a full year to use 1,000 minutes and I didn’t even come close. We got a landline bundled with our slightly fancy cable and internet and the resulting arrangement saves us about $1400/year. When the introductory rate for the cable/internet/phone bundle expires, I call and tell them we can’t afford the full price. Without fail, they renew the introductory price for another year and we’re happy with that. Canceling Netflix since we have DVR and On Demand saves us another $150/year. Splitting garbage service with a neighbor is a brilliant idea. Our neighbors don’t like us, but when we move, I’m going to scope out the new ‘hood for a garbage share partner!