School Supply Hypocrite

So I have been mulling this one over for a while and maybe it's just me I don't know. But it's irritating me. We turned in our school supplies earlier this year. I really do love our school district so do not get me wrong by this post, but this to me is something that I think only parents can change.

Our school has stickers posted everywhere that they use only environmentally friendly cleaning products as a lot of school districts do now which is GREAT! For me personally this means my son no longer has to take allergy medicine at home, because we now have environmentally friendly cleaners at home and at school. His allergies after years of illness I found to be from cleaning products. But one thing alarmed me, as I was browsing the school supply list guess what is listed. Please include a box of CLOROX WIPES!! Are you kidding me??

The school has to be aware of what is in these products or else they would not have gone through the trouble to change the entire school district last year. I do understand the convenience of having those cleaning wipes handy but there are environmentally friendly alternatives that come in easy to use methods. I normally do not get crazy about little things like this, but why change the entire school and then request something like this? We all know the dangers of that stuff and also know that there is really no need for it. Of course the company wants us to think so or they would have no way to market their product! Some good soap and warm water does the trick just fine. But seriously Clorox wipes, the friendly company that makes bleach! So there is my two sense. I will be writing a letter to the school district and I am not sure that one voice will make much of a difference but my feeling is my district does seem to live in this century since they did change over their other products I just don't think they always think things through.

Oh I should say since this is my going green blog let me rephrase. I will EMAIL a letter to the district...not write one lol.

Back To School Green School Supplies

I noticed this year when I was doing my back to school shopping for the kids that so many places now offer recycled or renewable recourse school supplies! Green school supplies seem to be popping up everywhere. But that can be a catch for those of us watching how much we spend. While that is all great I noticed for example a composition notebook that was around $1.50 was around $2.75 for the same recycled version. A lot of the plastic boxes that we used in the past have now changed also to materials that are renewable and while this is good for the planet to have these great options sometimes it's not as good on our pocketbooks.

We have all heard every little bit helps so here is a tip for you. We all know the general essentials the kids are going to need each year. Maybe we can't pinpoint the exact list, but we know the basics. So why not go green school supply school shopping now! You maybe saying what I just got done! That's exactly the point. Now that all the kids are back in school many large stores such as Wal-Mart and Target put those extra supplies they had left on clearance. For example right now most of the supplies at Target right now are 75% off. So why not set aside a drawer somewhere or a storage container and grab those supplies for next year now. Then you can purchase those wiser options that we now have at a price even less than the regular notebooks you purchased two or three weeks ago. It doesn't hurt to have a stash anyway. I know for my kids I have to keep them for the year anyway because there is always a orange folder getting torn up, or using up a notebook so plan ahead now while you can and grab those recycled paper items that maybe you couldn't afford the 1st time around!

Don't forget looking for the BPA free lunch items you can find as well. After all our children's health is worth more than a couple of extra dollars and I bet those are on sell right now too:)