I’ve never quite assuaged my guilt about not using reusable cloth wipes any of our kids, but this how-to for wipes (via Ohdeeoh) that using recycled paper towels sounds doable and is at least a slight improvement over the store-bought versions (Made of polyester? Who knew?). A few other recent how-tos I really liked were the kid’s shoe box to cool craft holder and the dinosaur play mat.

1001 tips for vinegar as a household cleaner and otherwise? Great resource!

We’re on vacation right now (hooray for beach house internet connections), but when I return and my paper sorter has arrived, it’s time to tackle the office/sunroom reorganization once and for all. See, our sunroom, which is also the entrance to our house, has 6 huge windows, and is totally visible from the street, is now my supply, eBay selling, freepeats listing, and crafting domain. But I still want it to look like a sunroom! It’s full of all of the outgrown triplet clothes, diapers and gear, plus all of my creative enterprises, and it’s 10×10. It’s a mess! I’m hoping this Real Simple organizational guide can help me a little.

Lynn at OrganicMania links to several of her more useful and popular posts about green and organic savings tips — my favorite kind!!!

If you start to think that the small green consumer choices you’re making don’t add up, think again.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

“Industry — including oil, steel, chemicals and cement — produces 23% of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the McKinsey study. But a handful of other emission sources more directly controlled by consumers far outweigh industry when those sources are pooled together.

Passenger cars account for 17% of U.S. emissions — something consumers could affect by driving more-efficient cars or by driving less. Residential buildings and appliances contribute another 17% of emissions, underscoring the impact consumers could have if they lived in smaller buildings, or added more insulation, or bought a more energy-efficient model next time they replaced their washing machine.”

What we do as individuals does make a difference.

If WSJ says so, in this case I’m actually kind of inclined to believe it!

Apartment Therapy introduced me to Modern Fabrics and I couldn’t be more excited.

We reclaim and collect new fabrics from the finest luxury furniture companies throughout the United States and offer them to you at 50-75% off list price. Our customers are eco-conscious consumers who intend to reduce demand for virgin materials and to reduce waste.

They specifically have an eco-friendly section. Looks like it might finally be time to upholster our dining room chairs!

Kelly at Almost Frugal lists 13 ways you can save money in under 5 minutes, and guess what? They’re pretty green ideas, too.

Christine at Living Cheap and Green gave me an “Aha!” moment when she suggested reusing old hand soap pumps for shampoo. I love my huge Aveda pump bottle of conditioner, so why not do this for everything? I bet it will inspire the preschooler to wash his own hair, too.

Treehugger lists the resource MeetWays, a mapping program that will find a middle meeting point like a coffeeshop for you and friends. Very cool!

The NYT Magazine ran an article about a neighborhood that works, a close-knit block in New Haven. I emailed a lot of my friends, who happen to live on our tidy Midwestern block, and we agreed it sounds like home. We are so very, very lucky to live on our little street that happens to have a lot of the features mentioned in the story. It’s actually something I would pass along to anyone who is house hunting to help put a finger on those intangibles you can’t find on a realtor’s information sheet.

Michelle at Leaving Excess has some fun, simple, and useful tips lately. We had Chinese take-out just the other day, and this time I found a reason to save the sauces. If you read my BeCentsAble post today, you’d know that I like to freeze cheese when I find it on sale (brick or shredded, all thaws well). I know that lots of people freeze milk, but Michelle’s tips for actually doing it makes me more likely to give it a try. Thanks!

Ohdeeoh shares a cute family tree mat that can be purchased and personalized, but I think creating your own would be a very sweet gift, don’t you think?

Green Your Decor solved my paper clutter problem and my closet shoe and bag problem in one post. The featured literature sorter, made from recycled cardboard, is just what I needed, and then I picked up a bamboo shoe rack, too. I’d been searching for solutions to these household hot spots for months, to no avail, so I’m thrilled they’re on their way.

I was looking for information about infant eczema when I stumbled across the article at Z Recommends (a go-to source for product reviews as well as consumer advocacy on issues central to parents’ concerns for the health and safety of their children) detailing violent reactions that children are having to those plastic tagless tags that grace all of our clothing these days. If you find you (or your children) breaking out in rashes on your backs, this could be the culprit. And phthalates in the tags? How unfortunate.

TinyDecor blog is now offering products in their store with that cute Mod Green Pod Kids fabric I posted last week. Lovely!

Thrifty Jinxy has a recipe for homemade dishwahser detergent composed of stuff I know I already have in my house. Definitely going to give that a try!

Considering cloth diapering versus G diapers? tiny Decor has done the head-to-head (or bottom-to-bottom?) research for you!

Re-nest shares recycling and donation resources in 10 Ways to Give Things Away for Free. A number of these I hadn’t thought of or didn’t know about. Double check what your city accepts, too. Our recycling center takes athletic shoes, batteries, tires, and computers on top of the standard paper, plastic, yard waste and the like.

Isn’t this a sweet idea? (From a number of things via The Crafty Crow, with more detailed instructions at SouleMama)

I love the idea of doing this project alongside the one suggested by ohdeeoh using vintage fabric and embroidery hoops of different sizes. I need to get on freecycle and see who has some hoops lingering in their attic that they’re never going to use.

Horizon organic milk boxes are more affordable when you use the Amazon code MILKDISC (via Ecobunga), which takes 20% off. Use Subscribe and Save for another 15% off and you’ll pay $14.96 for 18. At Whole Foods, I paid $17.00 for 24 boxes of Organic Valley milk (which is also a local product for us, natch), but I’m not sure if that was just a back-to-school sale price. Still, $0.70-0.83/box is not too shabby.

I’ve always wanted a pedometer, just to see how many steps I take with the triplets each day. Right now, a Tylenol promotion is giving one away, so I’ll see what the results are when it comes (and how it increases when they are crawling, and then walking, and then running…)

Re-nest writes up the new Costco eco-friendly dish and laundry detergents. Looks like they’re worth giving a try! (Good Guide hasn’t weighed in on them yet to know if they have the best of the best ingredients, so check the guide out if there is something you are specifically looking for, or to avoid, in your household.)

It’s been a crazy week at the end of a crazy summer. Thank goodness for the start of the new routine of preschool and our new nanny! I’m also taking the triplets to our first Kindermusik class tomorrow, which will really be a joy. sage is just over a month old and is already poised for a makeover. Good times ahead. Thanks for joining me!

Mom Advice is in my head today, apparently, posting how-tos on cleaning out the fridge, organizing the laundry room, and organizing your pantry. I missed spring cleaning this year, what with having newborns to deal with, but I’m ready to make some progress around here before the weather turns on us.

Speaking of, more in the “Christmas is coming!” vein, this time from Mommy Making Money. We do Hanukkah around here, but same idea.

The Crafty Crow links to a how-to on printmaking with the smaller set using styrofoam. What a great use for that ubiquitous material. Assuming I can find some we haven’t already recycled, I’m going to try this tomorrow.

Last but not least, my frienemy ohdeeoh talks repurosing crib bumpers. As I watch set after bedding set like ours idle without a bid on eBay, it makes turning all of our bumpers into something seem like an increasingly attractive idea.

Do you get the Kids Craft Weekly newsletter? It’s free and full of really great ideas. The website is loaded with archived newsletters, articles of interest, and printable projects. It’s a real find. Frugonomics 101 lists some great toddler activity links today, too. And not martha is giving away a copy of Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones. It’s a good time to be a creative mama

Great Green Baby has a piece up about eco-babies. They’ll use fabric you send them to make stuffed animals, and otherwise their materials are all recycled and organic. Very cute!

I’m still imagining my closet-cum-mudroom. I need the perfect wallpaper. Green Mom Finds details the new Eco-Collection at the fabulous Graham & Brown. Even the rolls are packaged in compostable materials! I’m going to order some samples to see what they look like in person.

I had a lot in the queu, but then I downloaded the Upromise toolbar and Firefox got all wonky on me… Still having some issues, but I have a lot of kids to send to college, so I’m going to leave it for awhile and see if it gets straightened out.

My husband shared with me Lifehacker’s write up of the Real Simple guide to cleaning household surfaces. Do you think that’s a hint??? Meanwhile, simple.green.organic.happy reposts the invaluable Green Cleaning 101.

To file under “when I have a little more time”, Crafting a Green World reminds me, again, that I want to join Ravelry ASAP. The Crafty Crow reminds me that in addition to cloth napkins, I can use my vintage linens for pillowcase dresses (via mayamade) for the little girls in my life.

Baby food in the slow cooker. It’s just one of those sentences where every word makes me happy.

Finally, a write-up of eco-friendly vacationing at Re-Nest (full NYT article as well). We’re already thinking about a big trip for our next wedding anniversary, so I will be checking out some of these spots.

I just found Almost Frugal and now need to read everything she’s ever written!

My mommy envy (and a little bit of mommy guilt ) flares up when I find wonderful sites like No time for flash cards and her amazing naptime creations, including this car play mat. Maybe in a world where my triplets all napped at the same time…

I’ve always wanted a dual flush toilet, but Re-nest points out the ability to do a dual flush retrofit. That quickly jumps to the short list of things we really need (versus *want*) to do around the house, for sure. Re-nest also points out kitchen towels now available in Target’s organic cotton line, in stores only. We have a few pairs of bedsheets from the collection and they are very nice.

Leaving Excess has a handy tutorial for frozen chopped onion. With sweet onions so plentiful at the farmers market right now, this is a great idea for this coming weekend.

Plastic shower curtain liners in the washing machine! Who knew?