It's Been A While I Know...

Its been much much too long I know. I've been up to my ears in Darling Clementine Business and juggling Juliette's busy schedule (I mean come on, she has dance class at age 2, really!) and trying to enjoy my happy little family life with Kevin. I hate that I've neglected Urban Branches, really I do. Just know that I have been keeping up my eco ways (though a few good habits have given way to some bad habits, I'll get to that...)

I have recently noticed (not for the first time might I add) that our little household of 3 goes though a lot and I mean ALOT of trash. I honestly don't know where it comes from. Our trash can isn't huge, but it seems to get filled up every other day to the brim. Plus I am one of those people that hates even the faintest smell of rotting food. Ew just thinking about it makes me shudder, so I am usually quick to rush the trash to the curb.

Having have read Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte I know well that though we think out of site out of mind when it comes to our trash that simply is just NOT true. It goes somewhere, every day, every hour most likely our trash is being dumped. And there isn't endless space. So we better start reducing the trash we create, fast.

Here are some tips I plan on sticking to

* Stop buying small portioned food! Being a mom, it's so nice and easy to purchase a tiny bag of cheddar crackers at the corner store while out and Juliette needs something to snack on, but it's much more waste than we need. I vow work my hardest to stop doing that. I mean we have 3 Lunchskins after all, and we do use them everyday in fact, but sometimes I forget to refill, or toss in the bag or Juliette pulls them out and hids the bags in her toy bin or whatever myrid of excuses I can come up with...

Here they are if you haven't seen them, they are reusable bags called LunchSkins, they come in great prints too, we have this, this and this and we love them. Easy to clean, Juliette loves using them too!

*Curb Juliette's hand washing time. She loves washing her hands, and likes to do it by herself, well this often ends up being a 3 minute long hand washing session, and that's a whole lotta water...

*Continue shopping vintage, consignment and thrift stores for her, I did it a lot in the beginning and really have gotten away from it lately... but it is so thrilling to find a great item at a great price, plus you are giving something a second life!

*Create a scrap paper bin for Juliette to use as art paper! That's easy enough!

*Get creative, make her modeling dough from scratch, and switch to natural crayons, we sell this cute set at Darling Clementine.

*Get Juliette involved in recycling, give her little jobs, like stacking the yogurt cups or putting the papers in the right spot! Yes, will do this tonight!

Tell me some of your ideas and tips to reducing your garbage load! I'd love to hear them!

Darling Clementine

Hi All,

It has been an embarrasingly long time since I've posted here, and I feel terrible. Really terrible. I have been a busy girl, working on a 2 year project called Darling Clementine. Darling Clementine is an online children's shop I just launched about a week ago, and I couldn't be prouder of it! It is my heart and soul. I  have worked hard to incorporate many eco-chic brands into my collection of children's wares. Here are a few I'd like to spotlight.

Baggu Reusable Bags

Smiling Planet Plates & Bowl

Go Gently Baby

Lunch Skins by 3 Green Moms

Clementine Art Natural Art Materials 

Please send word along to friends and family. Support Darling Clementine and you support eco minded businesses! Merci. Xx

Here is how you can follow Darling Clementine all over the web
http://darlingclementineshop.com
darlingclementineshop.tumblr.com

@drlngclementine

facebook.com/DarlingClementineShop

Smile. Shop. Smile Some More.

There's a new Clean Kid on the Block!

Take this to get your laundry detergent refilled! Gorgeous + Green!

I love the simple packaging

Ok, so you've finally made the switch to all natural cleaners and home care (woot!), that wasn't so hard right? You've got your laundry detergent, tub + tile cleaner and lovely dish soap all in order. But maybe you don't have a favorite scent yet, or maybe you feel like you're spending way too much to clean your dishes. Or maybe you wish there was a product you could refill cheaply from a bulk station in your neighborhood...(ohhh this sounds lovely doesn't it!)

Well there's a new brand on the block to help change all of that. Common Good Home! They are a Brooklyn based company selling all the basics, laundry detergent, hand soap, dish soap, candles, bar soaps and of course all purpose cleaner. Their mission is simple, create lovely home care products that help save the planet and make you happy. Their ingredients are 100% biodegradable, all products are offered scent free (they also have delicious lavender and bergamont offered with some products) and they never use any dyes, masking agents, synthetic perfumes, chemicals, bleaches, optical brighteners or phosphates. Sounds good huh!

You can now buy their popular products online and if you're lucky enough to live in the NYC area you can pop into a whole bunch of places to get your products refilled. They sell along with their products beautiful glass refill bottles that are so beautiful I would display them with or without product inside.

They sent me the lavender hand soap and laundry detergent. I handwashed some of Juliette's tiny little clothes in their detergent last night and was happy with the suds. The hand soap smells amazing, close your eyes and you're running through lavender fields in the South of France again...as natural as can be. No fake lavender smells please!

Their prices aren't so bad, especially their dish soap which is under $5 bucks and totally tough on grease! For those of you who like minimal packaging. The dish soap looks beautiful next to the sink. As does the hand soap glass refill bottle. Oh I could go on...

As many of you know I am opening an online Children's Boutique, called Darling Clementine. Chances are you will be seeing some of Common Good Home's products there and can buy them alongside your baby needs! I love supporting a local Brooklyn company. Gotta keep it in the hood right!

Follow them on Twitter @commongoodhome