Okay, so some of my readers may have noticed that I blog much more about living green than I do about being a single mom. This is partially because I’ve been an environmentalist much longer than I’ve been a single mom. I’ve only been a single mom five months now (a little over a year, if you count my pregnancy in there - I wasn’t single through my entire pregnancy), but ever since I first read 50 Simple Things a Kid Can Do to Save the Earth in the 1st grade I’ve been passionate about our planet. I don’t remember who gave me that book, either.
But another reason why I blog more about living green than I do about being a single mother is because I believe the two subjects are inseparable. That is to say, of all the people living green has the most benefits for, single mothers are near the top of the list (our kids, I’m afraid, hold the top slot).
There are two main reasons for this. First, most single moms don’t want to stay single forever, and second, most single moms can use all the help they can get financially. Living green helps you to get and stay in great shape, which (unfortunately, we live in a shallow society that values looks over personality, education, success and kindness - particularly in women) helps you out in the dating department. And living green, if done correctly, is much cheaper than living whatever color not green is. Brown, like smog? I don’t know.
A few examples:
Biking and walking are great exercise. And the more you bike and walk instead of driving, the more money you save on gas, maintenance for your car, and you help the car keep its value better by keeping miles off the car.
Growing some of your own food will save you butt loads in groceries, especially with food prices on the rise. The more you grow, the more you save. Plus, eating more of those home grown fruits and veggies means less junk food, and gardening, like biking, is great exercise. And for those of you who don’t have yards, just about anything can be grown on a pot on your deck, or even indoors, and if that doesn’t work for you, look into community gardening opportunities, which helps you to get out and meet people, potentially single men, or people who can hook you up with single men.
Planting native grass seeds means less watering and maintainance, saving you money on utilities. Mowing that lawn with a push mower is great exercise and saves you on fuel for a power motor. Keeping that lawn small minimizes water useage even more, and minimizes your time mowing.
Avoiding plastics minimizes your exposure to BPA, which can mimic estrogen in your system and cause you to gain weight or make the baby weight more difficult to use. Using natural alternatives to things like drier sheets, glass cleaner, lotion, etc., will reduce your exposure to pthaylates, which have similar affects. I’ll talk more about natural alternatives later, because buying green brands can be more expensive, but there are ways to do it even more naturally and more cheaper.
Not to mention how much doing these things increases your childs health, sets a good example for them to be physically active, pleasantly social, socially responsible, and helps to leave them a world thats sill nice. Because the most important thing to single mothers, more than not staying single or saving money, is the health, well being, and happiness of our children.
