Reading and writing and 'rithmetic

It is almost that time. School starts in about 3 weeks. This means it's time to be thinking about school supplies, clothes, shoes and hair cuts. (And also, the start of the Girl Scouts!)

The school passes out supply lists. On the list is usually a multitude of supplies and you sort of feel like you're being taken advantage of. But then you remember all the millions of dollars the Arizona State Legislature cut from the school's budget and you think "okay, I can see why they need this much." Plus I always think of the kids whose parents may not be able to afford to buy their kids school supplies. The past two years I've had no problems buying the extra supplies teachers request for the classroom. This year, we may have to limit what we send, or spread it out, as we are one of those families recently struggling.

In the spirit of things however, I would like our family to commit to sending eco-friendly school supplies. This does cost more on a whole, but I have been doing my research and have found some websites I like:

this
and
this

I know last year we found several things at Target like recycled newspaper pencils and recycled plastic pencil case by O.P.P. O.P.P as in Other People's Plastic. And yes, I remember the song.

This year, I'm determined to send Morgan to school with waste-free lunches. This will also involve some investment up front, but I believe it will pay off. She has a lunch box already and we have been using reusable water bottles and containers for food. Morgan, however, opted out of taking her water bottle to the lunchroom because she was afraid she'd lose it. Last year, I was guilty of packing juice boxes/pouches, paper napkins and sometimes baggies. I'm determined that won't happen this year. This also means making the commitment to reduce that amount of times she buys her lunch, as the school does not provide waste-free lunches. That's disgusting, really, and I'm not talking about the food. (Although, the food is questionable.)

My favorite site to look for these things is www.reuseit.com. I've found several things I want to try. As soon as I do, I'll post about them.

As for cloth napkins...well....the prices on those suckers make me wince. It's not that I don't care for the environment, it's that a piece of fabric cut into a square can cost so much. I did find these which gave me the idea of buying bandannas and using those as napkins since they are cheap. Yeah, I'll let you know how that works.

Of course, this is all contingent on what Husband says. He doesn't always support the whole green revolution train I'm on because of cost factor. We shall see!