I'm "Crunchy"

The other night, Hubby and I were invited to dinner by one of his co-workers. It was such a nice invitation to come out to the country and enjoy a casual evening with new (to me) friends. They had a great home, yummy food, and CUTE kiddos! I enjoyed the visit especially with this co-worker’s wife, because she and I had a lot of similarities. She used to be a teacher (taught kindergarten for 7 years) and then became a stay-at-home-mom when her daughter was born three years ago. She could completely relate with my sadness from not going back to my classroom this year for the first time. The other big connection for us was our love of our laptops and the internet. We both feel like we need our connections online. And both of our husbands don’t understand this at all! So, needless to say, we bonded.

During the evening, we shared our baby and parenting stories. I think mom’s can go on for HOURS talking about our kids and their stories. While we were sharing, she said to me “you’re crunchy!” It was not meant to offend me, and it was said in jest mostly. But it got me to thinking. For those of you who don’t know, ‘crunchy’ refers to being ‘granola’ or ‘hippy’ or an earth-lovin’, organic-eatin’, tree-hugger.

Am I crunchy? Let’s see.

1. I use cloth diapers on my son. I love how cute they are. That’s one of the main reasons I use them. They also keep Jack from getting rashes, and they hardly ever leak. And they’re saving us money.



2. I breastfeed. I used formula for one week when Jack was born, and I was waiting for my milk to come in. Since then, we nursed for every meal until we started solid food. And we don’t use bottles much, since I’m staying at home and don’t have need for bottles very often. I have my home-made cover (Hooter Hider) for when I am out in public and need to feed Jack. I’m also getting pretty good at feeding him in the van. This has saved us a ton of money.



3. I make my son’s baby food. I never realized how easy it was. I can make sure he’s not getting any unnecessary sugar or ‘other’ ingredients that aren’t good for him at this age. I’m hoping it’s saving us money.



4. I’ve only purchased one toy for my son. He has toys, but they’re from family and friends. All of his toys from me are containers and boxes. He LOVES the empty oats round containers. This is definitely saving us money.



5. I use a ring sling. It seemed like it would last us longer than a baby carrier, since they only last through a certain weight. As long as I can carry his weight, I can use this sling for years. I bought it for 50% less than the original price. So that saved us a bit of money.



6. We got rid of cable. Jack doesn’t need to watch TV yet. And it’s another distraction during the day that I just don’t need. (The internet is enough) This is definitely saving us money.


7. I meal plan and make sure we eat at home almost all the time. I grocery shop every Monday to get what I need for that week’s meals. Since we rarely eat out anymore, I think we’ve saved money on food.

So, do you think I’m crunchy? I’m thinking I’m more thrifty than crunchy, but you can be the judge. I do own a tye-dye shirt.