Tales for Tuesday: green & gadgets

I have recycled for years - using the small bin at our old house, then when we moved here - taking them to a local recycling bin.  And then finally, after being one of the first to sign up in our neighborhood to have recycling picked up curbside, we finally have a large trash can size cart!  It's great! So now we have one can for trash, one for recycling in the kitchen.

I try to be as eco-friendly as I can.  I'm not what you would call "green" - but I like to do some things... But other things are just NOT going to happen.  I like things that are handy and make life easier.  I love gadgets and nifty little products.  Sometimes that makes me a little more eco-friendly, like my reusable bags for shopping.  They are so handy to shop with - it makes carrying things into the house much easier.  And the bonus is that you don't have all those plastic bags to either throw away or try to reuse (I rarely use them - but I do have a few on hand).  But I could never be considered totally green.  I use disposable diapers.  I don't think I would have the guts to use cloth diapers.  It's just not me.  But I am considering making my own baby food.  But then again, they have all this great organic stuff readily available.  What to do?

Really my problem of being green is this:  I love shopping.  Most of the eco-ness is to reuse, re-purpose, create.  These things I do enjoy - to a point.  But I do like finding new things.  Having this little thing that does this. Now that baby is here, the gadgets/helpful items are coming back on the scene.  Several years ago, my kitchen was the place for every gadget created.  But I've cut back a lot in there.  I am keeping an eye on the nursery.  Gadgets in moderation? 

Kind of on the same idea as a new gadget is a new product. I do like trying new products (like a lotion or a shampoo) that look  I've been thinking recently that I do want to kind of "green" up my cleansers - house & personal & baby.  But what is bad?  I thought this would be easy.  I've heard so many things about sulfates - that the lauryl one is bad but the laureth one is ok, but not great.  And these are the items that make suds.  No suds?  So there is another product out there that makes suds now.  Is it ok?  I have found answers of yes AND no.  I did find this great website: Good Guide.  But some of there ratings don't match up with other reports of what's bad.  One place will say use this instead of that.  Then another will say use that instead of this.  Is there a lesser of two evils?  A gray area?  Just go with what I like and hope for the best?  On the Good Guide site, they even give some "natural" brands a bad score.  And "natural" I know isn't really regulated.  But if the chemicals are bad and the natural stuff is bad, what's good?

And then there's food...  I just do the best I can.  Which probably isn't a good as I'd like.  The main problem. Price.  Such a huge difference on some things, it's just not going to happen.