You could say we’re a little obsessed with water bottles. We’ve mentioned the huge environmental problem caused by disposable water bottles several times (too many to count, but here’s a favorite post on that subject) and we’ve proposed some pretty sexy water bottles too (here’s our favorite post on that). Though we see more and more people carrying their own refillable water bottle, we’re still seeing way to many single-us bottles in people’s hands…
So, to honor Earth Day, let us bring to your attention even more choices of covetable, multi-functional REUSABLE water bottles. But first, we’d be remiss if we didn’t [...]

The Succulent Wives are taking a little (very little) time off this summer. While we are still actively working on bringing you new content and ideas every week, we have also decided to bring back some of our favorite posts from the archives, those that are still timely, relevant, useful and that deserve to be revisited. Thanks for allowing us to recharge. We promise that we will be coming back with more new ideas and recommendations for cool stuff than you’ll know what to do with…
 
The whole subject of water becomes particularly relevant as summer bears 100 degree heat upon us.
We [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
This year I am challenging myself to grow a vegetable garden. I have tried in the past and failed miserably. Having a green thumb is obviously not an inherited trait. I have many fond childhood memories that are all about helping my father in our garden, going out to pick the lettuce for our evening salad, or simply pulling out carrots, beans and sugar peas to munch on.
I want my children to have similar memories and to see firsthand how food is grown. My childhood memories are from living in a small town, in a [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
When a company’s motto is “Nothing wasted. Everything gained“, you know that they take a serious stand on green living.
Preserve makes stylish, high performance, eco-friendly products for the home – from personal care to tableware to kitchen products – all at a reasonable price. All their products have innovative designs, bold colors, are eco-chic AND 100% recycled.
Preserve only uses #5 plastics for recycling. Many communities do not recycle #5 plastics so Preserve partnered with Whole Food Markets to create a Gimme 5 bin (#5 plastic containers) at each of their stores making it easier to [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Do you have an artistic passion, a creative idea, a book in you that you have been trying to write?  Think, if you were in a quiet working environment that provided room-for-free on 60 beautiful acres of prairie and pastured land and you had no financial or professional obligations to pursue your passion… Can you imagine how well your creative juices could flow?
There is, in fact, such a place in the middle of Nebraska. Art Farm is a tuition-free safe haven to explore one’s artistic aspirations. Since 1993, it has provided housing and expansive studio [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I will admit that I do not have much use for an eco-friendly leaf pick up and biodegradable bag as I live in Southern California, but I do remember that while growing up in Canada, raking the leaves before the first snowfall was a task for the entire family.
Dsolv bags makes this chore a little bit easier and far more eco-friendly than the traditional paper leaf bags. The compostable dsolv lawn bags are easy to fill, can hold more leaves and debris than paper bags and are more cost efficient. The dsolv bags are made [...]

The sad state of our economy and our increased willingness to be good to Mother Earth has motivated us to think in new ways about our wardrobes. It’s a case of less is more. It’s a little bit of a scary notion for some of us, to think that maybe only one pair of shoes and less than a dozen garment pieces and and handful of accessories would suffice, but the merits of a minimalist wardrobe need to be considered.
A little over two years ago, we followed The Uniform Project where Sheena Matheiken chose to wear one single dress for [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Every parent to a high school student knows that a certain amount of volunteer hours is a requirement for graduation.
Here’s a great – and fun -way to get in some of those hours: Teens Turning Green has an initiative in October called the Project Green Challenge. This nationwide challenge is for students, a group of friends or an entire classroom to see how a school can transition from conventional to conscious living. The 30-day challenge will raise awareness about the choices we make and about the impact that these choices have on, not only our [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
We, at The Succulent Wife, thought we were done writing about Water Bottles. So, for us to write about another one it had to be pretty special…
I was given a Filtrete Water System to try out. Not unlike Brita, the Filtrete Water Station filters tap water through a filter that reduces sediment, chlorine and odor. The big difference is that the Filtrete Water Station filters the water in seconds into 4 individual bottles.
I leave mine on the kitchen counter and each morning the girls and I grab our bottles to go. So easy! The tightly [...]

Would you choose to put lead in your lipstick? Not a single one of us would, I’m sure.
My favorite consumer advocate, Annie Leonard (we mentioned her Story of Stuff video here) has created yet another engaging video to alert us to the untold problems of chemicals in our personal care products. Sure, we are now more educated about the nastiness of Parabens and Phthalates but ingredients such as these are but a few of the potentially harmful chemicals present in our lotions and potions. And although we could actively search out “natural” products, we are still trusting blindly on what [...]