Made in the USA- Week 1

After my last blog I quickly realized how I picked a particularly hard month to do this.

This month I have Mother's Day, my little brother's graduation, my birthday, (which technically won't be a challenge for me, but rather, for Patrick) and Lukas' first birthday. (Although, due to my psychotic need to plan a memorable first birthday, I've had most of the necessary party supplies for over a month) 

Patrick informed me he wasn't going to be able to get me a birthday present because it would be all too hard to find something American-made that I will like. (Someone help him!) L-A-Z-Y

Also, a friend pointed out another pro to the American-made project. By purchasing closer to home, I am doing my part to reduce our carbon footprint. Yay!

Per the same conversation I also made a decision as to how I was going to approach this project. Patrick and I do a lot of shopping at our local co-op. They have several more obscure, more green brands- some of which are made in America. While I prefer to buy from "greener" companies, I realize a lot of people don't have access to these same brands- be it because of geographic, or financial limitations. The goal of this project is to identify mainstream, American-made brands that are easily accessible to the masses. I realize not everyone shops at the co-op, and in order for any changes to be made, American-made has to be accessible to everyone.

So week 1 was not too terribly difficult.

We found out that Quilted Northern, and Bounty, are both American-made brands. Both are manufactured by the parent company Georgia-Pacific, and their manufacturing facilities are in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was kind of disappointed because I'm really a Charmin ultra soft kind of girl, so boo. 

I also found out that the laundry detergent (Charlie's Soap) we use to launder Lukas' cloth diapers is made in the USA. It's also environmentally friendly. We will probably use it for all of our laundry for the time being, but I know Charlie's soap is not accessible to everyone, so I am on the hunt for a "mainstream" alternative.

We use the Walgreens baby wipes, which thankfully, are made in the US. One less product to worry about switching!

I'm noticing companies that do put out American-made products are not shy about letting you know. They put it right out there in big, bold letters for all to see. 

All of our other purchases thus far were food. 

Saturday, we shopped at the farmer's market. This is a fairly typical Saturday morning for me- Patrick; however, is another story. 

I got lots of local goodies, and after a conversation with my friend Ashlie, who has started a locavore project I'm thinking that solely local foods are in our near future! You can check out the details on Ashlie's locavore endeavors here.

I will say this. Buying American-made has cut out our impulse spending. My bank account is thankful!

I'm trying to update on a more regular basis, but Lukas doesn't always make that easy... I'm doing what I can. He's teething so I'm seeing more and more of this face...

Oh what fun! Until next time!