After a rare trip to the mall today, I wanted to point out something that occurred to me about licensed school supplies. I am very confident that a Nick Jr., Hannah Montana, Spiderman backpack does not exists without containing PVC. With parents being overwhelmed with information on materials to shop for with back-to-school…the topic of backpacks is easy. Unless the backpack clearly says “No PVC” it has probably been made with PVC. If the backpack is $9.99 at a big box store, it has probably been made with PVC. Also, I hate to say it, but if you want to purchase a new PVC-free backpack for children returning to school, you’re not going to find it at most malls.  But don’t get disappointed because Ecogear is here and the options are amazing!

Two items that traditionally have been the hardest to avoid with PVC are backpacks and plastic binders, but it’s not all doom and gloom because there are some affordable PVC-free backpacks on sale right now at Ecogear.  The Ecogear lineup of backpacks are PVC-free, great quality, affordable and now 25% off. Starting with younger children looking for non-licensed characters there is the Ecozoo series – very fun and made with cotton fabric.

For older kids attending school all day – I’ve received my two backpacks from the Genus and Recycle series and I’m very happy with both backpacks for my boys. The design and quality is awesome and I was extremely happy to not get off-gassed with chemical smells when opening them from the box. The Snow Leopard backpack for my 8 year old son is a great size for him. Since he is on the tall side, I would recommend it for ages 10 and up. The pack comes with straps around the front to help balance weight distribution and lots of handy pockets for gadgets, etc. The straps are padded to offer more support once the backpacks get full from heavy books and materials. These backpacks are PVC-free, made from non-toxic dyes, and have many little organizer pockets in the front and one main compartment for books and lunch.

My 6 year old son received a Palila backpack and it’s perfect for younger kids attending school all day. It has a handy side pocket for a reusable water bottle, a built in wallet (my boys love this feature!), made PVC-free with non-toxic dyes and is made from recycled bottles. All the backpack for older kids on the Ecogear site have the swagger of very cool, outdoor/adventure styled backpacks – I love this. And Ecogear is currently having a 25% discount on their site so take advantage of the savings….these backpacks are just under $30 which is a great deal! If any Canadians are trying to order from the Ecogear site, you’ll notice it only accepts US zip codes. I spoke to Ecogear and the process for Canadians wanting to order a product is to contact Angie by calling 1-800-762-4533 or email sales@ecogear-products.com. Residents within the USA can order directly on-line.

Why should we be avoiding PVC again?  It’s not only to help the environment – it’s for your children’s health. PVC is called the poison plastic and releases dioxins into the air from the time it’s produced and continues to off-gass (the reason it smells when you purchase it) and there isn’t a way to effectively dispose of this material. If you burn it – more dioxins are released, it cannot be recycled, so it will continue to exist when discarded for a very long time.  Read more about PVC from Mommy Footprint here. Also, an always incredible resource is the Environmental Working Group and they’ve written a short guide for ‘Green Back-to-School Guide for K-12‘ and there is more information on PVC.

To read more articles with back-to-school recommendations for reducing chemical exposure to BPA, PVC, and phthalates, check out the category 2010 Litterless Lunch.

It’s getting close to that time – back to school is almost here! This year, more than ever, the focus for parents is packing litterless lunches. Eliminate PVC and non-recyclable materials and invest in some wonderful reusable items for lunchtime. The brand Thermos has been around for a long time and are known for their quality.  I’m very excited because I get to talk about a new water bottle from Thermos. I was surprised with how much I love their new Roho stainless steel water bottle. It takes a lot to impress me with water bottles…I’ve only ever reviewed 2 brands. The Roho style bottle is perfect for on-the-go adults and kids that attend school all day. What makes this bottle different from the many stainless steel models and brands out there? The difference is how lovely the drinking spout is and the design of the leak proof lid. Kids simply press a button and the lid bounces open – then there is a curved area for drinking and the experience is awesome. Thermos sent us a skull/roses design and my boys flipped when they saw it. It’s the ‘it’ bottle to use in our house right now. . . and that includes my husband and I. It’s refreshing for us as adults to not be sucking water out of sports cap bottles all the time – we all feel a little more grown up. These are hydration bottles made from top quality stainless steel (18/8), the bottles are dishwasher friendly, and there is a cool design for anyone in the family. If you are looking for a double walled bottle to keep liquids hot – there are lots of options on the Thermos site, just click here.

I do worry about my kids playing with the top so much as the button seems to be irresistible for them - but these bottles are a good price point, hold 24 oz of liquid and are readily available at Target, London Drugs, etc. If you can pickup extra tops for the bottles when you purchase them – it might be a good idea.  Also, I appreciate the fact this is a leak proof bottle. I’m not even sure why manufactures would create a product that leaks and then market it to parents that are packing lunches going into backpacks. I love leak proof food containers, bottles, anything getting packed and jostled around in a backpack come September.

Next up – what if you want to send your child to school with a hot lunch?  Left over stir-fry, soup, etc.? You need make sure you are purchasing a double walled container that is made to hold hot liquids, food, and is leak proof. You don’t have to look any further than Thermos. I’ve used Thermos for years to pack soup for on-the-go outings with toddlers and now have the flexibility of packing hot lunches for back to school with my older kids. I’m not a huge fan of commercialized products for school, but sometimes it helps children feel like friends are surrounding them for the return to school and these jars are my favorite material ~ stainless steel. My kids were very jazzed about the Spiderman and Fairies Funtainers they’ve been using this summer for transporting snacks. These containers can also keep hot lunches warm for 5 hours making them the perfect item for kids returning to school that like to eat soup. For adults bringing hot food to work…I’ve been using the Vacuum Insulated Food Jar and the Dual Purpose Food Jar and they are awesome! Again - must have items for parents returning to the work routine wanting more options other than a sandwich.

Last item is for on-the-go mamas that are flying around getting kids from school to sports to after-school activities. Thermos is selling PVC free insulated lined purses that help keep your snacks cool or warm when you are dashing all over town. I have used it all summer to transport cold water bottles on our excursions, but it’s been listening to my kids talk about it that makes me smile. I’ve overheard my older boy telling his friends “hey, do you see my mom’s purse? It’s really not a purse – it’s a cooler!” So funny to listen to…but such a handy accessory for moms. We’re all transporting stainless steel water bottles and stainless steel containers for snacks – so why not keep these items insulated? All summer long I’ve been using it and just keep my camera, keys, and cell phone in the handy pockets located in the front. All items from Thermos are PVC free which is probably the number one requirement with shopping for back to school supplies this year for parents looking to pack healthier and litterless lunches this September.

Canadian customers can use the Thermos site www.ThermosBrand.ca to check out the handy list of retail outlets selling their brand. US customers can visit www.Thermos.com and shop online.   Enjoy the quality and styles Thermos offers with your back-to-school shopping this year!

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PlanetBox is this year’s solution for packing healthier and litterless lunches for the family. It’s wonderful that planning your child’s lunch to include food without packaging actually promotes creativity and healthier food selections. We’ve had a blast testing our PlanetBox and here are the results from a picky mama and kids that are equally hard to please having seen many eco-alternatives for lunch time alternatives over the years.

Do I love the PlanetBox? Yes and so do my children. We are all convinced there is some magic at work because all the PlanetBox compartments don’t require lids to contain the different food items. My biggest pet peeve with stainless steel containers is when they aren’t airtight and food leaks into my kids backpack or into other food causing it to becomes inedible (strawberry juice on a sandwich for example). My school aged children love strawberries and grapes so I put the PlanetBox to the test by putting strawberries, grapes, granola bar and a sandwich all inside – just quickly plunking them all in the compartments and closing the lid. They I shook the Planetbox, twisted it upside down to simulate the movement inside a backpack, then shook it some more. We were all tickled that the water from the grapes hadn’t touched the sandwich and the strawberry juice didn’t leak onto the bread or granola bar. Also, I put chocolate chips in the small center area to make sure they didn’t move around in the box because they are so small. Everything stayed put and there were no leaks! This test was my biggie with this product and I’m very happy with the results. Here are some photos.

For anyone that packs a lunch to work or school and you haven’t invested in a re-usable lunch solution – now is the time. It naturally encourages healthier meals and you’ll feel great about eliminating plastic baggies, plastic wrap, and food that comes pre-packaged in more plastic! Another very smart detail of the PlanetBox is the magnets that are included to ‘decorate’ the outside. Will the magnets eventually get lost? Of course. But if you have a child that doesn’t appreciate being one of the few in their class to have a different looking lunch system with only the stainless steel outside – the fun designs and characters that come on the PlanetBox magnets help kids feel comfortable with their peers and their traditional lunch boxes. By the time the magnets disappear at the bottom of the backpack or locker – your child will no longer care their system is different. From my son’s reaction to how cool he they thought the PlanetBox magnets are – I know he would have loved this option when he first started bringing ‘adult looking’ stainless steel lunch systems to school years ago. It’s a brilliant and inexpensive addition to the PlanetBox with several fun designs that kids love. The magnets allow your child to show their personality and there’s a spot to write their name to personalize. Here is my the other set of magnets that my boys love – sports themed!

Another great aspect to the PlanetBox are the containers that can be purchased with the system if you’ve got kids that love yogurt, messy salads, or dips for veggies, etc. These additions can be stored within the lunchbox to keep all the pieces together – a great picture from the PlanetBox site below displays how it all fits together. My younger son would love yogurt in his lunch so I can use this system with the Big Dipper container – perfect for messy main dishes he loves – rather than a sandwich that he never eats. If you’ve purchased the carry bag with the PlanetBox there is also room in the outside pocket for the Big Dipper (and a reusable water bottle!!) and on the inside liner you can fit an icepack to keep these food items chilled throughout the day.

What I’m finding with my different ages and personalities of my four kids is that everyone needs a lunch system tailored to the food they’ll eat. For my easy to predict older son that takes fruit, veggies and a sandwich every day and enjoys every bite – I would order only the PlanetBox basic for $34.95 and be completely happy. He loved both the planet and sports themed magnets and thinks his PlanetBox is great! My younger son that likes variety with his food and would prefer salad or yogurt to a sandwich – I would need the PlanetBox Plus with the Big and Small Dipper containers for $49.95. The complete PlanetBox set includes a carry case and it’s super quality and answers the problem of parents wanting to keep their child’s lunch on ice so food doesn’t spoil in a hot backpack – so this system at $59.95 would be ideal. I like the different price points and options available from the PlanetBox and am excited to review such a well thought out product for this year’s back to school.

I’ll be writing my back-to-school series starting in July this summer because it’s helpful to order supplies early rather than waiting until September for information. For parents wanting a complete system for lunches this year, PlanetBox would be a great investment. This lunchbox has mom approval and is also kid tested and approved!

All parents are on the search for safe household and toy products that surround children. While researching this article, I came across the site Good Guide. It’s rating system similar to EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) Skin Deep database which is parent-friendly and easy to understand. I started browsing the Good Guide and while looking up SOS Pads and their ingredients, I drifted and found it to have the best information I’ve seen to date for toys. This site is a definite one to bookmark because it has so many of the commonly used, purchased, etc. products in our homes.

Before finding the Good Guide’s rating for SOS pads, the only information I could find was from the Clorox MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) where they list their product not hazardous because it’s not a carcinogen.  Well that is a big relief because so many people I know use them.  While I was out shopping today, I read some advertising on the packaging of SOS pads and although they’re not a carcinogen, I think the statement ”materials used on the pad are biodegradable” might be going a tich far. Different than the EWG’s rating system, the higher the rating with the Good Guide, the better the product and it ranks based on three categories: Health, Environment, and Society. I like the fact I can have 3rd party advice when researching products that I’ll be using in my home or giving my children. It’s very difficult for parents to read an ingredient list and understand if those listed are toxic or not. I am appreciative when a site can translate chemicals or materials into easier terms so I can decide if it’s a smart purchase. Using the SOS pad ingredients as my example, I’m able to judge that the ingredient (Sodium Nitrite) rating 4.0 in the Heath category as a possible kidney toxicant, as not being a product I want in my home. I’m also never a fan of fragrance (phthalates) and dye added into products that I’m using on my dishes and going into waterways.

Why am I suddenly so interested in SOS pads and eco-alternatives for them? A customer recently helped me remember a great use for my eco-alternative to traditional scrubbers that I use daily to clean pots and pans – stainless steel spirinetts. Here was the scenario – you know those irritating company labels on a new product that are so hard to remove you think the glue was applied with dynamite? A little bit of olive oil on a spirinette and the label comes off easy.  My last spirinetts lasted a year and the only reason they recently began to disintegrate was hubby used them to clean the BBQ. So with the summer months finally here I recommend grabbing an extra for cleaning the BBQ so it can have it’s own dedicated set. These kitchen helpers are excellent quality, made with stainless steel and simply a better product and money saver to traditional scrubbing pads. I also treat myself to the spirisponge on occasion, but the shelf life isn’t as long because of the sponge layer on the inside of the scrubbers.

Typical Mommy Footprint – I started to write about a great eco-alternative to the traditional SOS pad, but got a little off-course. I hope your find the Good Guide to be helpful too.

When I set off with my goal to purchase organic mattresses – my boys were close to purchasing a bunk bed that they saved for almost 2 years. The buildup for this was tremendously exciting and I didn’t want to drop the ball not finding mattresses they would like and that lived up to the safety requirements I needed them to have. With being a green business owner and blogger I have to admit this purchase proved to be much more difficult than I expected. It’s funny that the end result of purchasing my boys their mattresses came down to good old fashion word-of-mouth (thanks Sabrina and Trish!). Let’s not forget that I’m not buying an organic crib mattress(where there are many options available)  but twin mattresses that are larger and heavier in size. This factor almost (don’t forget I say almost) rules out purchasing larger mattresses online from across the country because the cost to ship these pieces starts to really add up.

The mattresses that we purchased are not organic but natural Dream Bed mattresses from Dream Designs. This ‘natural’ option allowed us to buy greener mattresses that are chemical free, locally crafted, and made with locally produced materials. The only difference between the organic and natural Dream Beds is the cotton casing around the exterior of the mattress is either organic or natural – also the cotton batting inside the mattress.  Oh – and quite a bit of money. The difference between the two options is more than $500 and since we were purchasing two – the decision was based on cost savings and the mattresses meeting my requirements for not containing chemical flame retardants or PVC (supporting a locally made mattress was just a huge bonus!). For a child’s organic twin mattress, you are going to pay approx. $1000.00. We paid under $500 per mattress for the natural option through Dream Designs…it’s a substantial savings.

I am very happy with the purchase. My main goal was purchasing mattresses for my kids without chemical flame retardants and a plastic exterior made from PVC. The natural flame retardant within a Dream Design mattress is wool, which meets the government criteria ~ naturally ~ so that chemicals are not added to the foam when the mattress is being manufactured. Linda, the owner of Dream Designs has amazing product knowledge and could answer all of my questions – she even cleared up the mystery that polyurethane foam can be used without having to add chemicals if it’s wrapped in wool or a natural flame retardant. The polyurethane foam that is used in a Dream Design mattress is locally sourced and also naturally biodegradable.

I always find it easier to gage size and dimensions from real pictures for products so I’ve included a few shots of my bottom bunk’s mattress. They are designed as futon mats and provide a very firm surface. Going from an older spring mattress to their new futon mattress was different for my sons and did take a bit for them to get used to. Also, you need to be wary of wetness. If you have a child that has the occasional accident, you should have a mattress protector because the exterior of the mattress is cotton without a waterproof liner. There are three options when selecting a Dream Design mattress 1) Tatami which is more like a bed topper or sleeping mat 2) Deluxe which consists of cotton & wool wrap combo around 2 layers of foam 3) Supreme which offers an extra 3rd layer of foam. Also of course – the different option between natural and organic Dream Beds. The difference in price between the Deluxe and Supreme is approx. $100 but after testing the different mattresses we actually found that the Supreme was too hard a surface and have been happy with the Deluxe. You can view from the mattress thickness below.

Being a newbie to purchasing new mattresses – I was surprised at the huge jump in price when researching kids organic mattresses from the cost of organic crib mattresses.  Thank goodness these mattresses will last 10 years and I feel good about my investment.  The joy my boys have experienced saving all that time to make a major purchase on their own has been amazing to watch. It was very cute observing my older son (who has dibs on the top bunk) experience a bit of ‘princess and the pea’ symptoms the first few weeks on the new mattresses and bunk bed. “I just feel like something isn’t quite right” he kept saying.  I didn’t want to be the one to tell him he’s missing having his little brother right next to him in bed since they’ve been split up to sleep in the top and bottom bunk. Both have settled into their independent sleeping quarters now and can’t wait to show off their new purchase to friends and proudly announce “and we even saved for 2 years!” A great experience to watch and I’m so proud of my guys…thank goodness there’s still room for Mommy on that bottom bed so I don’t loose any cuddle time.

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