Pricey Nontoxic Swaps I’m Glad I Made the Switch To

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No one likes spending extra money. All of us do some sort of “examine the cost” before we buy something new. Whenever I’ve made the decision to purchase pricey nontoxic swaps that was going to be quite a hit on our pocketbook, it’s normally taken me several days before I’ve decided to go ahead and make that purchase.

My journey towards a nontoxic lifestyle started as a combination of trying to keep my three children under the age of four healthy (we were getting sick a lot-you can read a bit about that here) and trying to help my husband who battles more allergies than he (or I) care to admit.

My transition started with swapping to herbal remedies and tinctures in our medicine cabinet. That turned into buying healthier food options. I was eliminating food dye and high fructose corn syrup. Soon, I started changing who I was following on Instagram and reading books that encouraged a non toxic lifestyle. I was completely hooked.

A Few Ground Rules,

Before I go any further, I want to start off with the “elephant in the room”: What should you do if your spouse and you aren’t in agreement?

It’s important to note that at the very beginning, my husband was not as on board as I was. Just a word of advice for others who are in a similar boat where your spouse doesn’t fully support this idea, proceed cautiously! The last thing you need is arguments, disagreements, and fights. That’s a surefire way to turn a nontoxic home into a mentally toxic home in a jiffy!

Especially if your spouse is the sole bread winner in the home, you have to realize that the burden placed on their shoulders for providing for everyone is pretty intense. When I was in these first phases of trying to replace things in our household with something better, I never pushed it.

I would sincerely bring it up and listen to their honest opinions. By the way, bring it up in the daytime, not something you want to be bringing up during “pillow talk”. Be on the same page! I’m definitely not advocating you go out and make a big ticket item purchase without them.

Make sure you do your own research.

Y’all, this is just a blog. There’s so many sites that offer honest reviews, scientific data, and evidence to support their claims. Please don’t just go with what I say. That’s not the purpose of this blog. The purpose on this space is to inspire you to start looking for alternatives.

Lastly,

Realize that these purchases might take some time. Have a budget in place and spend wisely–even if that means you have to wait for awhile before you can buy it. There’s many items on this list that I waited quite a while before I made the purchase. Honestly, though, this is probably why all of these items I’m truly thankful and happy with my purchase. If they were impulse buys, I may not be as happy with them.

Saatva Mattress

The biggest nontoxic purchase we’ve made so far has been our mattress. Our bedding situation has been pretty extreme, honestly. We’ve gone quite some time without even having a bed other than a mattress on the floor (I don’t recommend this). Inevitably, enough is enough. We both gave input in what we wanted in our bed: it had to be King sized, we wanted a bed frame that was going to last ” ’til death do us part”, and the mattress was going to be nontoxic.

This is quite a hefty bill to set aside for. The hardest part of this whole undertaking was purchasing a mattress online. It for sure stresses me out today. What sealed the deal for me was the 365 night trial. I know I can send it back in up to one year after purchasing for a refund if I need to.

When we were doing our shopping, we compared the Saatva to Awara and Nectar. We ended up choosing Saatva because it truly seemed to be the most hypoallergenic option we’d come across. Every time I go to bed at night, (or for a quick nap) I’m seriously so thankful for purchasing it.

Clearly Filtered

Drinking water is one of those rabbit holes I tried to put off going down for quite some time. I knew that continuing to drink tap water, bottled water or even using my Brita filter wasn’t truly cutting it, but I just didn’t want to dive into finding a better solution because I knew that was going to come with a price tag.

Thankfully someone I follow on Instagram (VitallyMelanie is her IG name) did all of the hard work for me and started a discussion about the drinking water crisis in America (because honestly, it’s a crisis) and I started to do more of my own research. At the time, she advocated for an under the sink filtration system or a portable one that was just way out of our price range at the time. Because we were renting still, I knew I had to keep looking.

Inevitably, I stumbled on Clearly Filtered, and I’ve been a fan ever since. The best place to start with research for them is on their own website. They have a performance and test results page here that gives some great information.

Yes, they’re pricier than most water filtration systems, but in my opinion they’re reasonably priced compared to other water filters on the market that work well. At some point I would love to get an under the sink filtration system or something for our whole house (we are recent homeowners), but it’s on an ever-growing list of items to spend money on that begins the minute you dive into homeownership. I am completely happy with our Clearly Filtered purchase decision as of right now. It fits everything that we need.

Other Nontoxic Bedding

Not only do you need to evaluate the type of mattress that you’re sleeping on, but you should also look at your pillows, mattress pads, mattress protectors, and bedding. It’s like buying a boat. After you get one, you realize you need a better truck to pull the boat. Can you hear me saying this to my husband? Heaven help us if he ever decides to get a boat.

Anyways, all of these options are really going to improve your sleep quality and quantity. Obviously, you will be breathing better when you sleep. You’re also going to be more comfortable upgrading your bedding as well. I’ve taken it somewhat slow after we purchased our bed.

First came the mattress protector and bedding. Since we’ve only owned queens before this, I needed to buy new bedding at the start. Eventually, new hypoallergenic pillows showed up, replacing our $5 Kohls “The Big One” pillows I normally buy. I don’t regret these purchase decisions at all.

Finding Food Locally

It’s almost like “Support Small Business” has been shoved down my throat so much in recent years due to a certain trial that rhymes with “Pandemic”. Honestly though, if I’ve learned anything from the 2020 experience, it’s that we really shouldn’t be completely relying on grocery stores as our main source of food.

Unfortunately, this is still the case for me. I will say that I’m actively trying to find ways to get food from other areas. The number one way (that I’ve probably written about too much if I’m being 100% honest) is buying beef from a butcher as opposed to the Kroger meat aisle.

Obviously, you get more than just meat at a grocery store. Slowly, I’m transitioning into shopping at Farmer’s markets, getting milk and eggs from a farmer, getting homemade soap, buying gifts at small town shops, Etsy, or craft fairs, and growing or making my own food.

Sometimes, this is cost effective, or the same price; usually it’s not. And if it is, there’s still quite a bit of extra time that goes into it and gas to get there. Remember, you’re no longer shopping at one store for your needs. Do I see it as worth it? A thousand times, yes.

Getting Better Cookware

If cookware isn’t expensive enough already, start talking to someone who only cooks with copper or stainless steel or cast iron. All of a sudden you’re thrown into a whole different ball game. Good luck! Now imagine myself approaching my husband with “Hi, I’m going to get rid of all of our pots, pans, plastic containers, cups, plates, and buy brand new ones”. I hope you’re seeing how well that would go over. Thankfully, I didn’t do this.

The best advice I can offer to you when you start to change your cookware: take your time. You don’t have to have brand new nontoxic everything all at once. Commit to one purchase a month. Go to thrift stores. Usually you won’t find exactly what you’re looking for, but you never know. Ask for a specific cookware item for your birthday or Christmas. If all else fails, throw a garage sale and put all of your money made into a new item.

Before You Go,

Originally, on this nontoxic/wellness manifesto kick I started, my swaps were simple, cost effective, and worked great for our family. If you’re wondering what these were, read this post! It took me awhile to go from small changes that were easily worth it to big changes that would cause my pocketbook to take a hit. I know I’m not alone. If you have a swap you spent a pretty penny on, but it’s been the best thing for you and your family, drop a suggestion in the comments below!