Who is the crunchy ginger?
Hi! I’m Elise, a southern-born, nyc actor turned pacific northwestern crunchy mom of three, trying my best to live a more sustainable, frugal, and healthful life. I’m just figuring it out as I go along and I hope you’ll come along, too.
An accidental crunchy mom
Five years ago, before I was pregnant with my first son, I thought “organic” was a made up marketing scheme. And as a working actor in New York City, I must admit that my general m.o. was rather narrowly focused on myself. 
But something happened to my brain when suddenly my every choice could influence the future health of another tiny human. My scope of vision expanded to see things I had never considered before, like where my food came from and what was really in my face wash (spoiler- it wasn’t good). And once I started down the rabbit hole, there were truths and concerns I just couldn’t un-know. Changes were in order. I’m gonna guess that because you’re reading this, something similar may have happened to you.
I have never been a stranger to a tight budget. Making a living as an actor taught me how to get creative and live on a dime. So when we decided to have a baby, my mind went straight to work figuring out how we could afford this adorable little money vampire. As it turns out, being frugal is a natural companion to being crunchy. Many of the expensive things about having a baby can be replaced with greener, less costly options: cloth diapers, breastfeeding, homemade baby food, cooking from scratch with whole foods, reducing meat consumption… So, quite by accident, I found myself on the fast track to becoming a crunchy mom. (In hind-sight, it seems kinda predestined: I was born on Earth Day.)
A crunchy continuum
Frugal is not the same as cheap. Investing in safe, quality products that will stand up to years of use (and abuse) does save us money. What stuff is made out of and where it’s made matters. Not all plastics are created equal, and disposable products don’t just disappear when we whisk them out of our homes. Since we have chosen to raise the next generation of this planet, we all have a responsibility to make sure it’s a place they can live.
Let me be clear. While I do believe eating an organic diet full of diverse fresh local foods prepared at home is ideal, it isn’t always realistic. We all do the best we can with the resources we have. I cannot always afford organic everything, but I can choose fresh foods over processed foods. I’m busy, just like you, and from scratch isn’t always feasible, but I can choose products without artificial dyes or preservatives. And I can strive to plan ahead so that making the healthy choice is an easy choice. You get the idea. We do the best we can and want to learn better, so we can do better. We are all on a journey, a crunchy continuum.
This space is about empowering each other to do a little better, live a little greener, and save a little money, one small change at a time.