The Recession-Exempt Essentials

Someone recently left a comment on an old post that castigated another commenter for throwing her hands up in despair and asking what does a parent on a budget do in the face of all the bad news about phthalate-laden baby wash and paraben-containing baby lotion and lead-containing toys and chlorine-doused diapers and pesticides in food, and so on and so forth. I can't buy everything organic, she said. I can't always afford Burt's Bees at $10/bottle. The grass-fed beef is beyond my budget. What can I do? The commenter who criticized her asked her to put a price on her child's health and well-being. It seemed to me a hugely unfair comment, and I would challenge anyone to show me a 100% nontoxic household. I believe such a thing is currently impossible because we are surrounded by hidden toxins: off-gassing carpets, radon, lead dust from old paint or even tracked in on the soles of our shoes. And this doesn't even take into consideration the minefield of our food supply and personal products.

Take a deep breath. Reducing exposure is what is crucial, not trying to eliminate everything. Trust me, I've tried. It will drive you to the brink of sanity. I've been there. The problem with trying to eliminate every risk is that the failure to do so is huge and hugely demoralizing, and so we throw our hands up and do far less than we could, simply because we are too discouraged to keep trying. And that's how people with all the money in the world would react. Now what about us real folks who are feeling the recession pinch, trying to make ends meet, and often coming up short? Perhaps you've gone from trying to save a few extra bucks every pay period so you can get organic food on the table to just trying to get food on the table, period. With this in mind, I wanted to offer a list of what I consider to be the Recession-Exempt Essentials: products that I believe one should figure out a way to buy regardless of almost any financial circumstance. (Obviously if you are living below the poverty line, such a list is ridiculous.) That being said, as a caveat, I do agree in spirit with our commenter: we should not have to pay for safe products, but we do. In theory, and in practice as much as possible, I believe parents should do everything possible to provide safer products for their children. But we live in the real world, so here are my top six lists.

Recession-Exempt Essentials for Parents
6.)Organic apple juice: apples contain the most pesticide residue of all fruit.
5.)Paraben-free diaper wipes: Seventh Generation, Pampers Sensitive, Costco's Kirkland brand
4.)Safe baby wash: Burt's Bees, California Baby, etc.
3.) Organic baby food: Earth's Best has a very affordable line, especially at Whole Foods
2.) Organic milk
1.) BPA-free bottles and sippy cups

Ashley's Personal No-Compromise Item: PBDE-free, non-vinyl crib mattress: I would have turned tricks on the side of the road to make sure I had the money for this item, as my best friend would say. The No Compromise crib mattress is pricey at $240-$300, so I acknowledge that it can't make the top five for everyone. But for me, I took on extra jobs to set this money aside. I consider it that important. (Search the blog for crib mattress to find my other posts on this)

Recession-Exempt Essentials for Pregnant or Nursing Moms and Women of Child-Bearing Years
6.)Organic fruit
5.)Grass-fed, hormone-free beef OR go veggie during pregnancy and nursing
4.)Safe face wash and body soap: again, too many to list.
3.)Mercury-free mascara: Jane Iredale mascaras, for example.
2.)Organic dairy products
1.)Paraben-free lotions: Parabens are hormone disruptors and just evil in general. There are too many paraben-free lotions to list, thank God. A simple search will yield hundreds. But please scour your lotion ingredient list for any of the parabens and discard if you find any. Don't be fooled by "gentle" sounding names.
Ashley's Personal No-Compromise Item: This is a bit of a misnomer because I give up in despair from time to time, but at least when you're pregnant: safe deoderant. That means no aluminum. I fall off the wagon from time to time because I have tried countless brands of co-op, Whole Foods-type non-aluminum-containing deoderant and I still end up smelling like I just baled a field's worth of hay within two hours.

Oh, there are so many more "essentials" for women in this category. I am forever threatening my youngest sister with severe beatings if she continues to go into Sephora and load up on phthalate and paraben-loaded cosmetics. But the truth of the matter is that truly safe cosmetics are expensive in comparison to the easy drug store brands.

I'd love to know what other folks' essentials are. This is a completely subjective list. The more information we have, the better.