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What is your DH not on board with (s/o of Tara's post)
So the other day I was telling DH how great my new deodorant is and how he needs to go aluminum-free, and he was totally rolling his eyes and saying there is no evidence of aluminum causing stuff like alzheimers etc.
It makes me SO mad. Not because I want him to agree with me, I just want to live long, healthy lives together.. it is so frustrating. I don't know what to do (I am open to ideas).
The other thing he doesn't care about is crappy body stuff, like SLS-loaded shampoos or body wash, and he also eats a lot of garbage. He says how he needs to eat healthier and lose weight but then he's raiding my tiny stash of soda I keep FOR GUESTS. I can't win. Either I have 4 cans of soda in the fridge at all times in case we have a guest, or I don't (and then I get 'scolded' for not having anything for visitors to drink - not in a bad way but I'm not sure he realizes that there is a 'magic restocking fairy').
DH is a meat eater and that is the only other thing, otherwse he has been on board with organics, health foods, composting, natural supplies, etc. I don't understand why he believed me when I was into BPA-free stuff 5 years ago but he doesn't get the aluminum thing?
Anyway.. suggestions are welcome.. and share your differences of opinion you may have with your DH's!
Re: What is your DH not on board with (s/o of Tara's post)
Well, nothing, 'cause otherwise I'd show him *shakes fist*
Kidding... I'm single/divorced.
My ex was a huge soda addict though. It so disgusted me. To this day if I think a guy is a soda addict or drinks it regularly, I'm totally put off by it. And he ate like crap.
I have to say, my DH has been really good about going along with all the changes I've been instigating. It took him a little while to remember to put his recyclables in a different bin, but now he's all proud of himself when he empties a jar or cardboard box and takes it over to the recycle bin. I recently got a bunch of unpaper towels, and he called me at work today to tell me about how he spilled something while cooking his lunch, but remembered to use the cloth towel to wipe it up. He's definitely into going to the farmers' market and getting local, organic foods.
There's only two things I'd complain about. One is that I've been telling him for years about electric vampires and stuff, and he just doesn't believe me. He just refuses to turn off his computer and switch off the plug strip, for example - he usually just has it on and "sleeping." And despite my efforts to keep healthy foods around, he sometimes sneaks off for Burger King or something...
My DH isn't against any of the green things I've suggested. Its more that he's skeptical. He feels that having had a baby, we're on a tighter budget and with both of us working, we have a minimal amount of free time. So while some products or methods might be more environmentally friendly if creates an inconvenience, sucks up our free time or costs more its not worth it.
He was highly skeptical of making our own laundry detergent until I showed him that it really didn't take much time (if we made large batches) and saved us a TON of money.
Same went w/ cloth diapering DD. Once he realized washing diapers isn't really a big deal and he added up how much we'd save versus disposables, he was totally on board.
When I wanted us to switch to greener personal care products, I did my research picking products that had gotten really high consumer ratings and were affordable. Then I just asked him to try to be open minded and try the products. If he hated them, fair enough, he could go back to his old products. He turned out to be satisfied with the products I had selected so that was that.
With the CSA (meat & produce) he realized that meant I wouldn't be dragging him to the grocery store (he HATES grocery shopping).
When it comes to soda, DH was an Arizona Iced Tea addict. I bought an ice tea diffuser pitcher for $20 and made homemade sweet tea. Once he realized homemade iced tea is so much better than the bottled stuff, he was completely on-board and buh-bye to high fructose corn syrup.
Local, happy meat.
I would love to buy it all from a local farm, but Jeff doesn't think it's worth the extra cost. We already buy happy meat that's pretty much local from our cool grocery store, but I'd like to know the people who raised the animals and really feel like I can trust them. That's not to say that I don't trust our local store, but I'm always skeptical once a store becomes a chain (even if it's a pretty small, local chain that's been around for 10 years).
Also, eating vegetarian more often. We say we're going to do it once a week, but it seems like quite frequently that meal gets skipped and we order in. Or I end up cooking it for myself, and he eats something macaroni & cheese for dinner.
vegetarianism... although he's coming around. Our son has kidney disease and vegetarian diets are good for CKD, so lately he's been getting on board the veggie train.
To be honest, I don't worry about aluminum in deodorant, so I can see where your husband is coming from.
Uh...everything. Seriously, he tolerates my greeny ways. Barely. He would be much happier if we ate processed food and used a roll of papertowels a day (instead of cloth).
The food thing is our biggest "issue". He gives me a lot of rope and lets me pretty much do what I want, so what's in the house is all local and organic. But he still eat fast food A LOT. The kids and I eat healthy, and when he is home for dinner he eats what we eat. But other than that he eats most of his meals away from home. I don't know what to do to open his eyes to the food he's eating. How it's bad for him, bad for the animals, bad for the environment. He recently had a check up and his cholesterol was high and his sugars were a little high. The doctor told him to change his diet and exercise more. It had zero impact. He still eats processed crap all the time.
Part of me thinks it's almost on principle. Like..."you can't tell me what to do". Which I don't. I tried to get him to watch Food Inc. by putting it on while we were watching TV together. And he got up and started doing something else. I'm frustrated too.
Oh, and the other day I was talking about how I saw a video on You Tube about a woman who found a rat in her can of Beeferoni. It was gross. I was saying how nasty that stuff is anyway. And he says "doesn't it make you sad that our kids will never have Chef Boyardee?" Huh? No, not really. It doesn't make me sad that the kids don't eat processed food like substances.
The thing I can't seem to convince him to give up is like the easiest thing, plastic bags. Whenever he runs errands on his own, he comes back with plastic bags.
Composting and certian foods. He has been overwhelmingly supportive of most green endevors. Mostly because of the money we have been saving. It took a little while to convince him of the benefits of cloth towels, he has been really good about it. I have had a small bag of regular napkins left over from my sons b-day party in June and he hasnt touched them.
He is still hesitent about certian wheat products and no-meat meals. So he pretty much is on board if it saves us money, but if it dosent he has no problem buying a non-green item instead of green one.
The one thing my DH isn't on board with is unplugging appliances. For everything else he lets me do as I please and will often take it as his idea if he ends up really liking it. It is a little funny.
We have yet to investigate green personal products except for the diva cup. Will try it for the first time next month.
I have a chronic health illness and food is now a priority for me. He gets that and won't mess with it.
I have a hard time getting DH to use the cloth napkins. It's not that he's anti-cloth napkin, it's just that he won't bother to grab one. In fact, half the time he doesn't even grab a paper napkin which is better green wise, but not so good for the clothes and furniture he's going to touch with his greasy hands after he eats those fried chicken tenders, lol.
We also set up power strips for the electronics, but he only used it once I think. But I'm bad about it too, so I can't really put that on him.
BFP 11.8.12 * EDD 7.17.13 * MC 12.20.12
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over!
My SO has a tattoo on his shoulder that says "Organic" and is a raw food chef. 'nuff said.
Oh... I haven't proposed Family Cloth to him yet. Not sure how he'd handle that one, but I don't imagine he's going to have a problem with me doing it.