02 Aug Steps to Going Organic

The choice for you and your family to go organic or natural can be your first step in actively pursuing a more conscious way of keeping your bodies and the environment clean. We have so many products in our home however, that it can feel a little overwhelming knowing where and how to start making it a safer environment. My great friend Em described it perfectly, “I know that I should think about it more… but there is so much choice out there that it’s like picking up a ball of tangled fish hooks.”

Sticking your head in the sand is not going to make this one go away however and like any challenge you have to start somewhere. If you take it step by step it will feel a lot less daunting. I remember looking up at Champagne Peak in the Drakensburg and wondering how I was ever going to make it. A friend suggested that I stop looking at the top of the mountain and rather conserve my energy and focus on each step! It ended up being both an enjoyable and relatively easy climb!

Obviously you could decide to just go cold-turkey and turf the whole lot of non-organic products out, but if that’s not an option the following steps should help.

Step 1:

Draw up a list of all the non-organic products in your house. Your list may include toiletries, cosmetics, hair and skin care, dishwashing agents, laundry detergents, food (you could even break this category down more), contraceptives and so on. Make the list as detailed as you feel necessary. If you have children you might want to make a separate list for everything you and your kids come into contact with. You could break up the list into rooms – the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom.

Step 2:

Prioritise your list putting the groups that concern you most at the top of the list. For example, if you have children or are pregnant you may feel that it is more important to ensure that your children are using organic products before yourself. This list will help you decide which area you want to focus on first.

Step 3:

Now you need to decide how you are going to focus on each area. You could choose an area at the top of your list, make yourself a budget, then chuck out all of your non-organic products and go and buy organic products. Alternatively you could just decide that you are going to go organic slower and just replace all your current products with organic products when they run out. You could also assign yourself a budget with this option.

The thing to remember though is that organic skin and personal care products are not necessarily more expensive. You could end up paying more for organically grown food however and maybe for cleaning detergents, but that all depends on what you are currently using. Do check out the cost or organic products first before making any assumptions as you may be surprised.

Finally I would advise that when you take cost into account, don’t just take the price of the goods. Rather take the opportunity cost of not going organic into consideration too.