From cleaning up messes to wrapping up leftovers and going grocery shopping, having kids can lead to a lot of garbage. If you’re looking for ways to help your family produce less waste, I’ve found some great eco-friendly solutions that don’t sacrifice style or quality.

Think of all of the stuff you throw away in a typical day.

There’s the plastic straw you stick into your smoothie on the way out the door. Or the disposable cup you grab at the local coffee shop. There are the flimsy plastic bags you shoved some fruit into at the grocery store to corral them in your cart and the giant wad of paper towels you used to mop up that juice spill. There are also all of those layers of packaging for individually wrapped items and the cotton balls you used to scrub the mascara from under your bleary eyes at the end of the day. And that’s just you!

A whole family can create a ton of garbage in a single day. It’s crazy if you start to really think about how many things we throw away. And while I’m not suggesting we all run out and plan to become zero waste familyies, I do think there are some simple changes we all could make to produce less waste.

I took to Etsy to find some creative—and really freaking pretty—products that can help us all be just a little bit more eco-friendly.

On a typical day, my microwave is disgusting. We’re talking completely splattered with caked on gunk that I try really hard not to think about because how do you even begin to clean that crap up? Except I don’t feel that way anymore. At least, not since I stumbled upon my new absolute favorite cleaning trick of all time.

Let me get really real for a second by showing you the actual level of grossness I’m talking about, so you don’t think I’m being dramatic or pretending a little soup spill is my definition of gross.

I’ve gotten really into green cleaning products recently. With all of the attention we pay to the chemicals we ingest, we sometimes forget about the stuff we clean with. I collected some of my favorite DIY green cleaning recipes to share with you. If you’re looking to cut down on using chemicals that are harmful to the environment and to our bodies, this post is for you.

Whenever I tell people I make my own cleaning products, the first thing I get is the Huuuuh? face. As in, why on earth would you do that when you could run to the store and pick one up that’s already made for you?

Let me start by telling you right off the bat that if it wasn’t easy, I wouldn’t do it. I’ve got way too much going on to be bothered with complicated green cleaning recipes. The recipes I use are incredibly simple and nontoxic—in my book, this is key when you have a toddler who not only puts just about anything in her mouth but scales furniture when I turn my back.

The next thought that flickers across a person’s face is usually, How do you know it actually works? Most people don’t ask that out loud but you can totally see that they’re thinking it (my sister, however, absolutely asks it out loud). Once I explain the ingredients I use and their magical powers (which I’ll get to in a bit) the face is usually all Tell me your secrets!

Since I can never remember these magical recipes off the top of my head (I keep them on a card in my recipe box), I thought I’d lay them all out for you right here…

I’m a little bit obsessive about promoting wellness and self care. Especially for busy, over-worked, trying-to-do-it-all mommas. I may stumble as much as the next girl (most notably when my best frenemy sugar is involved), but I try to live my best life—and encourage you to do the same.

For me, that means using as many natural, nontoxic products as much as possible—which is why I’m a tiny bit obsessed with green cleaning and DIY beauty products. It’s also why I love LOVE GOODLY, a cruelty-free, eco, nontoxic bimonthly subscription box service that donates 5% of each purchase to a charitable cause.

I’m a guest editor over on their blog today. To celebrate, I’m giving you guys two spoilers for what’s sure to be an awesome first anniversary box this August/September (shipping 8/15). I’m also hosting a little giveaway.

When I was younger, I never really gave a second thought to the ingredients in my cleaning products. As long as they did their jobs, who cares, right? But then I had a baby. And babies? They bring out the neurotic in people. Suddenly I was really thinking about my cleaning products. It started with the bathtub. The thought of cleaning it out with harsh chemicals and then plopping a fresh new human inside made me a little crazy.

When she got bigger, I started to think twice about the products I used to wipe down toys and tables and her high chair tray. When everything finds its way directly into her mouth, did I really want it coated in chemicals?

For me, the answer was a big, fat, bold, NO. And that no got bigger and bolder once my second (much messier) daughter was born.

Since then, I’ve tried a bunch of different products and found some that I loved and some that I hated.