Lean Mom, Fat Mom

This is a tale of two mothers- and no, one is not skinny and the other overweight. Let's say they both have rockin' bodies. Both have two kids. But one is "lean", and the other "fat" in her daily habits, which results in major differences in the waste of time, money, carbon emissions, and productivity:

Fat Mom:

Objective: This mom needs to take her oldest kid to and from school, take care of her younger child, exercise, get a few items from the store, and get the house clean. Typical day.

Her Solution: Fat Mom packs the kids in the car, drives to school, idles in the carpool line, drops the kid off, and drives back home. Here, she has a sitter waiting for her to watch the toddler. Mom drives to the gym, where she gets on an electric treadmill to run. After her workout she gets back in the car to drive to the store. She parks, walks inside, shops, puts food in plastic bags, walks back to car, turns car on, drives home. Pays sitter $12/hour for the 3 hours she was gone. Also writes and mails check to gym for membership dues. Cleaners show up to clean house, so Mom packs toddler back in car to run some unnecessary errands to get out of house due to noise and chemicals used while cleaning. Buys a few unnecessary things. Drives home, pays cleaners. Drives to school to pick up oldest child, idles in carpool line, drives home again. Orders takout for dinner because had no time to cook.

Lean Mom:

Objective: Exactly the same as Fat Mom.

Her Solution: Lean Mom packs blanket, sippie cup, water, and a backpack in the bottom of double stroller, and run/walks both kids to older kid's school. Bypasses carpool line. Mom then walks toddler to grocery store, putting food items in stroller, then in backpack at checkout. Walk/runs home. She and toddler safely clean house together using non-toxic cleaners. Uses extra time to play with toddler and cook dinner together. Puts toddler back in double stroller with a snack, walks back to older child's school, again bypassing carpool line, and walks home.


The Breakdown:

Pretty obvious.

Both moms ultimately met their objectives, but do you see how the Fat Mom actually sabotoged hers by the use of the "luxuries" of her car, sitter, cleaning service, and gym?

The Lean Mom not only saved TONS of money, but met her daily objectives faster and better. Lean Mom eliminated all down time from her schedule. She got exercise not only from walking, but cleaning, too. Her toddler spent her day outside in fresh air, talking to her mom, and free from toxic chemicals. And Lean Mom helped save the Earth.

Can you imagine how much waste could be elimated if we could be Lean Mom just one day a week?

-The Wasteless Mom