March 17, 2007

bedding choices 101 - did I fail?


I made a trip to the bedding store today to stock up on some things we needed, namely sheets and pillows. I was not expecting this errand to inspire a blog entry, but this errand is exactly why I started the blog. I keep running into these decisions and don't always know which is the best choice: for me, my family or the environment.

So, back to the bedding. First I was pillow shopping. They had the usual suspects, down, foam, and special allergy pillows. I thought that choosing something natural would probably be best, but I don't really like down feathers. As I roamed around the selections I saw a pillow from Ingeo, which says it is made with a fiber from corn. They claim to be "good for you and good for the environment." I'm not sure they are 100% natural—the package sure makes you think it though (could be sneaky marketing). I bought it.

It claims:
- starts with natural and renewable raw materials
- does not use harsh chemicals or solvents
- requires less energy to make
- even reduces green house gas emissions
(see my concern about sneaky marketing??) But I wasn't sure what else to choose. Do you have any ideas?

After that baffling decision I headed over to the sheets. The things on my mind were: twin size, good color, nice quality but good price. These are sheets for middle-of-the-night-wet-bed changes, mind you. Wouldn't you know it - they had CHOICES. And this is just at a standard bed and bath store, not a "eco-home" boutique.

I saw bamboo sheets (made form 100% cellulose bamboo fiber yarns), 100% organic cotton, and something called Pure Beech (made from Modol, a cellulose fiber from the beachwood tree of Middle Europe).

I would have gone for the organic cotton, but they only had white and I needed a color. So, I got the regular Wamsutta sheets. Was this a bad choice? Or did I just not fall for the marketing hype on this one? I guess I need to research this more. If you have advice send it along!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Try going to http://www.elegantlinenspc.com/SDH-Bedding.htm - So the price tag may be a bit hight but it's worth every penny! Fine linens will last you a long time so it really ends up paying for itself. That also means you wont be throwing more and more old linens out. I love the Legna and Organic sheets!