Saturday, June 28, 2008

All-purpose spray

Here is my all-purpose cleaner. Fill a large 32-ounce spray bottle with the following: (preferable one that is recyclable)

2 cups of water
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure castile soap
3/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide
20 drops of tea tree oil- This is a natural bacterial/fungus killer
20 drops of lavender or lemongrass essential oil- THIS WILL CUT THE VINEGAR SMELL
If you live in a place that attracts lots of insects (that get into the house) add citronella essential oil to the bottle,as it is an excellent insect repellent!

Recipe for window/glass cleaner:
In a plastic spray bottle mix equal portions of distilled vinegar and water. This cleans glass like nothing I have ever used!!!

Baking Soda:
I can not say enough about it!! It's AMAZING. It really cute the grim and grease in my kitchen sink!! That's all I use in my kitchen sink now. I have also used it to get marker off my built in book cases in my living room as well as a few spot of my stainless steal sink!!

This is a recipe my friend Rachel shared in the comments from my last post. Rachel has some great tips on here website!!
All-Purpose Bathroom Cleaner
1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups (1 pint) rubbing alcohol
1 teaspoon dishwashing soap
Combine it all in one gallon of water. (A vinegar jug is just right)
Put some in a spray bottle, and this will clean and disinfect everything in your bathroom - and clean the mirror and windows, too! It's nice to be able to reuse the bottles each time, too, so there's no garbage.


Sunday, June 22, 2008

Guess who turned 4??

I can't believe it has been so long since I have made a post!! Goodness gracious!! Since, my last post our Joshua turned 4!! When did that happen? We had a Pirate Birthday party to celebrate and Joshua LOVED, LOVED it!!! I too had a lot of fun with the food, decor and details of it all.

An update on my quest for more environmentally friendly cleaning products. I have been trying quite a few and have found some things I really like!! The grocery store near my house has been so gracious in accepting all my returns on items I didn't like....no questions! That has certainly made this quest even more fun. Two things I have changed in the household; our dish detergent and our laundry detergent. Ecover makes a really great dish detergent with a price point that isn't so bad....sorry I can't remember the exact price at the moment. I'm loving many of the Mrs. Meyers products (all of her packaging is biodegradable and reusable).....the laundry detergent is really wonderful with many yummy smells to choose from! The price point on this is $12.99 for 32 loads which is spendier but we have always used Tide and that isn't the cheapest. I wanted to expand on my finding but for now this will do!!

Eating nutritionally and living naturally on a budget is my vision for my family