I am once again a full time home maker! I find when life gets busy the first thing to go is my blog. So does that mean that life is currently not busy? Well, not exactly. But I do have a little more time on my hands. After cruising through last semester with a sweet 2.0 I am re-evaluating for a semester. While I love being in school, I find that I am torn between wanting to enjoy life outside of the home and desperately missing my baby boy and not wanting to miss a single moment. I have decided for right now, that he is my priority and that school is just going to have to wait a little while longer.
Now I have craft time during naps instead of study time! Yay!
Today’s post however, is not about crafting. I am an environmentalist at heart and have been working the last few years on getting rid of all chemicals in my home. I read this book called Slow Death By Rubber Duck and after freaking out for a couple of weeks I have taken action. I no longer use any chemical cleaners. For surface cleaning I use 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 water, and about 20 drops of essential oils in a spray bottle and voila! When I am in need of some scrubbing action I use baking soda. That’s it. I have not needed anything more than that for YEARS. It is so cheap and so easy and if my baby boy decides to get into my ‘cleaners’ and take a swig, it’s not going to hurt him.
I’ve tried making laundry soap, but frankly I don’t love it. I use my own laundry soap only when washing my cloth diapers. I use equal parts of borax, washing soda and oxyclean. Again, super easy, and it lasts forever. I use about a tablespoon per wash cycle. In my regular clothing I use ECOS which is super clean and super cheap.
Easy Peasy, Right?
I have one hiccup though… dishwasher detergent. I don’t know why, but I haven’t found anything yet. I am down to the bottom of my Cascade and I promised myself I’d try other alternatives instead of buying more. I do feel hope though because I recently discovered Lemon Essential Oil. I have been a die-hard user of Lemon Shine in my dishwasher because my water is so lame that it leaves residue on everything. I hate my addiction to Lemon Shine. I find that I can use about 4 drop of Lemon Essential Oil and it does the work of a quarter cup of Lemon Shine! Score! So I am going to take my new hope and I am going to try some new recipes for my dishwasher.
Here’s the first recipe I am going to try:
1 Cup Borax
1Cup Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Salt
1/4 Cup Citric Acid
30 Drops of Citrus Essential Oil
Mix it up! Use about 1-2 Tablespoons per load.
Now I don’t have the Citric Acid right now, so I am going to have to hunt some down this week. I must admit I’ve been wanting citric acid for some time now. It’s one of the main ingredients to making bath bombs and I’ve had a hankering for a good old bath bomb. I’ll let you know how it goes!
