Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaning Powder

Natural cleaning products help reduce the amount of toxins around your house.  A while back, I was in a green cleaning products swap and one of the swap cotributions was a toilet bowl cleaner.  I liked it a lot and learned the recipe was from Sandy Maine's clean naturally book.  After putting all the ingredients together, I scented it with eucalyptus, tea tree and lemon essential oils - this combination is not only antibacterial and disinfecting but also smells divine!   I get a bit of aromatherapy while I am cleaning the bathroom and I actually look forward to doing this chore!  I didn't use the coloring recommended by the book but I think I will the next time I make this - without it, the bowl water doesn't look very good
 :-( but it is very clean after.  I was able to recycle the plastic container from the original toilet bowl cleaner I got and one of the scoops from my protein powder and it is very handy in measuring the cleaner.

Tip: Getting Rid of phantom smells...

Do you have an old pickle or jam jar that you would like to reuse?  Say perhaps for a candle jar?  Or to store other items?  But you've noticed that even though you've washed the jar and it is clean, it still smells like what it used to hold?  I have several jars like that - I've been saving them to pour some jar candles.  What to do with those old pesky smells?  You can use plain old table salt to neutralize the odor.  Pour a little bit of salt in the jar, add some water and let it sit for 30 minutes.  Put the cap on, shake the water around, and voila!  the odors should be gone. 

Cleaning is Fun Again!

I participated in a home cleaning product swap and my swap box arrived this week!  I can't wait to try these goodies.  When you make your own cleaning products, it's always nice to try someone else's as it gives you ideas for future formulations (or lets you know what to avoid).  Best of all, everything was scented with essential oils, which not only smell great but many have antiseptic or antibacterial properties.   In this swap, I received a toilet bowl cleaner, citrus fresh dishwasher detergent, scouring powder, glass cleaning concentrate, carpet powder, air freshener, four thieves spray, stain stick, lavender dryer sachets, and laundry soap.  I now have enough natural cleaning products to cover from sinks, dishes, laundry, air, carpets, windows, tubs, etc.for a while!  My swap contribution was the air spray!

Home Cleaning Product Swap 2011

All natural deodorant

This post is for Alton, who is interested in natural deodorant.  Now, I haven't made this yet myself and will be on the lookout for more recipes but thought this one was relatively simple, and all natural.  It's worth a try.  I will be posting a few more recipes as I come across them.  Here's one for starters.  Now, someone who tried this said she had red itchy bumps after a few weeks and thought it could be a baking soda allergy.  The nice thing about homemade products is you can adjust and experiment to find a formula that works for you.

For this recipe, you will use:

• coconut oil
• baking soda
• corn starch
• essential oils (optional). Tea tree, sandalwood, lavender, lemon, and neem oils are good choices. Use one, none, or create your own blend!
• container

Click here for full details from Helga of Live Green Mom.  Now, if you have sensitive skin, you might want to adjust your recipe to something like 6 tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp baking soda, and 2 tbsp coconut oil.

My Top Ten List for Lemons

Recently my friend Yvonne gave me a bunch of lemons and limes from her tree.  I took 6 for myself but ended up with the whole bag.  Apparently she had already left a bunch in the office break room, and she didn't want to bring these home.  So I took them to a group meeting and passed out the rest.  But I still had the 6, so i thought I would put together a top ten list that I like to use lemons for.  There are a zillion uses for lemons so feel free to share your tips as well. 

This list is not inclusive - just a few creative ideas, and staying away from the obvious no brainers like lemon bars, lemonade, lemon juice, lemon water, etc...

1. y'all know I love B&B applications so the first has to deal with EXFOLIATION!  You can mix lemon pulp and brown sugar to exfoliate and clean your feet.  After rubbing the pulp and brown sugar on your tootsies, rinse and follow up with your favorite moisturizer.  A nice variation on this is to soak your feet in a bowl of milk, and then use lemon wedges on the calluses and rough patches.  The lactic acid of the milk, followed by the citric acid in the lemons will exfoliate your feet and whiten yellowed toenails.  How's that for a two-fer?
2. Kill bad breath.  Squeeze a lemon for the juice.  gargle with it and say good bye to halitosis (temporarily).  If you're at a restaurant, you can put the lemon wedge from your water or iced tea in your mouth and rub it on your tongue and teeth. 
3. Speaking of odors, you can also get rid of fish, garlic and onion smells from your hand by soaking your hands in lemon juice for a few minutes, or cutting a lemon open and rubbing it in your hands.
4. Brighten your white laundry by adding 1/2 Cup of lemon juice to the wash cycle of a normal laundry load.
5. Soothe a sore throat - my favorite combo involves ginger, water, lemon, and honey.  This hot drink will soothe your throat, provide vitamin C, and clears up some of the congestion.
6. Minimize food oxidation - don't know what to do when your apples, pears, or gaucamole turns brown?  Prevent or minimize the browning by sprinkling with lemon juice before serving.  Also works with potatoes and cauliflower (i.e., keeps them white).
7. Clean your microwave - Squeeze your lemon to obtain the juice and place the juice in a bowl with 1 cup of water.  Microwave for a five to ten minutes.  The condensation from the lemon water makes the microwave easier to wipe down and also deodorizes it.
8. Garbage disposal  cleaner- Take the lemon from #7 and cut it up into smaller pieces.  Run those pieces in your garbage disposal to clean and freshen it. 

Image from Penny Sanford Sikes, 2009

9. Air Freshener - This one is a bit more crafty: You'll need a lemon, cloves, ribbon, a nail, and thumbtack.  Use the nail to poke holes in the lemon.  Then stick the cloves into those holes to bring out its fragrance. Fold the ribbon over and tack its ends to the end of the lemon to make a loop You can hang your new air freshener or pomander.  This can also be done with an orange or a lime.  Visit Penny's blog for a step by step tutorial.  
10. Refresh your cutting board - To get rid of the smell and help sanitize the cutting board, rub it all over with the cut side of half a lemon or wash it in undiluted juice straight from the bottle.

For the Teachers out There - Creative Uses for Chalk

This is a special post for all the teachers out there.  Although I have seen the high tech boards in some high school classrooms, I know that many of you still use chalk and write on chalk boards due to school district budget constraints.  Here are some other uses for chalk - yes, this is white sidewalk chalk or white chalk used on blackboards.

Repel ants - Keep ants at bay by drawing a line around home entry points. The ants will be repelled by the calcium carbonate in the chalk, which is actually made up of ground-up and compressed shells of marine animals. Scatter powdered chalk around garden plants to repel ants and slugs.

Polish metal and marble - To make metal shine like new, put some chalk dust on a damp cloth and wipe. (You can make chalk dust by using a mortar to pulverize pieces of chalk.) Buff with a soft cloth for an even shinier finish. Wipe clean marble with a damp soft cloth dipped in powdered chalk. Rinse with clear water and dry thoroughly.

Keep silver from tarnishing - You love serving company with your fine silver, but polishing it before each use is another story. Put one or two pieces of chalk in the drawer with your good silver. It will absorb moisture and slow tarnishing. Put some in your jewelry box to delay tarnishing there too.

Remove grease spots - The chalk will absorb the oils that hold dirt in.  Rub chalk on a grease spot on clothing or table linen and let it absorb the oil before you brush it off. If the stain lingers, rub chalk into it again before laundering. To get rid of ring-around-the-collar stains, mark the stains heavily with chalk before laundering. The chalk will absorb the oils that hold dirt in.

Keep tools rust-free - You can eliminate moisture and prevent rust from invading your toolbox by simply putting a few pieces of chalk in the box. Your tools will be rust-free and so will the toolbox.

Source: Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things (see Amazon link in the top left)

My Green Cleaning Journey

At the start of a new year, we typically focus on organization and cleaning.  Hence my post earlier this week on re-organization, and now this post on cleaning.  Hubby and I are in full force (last week we donated 5 bags of books to the library, and also 4 bags of stuff to Goodwill...and the scary part is that we still have more stuff to declutter!)  Today, I wanted to share my journey into green cleaning and encourage you to take the same one.  I started with baby steps...

My shift to green cleaning didn't happen overnight.  It started in 2005 when I was searching for ways to keep my stone countertop clean without the harsh or acidic chemicals.  After some research, I tested a few recipes and found one that I really liked.  Soon after, I was looking for a way to sanitize my yoga mat after practice; the wipes  being sold at the studio were expensive and contained parabens...so I decided to make my own using essential oils.  At the time, I was spending a lot of money buying carpet powder (since I have pets), so, with two successes under my belt,  I decided to try making it myself.   I incorporated green cleaning gradually and today, I predominantly use homemade products in my cleaning.  After using these recipes and tweaking them over time,  I gained confidence to try other recipes and to expand my green cleaning repertoire.

Today,  I can say that cleaning is fun for me - it wasn't always that way!  It's fun now because there's a sense of pride in using products I've made and in  caring for the environment by not cleaning with toxic chemicals which can pollute our water and air.  I also make variations of my standard recipes and am eager to try them out so being able to try new scent combinations or variations in ingredients keeps it interesting.  And, by using essential oils in cleaning products, I can take advantage of their aroma-therapeutic properties as well.  The act of cleaning smells fresh (and not so chemical-y and toxic) and also relaxes, calms, energizes, and uplifts me...depending on which essential oil combinations I apply.  Because I use the same containers when I replenish my cleaning products, there is less plastic waste as well.   

In my new eco-friendly home cleaning products class, I am thrilled to be sharing tips, tricks and recipes to incorporate green cleaning in your daily life.  You'll make your very own scouring powder, multi-purpose bathroom spray, and window/glass cleaner - three basic products to keep your home smelling great and sparkling clean! 

GREEN CLEANING TIP: Did you know that several essential oils, including Lavender, Lemon & Tea Tree are not only anti-bacterial & anti-fungal, but also anti-viral & anti-biotic? Amazing!



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