Tag Archives: chemical free
DIY ALL PURPOSE KITCHEN CLEANER
Using chemical-free, non-toxic cleaners in the kitchen is super important to me. When I spray a cleaner on my counters and appliances, it’s likely that some of the cleaner will end up on my food and dishes, as well as in my lungs from breathing and on my skin (because there is NO way I’m grabbing gloves every time I wipe down the counters). So for me, this is a no brainer.
Here is the recipe I’ve been using
distilled water
- Pour baking soda, liquid soap, and vinegar in a spray bottle. For a large spray bottle, double the recipe.
- Shake it up and then let it sit for a few minutes.
- Add essential oil and fill the rest of the way with water.
Isn’t that easy? Now go make some up for your kitchen.
HAVE A HAPPY HEALTHY DAY!
FROM CHEMICAL TO NATURAL HOUSE CLEANERS
Do you ever get overwhelmed with this whole “HEALTHY LIFESTYLE” thing? Well I have many times. In my journey for better health, I have learned that it’s a process. One step at a time! Seriously, I started with switching from white to wheat. I did the best I knew to do at the time. Then we eliminated soda from our diet and replaced it with water. Big step! Fast forward 13 years and I am now growing my own scoby to make Kombucha – weird. Anyway, America has gotten so far away from living healthy. Don’t get me wrong: I am so thankful for our human advances and I love living in this time in history! I am often thankful that I was not born in Ancient Egypt! Seriously! In fact, that was my biggest takeaway as I taught the course to my daughter a few years ago. I am SO THANKFUL for heat and air conditioning, for electricity, for my car and my iPhone. It’s hard to imagine life without my computer, social media which makes my business possible, my UGGS (on my feet as we speak), and Starbucks – the place where these blogs and ideas come together 🙂 Oh, I need to mention my contacts, my Clarisonic, the variety in my closet, and HGTV! Ok, I could go on and on and on…………………………………………………..!
Ok, so in 1989, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did a 5 year study and found that chemical levels in the home were 70% higher than outdoors. They found that housewives have a 55% higher risk of cancer than women working outside the home! And get this: Children are more susceptible to air born toxins. Kids respiratory rates are 3x higher than adults, therefore they inhale and absorb 3x more the amount of contaminates!
I began paying attention to the chemicals in my house a few years ago when my son, Iver, was sick with asthma and allergies. He was really sick for a year of his life: 3 ER visits, MANY sleepless nights involving the nebulizer, and a week long hospital stay. After 9 months of praying and searching, we found a wonderful allergy doctor, DR. WOLF, who found the cause to be a sinus infection! We could not have found a better doctor. Iver had to battle that infection with antibiotics for a period, and now he is doing great! I have been Iver’s “nurse” long enough now to see the effect his diet and his environment plays on his body. It’s very real, very powerful, and very controllable! During that sick year, as we call it, my eyes began to open to the fact that our home was not helping him at all! I started taking measures to rid his environment of anything that could trigger his asthma… dairy, gluten, dust mites (yuck! by the way), and MY CLEANERS. How ironic… I was doing my best to keep our home germ free and clean, when in reality, my efforts were making him worse. Uggggg
I am still in the process of eliminating (the best I can) chemicals and toxins from my house. I want my home to be a safe, healthy environment for my family. After switching some of our cleaners to chemical free brands, I noticed 2 things: 1. Our budget was hit. 2. I missed the smell of “clean”. I associated “clean” with the smell of chemicals. Hhhmmmm, let’s think about that for a minute. If I am smelling it, it is being absorbed into my body via my lungs! Oh great :/ And if it touches my skin, it is being absorbed into my blood stream (and I’m not one to wear gloves).
So, the EPA analyzed 2,983 chemicals we use and found that:
- 884 are toxic
- 146 can cause tumors
- 218 can cause reproductive complications
- 778 cause acute toxicity
- 314 can cause biological mutations
- 376 can cause skin and eye irritations
Not good.
One example: more and more people are developing asthma. The number of people diagnosed with asthma has grown by 4.3 million from 2001-2009. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention So sad.
During our “sick” year, I switched out my cleaners to non-toxic brands, but I am taking the NEXT STEP in my JOURNEY FOR HEALTH. I will be making my own products. This will save us lots of $$$ and teach me more about the tools God, Himself, has given us to use from the earth… not only are they not harmful, but they are HEALTHY!!!
A few months after the hospital stay, Iver was back to normal. I realized that he had not been himself in a year. I spent one rainy weekend looking at old video footage and boo-hoooing as I made this video. I was, and still am so thankful to have this boy back!
DIY HOUSECLEANERS SHOPPING LIST
DIY TICK REPELLENT
Spring is here and my kids are running around in the woods every chance they get. They love exploring, hiking, and camping. They have established clubs and hideouts within the trees and bushes behind our house.
STUFF WE MAKE…of EDEN
My desire is to make my home an environment that promotes health. I’m constantly evaluating our current conditions, making adjustments to brands and products and experimenting with alternatives. I really started changing things during the “sick year” we had with my son. Read post about that here. I want to thank allergies, asthma and infection for waking me up to the fact that I can have more control over the health of my home than I ever imagined! So here are some of the changes we’ve made. I hope you find some of this helpful!
DIY Plantain Tincture Itch Cream – for bug bites, stings & more
DIY Bug Spray
DIY Refresh Your Skin
DIY Foam Hand Soap
DIY Laundry Soap
DIY Dryer Balls
DIY After Sun Lotion
DIY Toilet Cleaner
DIY Dusting Spray
DIY Sink Cleaner
DIY Oven Cleaner
DIY Microwave Cleaner
DIY Glass/Mirror Cleaner
DIY All Purpose Kitchen Cleaner
Why Replace Chemical, Toxic Cleaners with Natural
DIY SHOPPING LIST HERE!!!
Homemade Laundry soap
- It’s Non-Toxic
- Chemical Free
- Dye Free
- Quick & Easy to make
- and CHEAP!!!!
- Tide with Bleach powder…..$0.21 per load
- Arm & Hammer liquid………$0.21 per load
- Homemade powder……………$0.05 per load
*This recipe makes 32 oz of detergent – $2.98 – 64 loads
*Use 1 TBSP per load– 2 for really dirty loads