Spring Breakup. Best face forward. It seems since puberty hit me like a ton of bricks as a teen-ager, I’ve been on the hunt for a way to clean my face without over-drying. I have SUPER sensitive skin and it’s difficult to find products that don’t leave my face feeling like I’m wearing a mask after using them. I've been a fan of Witch Hazel for years, but I still needed moisture as well. I also can’t use fragrances on my face without MAJOR reactions; so do you see my dilemma? I began using CASTILE SOAP a few months ago for various “green-cleaning” around my house (mainly laundry soap and pre-treating stains) and now I’ve created something that I NEVER want to be without.
Face cleaning/make-up remover wipes! My 16 year-old daughter uses them and she LOVES them as well. I figured, now that I’ve given them a decent amount of “testing”, I can pass this on. Add the first 4 ingredients together in the plastic container. Green Cleaning. Did you know that you can clean without spending a fortune on store bought cleaners? I bet you didn't know you can clean most everything in your home with just a few simply ingredients from your KITCHEN!
This week's topic is Vinegar. White distilled vinegar is a popular household cleanser, effective for killing most mold, bacteria, and germs, due to its level of acidity. Cleaning with white distilled vinegar is a smart way to avoid using harsh chemicals. You’ll also be glad to know that it is environmentally friendly and very economical. Just SOME of the ways you can use vinegar to clean in your home... Make your own scouring cleanser by combining 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Check back tomorrow for more tips on how to clean with vinegar! Baking Soda and Vinegar Scouring Powder Review – Does it Work? | Green Idea Reviews. 4 out of 5 leaves Powder cleanser and a rough sided sponge is often the weapon of choice against built up grime and stains on kitchen and bathroom surfaces. The scouring power of the commercial cleansers is great, but the health hazards are concerning. Could a natural homemade scouring powder of baking soda, wetted with white vinegar work just as well?
The Good Better for you – commercial powder cleansers contain known carcinogens, and can cause eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation*Better for the Earth – less chemicals in your home is less chemicals washed down the drain and into our waterwaysSaves Money – you can’t beat the low cost of baking soda and white vinegarWorks great – my counter stains disappeared quickly The Bad Still takes a little elbow grease to scour stains awayDoesn’t work quite as well as a big name commercial cleanser My Experience Recently, my husband gave up the diet soda habit (I’m so proud!)
Before and after a baking soda scour. Share this green idea review: Homemade vapour rub – or how to keep your spouse from giving you a long suffering look when you cough all night « lightlycrunchy. I’m a little late to the party – but I never knew that VapoRub works better on coughs when you rub it into the bottoms of your feet. I really could have used that knowledge when the littles were littler.
However, now I know. The feet have the most pores on the body so essential oils can easily penetrate the skin and absorb into the bloodstream fairly quickly. Apparently, it is one of the best ways to use essential oils, especially on babies and young children. I couldn’t find any of the store bought kind, plus if I’m changing to all natural products, using one that contains petroleum probably isn’t the best choice. I decided to make some vapour rub for myself. I found this recipe on Crunchy Betty and followed it to the letter.
I found the cute little yellow glass jar at the Sally Ann store (Salvation Army) for $0.25 a while back – I knew it would come in handy for something. Like this: Like Loading... HOW TO: Powdered Laundry Detergent. 496 Flares Twitter 8 Facebook 28 Pin It Share 455 455 StumbleUpon 0 Google+ 5 Email -- Email to a friend 496 Flares × My recipe for liquid laundry detergent is the best thing that’s happened to my laundry routine, so when I finally ran out of my first batch, I was more than excited to make some more! However, with my now 7 month baby hanging on my every limb I knew I didn’t want to be handling boiling water around him. So I went on a search, made some tweaks, and came up with this great powdered detergent recipe! It’s much easier and quicker to make than the liquid version, but I still prefer the liquid version just because I’ve never been a big fan of powdered detergent.
Plus the liquid one just lasts for so much longer! What you need : The very short ingredients list. 1 bar of castile soap (or Fels Naptha or Ivory), finely grated 1 cup borax 1 cup washing soda 3-5 drops of essential oils (optional) What to do : The batch fit perfectly into a yogurt tub - hello, reusability! That’s it! [tssig] TTT: Turn Baking Soda into Washing Soda. Welcome to Week 6 of Tiny Tip Tuesday, and the first week of its incarnation as a blog hop and carnival! I’m really excited to share today’s tip with you, but I’m even more excited to see what kinds of great tips you all have to share with us! Don’t forget to come back throughout the week to check out the new links; and we’ll be sharing our favorites on our Facebook page! EDIT: Before we move on, please let me take this moment to publicly apologize to Penny, from Penniless Parenting for inadvertently not linking back to her post, as she is the original author for the information contained in this post.
I had linked back to her site, but because of an error in the html, the link below was rendered un-linkable on the front end of the site. Well, as the title says, we’re turning baking soda into washing soda this week. I know, it sounds weird, but just bear with me. The difference between baking soda and washing soda is water and carbon dioxide. The process is really simple. That’s it! Homemade Deodorant (That Works!) « Probably the best way to introduce yourself via guest post is to make sure that the first sentence references your arm pits. My name is Jesyka. And this is a post about my arm pits. And it could be about your arm pits too. Kindness dictates that I also extend a “head’s up” of sorts: this is a LONG post.
So, to summarize now and allow you to skip the long parts: Once upon a time there was a girl who couldn’t find a deodorant that worked for longer than a month or so. But for those of you who haven’t scrolled down to the bottom of the post by now or completely closed this window in your browser, below is the unabridged version.
I began my journey into womanhood with a backpack full of unwrapped Always brand pads and arm pits slathered in Teen Spirit. I had arrived. I mean, I felt like I could legitimately read SEVENTEEN magazine with that stuff sprucing up my adolescent arm pits even though I was barely a teenager. But Teen Spirit didn’t work for very long. Recipe { source } 1/4 C baking soda. Homemade Citrus Vinegar Cleaner. A pretty picture of a jar of oranges flew around facebook a few months back. With it were directions to make an orange vinegar cleaner. Of course I had to try. Citrus works great as a degreaser, stain remover and freshener.
Vinegar is also a great cleaning agent, breaking down mold, grease, mineral deposits and bacteria. Combine the two and you have a great natural cleaner. This cleaner is eco-friendly not only because it is biodegradable and safe to use, but because it is making use of products that would otherwise be thrown in the trash. Here’s how to make it. Squeeze the juice out of 6 grapefruits or 8 oranges (or 12 lemons or limes). Did you like this? Laundry Soap. I became interested in making my own laundry soap as a creative/cooking/money-saving plan and found I quite enjoyed the result. I began by doing a little research, recipe reading, and experimentation and came up with something that works really well for me. I keep my soap in quart-size canning jars with plastic lids and I have a long handled tablespoon I use to put the soap in the washer. I add the laundry soap as the washer is filling and rinse the soap into the washer from the spoon.
(One quart of this soap will clean 64 loads of laundry!) As with the soap I purchase (or formerly purchased) at the store I sometimes use bleach or oxyclean for extra whitening. All of the ingredients are available in the laundry aisle at the grocery store. It costs about 1.7 cents per load (Tablespoon) of this laundry soap. The following is my highly concentrated recipe. White Silk Purse Laundry Soap ~ makes 4 quarts {one gallon} of concentrate ~~ that's 256 loads of laundry! 2 bars Fels Naptha. Natural Cleaning: Lemon Dusting Cloths.
Today I am going to share my super easy, and frugal, Lemon Dusting Cloths recipe. I really do hate to use Pledge. I hate the smell of it. I hate the way it cleans. I just all around don't like it. Plus, after reading the back of the can, which has at least three or four warnings plus the list of chemicals in it, I decided to find a more natural option. I was thrilled when I found this post for Lemon Dust Cloths at Growing Home. So here is the recipe... 1 Cup Vinegar 1 Cup Water 1 tsp Olive Oil 1 Lemon Rind 2-3 Microfiber Cloths Jar with a lid Directions: Mix the vinegar, water, and oil, in a bowl. I usually make my cloths up in the morning some time and let them set till the afternoon when I am ready to dust. Microfiber cloths are wonderful to use since they are great at trapping dirt and dust. Give it a try! Update: I completely forgot to add...don't throw your lemon rinds away after you are done with your cloths! The Oh-So-Important HAIR Update.
"No Poo" 30 Day Challenge. Okay so are you scared already? I am sure that by the title you are. Don't be, I haven't lost my mind...completely. Ready....I will not use shampoo or conditioner for 30 days! Wait! One month ago, I stumbled across this blog post on Simple Mom. I learned that shampoo is actually a detergent. Here is the vicious cycle that happens: You wash your hair with shampoo. This has been my frustration! What I use on a daily basis... I use a volumizing shampoo and conditioner, silk drop, a leave in conditioner, curl shaping spray, mousse, or straightening cream. All that, and my hair still doesn't look how I wish it would! You might just tell me to switch to a more expensive shampoo, conditioner, or hair care product...but really?! Okay, enough of how I got to this crazy place...what to do now?!
Drop the bottle of shampoo, put away the bottle of conditioner, and hide the 300 bottles of hair care products you currently have. Here is the recipe I am currently using: Week 1 Day 2- No wash needed. What's the eco-friendliest way to clean a toilet? | Green cleaning | Queen of Green. Use white vinegar to disinfect and deodorize your toilet. (Credit: Microsoft Images) You must try my green cleaning recipe, called all-purpose powder. It's very easy to make—it only takes two ingredients. All-purpose powder recipe: In a container, combine a 50:50 mixture of borax and washing soda.
Sign up for Queen of Green tips by email What is borax? Borax, or sodium borate, is a naturally occurring alkaline mineral salt. What is washing soda? Washing soda, or sodium carbonate, is more caustic and has a higher pH than its cousin, baking soda. Caution: Borax and washing soda are found in a host of green cleaning recipes because they are versatile, affordable and eco-friendly. And don't underestimate baking soda, which on its own lifts dirt, deodorizes and whitens. No ‘Poo Update: Shampoo Free Living. The other evening, I met a woman who mentioned that she did the no 'poo thing, and we had a fun little bonding moment over it.
That got me thinking that it's been a while since I stopped washing my hair with shampoo. What is No Poo? For folks who aren't familiar with the idea of No 'Poo, it's a haircare regimen that involves washing and conditioning your hair without any harsh chemicals. The cheapest, easiest way to do this is with our old friends baking soda and vinegar. Over the winter, I changed up my recipe a bit for the drier weather, but now that it's hot and humid here in Atlanta, it was time to try out a different recipe. How to No Poo This time around, I'm using a mixture of 1 part baking soda to 3 parts water and the same ratio of apple cider vinegar to water. The results have been the best yet! To apply, start with the baking soda mixture. That's it! Do any of you guys do the No Poo thing? Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by stevendepolo. Natural Cleaning Recipes with Essential Oils - Green Living. Related Content Herbs and Herbalists It's a constant battle: medicine versus herbs.
This is how Marguerite got interested in herbs. Nearly everyone has heard about the virtues of common items such as baking soda and vinegar for scouring and absorbing grease. Adding herbal essential oils enhances a formula’s cleaning value and leaves behind a soothing, natural scent. It’s not just an advertising gimmick that many commercial products contain citrus oils such as lemon or lime—they are natural degreasers and have antimicrobial properties. Using natural products instead of chemical-laden commercial ones makes household tasks almost a pleasure to tackle.
Cleaning with Natural Ingredients Saves Time, Space and Money Making your own natural cleaning recipes is not time-consuming or expensive. You will marvel at the amount of uncluttered space that becomes available in the area where you store cleaning supplies. Ingredients for Natural Cleaning Recipes: Herbal Disinfectant Citrus Dishwashing Blend. Green cleaning | Queen of Green | FAQs.