Start

I randomly fell into wanting to live a more natural lifestyle.  It wasn’t intentional, but I am grateful that it happened because I genuinely feel that our family is in a much better place, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

How did I start?  Three years ago, I was watching Good Morning America and Jessica Alba was promoting her book about natural living.  The discussion about laundry detergent and fabric softener really got to me.  I mean, here I was with three kids thinking, “gosh, their clothing does smell amazing, but what IS in that fragrance and how is it affecting them?”  I downloaded the book and began reading.  About chemicals.  About food dyes.  About all of the artificial stuff our bodies, our children’s bodies are bombarded with on a daily basis.  And I never actually thought twice about it.

Well, now I was thinking.  And determined to really limit their exposure to chemicals and toxins, that are really, just completely unnecessary.  I figured I could start simple by making a non-toxic cleaner and some laundry detergent.  When both of those were relatively easy, our conversion to leading a more natural life had begun and I was more than thrilled with how actually easy it is.  I think that is where a lot of us get stuck, but taking that first step and finding out how relatively painless it was made it worth the change.

Some of these changes included making as many household cleaners as I could – my #1 go-to is my non-toxic all purpose cleanser, which not only works great, but works better than all of the others and works on pretty much every surface, including glass.  I will post the recipe for it below and I promise, once you have made it, you won’t go back.  Oven cleaners, cooktop cleaners, stainless steel cleaners, granite cleaners, floor cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, fabric softener, laundry detergent.  All of those commercial products were tossed away and replaced with my own homemade chemical free alternatives.

To start making your products, here is what you should have on hand:
Baking Soda (I buy the largest bag I can find from BJs)
White Vinegar (Again, the largest bottle I can find from BJs)
Olive oil for the stainless steel cleaner
Castille Soap for the laundry detergent
Washing Soda (you can make your own with baking soda – super easy)
Borax (a bit controversial, but it works for us)
Essential Oils (I buy mine from Young Living – to order yours, I recommend the starter kit which can be purchased here)
Various glass containers (I purchase in bulk, but if you only want one for making a cleaning spray, here is a great place to buy it)

Once you have all of these items, you can pretty much make any cleaner you want.  My next replacements are going to be dishwasher detergent, hand soap, and dish soap.

So now for the fun stuff!  The recipes – these are the first three things I made and how I started to move to a more natural lifestyle!!!

All Purpose Awesome Cleaner

• 1 16oz glass bottle 
• White Vinegar
• Essential Oils
  • Some great combos are lavender and rosemary, lemon and lavender, thieves and lemon, purification, orange and lemon, thieves and purification.  I really love using thieves because of the powerful oils in the blend that work to kill all the germs and switch to that cleaner as soon as sickness hits our home.  So far, so good.
• WaterDirections:  Fill the bottle about 2/3 of the way with water,  then fill the rest with vinegar and leave some space at the top.  Add 10 drops each of your chosen essential oils.  Shake and spray!  Spray it everywhere!!!  Your kids can even spray it and you won’t have to worry about chemicals on their hands!

Laundry Detergent

• Big glass container (like these)
• One bar of castille soap (I love Dr. Bonners – can be purchased at a bunch of places, but amazon has these)
• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup washing soda (to make washing soda, simply take baking soda and spread it out on a cookie sheet.  Preheat oven to 400 and let it cook in there for an hour or so, mixing it up once at around the 30 minute mark.  Boom.  Washing soda.  Easy)Directions:  Grate the soap.  This is literally the worst part of it.  Ask your husband or work on your arm strength.  I personally ask my husband since I usually have a child or two in my arms and it would be dangerous.  At least that is what I tell him.  Once soap is grated mix the borax and the washing soda into the soap and that is all.  To use, take a tablespoon and sprinkle it all over that laundry.  This is safe for front loaders as well.  So enjoy!

  Alternatively, I keep soap nuts around, just in case I procrastinate the soap grating task.  I love them and they are amazing and even easier than making your own detergent.  I bought mine from here.

  Fabric Softener

• Glass container – mason jars work for this!
• 3 c white vinegar
• 1/4c rubbing alcohol
• 20 drops of Essential oils – Purification is amazing.  Lavender is amazing.  Thieves if there is sickness.

Directions:  put everything in glass jar and shake.  Shake prior to use and add some to your washer’s fabric softener dispenser.

Alternative:  Wool dryer balls – you can make your own or you can buy them.  I bought mine because craft stores intimidate me.  Again, amazon has these.  I add 4 drops of essential oils to them – usually lavender or purification.

***A note about essential oils.  I didn’t know this when I started.  I thought essential oils were all the same and the ones you purchase at natural foods stores are the same as Young Living.  Wrong.  So much wrong.  I was basically replacing my chemicals with unlabeled chemicals unknowingly.  So when you purchase oils, please make sure they are as pure as you can get.  I researched for 2 years and found that Young Living was the very best choice for my family.  If you want to purchase your very own awesome oils, which have so many more uses than just making cleaning products (another thing I didn’t figure out until last year), click on over to my sign-up page and go crazy.  Which is very easy.  I am fully on the essential oil train and no end is in sight.

I will definitely be discussing the other household cleaners I make in another post, but I figured upwards of 1000 words is enough for now.  Enjoy and please don’t hesitate to ask questions!!!