Green Cleaning

I started my adventures of cleaning with as close to natural cleaning products as I can use when my son was born. My favorite website that got me started was this: http://www.care2.com/ . You can find their non-toxic recipes here. After about a year of tweaking a recipe to fit me and what I like I came up with this one.

All Purpose Cleaner

4 teaspoons Borax
1/2 teaspoon liquid soap
Tea Tree Oil (disinfectant)
1 32 oz. spray bottle
Funnel if you have one.

Add first two ingredients to spray bottle using funnel if handy. Fill spray bottle with warm water up to the neck of the bottle. Add tea tree oil. I am cheap and buy mine from Walmart for like $5.00 so I use a capful. With a dropper bottle, I would say use around 20 drops.

Things I have used this spray on:
Floors
Carpet (actually does work for stains)
Sinks
Bathroom walls
Toilet seats
Walls
Door Handles
Stains on Clothing
Fridge
Inside of Van
Glass table top

*Notes:
Hubby doesn't really like the smell of vinegar and to avoid discouraging my all-purpose husband from helping me clean I leave it out. For more cleaning and disinfectant power, use 1/4 - 1/2 cup of vinegar.
*More Notes
I mix it up sometimes and use lavender oil because that also kills the germies. Peppermint does the same thing but if you mix it with vinegar your dh might not clean with it because it smells like pickles. (at least mine won't) If I have a headache and don't want to smell anything, I always turn to my ever reliable GSE also known as Grapefruit Seed Extract .

Baking Soda uses in my house:

Add a cup to smelly laundry.
Sprinkle overnight in toilet and scrub in morning.
Glass stovetop cleaner
Bathtub cleaner (this is by far better than ajax)
Pot cleaner

The list goes on. To use, just sprinkle with baking soda and srub with a wet rag/sponge. Rinse and enjoy the sparkle. For extra cleaning power, squirt some liquid soap on top and scrub.
I just buy a big bag from Costco that lasts months around here.


Vinegar uses in my home:

The obvious...coffee pot.
Keep in a squirt bottle for a disinfectant for anything in the kitchen
Veggie and Fruit cleaner (fill sink with water and squirt a bit in it to clean the produce)
Fabric Softener (use in place of liquid fabric softener and you will be pleased with the softness)

The list goes on.

Borax

Mold killer (don't even ask me how I know this)
Toilet Bowl cleaner
Laundry booster
Sink Cleaner

The list goes on.

I will add my window recipe once I find it. Just use water, rubbing alcohol, and vinegar but will report proportions another time. If you are impatient or I fall behind, just jot me an email to remind me or leave a comment.



If you write the all purpose recipe on the bottle, you will be able to refill fast. I didn't
do this with my window recipe, hence the need to find the recipe in my recipe binder.
To top it all off, I use cloth cleaning rags so I can wash in hot water and reuse. I only buy papertowels to clean up dog messes. : )

Hope this helps someone else. I love it because my 5 and 7 year old can help me out cleaning. I would have hated to worry when they were crawling around about what they were crawling on. Plus, no more headaches when it comes time to clean! Another advantage is you save a ton of money!

Cost of products for me:

1 gallon vinegar..........$2.30
1 box of Borax............$3.50
1 big bag of Baking Soda....$8.00 (estimate)

The vinegar lasts us about a month here because I use it for fabric softener. The borax lasts a few months. Baking soda lasts several months. I do buy a bottle of Windex because that is what hubby likes to use on my van windows. If he's gonna clean 'em, I'm gonna get what the man needs. That will last us ~forever~. Oh and a little confession....we use Scrubbing Bubbles on the shower walls because it works so well. I really need to find a good natural and fast cleaner for the walls because I hate scrubbing. I am open to questions, comments, and suggestions so shoot away.

Freecycle Fun

Look at what I picked up off of Freecycle on Wednesday.

Over 100 hundred plastic pots. The ones in the front are one gallons stacked. They range in size from 10 gallons to 1 gallon. Why so many pots? I live in gopher land. I have not figured out a way to live in harmony together in my yard with these little creepy rodents. Numerous times I have been happily weeding my flower beds to hear a rustling in the plant next to me. At first I thought maybe I was such a loving gardener that my plants were shaking like my doggie does when I come home from the store and he is happy to see me. What a let down to discover that shortly after my plants do their happy dance they vanish into the earth below. When I am not around to witness such a cruel and unusual murderous kidnapping, the gophers leave one lonely flower sticking out of the ground as a payment for their meal or it may be a reminder that they have won. Nonetheless, this dirt worshiping fool still buys plants to feed her pet/pesty gophers. Well, this year is the end of the madness. I am too frugal and mindful of my plants feelings to partake in such activities a season longer. Come springtime, my victory will be the day I dig up my plants and put them back in the ground with a nice plastic barrier. Shhh do not speak of my plan of attack.

A litte side note, these are my chitlins. Kids are so cute. Kids are so loud.

Kids eat so much food. Kids are gross and full of germs.

They are so cute though!

I have not forgotten about my craft closet, see below. It is awaiting some new curtains and labels. More to come later....

Time to Organize!

Christmas is over. I took the tree down last week. I am still picking up needles.

It is now that time of year to organize. We all do it every year, right? It takes me a good two months to reorganize the house. I love to organize. I am terrible at the whole "clean as you go" thing. I mean, my house is picked up most of the time. It is presentable but I wouldn't eat off of the floor or anything like the kids sometimes do. : ) It is a struggle for me to put things back where they came from. I am a stuffer and I have stuff. No matter how much stuff I get donate, recycle, or repurpose the stuff has babies overnight.

Well here is a clear example...

Yah, that's right. I showed a picture of the most shameful closet ever photographed before. I clean this closet every few months. Believe it or not. This is our craft closet. I say 'our' because I want everyone to have a clear understanding that I am not the only one that messes it up. I have a little helper. See below:

I will save that for another day.

Here is what I have been up to the past two days. My laundry/fabric closet...

A close up:

Now let's hope it stays that way. I am so excited that all of my fabric is down to one shelf and couple of small bins (well I do have another bin under my bed of Christmas fabric). I have done a lot of purging over the past year. The two bins below are all scraps under 1/2 yard. They are all rolled up neat like a little remnant and tied with a scrap piece of fabric. Looks purty doesn't it? Oh and looking at this picture makes me realize that it's time to make me a pretty little bag for my clothespins. I am beyond the Bob the Builder stage! Anyone know of a good way to hang a bag on the clothesline while you do laundry. Not that I can sun dry now or anything with all of the rain. Have a happy day!