Category Archives: cleaning

When you have children, you have stains. Before I would just wash all the clothing and  as it came out of the dryer and had stains, I would throw it into a pile to be “bleached”.  Then I would use the great miracle mixture of 1 part bleach and 1 part dishwashing crystals dissolved in hot water and it would take everything out.  In my quest to a more natural home, that recipe won’t fit, so I have needed to change things.

Probably the most easiest that I recommend using first, is to wet your item and place it directly into the sunlight.  Most stains will naturally fade from the sun.  I am amazed at how all of my cloth diapers just get “bleached” naturally by the sunshine.

What I discovered from a friend is the use of hydrogen peroxide.  Amazing how well that works.  I take the clothing and squirt some peroxide directly onto the stains, let it sit for a few minutes and wash as usual.  Amazed at this, then I realized at the store they sell an “all natural bleach” and its ingredients are hydrogen peroxide—–smart.

For tougher ground in stains, you can sprinkle baking soda or borax on the stain.  Then use a few drops of vinegar and an old toothbrush to scrub them out.

Keep going, I hope you are starting to make the switch to a more natural home series, your healthy and environment will benefit greatly!!!  Making a change one bite of an elephant at a time!

part 13 dishwashing detergent

With 12 people and a load of cloth diapers every night, we wash a lot of laundry.  I have used this recipe of homemade laundry soap for about 10 years  and I love it.  It smells very simple, cleans great, and is all natural.

 We had many children dealing with eczema and I had to be careful with the detergents I put on their clothing, this solved many of the rash problems.

We make a large 5 gallon bucket of this up and it lasts us about 2 months.  You can scale down the recipe and make smaller ice cream bucket sized.

• grate 2 Fels Naptha bar soap and place in large stock pot and fill about 1/2 of the way with water.
• stir over medium heat until melted, be careful as this will boil over if you are not paying attention.
  
• when completely  melted add 2 cups of borax and 2 cups of washing soda.
• stir until thoroughly combined.
• pour this into a large 5 gallon bucket and fill the rest of the way with hot tap water.

• whisk it a few times to combine everything and place lid on
• let sit overnight

In the morning you will have a nice gelled substance.

I use my old caps from laundry bottles and scoop out about 1/2 cup per load in my HE washer.

Leaves no residue on clothing.

When your bucket of soap gets about half way down and the gel is pretty thick you can add about a half-gallon container of water and re whisk it up.

Watch for tomorrows post...fabric softener…why use it?

Having a carpeted house is something I wish I didn’t have.  With so many people utilizing the floors, things can get dirty quite quickly.  I prefer wood or tile floors as the mess cleans up better, but in those special cases, when say a dirty diaper gets dragged across the floor onto the couch, its time for some serious cleaning.

But what do we grab when we have serious stains??  I used to use Simple Green, thinking since it said “all natural”  that it was.  Don’t fall for marketing gimmicks.  You can make your own all natural upholstery and carpet cleaner using basic simple ingredients.

mix together in a bowl

• 1/4 cup borax
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup white vinegar

Directions for use:

1. Rub the paste into the stain and let sit for a few hours.  You can put your hand in a ziploc baggie to keep from touching the mess on the floor.
2. Vacuum up the dried paste
3. Get on your hands and knees and scrub, gonna have to use some elbow grease, using a wet rag or brush, periodically rinse the rag or brush in water.
4. Let dry and vacuum again.
5. Let sit for a few days and stain will dissipate even more

Up next….all natural laundry soap

On day 6 of our series we will be giving you an alternative to replace your current window and mirror cleaner.

This all natural window and mirror cleaner was a hard one for me to finally make the switch over to.  I could never understand why it made all my mirrors streaky.  Then after some internet searching I realized that there was detergent residue leftover on my mirrors and windows from my previous commercial cleaners.  So don’t be alarmed and think it doesn’t work at first, it’s just you have lots of detergent left on your items and it needs to be rubbed off a little harder at first.  In time it will not even show.

This has a stronger smell as it has alcohol in it, I use peppermint essential oil and the smell dissipates after first use.  You can wipe with a microfiber cloth, or better yet use some old black and white newspaper and clean your windows, you will be amazed at the clarity.

Mix the following in your spray bottle

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup alcohol–good ol rubbing alcohol
• 1 cup vinegar
• 2 squirts of castile soap
• 12 drops peppermint essential oil—or your favorite scent

part 7 floors