Category Archives: Household

We prefer to do our dishes manually by hand but if you use your dishwasher, know that on the back of your box of detergent are some pretty strict warnings.  How many of us accidentally drop a few grains of dishwashing crystals onto the floor and then have our crawling babies get it on their hands?    It is highly toxic and the box recommends we don’t even breathe it in.  But we are going to wash our dishes where all our food and drinks touch and then enter our bodies???  Doesn’t sound right.

Here is an alternative that is safer to use. Mix the following into a bowl.

• 1 cup borax
• 1 cup washing soda
• 1/2 cup citric acid–found in the canning section
• 1/2 cup kosher salt (for scrubbing action)
• optional– essential oils,  10 drops of orange

Use 1 Tbsp per load.  Even when the detergent opening is larger and will fit more into it, on the back of your “store bought detergent” it recommends using 1 Tbsp only, save your money and use the correct amount.

The citric acid will cause your mixture to “clump.”  If you leave your mixture out on the counter for a few days that will disappear.

For rinsing aid, use straight vinegar .

Are you reducing the amount of chemicals you bring into your home?  Start on day 1 of this series and see why it is so important to remove as much as possible toxic chemicals and cleaners in your home.

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