Homemade Cleaners and a Natural Life

In the last several months, I have been inspired by Moms' Aware (Andrea Fabry) to change our lifestyle as a family to one that is more natural and organic.  Amazingly, it hasn't been that hard or costly to do so. 

It started when I heard a "Toxic Talk Tuesday" with Chris Fabry Live on Moody (WMBW).  He and his wife Andrea and their family have struggled with many health issues due to toxic mold exposure and had to change to completely natural foods and household/personal care products. 

After listening to several programs I realized that it couldn't hurt and would probably help our family if I tried out a few of her recipes.  I began by purchasing a couple of simple ingredients - baking soda and vinegar.  I mixed the baking soda with a few drops of some essential oils I already had (lavender or eucalyptus).  Then I put the vinegar in a spray bottle.  These two in combination make a great cleaner for almost anything.  The baking soda is a somewhat abrasive cleaner, and when you add the vinegar spray to it, there is a chemical reaction that removes lots of dirt (think back to elementary school when you made a baking soda and vinegar volcano). Some kitchen cleaner recipes are on Andrea Fabry's website. 

That worked so well that I went on to make homemade foaming hand soap with old foaming soap dispensers and liquid castille soap (with an essential oil or two).  I added tea tree oil for its anti-bacterial properties and filtered water.  This made a great, gentle hand soap.  Once again, I got the recipe from the Moms Aware website. 

Clothes washing detergent was the very easiest!  We bought a bottle of liquid Castille soap that had tea tree oil and shea butter and we use that for detergent now. It makes the clothes SO soft and clean and they don't go sour as fast as with the regular detergent.

I made other changes bit by bit (as things ran out).  We bought goat's milk soap at Ketner's Mill (craft fair) and used it in a loofah bag in the shower.  We also bought lye soap for "troubled" complexions (i.e. teenage boy complexions).

We next tackled shampoo.  We tried a shampoo from the craft fair but it made our hair too oily.  We have also tried washing our hair with mud.  Yes, you heard right - mud.  Rhassoul Clay is from Morocco and has been used for thousands of years to "clean" hair.  That worked pretty well, especially when we rinsed with vinegar to restore the PH balance.  But we decided instead to try some natural, organic shampoos from our local Whole Foods store, Greenlife Grocery.  That is what we are using now.  I still plan to use the Rhassoul Clay on occasion for hair and for a facial mask.

I tried switching dishwasher detergent to a natural solution but it really hasn't worked so far.  The detergent was a mix of borax, washing powder, and baking soda with a vinegar and lemon mix in the rinse aid compartment.  It leaves the dishes spotty and not so clean so far.  I may give up on that one.

I bought some natural coconut oil when my facial moisturizer ran out and it is really good for the skin and smells good too.  I use it on my hands and feet too. 

One of my favorite changes has been making and using homemade bath salts.  We mix epson salt, baking soda and great smelling essential oils like Bergemont (my favorite), Lavender, Vanilla, Orange Oil, Spearmint, etc.  We bought a set of essential oils on Amazon. 

I'm sure this will be a continuing saga as we try natural and homemade products.  The benefit should be healthier bodies and a fatter bank account (so far these have been pretty inexpensive changes) except the Rhassoul Clay and the essential oils (which will last a long time since we only use a few drops at a time).

Feel free to give some of these ideas a try!