Natural Cleaners & My Inspiration

Wowza! This is a novel...

Last year I started to consider using all natural cleaning products in my home.  I knew for certain I wanted to get rid of the stash of chemical cleaners under my kitchen sink when we started a family but contemplated making the transition when we eventually moved off the farm.  In January of this year one of my closest friends was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Regardless of this diagnosis I've always viewed her as a motivated, positive and strong woman. I cannot even begin to explain to you (and her) just how inspiring she has and continues to be to me.  5 years ago I was lucky enough to have this strong woman stand next to me on my wedding day.  As a token of my appreciation I gave her a ring with the word 'inspiring' engraved on the inside.  Little did I know 5 years later she'd be even MORE of an inspiration to me then I ever thought possible.  She is that person who is always striving to do better and be better.  She is so far from stagnant. She'd blow your mind if you ever met her.

Thank you friend, for all that you do. I love you and appreciate you more then you'll ever know.

My friend and I don't spend a lot of time talking about the C-word. We do however spend a lot of time discussing the positive changes the C-word has brought about in her (and my!) daily life (lives). During our last visit she told me that strong smells, like house cleaners and hand soaps are overwhelming for her. There it was: my push to transition to natural hand soaps and cleaners a.s.a.p. That alone was reason enough for me to take the plunge, however there are a number of other reasons I decided to do it. Not only are there too many products under my sink (clutter! yuck!), they are expensive to purchase and disgusting for my family's health.  Sure, my husband and I don't have children but we do have friends and family with ankle-biters. The very thought of them crawling around on floors cleaned with glow-in-the-dark toxic cleaner makes my skin crawl.  Today I removed all of the my toxic cleaners from under my sink, except the toilet bowl cleaner. Toilets gross me out and seeing how we recently moved into this house I am still working on making the bowls feel like my own. Haha!  Give it a few more weeks and I'll be willing to give up the clorox cleaner. Today I found an awesome and cheap all natural toilet bowl cleaner at the Superstore that I will be grabbing when the time comes. For windows I use an all natural product that my lovely sister-in-law gave me from LL Bean. No more windex for this girl!

Before (10 products)

Yes, I realize this is a food blog so why the heck am I talking about cleaners, right?! Let me explain the correlation. There are many natural, indigestible cooking ingredients that can be used to make your own cleaners.  Orange peels, lemon, baking soda, and white vinegar just to name a few! After much research I have decided on this all purpose cleaner mixture. I figured it costs me about $0.75 - $1.00 for each bottle I make. The most expensive part is the optional essential oil!  If you omit that it will cost you about $0.25 a bottle. Seriously, this is a win-win situation! I'm so pumped.

Update: I just read a very interesting article about mixing vinegar/lemon juice with castile soap. Darn! Omit the vinegar next time you make a patch to avoid any problems. Check out the article here.

After (3 products)

Ingredients
2 teaspoon of Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Soap* (I bought lavender)
5 tablespoons of white vinegar
2 teaspoons of borax (in laundry section at the grocery store - also used in laundry for natural white booster and stain remover)
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups hot water
15-20 drops of essential oil of your choice (optional; I used lemon)
a spray bottle (I had one from years ago from the dollarstore)

Method
Mix all ingredients together in a spray bottle and use on basically anything except windows & mirrors.

* I finally found Dr. Bronner's in the natural section at the Superstore for $16.00. This product is an 18 in 1 mixture that can be used for anything from face wash to shower title cleaner. $16.00 sounds expensive however it recommends that if you are using it as hand soap that it be diluted with equal parts water.  This bottle will certainly go a long way.