Washing Dishes...everyone's favorite thing to do....

I have had this dish detergent recipe for a while, but I was hard pressed to find a key ingredient - citric acid in powder form.

So I started hunting around the good ol' internet for a substitute.  Lo and behold, there is this stuff called Lemi-Shine that is a good replacement, if you can't find it.  I could not find either locally, so I ordered the Lemi-Shine off of Amazon.  Because Amazon has everything.  No really, they do.

This recipe was toted as a "dishwasher detergent".  I tried it.  It didn't work.  But this morning, pulling my half washed dishes out of the dishwasher, and not wanting to wait the three hours to run the washer again (That is how long mine takes to run a load.  It sucks.), I decided to give it a go in the sink with some vinegar and water.

DANG!  Ok, this stuff rocked the pizza crust right off my pizza pan.  I had a few things that I was dreading scrubbing.  The cheese grater, the pizza pan, the pan I used to make my daughters breakfast yesterday morning.  Ugh.  I hate doing dishes by hand.

But hey, I needed clean dishes, right?  Right!

SOOO.... I filled up the deeper sink with hot water, a splash of vinegar, and a tablespoon of this home made detergent.  You know those tv commercials that show grime lifting off of dishes like magic?  That is pretty much what happened.  Even the cheese grater just needed a single wipe on each side and it was clean enough to pass Ned Flanders' "squick test".

So even this stuff is made of all natural stuff, you still want to give your dishes a good hot rinse, because you probably don't want dried borax water on your dishes the next time you eat.

Ok, here you go, and enjoy!  You will need:

A 32 ounce container (I like re-using the tubs that my daughter's prunes come in, but yogurt containers and large soup containers from chinese take out places work, too)
Borax
Washing Soda
Lemi-shine or Citric Acid.
coarse Kosher salt

Add:
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Lemi-Shine or Citric Acid
1/2 cup coarse Kosher salt

Put it all into your 32 oz container, put the lid on, and SHAKE.  Shake it up reeeealy good.

Use one tablespoon per sink load.

The citric acid will make it get a little clumpy, but that's ok.

I read today, that if I run my dishwasher empty with it that it will boost your dishwasher's efficiency.  I'm doing that now, so I'll get back to you on that.  My dishwasher sucks, so I am not crossing my fingers.

Being that my dishwasher sucks, and that this recipe got rave reviews on DIYNatural.com, I'd say it probably wont hurt to try it out in yours.  It could just be me.

Good luck, have fun, and keep looking for ways to free yourself from the bonds of that overly scented, brightly colored cleaning aisle at the grocery.

Cheers!

The time has come to talk about BO.

Everyone has BO, if our underarms are left unchecked.  Whether we spent the day hiking, or just didn't have time to take a shower, it is the reasons that huge corporations make untold amounts of money each year on deodorant products.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the labels of your deodorant?  You should.  Your underarms are extremely porous and all those odor fighting chemicals get absorbed right into your body.  

So what is the solution?  Well, I found something really simple and effective, that you can make yourself for essentially pennies.

You will need an 8 ounce spray bottle (or cotton balls if you like, but that seems wasteful to me), rubbing alcohol, and essential peppermint oil (optional)

When I read this,  recipe (also at DIYNatural, I believe), I let out a very audible "O DUH!".  

The rubbing alcohol kills the germs that CAUSE BO, essentially getting rid of any need to cover it up!  You wont smell like baby powder and guys you wont smell like a freshly cleaned hamster cage.  You will smell like YOU!  And my bet is, that without BO, that really isnt so bad.  

So anyway, here is the directions, and I'll get back to gushing about it in a minute.

fill your spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and add 5 drops of peppermint oil.  Screw on lid.  Shake.  Spray on your under arms.  super easy, simplistic, not toxic, all natural.

Ok, so what about sweat?  

Well, I'm not an excessively sweaty person, but I have not had a problem with perspiration since I started  using this in lieu of commercial deodorants about 3 weeks ago.  

So here are a couple of extra bonuses to using this.  No matter how hot it gets, rubbing alcohol feels cool on the skin, so it is incredibly refreshing on hot days.   I believe the peppermint helps with perspiration, but I have no evidence of this, so it is just speculation.  

If you try any of these things that I post on this blog, please leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Game Of Thrones is on.  I'm out of here until next time!  Have a great week!

(*DISCLAIMER*

Just because I say something is "non-toxic" doesn't mean you should eat or ingest it. I take no responsibility for anyone being dumb and using anything I post for something other than what I say it is for.)

Lets kill a couple of ants with one stone.

I live in Wisconsin.  I live a block and a half from Lake Monona.  We have ants.  And spiders.  And lake flies.  Not always at the same time, but we are there.  I don't mind the spiders (and please don't ever ask me how to kill them because I don't kill spiders.  I name them and leave them alone and call them my pet until  they decide to leave).

But I will tell you how to get rid of ants and freshen your carpet at the same time.

We had ants.  Omg, the little sugar ants that cover things and..and...EW!

I tried the borax-sugar trap.  They didnt take the bait.   I tried rubbing cinnamon into the cracks where they were coming in.  It worked for a few hours, but then they stopped caring.

Then when I had given up, I noticed they stopped coming in.

This was a couple of days after I had started using a home made carpet freshener that I found somewhere on the internet.

So here is what you do:

Get an old parmesan cheese container....the kind that has a screw-off shaky lid.  Make sure it is super clean.  You don't want Parm in your carpets. Food will just draw more bugs.

Fill 3/4 with baking soda and the other 1/4 with cinnamon.  I used Saigon Cinnamon because it was what I had on hand, and I think that was what made the difference (with the ants).  Turn the closed bottle over and over lightly until the entire contents is a light brown and obviously well mixed.  You dont want to shake this one to mix it because the powders are so fine that you will end up with a nose full of baking powder and cinnamon.  And if you use the Saigon cinnamon, that will burn like woah.

Sprinkle this on your carpets just as you would that other carpet powder that you usually buy.  Let it settle for a few minutes then vacuum.  It will leave your carpets smelling fresh, clean, and like cinnamon.  If you like, you can add ground up cloves or any other spice that you like the smell of.  

When I used the Other Name Brand Carpet Powder, I was always nervous about my daughter walking on the rug before I vacuumed it up because I didnt know what was in it, and there was a big Keep Out Of Reach Of Children label on the back of it.

This recipe is made of things that you put in cookies.  Even if my daughter rolled around naked on the carpet, my biggest worry would be that she'd get cinnamon in her eyes.

SO!  There it is!  Freshen your carpets and get rid of ants all in one go.  And when you are done, maybe make some cookies.

Coming soon: Deodorant, Spray fabric refresher that doubles as a glass cleaner (really!), and a super easy all purpose cleaner.

Home made green cleaning. Lets start with laundry powder!

Several people have said to me "you should totally start a blog about all of the home made cleaning products you have been making!".  So, your wish is my command.  I will say here though, that NONE of the recipes I post are my own.  When I want to make a certain product, I ask the internet (because you know, the internet knows everything), and try the ones that get the best reviews.  And I will do my best to find the time to share them with you.  If I'm posting a recipe, it is one that I have tried and like enough to share with the world.

The first product that I made was laundry powder (and I believe I got this recipe from Matt and Betsey Jabbs over at DIYNatural).  It is very simple, and after I type out the recipe I will give you a little bonus tip to make a natural fabric softener.  This recipe makes approximately 24 ounces.

1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1 bar grated and finely chopped Fels-Naptha soap.

Put this all into a clean used large yogurt or cottage cheese container (you know the kind, right?) or something that holds about 32 ounces.  You'll want the wiggle room.

Ok, got your container?  Now SHAKE!  Shake it up reeealy good.  Pop a measuring teaspoon in that puppy and you're done.  You only need a teaspoon per load.  Give it a good shake before each use, as the soap tends to settle.

Ok, I promised a bonus hint, didn't I?

Do you have a Downy Ball?  Yes?  Awesome!  No?  Go out and get one!  Fill it about half full of vinegar and pop that baby in your laundry.  Remember elementary school volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar?  The same thing happens in your laundry with the washing soda, creating lots of fizzy bubbles.  And that creates a natural fabric softener.

TADA!

Ok, here is another bonus.  Not only are you doing something awesome for the environment, but its light on your wallet, too.  All of the ingredients combined cost less than a large box of the cheap commercial brand and it makes several batches.  And, you know, since you only use a teaspoon per load, it lasts a good long time.  Much longer than a box of that one brand you usually buy.

Oh yeah, and I have noticed that it MUST be a lot easier on my clothes, because dryer lint has been minimal since I started using this recipe.

win win win win win!

Ok, if anyone actually reads this and encourages me to keep going I will.  I have a bunch of other ideas and recipes to share, but right now, I need to go fold my chemical free clean laundry.

Loaded Questions

"What Do You Do?"  It's quite a loaded, question, is it not?  Usually, when someone asks "What do you do?", they are referring to what you do for a living, what your job is....as if we are all defined by the job that we get up in the morning to go to.  As if they can learn all about us if they know what that thing is.  The fact is that we all "do" lots of things.

Me?  By trade, I am a pre-school teacher  But I am also a mom, an artist, a poet, a cook, a wife, and many many other things. 

I'll be  using this blog to explore all of those things and more.  Sometimes it will be a cooking blog, a crafting blog, a parenting blog, and a blog about so much more! 

If I add someones blog to my feed, it just means that it is something I am interested in reading.  It does not mean that I expect them to read mine as well.  I am not here for Social Networking.  I'm here to write about what I do.  What I really do, not just what I do for money.