Clean House, Clean Planet Recipes

Natural, homemade cleaners, as recommended by Karen Logan:

Earth Scrub
16(or 22) oz bottle:
Mix 1 2/3 (2) cups  baking soda with 1/2 cup Dr. Bronner's in a bowl. 
Add 1/2 (2/3) cup of water. 
Add 2 Tbsp vinegar.
Stir until the lumps are gone.  If it pours into the bottle easily, it is the right consistancy - if not, add a little more water. 
Shake well before using.

Use for tub, sink, toilet, garbage cans. 
Can be used to deckscrub linolium floor - squirt on floor and scrub.  Let sit and then scrub again.  Dry wipe with towels.  Spray with vinegar and wipe/mop again.

Earth Shaker: Kitchen Cleanser
Fill Shaker 1/2 full with baking soda
Add 15-20 drops essential oil and stir
Fill shaker to the top with baking soda
Put top on and shake

Bubble Juice:
1 1/2 cups water
3 Tbsp or more dishsoap

Sleep it Off: Oven Cleaner
Mix 1/4 cup salt and 3/4 cup baking soda in a bowl and put into a shaker bottle.
Spray Sal Sud's spray in oven and then shake soda/salt mixture on.
Spray again with Sal Sud's spray.
Make a paste with soda/salt mix and 1/4 cup water and spread on sides/top of oven.
Let sit over night.
Scrape or scrub off and wipe down with Sal Sud's spray. 
Spray with vinegar to dissolve residue.

********
Sal Sud's Spray: from Dr. Bronner website
Fill 1 quart spray bottle nearly to the top with water
Add 1 Tbsp Sal Sud's

What I've Learned from "Squeaky Green"

I've just recently read "Squeaky Green," by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry and I liked it! Its an easy read and gives some great tips for detoxing your home. Since its due back at the library, here are my notes:

1. Living Room

• Leave the shoes at the door.
• Use a steam carpet cleaner (2x a year) instead of a shampoo-er
• Use vegetable, milk based, low VOC paints, rugs and carpets.
• Use microfiber cloths to dust.
• Don't use ammonia based glass cleaners. Use vinegar instead.
• Older furniture has less harmful materials. Buy furniture that is certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
• New car/carpet/plastic smell is not good.
• Clean the vacuum every 6 mos.
• Use non-toxic paint strippers.
• Buy PBDE-free furniture.
• Particle board is made with formaldehyde.
• Get a high efficiency pleated furnace filter.

2. Kitchen

• Get rid of antibacterials.
• Get rid of chlorine bleach.
• Replace plastic microwave containers with glass/Pyrex.
• Use wax paper instead of plastic wrap.
• Buy phosphate free dishwasher detergent.
• Buy produce locally.
• Don't buy cleaners that say "toxic, corrosive, caustic."
• Use a microfiber mop with non-toxic floor cleaner.

3. Bedroom

• Buy a PBDE-free mattress, such as organic natural latex.
• Buy un-dyed linen, organic cotton or bamboo sheets.
• No-iron (sheets or shirts) are treated with formaldehyde.
• Use paraffin wax candles only.

4. Bathroom

• 'Hydrosol' in beauty/body products means nothing.
• 'Extracts' just means water.
• Try to buy 95% or higher of natural ingredients in beauty/body products.
• Triclosan in toothpaste is dangerous.
• Buy bar soaps that are EDTA free.
• Avoid lotions, shaving gels, shampoo and toothpaste that don't have parabens or other "-abens".
• Buy an non-PVC shower curtain and liner - like hemp, cotton or canvas (which are also machine washable).
• Put the lid down and then flush.
• There's propane in aerosol air fresheners. Use essential oils instead.
• Hang a sprig of eucalyptus from the shower head. It released essential oils and helps relieve congestion.
• Squeegee the shower.

5. Laundry room

• Use nontoxic, concentrated un-chlorinated bleach that's biodegradable or hydrogen peroxide (16 oz.)
• Use 1 cup of white vinegar in the "clean" cycle on the washing machine.

6. Kids' Rooms

• Use paints and markers certified by the ACMI.
• Check out www.thegreenguide.com, it has a list of clean and dirty arts and crafts supplies.
• By organic cotton, snug fitting PJs instead of the flame retardant ones.
• Buy PVC free toys (AKA: the #3 in the recycle triangle or the letter "v").

7. Pets

• Avoid flea shampoos and collars. Use eucalyptus oil or cloves instead, as well as feeding dog a few cloves of garlic daily.
• Give the dog a bath 1x a week with a natural soap.
• Use PVC free toys.

Step by step...

I Think I'm Becoming a Tree Hugger...and a Penny Pincher

It happened almost by accident a few months ago, right after my baby was born. I used to say that I cared about the earth. I recycled pop cans (10¢ per can is very motivating) , made my deposit in the Paper Gator at church, didn't litter. I KNEW I wasn't frugal. I also KNEW that my wonderful husband and I needed to change our spending habits if we were ever going to be able to survive on one income.

We had already done things like getting rid of the extras - cable, extra stuff on our phones, using cold water in the laundry, etc. Then I read 2 books about frugality: Miserly Moms, which is pretty good; and The Complete Tightwad Gazette, which is a little old (pretty much ignore anything she says about computers, the rest is like gold), but VERY good. That's when I started to realize how I wasteful I really was. I realized that anything that you use only once - dryer sheets, napkins, paper plates and cups, plastic silverware, paper towels, diapers, wipes, etc. - and throw away is like throwing away money. It is also SO bad for the environment. These things are taking up space in landfills and they take so many natural resources to produce:

• The average family washes about 8 loads of laundry per week. Dryer sheets cost $3 per box of 80, average. Yeah, that's only $14 per year, but chances are, you'll be doing laundry for the better part of at least 50 years. That's $700 that you're throwing away in your adult lifetime!
• The average family uses about 40 paper napkins per week. Napkins cost $3 per pack of 120, average. Yeah, that's only $50 per year, but chances are, you'll be eating for the better part of at least 50 years. That's $2,500 that you're throwing away in your adult lifetime!
• The average baby uses about 6,000 disposable diapers from birth to age 3. Disposables cost 32¢ per diaper, average. That's $1,920 in diapers for 1 kid! You can get into cloth diapers and wipes for $300, for the basics, to $800, for all the cutsies and extras. I spent $500 to get my baby into cloth and my toddler into trainers.

It is cheaper and healthier to make almost any convenience food that you can find:

• Love those baby-cut carrots and other pre-cut veggies and fruits? They cost 1.5 to 2 times as much (or more!) than if you buy them and cut them yourself!
• Lunchable can be as cheap as $2. You can make your own for less than half the cost. You can also control the quality and nutrition when you make your own.
• Baby food is another convenience food trap. You think that you NEED it to feed your baby. Doesn't it make you a little nervous that baby food has a 2 year shelf life?
• What about all the extra packaging that you are paying for and using when you buy those 100 calorie packs? Pre-made baby bottles? Individual pudding, applesauce and jello? Water bottles? Where does that go?

The thing we all need to realize is what and where 'away' is. When we throw stuff 'away' it doesn't just disappear. It goes to the landfills. I've got news for you...those landfills are getting full. I watched the Bonnie Hunt Show this week with 2 guys who made a raft from 15,000 plastic water bottles and sailed from California to Hawaii to raise awareness about the harm plastic is causing in our environment. Check out this website and see what you can do to reduce or eliminate the amount of plastics YOU use.

"The earth is our ship, an ark for everything that lives. It is the only vessel available to carry humans through the ocean of space, and it is rapidly becoming unseaworthy." ~ Serve God, Save the Planet, J. Matthew Sleeth, MD