What do you use to clean?

It is probably obviously from my previous post the convention cleaning products are not healthy. They not only smell horrible and put toxic fumes into your lungs, the ones that have actually been tested have been shown to cause cancer in animals and people. Wonder why the cancer rates continue to raise look no further then your cleaning products. Unfortunately cleaning products are big business and vinegar is not so which do you think you will see more ads for? EWG the wonderful group who puts together the Skin Deep website is working on another just for cleaners. I am very excited about it because although I use very few, actually only 3, store bought cleaning products I can not wait to see their results and have a trusted website for friends and family to search for safe cleaning products.

With a quick internet search you can find hundreds of homemade recipes for cleaning. I have tried a lot of them and over the years I have settled on what I think is the simplest and cheapest cleaning recipes. In my next post I will give you the specifics on our homemade recipes and how we clean the different surfaces in our home.

Today I can not imagine using any other cleaners. I am so thankful that I do not have to worry about my kids getting in to the cleaning supplies. I never have a fear that they will be poisoned by something I am using and I know my house is clean, healthy, and safe.

Just for those still unsure vinegar kills bacteria, mold, and germs just as well as most any store bought household cleaner. Still worried that the germs are not gone wipe the surface with hydrogen peroxide, you probably already use it to kill the germs in an open wound and you know it works, why not use it on your cutting board as well, it will kill any germs you are worried about. Tea Tree Oil is also a disinfectant but please be careful with essential oils they are wonderful but are highly concentrated. Be sure to dilute them properly and even though they are natural they do need to be used with caution. A good site with information on essential oil safety can be found here. 

 

Some helpful links on cleaning naturally
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html
http://www.vinegartips.com/

http://www.greenamerica.org/livinggreen/greencleaners.cfm

http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/home-improvement/info-03-2011/natural-cleaning-products-do-not-work.html

Cleaning Step 1: Organized House Cleaning

The first step in cleaning naturally is to have an idea of what needs to be cleaned and a plan to get it all done.
First make a list of what needs to be cleaned in the house. You can break it down by what needs to be done every week, month, and year. From this point you can create your lists to match the way you want to clean. Maybe you want to list all the tasks room by room or upstairs and downstairs.
I wanted to put a mix of quick chores and longer chores together. I also thought I would organize my cleaning list to try to get everything in one month. I decided that a 4 week cleaning plan would work for me. I have my list on my phone so when I have a spare minute I can quickly see what my list for the week is and check off what I have done.
I find cleaning more often makes for much easier cleaning. For example although the baseboards do not need to be cleaned every month (more like once a year) I find that if I quickly wipe them down about every one to two months it is much faster then once a year cleaning. Although I have my schedule I do not freak out if during my week I do not get everything done. I figure it will all be there in 4 weeks when the list comes back around.
 Each week I clean a different part of the house, except floors and bathrooms which are cleaned every week. Currently my cleaning list is as follows

Week 1
Bathrooms
Floors
Dust
Kitchen Counters/sink
Wash Bath and floor mats

Week 2
Bathrooms
Floors
Baseboards Upstairs
Fans

Week 3
Bathrooms
Floors
Walls
Doors
Appliances

Week 4
Bathroom
Floors
Blinds
Windows
Baseboards Downstairs


So pick up a pencil and paper take a walk around your home and start making your list. Organize it and come back to see how all these areas can be cleaned with little effort and no chemicals.
Finished with Step 1 then head on over to Step 2.

My go to reference on cleaning naturally

I couple of years ago I read the book Naturally Clean. It is my go to book on all things cleaning and I must say it is awesome! I am encouraging everyone to read it (I have a copy you can borrow). Not only is it an easy read but it gives some great information on cleaning products and our home. It makes me feel very good to have switched to natural cleaning methods. I think the one thing I was surprised about is even though the book is sponsored by Seventh Generation, it is not an endorsement for all their products. In fact it really is an endorsement for making your own products. There is a lot of research sited in the book for those non believers out there. For those who think I am crazy with all I do I would really encourage you to read this book before you judge me. You will find yourself throwing out (properly dispose of them since they are toxic substances) all your traditional, unregulated, untested, and unsafe cleaning products.
For those who do not have the book I thought I would share some of the main points through out my cleaning series of blogs. Let me first say that changing to anything new is often difficult and should be taken one step at a time. My posts will guide you through the changes I have made in our cleaning routine over the years moving room by room throughout the house.

Series on Cleaning

I am starting with a series of blogs on cleaning. Cleaning is one of the biggest ways you can change your health and the environment. Surprisingly the air in many homes is actually much more polluted then the air outside. There could be many reasons for unhealthy air in your home. To learn more read this article for the American Lung Association. The main reason our home air is unhealthy is because of off gassing from materials and furniture and toxic chemicals in the products you use. Both of these things are completely in your control. Over the next few posts you will see how easy it is to ditch those toxic products and have a clean and healthy home.

Are Cleaning Products MakingYour Family Ill? I read this great article on cleaning products at babyzone.com a long time ago. It really gives good information about what to avoid and what is good for cleaning. I would love to hear your opinion on the article. Please read it and post below about your thoughts.

I truly believe after all the research I have done that cleaning products are very dangerous. Even though it is sold at the grocery store does not make it safe. Just because the commercial says it is good and everyone should use it does not mean it is safe for you or your little ones. You really do not need to be buying household cleaners and disinfectants.

The only way you can make a difference is by being an educated consumer do your research or email me I would be glad to help out anyone. If you know there are better options then choose them. If you are reading this then you now know that there are better options. Do not be an uneducated consumer. EWG Skin Deep is a wonderful place to go for information on chemicals and the research that has or has not been done on them.

Would you knowingly put yourself or your family in danger? I know I have terrible guilt when I think (or worse know) my choices could be risking my childrens's health. There is so much I can not control but what goes on in my home I have complete control over and so do you. Sorry I usually am not preachy but I feel this is so very important and many people just shrug it off. No one is going to take care of you but you, so do what is right for yourself and make the changes you need to make.

To view each cleaning step click the links below.
Step 1: Organized House Cleaning
Step 2: Supplies for Cleaning the House
Step 3: Cleaning the House
Step 4: The Dishes
Step 5: Laundry

Fabric Gift Wrap

I made a vow a a couple of years ago that I would no longer spend money on wrapping paper. I have always saved every gift bag and piece of tissue paper to reuse. Currently though I have a few Christmas bags and a whole lot of baby girl and baby boy bags. I use these when ever I can but I need to find another solution to gift giving. For this reason I have been looking into reusable gift wrap. Most of what you find out there is bags. I think the reusable bags are great for birthdays but under my tree I still like the look of wrapped boxes with pretty ribbon.

I found a tutorial here that had some good information on making gift wrap. I thought I would get different fabric for each child so there would be no need to label the gifts. I knew I needed to make gift wrap not only for Christmas but also for the kids birthdays. This is when I thought why not make it double sided so one side is Christmas and the other side is for birthday. For those not interested in making gift wrap try Etsy there are many sellers of reusable gift bags and gift wrap there.

Here is my double sided gift wrap tutorial:

Making at least 3 sizes of gift wrap small, medium, and large in order to be sure you can wrap a variety of things. I also have 4 very large fabric bags which I use for extra large items. My smallest wrap is 12"x18" and my largest is 3'x4'.

First choose 2 different fabrics. I used a strawberry fabric and a plain red.
Lay out the fabric with the right sides facing each other.

Decide how big you want your gift wrap and cut about 1/2 inch more on each side. I did not use any precise measuring. I just eyeballed it and cut out different size squares and rectangles from the fabric I had.

Fold the top layer of fabric in half. Place a ribbon about the length of the fabric across the bottom fabric where the top fabric is folded up. Pull a small amount of ribbon out beyond the fabric and fold the top fabric back down.

Pin the ribbon and the corners of the two fabrics together.
Sew around the fabrics leaving a small area not sewn in order to flip the fabric.

Flip the fabric so the right sides are out. Push out the corners as needed and then sew up the unsewn section.
You now have a completed fabric gift wrap.





How the wrap your gift.
Use the fabric gift wrap as you would paper. Lay it out and put the object you are wrapping in the middle. Fold up the sides without the ribbon.

Then fold in the corners and fold up the sides with the ribbon.

Depending on the size of the object you may be able to wrap the ribbon around to the front of the package or just tie the ribbon in the back.


This is the first tutorial I have ever written. If you have any question please post them below I will be happy to clarify anything confusing.

Here are a few pictures of our fabric wrap being used though the years at both Christmas and birthdays!

Please use reusable bags!

Why oh why do I still see so many people leaving the stores with plastic bags? Reusable bags are easy, convenient, and so much better for the world.

These are the best bags for grocery shopping I have the Pastel String bags and Stephen has the Neutral ones. 5 bags with a stuff sack to keep them all in they are perfect to keep in the car for all your shopping needs. I like the short handles best.

For produce I love my mesh bags I bought from here. They are the perfect size and they store in their own stuff sack which I have attached to my string bags stuff sack. They are see through and durable but could be considered on the small size. A couple of extra large ones would be a good idea to complete the set.

I also love to buy from the bulk section, no wasted packaging. For my bulk purchases I have these wonderful bags. They hold anything I need.

I have 2 of these that I love for throwing in my purse when I go into any store.

The bags above are just a few of the thousands of options you have in reusable bags. The trick is to really think about what you will use them for and buy accordingly. Here are 2 great places to start your search for reusable bags.

reusablebags.com

Etsy.com

Revamp of Purely Natural

Purely Natural is going to be revamped! I have had a hard time deciding what to do with this blog I am hoping that starting fresh will motivate me to write more. I want Purely Natural to be an area where I can post about all the natural and organic things we do in our family. Hopefully by explaining what we do, how we do it, and why we do it I will be able to inspire others to do the same. Also for all my friends and family who know I am an eco-friendly nut but are not sure why this blog should help explain my reasoning behind my madness.

I love to learn about how others run their life and why they do the things they do, it is amazing what you can learn from someone else. So read, comment, and ask questions. The more you actually discuss the realities of day to day life the more you learn about yourself and those around you.