DIY NATURAL Crash Course CLEANING Crash CourseDIY …

[Pages:17]DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course 3

DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

My Natural

Cleaning

Story

In 2008, Dustin and I made a decision to change our eating habits.

Our goal was to eat less processed food and enjoy more "real food," a word that I learned from reading Michael Pollan's books. This goal took us down many different roads: veganism, vegetarianism, and finally the discovery of something called pastured bacon (hallelujah!!). To be fully honest, at the time I thought our decision was one that would simply change our meals, nothing more. I never thought for one single second that our decision to eat real food (the stuff that actually comes from the ground or an animal, not altered substances) would change the way we clean, what we use on our skin, and even the way we do laundry.

Oh how I was wrong!

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DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

That one decision resulted in a total lifestyle change for our young family.

After a couple of years of eating real food, I began to question not only the products we called "food," but also the products being used on our skin and in our home. This questioning led to a quest to "green" our products. Soon I found myself making friends with castile soap and spray bottles, learning how to use vinegar for more than just salad dressing, and loving the simplicity and cleaning power of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

Today, our lifestyle is radically different than it was back in 2008. Our family is larger and noisier (hey kiddos!), our food is made with real ingredients, and we are more informed about the products we buy and/or make.

My goal for this crash course is to teach you how easy it is to make effective cleaning products at home, with ingredients you can actually pronounce. In this crash course, I share a checklist of common cleaning ingredients you can use to clean your entire home, along with a list of common cleaning tools (and tools for making homemade cleaners). I also teach you how to make three basic cleaners using common ingredients: castile soap all-purpose cleaner, glass and mirror cleaner, and a vinegar-based floor cleaner.

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DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

DIY Natural Cleaning

Checklist

Common Cleaning

Ingredients:

baking soda washing soda white vinegar* liquid castile soap* bar castile soap Sal Suds fresh citrus essential oils* borax hydrogen peroxide alcohol (vodka and/or

rubbing alcohol)* kosher or sea salt

Common Cleaning

Tools:

scrub brushes cotton towels microfiber cloths spray bottles storage containers sponges dusting wand broom and dustpan labels gloves toilet bowl brush vacuum mop and bucket or swiffer funnel cleaning caddy or box measuring cups and spoons mixing bowl or bucket (for

mixing ingredients)

* Ingredients used in this crash course.

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DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

Ingredients You'll Need:

Liquid Castile Soap, White Vinegar, Rubbing Alcohol, Water, Essential Oil(s)

to make:

1 CASTILE SOAP ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY 2 GLASS AND MIRROR CLEANER 3 VINEGAR FLOOR CLEANER

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Vinegar:

DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

Vinegar is 5% acetic acid. This acid fights against bacteria and other yuckies you don't want living in your home. Vinegar can't be used on every surface (like marble and granite), but even with its limitations, vinegar is an extremely versatile product to keep in your natural cleaning toolkit.

Castile Soap:

Castile soap is a vegetable-based soap with ingredients you can actually pronounce! This soap is both gentle on the skin and effective in the fight against dirt, grease, and unwanted germs. Dr. Bronner's is a very a popular brand of castile soap.

The world is just a better place with castile soap, really! Castile soap can be used to clean just about anything and everything: your face, your laundry, and even your stinky dog! Pretty amazing stuff.

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DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

Alcohol (Vodka and/or Rubbing Alcohol):

The guy at the liquor store knows me well and it's not because I'm a lover of alcohol beverages. I'm still trying to convince him that my large vodka purchases are due to my love of homemade vanilla extract and cleaners, not well, you get the point.

Vodka's high alcohol content is perfect for killing germs and even mildew. You can also use alcohol to help shine chrome and glass. Simply wipe a surface with a cloth that's been sprayed with half vodka and half distilled water, and voila?squeaky clean! Vodka may also be used to kill odors and freshen-up fabrics. That's right. Kiss the Febreze good-bye.

Rubbing alcohol, also known as isopropyl alcohol, is considered an antiseptic and sold as such in grocery stores. Rubbing alcohol, similar to vodka, is used in homemade cleaners to kill germs.

I know some people in the natural community avoid rubbing alcohol for cleaning purposes. Vodka may be safely substituted for rubbing alcohol in cleaning recipes.

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DIY NATURAL CLEANING Crash Course

Essential Oils:

Essential oils are very popular today, but the truth is before the popular oil brands marketed online and bloggers started filling Pinterest with essential oil recipes, essential oils were being used by generations before us. Essential oils are basically concentrated oils derived from plants. For those wanting a more scientific definition, here's how Retha, a certified aromatherapist from Plant Therapy, defines an essential oil, "An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation, often by using steam." Essential oils not only provide a pretty, natural fragrance to homemade cleaners, but also beneficial properties. A few of my favorite essential oils for cleaning include: lemon, tea tree, peppermint, lavender, grapefruit, and orange.

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