Greener Cleaner

I have realized, talking to my friend on Thursday, that I have been on this real food, greener living journey for about 18 months now!!

That's crazy!!

I also thought it would be nice to share my greener cleaners. I still have some things that I want to change, and I am making it my aim this year to switch over to homemade laundry powder, but this is some of what we use now:

General Houshold cleaner

Ingredients
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
essential oils - tea tree, lemon, or eucalyptus  (optional)

Mix in spray bottle, use instead of anti-bac cleaners.

Variation - Put left over orange peels in a jar, pour your white vinegar over to cover, and store for 3 weeks, then use this in your mix. The oils from the orange peel help the cleaning power, and don't hurt the smell either....

Carpet smell remover

Sprinkle some Bicarbonate of soda on the area, brush into the carpet, leave for 15 mins and vacuum up.

Carpet Stain Remover

Mix Bicarb soda with white vinegar, making a paste, brush into the stain with an old toothbrush and leave to dry. Then vacuum. 

Washing Machine Cleaner

When your clothes start to get a bit smell, and you need to rinse out your washing machine, there is no need to spend money on special cleaners, from Doctor so-and-so, just put 2 cups of white vinegar in your drum, and put on a hot wash. This will clear all the limescale and odors from your system. (And a bottle of white vinegar is abut 50p in the UK!!) 

These are just some of the cleaners we use in our house regularly (we even took them on holiday with us!) 
Frugal, and effective. And far better for us all.
Have a go.

Oil Pulling...Yummmmyy!!???

I have real trouble with my teeth. 

All of my life, my teeth have been very soft, along with my bones and nails, which bend. (my nails, not my bones. I think.)

I have come to believe that this is to do with my diet, and the INCREDIBLY sweet tooth I have always had, and am now doing something about it. 

However, sometimes, we have to expect the consequences of our former actions.

So I have had a filling fall out recently, and I keep getting a very sore gum, and a small abscess that keeps coming and going, and it stops me eating sometimes!!

I have always used mouthwash to deal with any infections previously, but since starting this real food, greener living lifestyle, I am a little reticent to put something in my mouth that is a) full of Fluoride, and b) makes my mouth burn and strips it of saliva!!! (can NOT be good!!!)

My search inevitably started on Google, as most of my queries do, and I came across Oil Pulling. At first I was like, "You do WHAT!?" but the more I looked at it, I started to think that anything must be worth a try, to get rid of this current infection. (Did I mention my extreme fear of dentists??).

The first day, I tried it with the only oil I had in the house, which was olive oil. I used a tsp of it, and put it in my mouth and swilled, like mouthwash. I have to say, the texture wasn't as bad as I had thought, but I could not keep it going for more than about 7 mins before needing to swallow, so I spat it out. As the tutorials say, it should be milky white. Well, obviously, I didn't do it for long enough because it was still yellow oil, very thin, as it gets mixed with your saliva, but not what it should be. 

The first thing I realized though, was why they say to do it on an empty stomach!! the taste of the Olive oil, which I enjoy normally, was sat at the back of my throat, and made me gag a little!! If I had've eaten breakfast, I would definitely have lost it!!!

The next day, I tried again, and got to 10 mins, and no gagging. From there, I have had 2 more days, and and am getting better. I have reached the milky white, and my gum really is starting to feel better. I have some coconut oil coming this week, so I may try with that, instead.

I am always interested to try new things, and some things just need to become acquired tastes, because the benefits outweigh the discomforts.... like oil pulling, for instance.... 

It's ALIVE!!!!!!

I'm very impressed!!

I've been making a Ginger bug for my fermented Ginger Beer and I think it's now ready!!!

I found the recipe Here and have been trying it out, having never tried fermenting before.

It looked like slush for days, but the recipe says that it is ready when it starts to bubble as you stir it.

It's BUBBLY!!!! 

I'm really looking forward to making this, as it is a healthy, probiotic soda, and I do have to say, I get a little bored of drinking just water.....

So another week of fermenting in the bottles, and we will be ready to taste.

I will let you know how it all goes....

Recommendations from this week...

Ahhhhh, a weekend's rest!

Saturday has always been the day that I try to do very little, as Sunday is a busy day for us, but recently, Hubby has been working extra shifts and our boys go to Kickboxing lessons on a Saturday afternoon.

As we have been without a car for a while now, this means a bus trip and a two hr class for us to sit in on. 

Daddy usually takes the boys, but with his shifts, it's been Mama's turn. So no day off.

However, a cancelled lesson means a day to relax, so here are a few of the websites and blogs I have been interested in this week.

Links

Is your vision of your personality too narrow? @youngwife'sguide (this is me!!)

10 Things you didn't know about sugar post on thehuffingtonpost.com  (currently on day 3 without sugar, feeling a little off, but I'm the girl who passes up on dinner to eat pudding, so I shouldn't expect any less really!)

Week 15 of 52 ways for more Serenity in life and home @Domesticserenity

Ferments @realfoodlover (trying the ginger beer ferment as we speak)

Enjoy!

Balance: the whys and wherefores

It never takes much for me to get out of balance.

I am an extremely faddy person. I get fixated on things and they become all i think about. then I want to try things myself, and praise God I have an accommodating husband!

I go mad and then..... 3 weeks later I'm done. 

This happened with simple, green, clean living. 

I saw some blogs, read some research and that was it, I was away. 

I wanted to change everything at once, because when you know this stuff, you cant un-know it, can you!?

Well, you guessed it, a lot of my "simple living" ideas went out the window very quickly. 

Then I felt guilt for not doing it! 

The things we put ourselves through, eh! 

So I've been praying, and I feel we have come to a place where I need to start taking a more relaxed approach. 
A great tip I saw on another blog was work out what matters to YOU, not what you have seen others do. 

It is important to us to homeschool our children. It is important to us to eat nourishing real food, but sometimes we like to eat takeout, and once in a while, that's fine too. It's important to us to limit the amount of chemicals in our house, and I want to reduce my sugar intake. but most of all, it's important to us to model a life with Jesus to our children, by living a life with Jesus in front of our children, mistakes and all. 

So, I share with my kids what God is doing in my life, they see the changes that are taking place in me and DH, and we encourage them in their own walks.

THAT'S important to me.

NOT all the other stuff. Praise You God, for showing this stubborn woman a different way.

The Hard Water Fairies

So I have finally figured out the reason my hair feels like i have washed it with candle wax!!

HARD WATER!!! 

I was thinking that I was just going to have to quit and wash my hair with shampoo, but I knew I really didn't want to do that, after almost 4 weeks without it.

I Googled it (We love Google in this house) and others have had the same problem. 

The solution? 

Boiling the water before making the baking soda rinse!!! Simples!! 

I have done this today and my hair FINALLY feels clean! Still need to cut through the rest of the grease in the length of my hair, but I can tell the difference already, and it gives me hope!!

I Am a Happy Bunny Now! 

I can do it, I can do it...

My hair is driving me crazy!!!

There, I said it! This is week 3 of no 'poo and it is still very greasy. Come on hair, balance out! 

I was so tempted this morning in the shower to just give it a really good shampoo, but i know that would be quitting before the benefits start to show, so I WILL persevere with it. It will all be worth it when I get past this initial phase. 

Ponytails and pinned back fringe for me still.....

No shampoo? No probs...

After browsing some of my favorite natural living blog sites, I came across some quite frankly startling ideas. 

• Like green cleaners; using just vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice to clean pretty much your whole house (which I use ALL the time now, and that was a gentle one)
• using oil to cleanse your face (about to try this, will let you know how it goes)
• natural deodorants, (still pondering this.....)

But the one I really was shocked by, then intrigued by, and am a week into trying, is the no 'poo method. Not using shampoo??? Are you crazy, I hear you cry. Are you dirty, I hear you think! Maybe a little, and no, I'm perfectly clean. 

Here is a link to a great source of info on this topic, but for me, anything that cuts down on time, money and pumping chemicals into my body is worth a try. 

Like I said, I'm a week into this new change, and at present, my mid-back length henna red hair feels a little greasy. Doesn't look it, I'm assured, and feels strange to rinse your hair in the shower and it's not squeaky clean, but from what I have read, it can take up to a month for my hair to stop reacting to the lack of shampoo and balance out. I'm quite looking forward to it, actually.

I have had no luck convincing Boo, my 13 yr old daughter to try it, but then she is 13, and the only time I'm in favor is when the laptop is out..... 

Some great resources on this, and my go-to sites are:

• simple mom
• keeper of the home

So is this something you have ever thought of doing, or am I just a bit late to the no 'poo party? Leave a comment below.