Homemade natural floor cleaner is actually simple! I think when people make up a floor cleaner with they add too much to it. Here is what I found. I used a floor cleaning solution of Sal Suds, baking soda, vinegar and hot water. I expected my floors to sparkle. It left my floors really gunky. Might have been the baking soda, might have been the soap. The next time I mopped I simply mixed hot water and vinegar. And.... TA DA! Perfect floors. I am not kidding. So, keep it simple. Why make it hard on yourself??
Natural Floor Cleaner
1 c. white vinegar
1 sink full of hot water
a few drops of lavendar
Mix, mop, and enjoy the easy life!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Natural Shampoo Recipe
Want a better shampoo? Here is a natural recipe that will leave your hair ultra shiny and smooth.
Natural Shampoo Recipe
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. castile soap
1 tbsp. honey
2-3 vitamin E capsules
2-3 drops peppermint oil
Add all ingredients into a pump bottle or an old shampoo bottle. Shake it up. Wash away.
So, I find this works nicely for a natural shampoo recipe. The honey adds some shine to you hair. It is also a humectant. I am not sure what the vitamin E is good for. I feel that it helps protect against breakage with my hair. The peppermint oil it good for dry hair. It also promotes hair growth. The fresh minty feel gets blood flowing to your scalp. Hence, healthier hair! :)
One note though, it is good to use a 1:9 water to vinegar rinse as a conditioner. For one, it is natural and cheap. It also ACTUALLY works! Your hair will be smooth, soft, and free of tangles. But, lastly, it strips the soap that builds on your hair when you use a real soap. It does smell a bit, but it will be gone when it dries.
Good Luck! Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Natural Shampoo Recipe
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. castile soap
1 tbsp. honey
2-3 vitamin E capsules
2-3 drops peppermint oil
Add all ingredients into a pump bottle or an old shampoo bottle. Shake it up. Wash away.
So, I find this works nicely for a natural shampoo recipe. The honey adds some shine to you hair. It is also a humectant. I am not sure what the vitamin E is good for. I feel that it helps protect against breakage with my hair. The peppermint oil it good for dry hair. It also promotes hair growth. The fresh minty feel gets blood flowing to your scalp. Hence, healthier hair! :)
One note though, it is good to use a 1:9 water to vinegar rinse as a conditioner. For one, it is natural and cheap. It also ACTUALLY works! Your hair will be smooth, soft, and free of tangles. But, lastly, it strips the soap that builds on your hair when you use a real soap. It does smell a bit, but it will be gone when it dries.
Good Luck! Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Natural All-Purpose Cleaner Recipe
Here is how I make my natural cleaner!
Turtle's Natural Homemade Cleaner Recipe
1 16-20 oz. spray bottle
1/4-1/2 tsp. Sal Suds or castile soap
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. white vinegar
3-5 drops essential oil
Fill your spray bottle about 3/4 full of warm water. Add Sal Suds or castile soap and baking soda. Shake it up. Last, add vinegar and essential oil. This natural cleaner will be a little bubbly at first. You may need to let it sit about 5-10 minutes before using it the first time. Store along with you other homemade cleaners until you run out.
I find this to be a VERY effective natural cleaner that is easily made at home for pennies. Typically, I use Sal Suds to make this spray. I find that castile soap leaves a lot of residue and does not cut grease as well as the Sal Suds. Sal Suds also has Fir Needle and Spruce oil. This smells really fresh and leaves surfaces shining brilliantly. My counters, wood cabinetry, stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, and bathroom have never looked better or been so easy to clean. I just spray on, let sit a few minutes and wipe away. If you go light on the baking soda (say, 1/4 tsp. for 20 oz) this will even clean glass streak-free. If you try this and you do happen to see streaks from the baking soda, just re-wipe with a vinegar rinse.
As for essential oils, I am still using lavender oil for the smell, but if you are worried about the homemade cleaner being a really good disinfectant, use tea tree oil.
Please leave some comments if anyone is out there! :)
Turtle's Natural Homemade Cleaner Recipe
1 16-20 oz. spray bottle
1/4-1/2 tsp. Sal Suds or castile soap
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. white vinegar
3-5 drops essential oil
Fill your spray bottle about 3/4 full of warm water. Add Sal Suds or castile soap and baking soda. Shake it up. Last, add vinegar and essential oil. This natural cleaner will be a little bubbly at first. You may need to let it sit about 5-10 minutes before using it the first time. Store along with you other homemade cleaners until you run out.
I find this to be a VERY effective natural cleaner that is easily made at home for pennies. Typically, I use Sal Suds to make this spray. I find that castile soap leaves a lot of residue and does not cut grease as well as the Sal Suds. Sal Suds also has Fir Needle and Spruce oil. This smells really fresh and leaves surfaces shining brilliantly. My counters, wood cabinetry, stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, and bathroom have never looked better or been so easy to clean. I just spray on, let sit a few minutes and wipe away. If you go light on the baking soda (say, 1/4 tsp. for 20 oz) this will even clean glass streak-free. If you try this and you do happen to see streaks from the baking soda, just re-wipe with a vinegar rinse.
As for essential oils, I am still using lavender oil for the smell, but if you are worried about the homemade cleaner being a really good disinfectant, use tea tree oil.
Please leave some comments if anyone is out there! :)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Ultimate Natural Laundy Soap!
I know I said I would be writing about my dishwasher soap first, but I just did a load of laundry and remembered how excited I am about my new laundry soap recipe creation.
One of my favorite products is Sal Suds from Dr. Bronner's Magical Soaps. As advertised, this stuff is MAGICAL! Don't worry, they are not paying me to say so. I got my first gallon a few weeks ago and I don't think I'll ever go back. I have had nothing but success with this stuff! I have also heard people say they use it for everything and it lasts them a good 6-9 months. So, take that into account when you see the price.
On the bottle there are a few suggestions for how to use Sal Suds. These suggestions are nothing special, just sort of advised dilutions I guess. I think they want you to be creative :) One of the suggestions was to use it as a laundry soap (1/4c. per load). I did this the day I got it and I was simply amazed. I did a load of dirty diapers that had been a little on the poop-stained side (okay, really poop-stained) for over a year now. They came out perfectly white. As white as they day I got them. It was pleasantly shocking.
The only problem I had with all of this is that at around $30+ for a gallon (that would do 64 loads of laundry) it is super expensive. Sal Suds will last months and months...but not if you use it at 1/4c. per load for laundry. :) So, I did some experimenting. Here is what I came up with.
Turtle's Ultimate Natural Laundry Soap Recipe
approx. 1/4-1/2 c. water for easy mixing
approx. 1/8 c. Sal Suds
approx. 1/4 c. Borax
2-5 drops essential oil (lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, whatever) -optional
approx. 1/4 c. white vinegar
In a cup I put some water. I then add the Sal Suds and Borax and stir. Last, I add the vinegar and the essential oil (I use lavender because I like the smell). Give it another stir and dump it in the wash. If you like, add some vinegar in a softener ball for added softness and a residue-free rinse.
Notes - Add the vinegar last. I personally have never had Sal Suds "gum up" when vinegar is added, but I know vinegar will mess with other soaps (like castile soap). Adding it last seems to lessen the effect. Next, pick an essential oil based on your needs. Different oils are good for different things. Lavender is an anti-bacterial, but it smells nice. Tea tree is also a well known antiseptic and antifungal. I will try to get a link for essential oil info soon. Last, for tough stuff (like my daughter's poop-tinted diapers) I will use a little more Sal Suds. I only do this on rare occasions though because of the cost.
So, there you go. Cutting the amount of Sal Suds you use down will get you about 128 loads out of a gallon. If you do the math it is around $7-8 per 32 loads, which is competitive with the name brand chemical crap from the store. Borax and vinegar are both cheap and last forever. The essential oil I have was about $7, but I have had it for 8 months now and use it in everything from my daughter's bath every night to homemade all-purpose cleaner. I still have over half a bottle left.
Super simple and chemical free! Your family's skin will thank you. No more allergies, no more chemicals throwing off your septic tank's ecology, no more carcinogens creeping off your undies and into your pores! I am not sure that last one actually happens, but if you knew what was in your regular detergent, you might wonder...
Happy green cleaning!
One of my favorite products is Sal Suds from Dr. Bronner's Magical Soaps. As advertised, this stuff is MAGICAL! Don't worry, they are not paying me to say so. I got my first gallon a few weeks ago and I don't think I'll ever go back. I have had nothing but success with this stuff! I have also heard people say they use it for everything and it lasts them a good 6-9 months. So, take that into account when you see the price.
On the bottle there are a few suggestions for how to use Sal Suds. These suggestions are nothing special, just sort of advised dilutions I guess. I think they want you to be creative :) One of the suggestions was to use it as a laundry soap (1/4c. per load). I did this the day I got it and I was simply amazed. I did a load of dirty diapers that had been a little on the poop-stained side (okay, really poop-stained) for over a year now. They came out perfectly white. As white as they day I got them. It was pleasantly shocking.
The only problem I had with all of this is that at around $30+ for a gallon (that would do 64 loads of laundry) it is super expensive. Sal Suds will last months and months...but not if you use it at 1/4c. per load for laundry. :) So, I did some experimenting. Here is what I came up with.
Turtle's Ultimate Natural Laundry Soap Recipe
approx. 1/4-1/2 c. water for easy mixing
approx. 1/8 c. Sal Suds
approx. 1/4 c. Borax
2-5 drops essential oil (lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, whatever) -optional
approx. 1/4 c. white vinegar
In a cup I put some water. I then add the Sal Suds and Borax and stir. Last, I add the vinegar and the essential oil (I use lavender because I like the smell). Give it another stir and dump it in the wash. If you like, add some vinegar in a softener ball for added softness and a residue-free rinse.
Notes - Add the vinegar last. I personally have never had Sal Suds "gum up" when vinegar is added, but I know vinegar will mess with other soaps (like castile soap). Adding it last seems to lessen the effect. Next, pick an essential oil based on your needs. Different oils are good for different things. Lavender is an anti-bacterial, but it smells nice. Tea tree is also a well known antiseptic and antifungal. I will try to get a link for essential oil info soon. Last, for tough stuff (like my daughter's poop-tinted diapers) I will use a little more Sal Suds. I only do this on rare occasions though because of the cost.
So, there you go. Cutting the amount of Sal Suds you use down will get you about 128 loads out of a gallon. If you do the math it is around $7-8 per 32 loads, which is competitive with the name brand chemical crap from the store. Borax and vinegar are both cheap and last forever. The essential oil I have was about $7, but I have had it for 8 months now and use it in everything from my daughter's bath every night to homemade all-purpose cleaner. I still have over half a bottle left.
Super simple and chemical free! Your family's skin will thank you. No more allergies, no more chemicals throwing off your septic tank's ecology, no more carcinogens creeping off your undies and into your pores! I am not sure that last one actually happens, but if you knew what was in your regular detergent, you might wonder...
Happy green cleaning!
Welcome to my first blog!
Okay, so this is my first blog.
I have been spending some time on the web trying to find recipes that use organic and natural items to make a cleaner home and body (for example, an all natural diahwasher soap that you can make on the cheap or homemade shampoo). After a few days of searching off and on, I noticed there is limited information on this. On top of that, what does exist is scattered all over then net. It turns out there is an interest in this topic, but people are only pursuing it as a small side note to blogs on other organic living topics.
So, here is what I want to do for the world... I am going to create my own natural cleaning recipes and gather what already exists, test them out, let you all know how they perform and how to do it all. So far, I have already created a dishwasher soap, an all purpose cleaner, shampoo, and a body soap. I have heard ideas for a deoderant and toothpaste as well. I am going to start with that stuff and branch out from there. So, if you are arriving at this site in its early stages and have an interest, please bookmark me and check back every week or so. I plan to get a post up about my dishwasher soap within the next day.
Comments, suggestions for new things to try, and questions are VERY welcome!
Happy green cleaning!
I have been spending some time on the web trying to find recipes that use organic and natural items to make a cleaner home and body (for example, an all natural diahwasher soap that you can make on the cheap or homemade shampoo). After a few days of searching off and on, I noticed there is limited information on this. On top of that, what does exist is scattered all over then net. It turns out there is an interest in this topic, but people are only pursuing it as a small side note to blogs on other organic living topics.
So, here is what I want to do for the world... I am going to create my own natural cleaning recipes and gather what already exists, test them out, let you all know how they perform and how to do it all. So far, I have already created a dishwasher soap, an all purpose cleaner, shampoo, and a body soap. I have heard ideas for a deoderant and toothpaste as well. I am going to start with that stuff and branch out from there. So, if you are arriving at this site in its early stages and have an interest, please bookmark me and check back every week or so. I plan to get a post up about my dishwasher soap within the next day.
Comments, suggestions for new things to try, and questions are VERY welcome!
Happy green cleaning!
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