DIY Natural Home Cleaners

I have a lot of hobbies. Well, kind of. I like to try new things that I've never tried before. I like to eat healthy, paint, craft, decorate, draw, listen to music, watch movies, kayak, travel...I've tried essential oils, flower gardening, I've had yard sales, I've sold things on eBay, I've tracked my food daily, I have a running list of concerts I've seen and those I want to see, I keep a record of all of the new movies I watch, I blog, I renovate my house, I've even tried baking and cooking a time or two (even though I hate it). Variety is the spice of life, right?

Well, I've now tried something else. Remember when I said I was working on a new project? This is it. I've made my own natural home cleaners. I've seen a lot of these around the internet, just browsing on Pinterest. Some of them have the same ingredients, but there are still a lot of varieties, and they seem to be a lot healthier than the store bought stuff, like bleach, which can have some pretty harmful chemicals and can in turn, do some long term damage to your health.

I decided to make my own natural stuff, for a few reasons. One - with only a few ingredients, we pretty much had them all around the house already, so it didn't cost much to make. Two - I've started having allergies when I'm cleaning, and I'm starting to think some of the products we use around the house may be contributing to them. Three - Using bleach kind of scares me. The smell of the chemicals in it is so potent, it almost burns your eyes and nose. Nothing like this can be good for you, can it? The thought of using bleach to clean a home that we're constantly exposed to - and Saleen (our dog) is exposed to - kind of makes me cringe, so I figure there has to be a natural solution that's better for you, and works just as well.

So I made my own. I actually ended up making three different all-natural products:

• A Natural Bleach Alternative
• An All-Purpose Cleaner
• A Natural Air Freshener

The process was kind of experimental, and a little trial and error. I had never made these before, so I didn't really know what to expect. First I did a little research on DIY home cleaners I found online. I looked at different recipes, and wrote down the ingredients that were most often used in them, then put together my own combination and found what worked for me.

These are all of the ingredients I used:

I also added either Lemon essential oil or Lavender essential oil to all of them (and sometimes both!).

Most of the ingredients we already had around the house, but I did have to find some spray bottles. (That's a story in itself! I'll get to that later.) I found some cheap plastic ones for the time being, but I plan on upgrading them all to glass bottles next time, since by researching I found that glass bottles are the most durable for the types of ingredients used.

Here are the recipes I used for each:

Natural Bleach Alternative:

• 1 1/2 cups Hydrogen Peroxide
• 1/2 cup White Vinegar (or can substitute lemon juice for a gentler solution)
• Distilled Water to fill rest of spray bottle
• 10 Drops Lemon Essential Oil (don't need this if you are using lemon juice)

All-Purpose Cleaner:

• 1 cup Distilled Water
• 1 cup White Vinegar
• 20-30 drops Lemon Essential Oil

Natural Air Freshener:

• 2 cups Distilled Water
• 2 tablespoons Rubbing Alcohol (or can use vodka)
• 10 drops Lemon Essential Oil
• 20 drops Lavender Essential Oil

The air freshener was the hardest for me to get right, and the reason I had to buy more spray bottles. The original recipe that I used had Baking Soda in it, which would clog the spray bottle every time I mixed it in! So I definitely DO NOT recommend using Baking Soda if you will be spraying it! Take it from me. ;)

A few more notes:

• The natural bleach substitute uses a diluted mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar, but these two ingredients in their purest forms create Peracetic acid, which can be a very strong and toxic chemical if not used carefully. So, if you have lemon juice, I've seen some people using this as a substitute for the vinegar. It's up to you!
• I have not used the bleach alternative to wash or clean clothes yet. I might try it out, as I've heard that it does work. But so far, I've only used it for cleaning purposes.
• The rubbing alcohol or vodka in the air freshener is apparently not necessary, but its purpose is to help the oils mix with the water, and to help the solution dry faster once its sprayed. I haven't used it enough to tell its effectiveness yet, but I've seen several recipes that use this, so I added it in.
• I've seen other essential oil combinations used in these as well. I used all lavender and lemon because I don't have many oils, and these two are so versatile and both smell really fresh and clean.

Since this is my first time making these cleaners, I haven't used them enough yet to really judge their effectiveness, but I hope to use them around the house regularly and see how they work over time. If you want to make your own natural cleaners, I definitely recommend researching around the internet and figuring out the recipe that works best for you!

Update - I also recommend watching the documentary, The Human Experiment. It might make you think about the harmful products that you use on a daily basis! It is available on Netflix!

Young Living Essential Oils, eBay and a Healthy Eating Update

It's another nice day! This week has been the first week it's really felt like spring everyday. And with the time change, it stays lighter outside longer, too. It's been getting us really excited to start spending more time outside and working on outdoor projects. Who else is with me??

In the mean time though - yesterday I spent the day in Bloomington, Illinois for another work conference. This one was more informational than anything. A selection of holistic veterinarians gave presentations about holistic health and Young Living Essential Oils. I haven't had any experience with essential oils before, but I learned a lot about them at the conference.

These oils are derived from natural herbs, and they can assist in numerous health issues. They work both physically and psychologically. Some can have calming properties, some can give you energy, some can give you confidence. Others (peppermint, for example) have heating and cooling properties, and can assist if you're having a fever. Most are so potent, all you need is one drop.

Young Living is the best on the market by far, for essential oils, or so I'm told. Everyone I talked to said that there weren't really any other brands out there that compared. YL's oils are the purest of their kind, and they're selected from the best sources all over the world.

Since Trent and I have started kind of a detox for the past week, I decided to get a couple of oils and try them out. When I got back from the conference I bought a couple of bottles on eBay for cheaper than you can get on the website, so I can't wait to get them and try them out. I decided to try the Lavender and Peppermint to start. Lavender is one of the most versatile oils, and can have different effects depending on where you apply it on the body. It can be calming and relaxing, or it can give you energy. Plus, it smells good! 

Left: Lavender - from here                Right: Peppermint - from here

Peppermint can improve concentration and digestion, and it's very potent, so one drop is definitely all you'd need. I also bought a little sample 1 ml bottle of Valor, and a bottle of Thieves hand soap. They had this soap in the bathroom at the conference, and it smelled so good! The next thing I want to buy is the Thieves household cleaner. I just love that scent. Thieves is a blend of herbs with healing properties, so there are a bunch of hygiene and cleaning products available with this scent. Valor is strengthening and empowering. I'm getting a small sample of this, since I've never smelled it before, but thought it'd be cool to try. 

So crazy to think that these smells can literally change your mood and have an effect on you psychologically. I've never really been into aromatherapy before, but these vets swear by the oils and use them in their practices. They're not only for human use, but can be used for animals, too. I thought about Saleen during some of the talks, and how we can even use the oils to enhance her health and mood. Young Living actually has a whole line of products for pets, which is pretty cool. I'm excited to get my oils in the mail and start using them! 

Speaking of getting things on eBay, I'm continuing to sell old clothes, wallets, etc. on eBay. I've netted about $115 during March alone, but of course with shipping costs, I've only profited about half of that. That's not bad though, considering that's around 20 items that I've sold this month, and if I would have put them in a yard sale, I maybe would've made only 25 cents to $1 for each item. So, it may take a little more work to get each item to the end destination, but I'm also making a few more bucks for each item, too. And I'm slowly but surely cleaning out my closet! And what doesn't sell, we might have a yard sale in the summer, then I'll probably take what's left to Goodwill. I still have yet to sell anything on Threadflip, so I will probably discontinue trying on there and just stick to eBay, which has been 1,000 times more successful for me!

And a little update about our healthy eating cleanse - as you may know, last weekend Trent and I picked up a bunch of healthy foods to start adding to our diets. We've been trying to detox a little, stay away from processed foods a little more and eat more natural and fresh food. Trent has gallstones, but hasn't gone to the doctor yet, and is trying to see what he can do for it naturally and by changing his eating habits first. He has been doing a lot better just by changing his diet, and he feels a lot better, too. I'm proud of him for changing his diet so fast, and we're trying to make it a habit and continue the healthy eating.

Yesterday, Trent sent me these photos during lunch time:

Those are shrimp bites, but it could be worse. It's a lot better than bacon, or those horrible Chef Boyardee cans or frozen burritos he used to eat. Mixed with Bell peppers, avacado, and "veganaise". Ha. It looks like a lot of food to me, but hey, at least it's healthy.

We've both been drinking tea, and Trent hasn't drank any beer in a week. We'll see how it goes with the healthy eating I guess, before seeing a doctor about the gallstones. If they get worse at all, he will have to go to a doctor, but he says that they're a lot better than they were a week ago. Apparently, Trent's sister and mom had both had gallstones, and had to get their gall bladders removed. But they hadn't done anything about it or changed their diets, and Trent's sister even had them for two years before getting something done about it. So, I guess we'll play it by ear! I'm not sure how long they normally last, but I'm hoping he doesn't have any issues by the time the wedding rolls around...