K. This is big. I'm coming through with one of my 2012 promises to myself. Ready? Last night.....I made my own natural CLEANING PRODUCTS! Oh YES! So exciting. Little did I know as a wild, dangerous teen that I would be joyfully mixing ingredients such as baking soda and tree tree oil to clean a toilet.
It all started with a cute little DIY book that my blogging pal MJ sent me when I won a contest some months ago. The book sat around, and I looked at the cover a lot. Then, one day I dug in a little deeper but I knew I wasn't ready yet. Kind of like dating someone you really like but feeling maybe they are a little too nice. I was battling confused and depressed feelings like...It won't work it out between me and homemade natural cleaning products. I just know it.
But then I kept thinking about the cleaning products I was using, expensive and labeled "natural," they didn't really work all that well. Because they really sucked, once in a while out of desperation I would resort to things like bleach. And when I did that..well...I just wanted to hide my head in the sand. Like going back to that lame boyfriend who really doesn't care about anything else but himself, the bleach would be there- totally narcissistic and not giving a dang about me or the world at large. And I would say to myself: This is the last time I do this. Then I would feel kind of like a loser for the rest of the day. Bleach will do that to you.
So, slowly over the last week I began to collect the things I would need to make my own products: white vinegar, borax, castille soap, and so forth until finally I was only a few essential oils away from having all the ingredients. Then, last night I had to run out to the natural foods store for a missing dinner element. I came home with potatoes (for the dinner) and enough essential oils to get me started making my cleaning products. I set everything out on the counter and started mixing up some soft scrub.
The Brad, who was cooking dinner, suddenly looked up and asked...Why does it smell like a hippie in here?
Oh, just a little tea tree oil, I said.
The Brad is open to all things eco-ish and natural. But they must WORK and be economical. (Total dude additude! Whatever!) By the time dinner was ready, so was my soft scrub. And after dinner, we set out to clean the stained and dirty porcelain sink.
Wow! said The Brad. Not even bleach had ever gotten the sink so white. We got a little giddy and excited. Then I quickly put together the All-Purpose Spray. In a few minutes our stove top was cleaner than it had been in a long time. And, in the words of one of our daughters when she was 2: "Eh Mel Goo!!" (It smells good.)
Now..you can't eat these cleaning products. Borax is "natural" but it's still toxic in large amounts. But then again, I wouldn't drink a vial of tea tree oil either or down a 1/4 cup of salt. The products I made last night are better for the planet and my family and they smell wonderful and are economical. Many of the ingredients are natually anti-bacterial and anto-microbial. Plus, they are so easy to make once you have all the ingredients in your cupboard. It's so easy and cool you just can't believe it would work.
Well, I'm getting there folks! Compost, homemade cleaning products, fully stocked veggie garden (coming this Summer, we hope)... Yep...I'm getting there. And best of all, The Brad is impressed with me. I love to impress The Brad. It's not an easy thing to do, you know.
this is the book that I used! It's wonderful. Thanks MJ!
