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Lavender satchels, instead of dryer sheets, are a nice eco friendly way to keep your clothes aromatic, and the moths away. You can find lavender at your local health food or gourmet shop and it runs about $16/lb. 16lbs of lavender will last AWHILE! Each satchel is 1/4oz and they last about 5-7 trips into the dryer. When finished, empty the contents on your carpet and vacuum. Reuse your satchels!
To Good Health, Joyce
Looking for a cost-effective, safe way to keep your home clean, naturally? Try these four common household items:I love using all these. Along with them, I love using baking soda for deep scrubbing and deodorizing. Also, old lemon rinds used for juicing or cooking can be used to brighten your sink and countertops as well as make them smell fresh. White vinegar’s great for cleaning, just check out this list- Vinegar Tips. If you can’t stand the smell of vinegar, put a few drops of essential oils into the mix (lavender works great and has disinfecting properties of its own). Check out these cleaning recipes that include essential oils. It’s important to keep the cleaners in your home green. Check out the ingredients on the back of some conventional cleaners sometime. They’re filled with gnarly toxic chemicals that you end up inhaling or absorbing while cleaning. Besides that, it all ends up going down the pipes and or into the ground and into the food and water we drink and eat! There’s no reason to have such harsh chemicals to get our homes clean. All we need is a little elbow grease and some of the things listed above. They work the same without the hazard to your health. To Good Health, Joyce
Olive oil: Use to lubricate and polish wood furniture (three parts olive oil to one part vinegar; or two parts olive oil to one part lemon juice).
Potatoes: Halved potatoes can remove rust from baking pans or tinware - follow with a salt scrub or dip the potato in salt before scrubbing.
White vinegar: Cleans linoleum floors and glass (from windows to shower doors) when mixed with water and a little liquid soap (castile or vegetable). It cuts grease and removes stains, and removes soap scum and cleans toilets (add a bit of baking soda if you like). Pour down drains once a week for antibacterial cleaning. Add to water in a spray bottle to kill mold and mildew.
Tea tree oil: Can be added to vinegar/water solutions for its antibacterial properties. Use it to kill mold and mildew, and on kitchen and bathroom surfaces instead of chemical products. Add 50 drops to a bucket of water to clean countertops and tile floors.
Dr. Weil
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I discovered Soaptopia this past weekend while at my farmer’s market in Mar Vista. Soaptopia is an amazing soap shop with a plethora of amusingly named soaps, oils, and anything bath related. Unlike most soap shops, when you first walk in, you aren’t knocked back by a wall of perfumed chemical smells. They use a light dose of essential oils in all their products, and even make the soaps and oils in house.
I bought the “Orange You Glad Honey” soap bar and the “Sub Lime Coconut Slather.” The bar is huge and really pretty. It smells delicious and makes my skin feel squeaky clean. The slather is my favorite beauty purchase by far. I love feeling oiled- it’s super sexy and my skin feels rejuvenated from the mini massage I get to indulge in while oiling up.
The best thing about these products, besides being eco friendly, cruelty free, and homemade, is that they are CHEAP. Not as cheap as say, Ivory bars, but definitely on the cheaper side of natural boutique beauty products. I’ve shopped at Lather, Aveda, Origins, Etsy, and Lush, along with the Whole Foods stocks of Pangea, Zum, Kiss My Face, and Jason. I’ve found Soaptopia’s prices to be much more reasonable, and their ingredients list to be way more comprehendable.
Plus, how could you not love a soap shop that creates items named “The Grapefruit Gatsby,” and “Sage Against the Machine”?
To Good Health,
Joyce
