EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

In my effort to "go green" and again no I am not a "tree hugger" I decided to make my own household cleaners. I don't know about you but I get sick of buying the household cleaning needs and spending a hundred bucks. You know the toilet bowl cleaner, the bleach, Clorox wipes, Pledge, Windex, shower cleaner, paper towels, dishsoap, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, stain remover, oven cleaner, floor cleaner and some magic erasers (I don't know if I can give up the magic eraser!) goes in the cart and you gasp at the total! I know most of the time you don't have to buy these all in one trip since some last longer than others but they get expensive. So far I have discovered that making my own cleaners is not only a LOT CHEAPER but easy plus the best part is they work just as well. I am sharing a couple of the "recipes" I used that I found on The Toby Show Green Cleaning Series ~ Green Cleaning 101, The Arsenals and the Extras ~and various other "green clean" websites. Most of the websites have the same basic recipes but I tweaked some of them to my satisfaction.

Here is a list of supplies found in most of the recipes:

1. Distilled White Vinegar
2. Baking Soda
3. 20 Mule Borax
4. Essential oils (lemon, orange, tea tree, peppermint or whatever you like ~ available at health food stores)
5. Corn starch
6. Washing soda
7. Club soda
8. Castile soap or other vegetable based liquid soap (I can't seem to find this one!)
9. Olive oil
10. Mineral oil
11. Lemon juice

You do not need ALL of these to get started! I bought 1 gallon of white vinegar, baking soda, 20 Mule Team Borax, tea tree oil, orange oil and lemon oil on Saturday and spent $27. Once you see how much you have and how little you have to use in each recipe you will realize how little you spent and how long it will last!

Here are the "green clean" recipes I have tried feel free to tweak them to fit your needs:

General All-Purpose Cleaner

3 tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp borax

2 cups hot water

1/8 cup liquid soap

20 drops lemon oil

20 drops tea tree oil

Add all ingredients in bottle except the soap, shake, add soap then stir. Spray away! Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic but since I am not especially fond of the smell I used the lemon oil to cover it up but you can use whatever oil you like.

Toilets

Many of the recipe measurements for this didn't work for me so I just dumped some of both in!!

Scientific, I know!

Vinegar

Baking soda

I must admit this one surprised me. Some call for using borax and I have yet to try that. The vinegar really does a good job of whitening the bowl. I let the vinegar sit for as long as possible in our house since it seemed like everytime I poured the vinegar in I would hear the toilet flush within 5 minutes until I said DO NOT FLUSH THE TOILET UNTIL I TELL YOU!! After you let the vinegar sit for the desired time, dump in some baking soda. This combination will fizz and foam but I wanted it to foam more so I added the baking soda then sprayed some more vinegar over it. I also read about just dropping in denture cleaning tablets but alas I was all out! lol

Isaiah's old cloth diapers which we used as burp rags are now my cleaning rags and I no longer use paper towels. I like using the them and have for awhile now especially for dusting but I am really missing my paper towels.

That is it for now but more green clean recipes will be coming soon I promise! I get to experiment again tonight. What did I learn from the last experiments with the general all-purpose cleaner? Do not just add baking soda to any concoction unless you feel like cleaning up a foamy mess! Learn something new everyday but I should've known this would happen but I was having so much fun experimenting that I got a little carried away!

ATTEMPTING TO GO GREEN

Oprah caught my listening ear yet again and I am going to make an honest attempt to go green but not go overboard and build a house out of dirt and tree limbs!!! I am going to watch my electricity and water consumption although I am not sure about keeping my house at 78 degrees. I have bought some compact flourescent lightbulbs and can't wait to see if it actually lowers my electric bill like they claim. I am going to start recycling paper, plastic, aluminum cans and batteries. I found out there is a recycling drop off about two miles from our house and another in BA! I am even going to recycle all the worthless faxes and nonsense papers from work. Don't know about taking my own canvas washable bag for groceries though. Seriously how many families can get all their groceries in a couple of canvas bags! I would have to buy like thirty! I went online to stop the junk mail from coming to my house. I am also going to try the Shaklee and other all natural cleaning products available and hope it also will help with our home air quality. Some may say I am crazy but I clean all the time and some of those chemicals give me a headache and I know that strong chemical smell can't be healthy. My next idea is to refill Martez's water bottles with the filtered water from our refrigerator to see how long it takes him to notice and that will be a case of plastic bottles saved per week!! I'll just close them really tight so he'll maybe believe they are sealed!! I've never understood why he doesn't drink it anyway - it is filtered and cold. They also talked about cutting down on the number of napkins used per day. However can't help much there I have two boys and they just know how to wipe it on their shirt! Just kidding but we really never have napkins so I guess I will cut down on the number of baby wipes I use per day. I am only going to run the dryer and dishwasher in the early morning or evening hours when it is cooler since they produce more heat in the house. I will also wash in cold water. That one will be the easiest because every big girl knows your clothes shrink in hot water and we can't have that!!! Next I am going to get a smart strip. It keeps the tv, dvd player or computer from wasting energy even when they are turned off and supposedly this will lower the electric bill too. We'll see and I'll let you know. I do wonder though: Will I have to constantly reset the clocks on the tv etc? That would get really old! Keep the toaster, coffee maker, mixer, or other unused appliances unplugged if they aren't in use! I hate coffee so that is no biggie! I figure I can at least try if not for myself then for my children because they will be the ones living here long after we are gone. I am going to get The Green Book! It is supposed to have 500 everyday easy things to help save our planet. I'll let you all know about the easy things that we all can do to help out because for now that is all I have the time and energy for - easy!! That sounded bad but I am a busy working mom, the easier the better. At least I am willing to try. If it is as easy as they make it sound then I will be able to do it and so will you! Here I go wish me luck and don't worry I am not going to be a crazed environmentalist living in a treehouse I am just going to be eco-friendly! And have you all been watching the Planet Earth series on Discovery? It is truly amazing. Elijah insisted on watching it because of all the animals and now we are all hooked. They have some unbelievable footage. It is a MUST see for all