What's Cookin' in Your Dryer?

It is time for another post about simple cleaning and healthy household tips...

Take out your dryer's lint trap. After you dispose of the lint (keep the lint and tuck into toilet paper rolls--use for starting fires in your wood stove or on camping trips), hold it under the faucet and run some water onto its surface. Now, take a look. Does that water pool up or does it freely drain right through? Chances are high that it pools up on the surface of your lint trap. Hmm...I wonder why? 

Most fabric softeners (dryer sheets especially) actually coat your meshy lint trap. As they toss to & fro in your heated dryer with the clothes your precious family wears, those dryer sheets release their gunk. Their smell. Their perfume. Their chemicals. Yuck! Not to mention the fire hazard posed by those dryer sheets...

I am always trying to do things healthy and simply for my family. Many years ago I switched to natural laundry products from Seventh Generation and Bi-O-Kleen. Those companies offer some great laundry and household items. I used the liquid fabric softener for years. Of course I diluted it by half water and then only put in half the amount--yes, you can get by with less! Several months ago I switched to an even cheaper, safer, simpler fabric softener. White vinegar.

Oh, it works, really it does. And no, you won't walk around smelling like a pickle! Just pick up a big ole jug or two (I get mine at Costco). Pour some (I have never really measured...probably about 1/3 cup) into the liquid fabric softener dispenser at the start of your wash cycle. That is it. If you miss the perfume smell (it about gags me and I can smell it on people and in their homes now), I don't know what to tell you except think about what absorbed into the skin of your family each time they wore "clean" clothes.

If you lean more toward a faint, natural scent, just buy some essential oils (like lavender) and take a scrap of fabric or an wore out ole sock, now put a few drops of oil onto mister sockie and toss it in the dryer near the end of the cycle. Or make up a concoction of water and essential oil in a spray bottle. When your clothes are spread out on your bed for folding, mist them with the scented water. 

Viola! Clothes free of cooked chemicals. Safe for the whole family!

I will post more later on other simple, cheap, and healthy house-cleaning hints...

Spring Cleaning

Spring. A time for new life and growth. And cleaning.

I do hope you have tried a green smoothie or two since last week! They are easy, fun, yummy, and oh, so good for you! I keep experimenting and finding interesting combos. Last night I zapped some flax seeds in the blender before adding the produce and water. If you don't have a K-Tek blender, then make your flax meal in a coffee grinder. Next, I added in some frozen mango (after cutting up a mango, I just put the mango in the freezer for a couple hours), a giant wad of kale and a cup of water. It was nice and cold and fluffy. Yumm-yumm. The husband even liked it.

For the kiddos or the not-so-sure, add in some more frozen fruit. Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are great. But do not forget to peel some bananas, break them into pieces, put them in a giant baggy and place in the freezer for some handy frozen additions. Also, try doing the same with mango, pineapple or kiwi.

Okay, now that you are starting toward a new and clean body, you may want to tackle the house. Since this is a healthy eating blog, some may wonder why I would be putting information about home cleaning here too. Hmmm, read on to see why. (And yes, I snagged this blog from my other one, so if it looks familiar to some of you, that is why!)

Some of you may know that I am a health nut -- to put it lightly. I not only watch everything that goes into my mouth or gets slathered on my body, I also am keenly aware of the products I use in my home for cleaning. Since spring is in the air, the innate cleaning machines in us all usually fire up their engines right about now too. Please take heed and don't use the things your body doesn't need!

By the way, my health conscious lifestyle all started in college when I was introduced to a food co-op and its organic eating faire and as I studied Health Education, it all made perfect sense. We must take the time and effort to monitor what we eat, breathe, drink, put onto our bodies and our homes. Some call me a "closet hippie" while others think I have been swimming around in the deep end too long. 

Let me put this test to you to prove a point. Before you finish reading, go and cut a slice of an onion, you know, the sort with all the rings tight together. Now, put it under your bare foot (like in your sock or slipper or sandal) where you will have direct contact with it. Stand on it or press on it while you finish reading...go, go, go.

After years of researching this topic and trying many, many products and homemade concoctions, this is what I have found to work the best... SIMPLICITY and ELBOW GREASE. 

- baking soda:  Use it where you want to diminish a stink and/or for a scouring action.

-lemon juice:  Add it to the baking soda. This will create a chemical reaction that results in some heat and foaming. So, just because it is natural doesn't mean you can set aside your common sense here! Wear some gloves, don't get it into your eyes and so on. Take a quart jar and add a cup of baking soda, then pour in some lemon juice to the consistency you like. 

Now take this foaming paste on a sponge or rag and scrub away. You will be amazed. Don't forget to rinse (lather and repeat next week). I use this in the tub, sink and toilet bowl.

This combo also works great to keep drains clear. Just pour the remaining down the drain and follow with some boiling water! No nasty chemical down the drains either, please. Those fumes are toxic. Bad, bad, bad.

-tea tree soap: Now there are many recipes for each sort of cleaning project, but the above is about all I like to do for the deep &/or heavy duty jobs. So for everyday cleaning, just get yourself a bottle (comes in different sizes) of Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree soap. I use it for counters, floors, sinks, tubs, toilets. It is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral due to the tea tree oil. 

Tea tree oil is an essential oil from an Australian plant that has been used medicinally for a long time. We use it for ourselves and our animals (minor wounds, scratches, infections--basically anytime you need an antiseptic). So, if it does all this to the funky things growing on us, why not use it in the soap form to clean all the funky stuff around the house?

Now just put a couple drops on your cloth or sponge and clean away. Of course you have to rinse the sink or flush the toilet or spray the shower walls to get the soap off!

* This soap is formulated for washing your hands/body with, but I do find that the tea tree oil soap is a little harsh for everyday use straight as a hand soap because it can cause some drying, that is why I reserve it for cleaning. I do add a few squirts of it to the liquid soap dispensers (along with the Dr. Bronner's peppermint or lavendar soap) though--for the germ-killing effects.

By the way, Dr. Bronner's liquid soaps can be purchased at your local health food store or ordered on-line. The labels are full of all kinds of rhetoric. Dr. Bronner may have some oddities to say, but health and cleanliness are found inside the bottle, not on the label.

That's it folks! Simplicity and elbow grease will take you far. The nice thing about using ingredients like this, you can use the same wash cloth for washing your face as you do for washing the sink and counter. Just put it in laundry after you de-gunk your bathroom surfaces. Why would you want to use some nasty, chemical cleaner that isn't fit for use on our around you or your family?

Okay, do you taste onion yet? Lovely, isn't it? It should take under 20 minutes before you taste it from your foot! Now, how did that onion taste get from your foot to your mouth? Our skin is the largest organ of the body. Our bloodstream flows throughout the body. Hmmm? What happens when we clean with bleach or ammonia and we touch it or smell it as we scrub? If mister onion goes from foot to mouth, where else is it going in your body? All of your other organs and tissues, my friend, are served by the same bloodstream. Yikes. 

Are those nifty, containerized, chemically-doused wipes worth it? Is your health and the health of your family worth it? Yep, in my house health is important enough. 

I will have more information on soaps, shampoos, laundry detergents and the like, but for now, this has been your health lesson for the day. And please think of me, your friendly, neighborhood, closet hippie, as you try to get that onion taste out of your mouth!