Since moving back to the States, we use even more natural products at home, in the kitchen, for cleaning, and for beauty products. This project has been on-going for a while now, and it has been wonderful to take some bigger steps towards realizing the goal of more homemade and more self-sufficient. It has involved learning about a whole new range of ingredients and techniques. We now keep a lot of baking soda as well as borax, washing soda, vinegar, and liquid Dr. Bronner's to do most of our cleaning jobs.
My first ideas came from a couple of my favorite blogs. There, I found a recipe for homemade laundry detergent. We are now fullly converted to using homemade laundry detergent and it passes the Papa test. The Papa test means that Papa notices neither difference in quality nor extra hassle to use a greener product or method. It's a high standard. I made the first batches with Dr. Bronner's Peppermint and loved the fresh smell. Looking for a less expensive option, I tried Kirk's Castile for the last batch. It works just fine, but the scent is gone and it smells rather soapy. We're going back to Dr. Bronner's next time.
I've also found a useful scouring powder recipe and one for cleaning the toilet bowl, but forgotten to note where they come from. Here you go, though!
Scouring Powder
3 parts baking soda
1 part borax
I store this in a a recycled plastic hummus container with holes poked in half the lid. The other half makes a convenient shelf for my cleaning sponge.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
You will mix this in the toilet bowl. Doing it on the counter results in a science experiment (trust me)!
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup baking soda
They will fizzle like crazy for a minute and then settle down. Leave for a few minutes and then scrub for a clean bowl.
I'll follow up tomorrow with some homemade beauty products!
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