So one of the biggest peeves is becoming chemicals in our lives. Exciting stuff i know! It was not until maybe less than 2 years ago when i was in the store deciding what laundry detergent to buy that i noticed the natural one Ecos stated that they were free of petro-chemicals. I bought my usual detergent because i LOVED the scent. But, after i got home i started to think why does the natural detergent even say no petro-chemicals, like was that something that other detergents contained? After, a little research (very little because these days finding more than 3 minutes to do anything that required actually attention on my part is impossible), i found out that detergents and most cleaning supplies not only do not have to state their ingredients but can basically put anything in there as long as it's not killing you, in the short term at least. This also got me thinking about the scented cleaners i used in my house that smelled oh so wonderful. My wonderful smelling Downey lavendar or gain apple mango tango definitely did not contain the items in their names and even if they did the trace amounts present definitely did not in a large part contribute to their very concentrated scent that filled up the laundry room and my laundry for days after it was dried, folded and sitting in our drawers. So what exactly was it that was making these cleaners smell so great, i came to the conclusion of chemicals!
I most certainly have not turned my life upside down to try to change anything and everything in my life that i believe contains chemicals and a lot of the time trying to do this is cost prohibitive. Hello, Seventh Generation, Burts Bees, Plum Organics, ...... But, i have been little by little trying to change things here and there to make our lives as a family a little more clean and hopefully natural.
The purpose of this entry does require a little bit of back story beyond what i have already mentioned. ..
In January 2009 I became pregnant with my first child, #1. When you are pregnant and living for two you are not only able to take a step back and consider what you are exposing yourself to, you are forced to. Of course, there is the usual-no sushi, alcohol, most mediation (though i felt it best to stay away from all), weird things like Cesar dressing, etc. You suddenly find yourself sitting at dinner contemplating if the meal of a salad that was considered by you healthy a few weeks ago is safe. What kind of cheese is this, the meat on it-no way, is this dressing safe? You become hyper-aware of everything you are exposing your self to because is it good for the baby? This is also when i realized the most unsafe activity i engaged in was cleaning my bathroom, especially my shower. It was a glass shower, so, of course, required several different cleaners-bleach/cleaner for the basin, soap scum remover for the inside of the glass, and glass cleaner for the outside. And guess what, almost every cleaner you look at the bottle of says use in a well ventilated area. Well the inside of my 3'x3' shower is the least ventilated place in the universe. Not only is it enclosed but my bathroom also has no windows. It was at this point it was decided, mostly by me informing my husband, that he would now be responsible for cleaning the bathroom. He said "sure, no problem." I told him I cleaned it weekly and wanted him to do the same. At the time we were living in our started house, a small 1800 s.f. (even smaller when #1 arrived with all of her belongings). I was also a working stiff during most of the pregnancy. But all was good because I had a great pregnancy and was able to spend the few hours Saturday morning when my husband was at work cleaning the house top to bottom. I could wash every hard floor, vacuum all 3 floors of carpets and stairs, dust, do the laundry, change the sheet in about 2.5 hours. All husband needed to do was clean the master bath and considering it's size and the fact that it contained a jacuzzi that was NEVER used he should have been able to do this in less than 20 minutes. Well, 40 weeks passed and #1 arrived and between that time and the conversation with Husband the bathroom was cleaned twice-the week we had the conversation and somewhere around 7 months when i got mad about it.
Two years later #2 was in the picture. But, things were different this time. We had up graded our house to one just under 5,000 s.f. and i had stopped working. Our bathroom had also doubled in size. Husband and i had the same conversation about him needed to be the one to clean the bathroom and if i'm being generous he did it once over those 9+ months.
Enter January 2013. It's that time again and I'm hoping that any day now i will be getting a BFP. Being 4 years older that i was when #1 entered our minds i feel i am 4 years wiser. I realize that my husband will never do housework and generally for me to get him to do things such as cleaning it generally needs to be a fight. Not because he doesn't want to do (which he doesn't) but because he has other things on his mind. I get it, he had a very important job, works on a light week in the area of 60 hours, and generally as a male thinks the fact that i clean the house weekly is overkill. Here began my realization that if i was to find out in the next few weeks that i am in fact waiting for #3 i need to be proactive. Thus, my search for an all natural cleaner.
Using the old soap scum remover bottle (rinsed out) I found a recipe for equal parts white vinegar and dish soap. I started with 8oz of each. The first step was to microwave the vinegar just to help melt the soap into it and thank goodness this does not need to be done every time otherwise i would never use it. Well, it worked like a charm. Actually, the glass looked amazing! I think i might be able to water it down a bit, it was quite soapy and definitely required me to rinse it several time more than i usually do.
Next project, something to replace the bleach i use to clean the toilet, basin, and counters!
I most certainly have not turned my life upside down to try to change anything and everything in my life that i believe contains chemicals and a lot of the time trying to do this is cost prohibitive. Hello, Seventh Generation, Burts Bees, Plum Organics, ...... But, i have been little by little trying to change things here and there to make our lives as a family a little more clean and hopefully natural.
The purpose of this entry does require a little bit of back story beyond what i have already mentioned. ..
In January 2009 I became pregnant with my first child, #1. When you are pregnant and living for two you are not only able to take a step back and consider what you are exposing yourself to, you are forced to. Of course, there is the usual-no sushi, alcohol, most mediation (though i felt it best to stay away from all), weird things like Cesar dressing, etc. You suddenly find yourself sitting at dinner contemplating if the meal of a salad that was considered by you healthy a few weeks ago is safe. What kind of cheese is this, the meat on it-no way, is this dressing safe? You become hyper-aware of everything you are exposing your self to because is it good for the baby? This is also when i realized the most unsafe activity i engaged in was cleaning my bathroom, especially my shower. It was a glass shower, so, of course, required several different cleaners-bleach/cleaner for the basin, soap scum remover for the inside of the glass, and glass cleaner for the outside. And guess what, almost every cleaner you look at the bottle of says use in a well ventilated area. Well the inside of my 3'x3' shower is the least ventilated place in the universe. Not only is it enclosed but my bathroom also has no windows. It was at this point it was decided, mostly by me informing my husband, that he would now be responsible for cleaning the bathroom. He said "sure, no problem." I told him I cleaned it weekly and wanted him to do the same. At the time we were living in our started house, a small 1800 s.f. (even smaller when #1 arrived with all of her belongings). I was also a working stiff during most of the pregnancy. But all was good because I had a great pregnancy and was able to spend the few hours Saturday morning when my husband was at work cleaning the house top to bottom. I could wash every hard floor, vacuum all 3 floors of carpets and stairs, dust, do the laundry, change the sheet in about 2.5 hours. All husband needed to do was clean the master bath and considering it's size and the fact that it contained a jacuzzi that was NEVER used he should have been able to do this in less than 20 minutes. Well, 40 weeks passed and #1 arrived and between that time and the conversation with Husband the bathroom was cleaned twice-the week we had the conversation and somewhere around 7 months when i got mad about it.
Two years later #2 was in the picture. But, things were different this time. We had up graded our house to one just under 5,000 s.f. and i had stopped working. Our bathroom had also doubled in size. Husband and i had the same conversation about him needed to be the one to clean the bathroom and if i'm being generous he did it once over those 9+ months.
Enter January 2013. It's that time again and I'm hoping that any day now i will be getting a BFP. Being 4 years older that i was when #1 entered our minds i feel i am 4 years wiser. I realize that my husband will never do housework and generally for me to get him to do things such as cleaning it generally needs to be a fight. Not because he doesn't want to do (which he doesn't) but because he has other things on his mind. I get it, he had a very important job, works on a light week in the area of 60 hours, and generally as a male thinks the fact that i clean the house weekly is overkill. Here began my realization that if i was to find out in the next few weeks that i am in fact waiting for #3 i need to be proactive. Thus, my search for an all natural cleaner.
Using the old soap scum remover bottle (rinsed out) I found a recipe for equal parts white vinegar and dish soap. I started with 8oz of each. The first step was to microwave the vinegar just to help melt the soap into it and thank goodness this does not need to be done every time otherwise i would never use it. Well, it worked like a charm. Actually, the glass looked amazing! I think i might be able to water it down a bit, it was quite soapy and definitely required me to rinse it several time more than i usually do.
Next project, something to replace the bleach i use to clean the toilet, basin, and counters!
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