Cleaning, naturally ...

Over the last few months, I've started phasing out some of our store-bought cleaners and replacing them with homemade, natural cleaners. While we do many other things, like cloth diapering, to save money in addition to environmental and personal concerns, this was more to reduce waste and cut back on the amount of harsh chemicals in our home (and therefore, around our precious daughter) than saving money. I was inspired largely by a post on Young House Love but have found some cleaning solutions elsewhere, too. I started small and figured if it didn't work, it didn't work, but so far, I've been happy with the ease and cleaning capabilities of every solution I've tried.

I love that many of the ingredients for these solutions are common - the only "special" thing I've bought so far is a bottle of castile soap. I had a large bottle of vinegar on hand from a time a few months ago when we had some ammonia build up in our cloth diapers, and I always have baking soda. Easy. Peasy.

I've been making our floor cleaning solution the longest - I bought a mop that allows me to use my own solution and reuse the cleaning pad. It smells strongly of vinegar when I use it, but as soon as it dries (which doesn't take long) the smell goes away. I use the solution from YHL to clean our kitchen floor:

Linoleum Floor Cleaner:

• 1 c. vinegar
• 2 gal. warm water

All-Purpose Cleaning Spray:

I also recently started making an all-purpose cleaning spray. I use it mostly to clean the kitchen. I Googled a bit to find a solution that I a) could find all of the ingredients for and b) liked. Here's the one I ended up with:

• 1 Tbsp. castile soap
• 2.5 cups distilled water

I want to keep the new bath tub looking great forever, so I've started with another recipe from Young House Love:

Tub And Tile Cleaner:

• Apply vinegar full-strength to a sponge and wipe
• Scour with baking soda

The old tub had some definite built-up grime, and to tackle that, I used something that I found on Pinterest:

• 1 grapefruit
• 1/4 cup kosher salt

It smells pretty, and I can put the chunks of grapefruit down the garbage disposal to freshen it when I'm done, too. 

We just ran out of furniture polish, so I started using this formula:

Furniture Polish:

• ½ tsp. olive oil
• ¼ c. vinegar or lemon juice

Mix in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces.

I used vinegar, which leaves a slight smell right away, but it isn't noticeable after a few minutes. 

The next store-bought cleaner I plan to phase out is our toilet bowl cleaner, using this instead:

Toilet Bowl Cleaner:

• Liquid castile soap (like Dr. Bronner’s)
  
• Baking soda or borax

Scrub with a toilet brush.

Has anyone else made the switch from store-bought cleaners? Any favorite recipes or tips to share?

Mommy's little helper

Elle's super fun poopy weekend continued in to the week, and we even experienced Elle's first experience with puking. It was less than awesome, but the good news was that she wasn't very sick for very long and handled it like a champ. The worst part of it was that it all started at 5 a.m. the morning after Tim's surgery. Needless to say, it was an extremely emotionally and physically exhausting 24 hours for me. BUT I think the poop and the puke were related to the tiny white specs I found poking out of Elle's gums last night. Her last two canine teeth have broken through, and although her mood was absolutely atrocious yesterday and her appetite was pretty much non-existent, she was great today, and I think we're finally on an upswing.

But pesky tooth pain or not, Elle has been on an OCD cleaning kick for the last few months. She'll use anything - a sock, a cloth diaper wipe, a folded-in-half-expired-insurance card - and she'll "wipe" the floor, counters, walls, etc. She's not consistently interested in putting things in their place (just ask anyone who sees the bookshelf in her room or any of the blocks/puzzles/other toys she has), but she's been very routine in her wiping down habits.

I think this was a tissue used to clean the end table.

Same tissue to clean the floor.

I was wiping down our pantry door after dinner the other night, and Elle scrambled in to "help." She had grabbed one of the receiving blankets I'd put in her toy box (so she could use them for her stuffed animals), and she started wiping down the kitchen cabinets, saying "We're cleaning." I kept thanking her for the "help" and told her we were all done ... and she kept going. So I remembered a spot on our hallway wall that has some telltale toddler handprints, and I ducked out of the kitchen to clean it up.

Receiving blankets make the best cleaning accessories.

Helping mommy.

She followed me. And covered the entire wall up to where I was with the wiping of the receiving blanket. When she got close to me, she worked intently on a "spot" and then gave me a grin. It. Was. Adorable.

I fear for her OCD tendencies, but I guess there are worse ones to have as a toddler - this *should* work to my benefit, right? (I know, I know.)