All Purpose Cleaner & Our New "Normal"

Guess what I did last night? The husband was working late, so I decided to concoct my own household cleaners! I bought the largest container of vinegar and baking soda known to mankind (the baking soda weighs 13 pounds!) at Costco the other night, so don't think I'll be running out of either of those items anytime soon.

Recipe I used for All-Purpose Cleaner:
2 cups hot water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp. Super Washing Soda
15-20 drops Tea Tree and Lavender Essential Oils (I bought a blend of both and did 20 drops)

So far I love the cleaner, although I know it's really impossible to give an educated opinion after only using it once... that being said, my favorite thing about it is the glorious wonder of cleaning and my house smelling like a relaxing spa afterwards!! Yes!

I'm also in the process of lining my cupboards (mostly just for fun) and they turned out pretty darn cute. I would have posted a before and after photo of them but believe me when I say you did not want to see the "before". So I'll just stick to posting the after. Which probably really isn't that exciting to anyone but me, but I'm ok with that...for those of you who knew what they looked like before, you'll be so proud (pictures don't do them justice)!

Life is pretty interesting right now, with Cisco working 2 jobs, yet I'm so thankful for the newfound joy I have found in all things cleaning & learning about eating healthy. It's a great diversion to the lonely nights and weekends! The Lord obviously knows what we need and gives us the grace to get through the roads He's placed us on, even when it seems we can't make it one step further (which was me, last night, before I decided to pick my chin up and get busy with all the above... I miss my husband terribly.)

And I will leave you with a picture of my incredibly precious kiddos. I made them popcorn and we camped out in the living room watching The Avengers! They are such good sports during this season, seeing as Dad is their most favorite person on the planet. Except Violet. I'm still her fave, yay!! Looking at their little faces, I can't help but believe that I'm incredibly blessed. :)

The Cleaning Battle

I'm addicted to the 100 days of real food blog. If you've never looked at it, you seriously need to, like right now. Go read hers instead of mine! ;) She is such a great resource for menus, ideas, and just everything. She did a series on 100 days of real food on a budget, however her "budget" was nearly twice what I have to work with and for less people....almost got a little discouraged for a second, but I KNOW it's one step at a time here and I just need to keep reminding myself that. Like constantly.
I was bored last night (husband was working, kids were outside playing, baby was sleeping) so guess what I did for fun? I mopped my kitchen! I swear, my floors have never been so clean. Of course, with 3 boys in the house, they pretty much needed to be done again this morning, but whatever. Cleaning has never been my most favorite thing to do, but I love a clean house, so yeah, it's a constant battle. Add those darling 3 boys and this pretty much sums up my cleaning life

So anything I find that motivates me and makes the job a little less torturous, I'm all about it! Lately, that motivation and joy comes in not having to pull out the Hazmat gear and banishing the children to another sector of the house just to clean something.
I made my own laundry detergent awhile back, and while at first I loved it I began noticing that our clothes were coming out looking a little dingy. Ok not a little dingy, a LOT dingy. I then read that you have to mess around with the ingredients if you have hard water (which we do) until you find the perfect balance to get clean clothes. Ahem. Yeah, definitely don't have the time or motivation to do that... this is a hard one for me, because I love CLEAN clothes and already am a "snob" when it comes to laundry detergent (as in, I only use Tide). So I'm looking for some ideas here! Does anyone have a laundry recipe that actually works for hard water areas? Or an affordable "natural" detergent they use that WORKS?

Mopping is Fun Again!

I think Pinterest is partly to blame for the sudden rise in attention to all things "natural". At least it is for me. If you haven't joined yet, you should! There are SO many recipes and ideas on there and such good ones,  it makes you wonder where it's been all your life! And when every pin practically promises to revolutionize your life, you feel almost obligated to try it. So, flashback to last week when I decided to mop my floors. Which has become a chore of rare occurrence since the birth of our little Violet.....um, working on changing that... Anyways, I went to go mop and realized I was out of my usual floor cleaner. I then remembered I had pinned an all natural one that (surprise!) said I would never want to clean my floors with anything else, never, ever again! So I decided to try it and guess what? It actually was pretty amazing!! I hesitate to give something my ultimate stamp of approval upon the first try, so I won't go as far as to say I will never use anything else, never, ever again. BUT, I gave it another try today and yes, I still love it. And the fact my house smells fresh and clean, but at the same time nothing like a chemical factory, makes me want to mop my floors every single day! So enough of my babbling, here's the recipe:

Heavy duty floor cleaner recipe: ¼ cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap, ¼ cup Arm & Hammer Super washing soda, 2 gallons tap water
That's it! 


Side Note: It says not to use on wax floors because it will make them "waxy"...???... But other than that it seems pretty safe on most surfaces. It gets SUPER sudsy in the bucket (and stays that way) & left my tile floors feeling almost soft. Before my reformed ways, I would use Lysol Disinfectant cleaner (the yellow one) and it left the tile feeling sticky. I'd so much rather have soft than sticky...
Now go mop your floors and prepare to be amazed!

I Vote YES on Prop 37

I have come to the conclusion that I only enjoy blogging when I have something specific to write about.  Like a journey I'm on in life. Something new I'm doing or trying where I can write about the different experiences and get ideas and encouragement from anyone who bothers to read what I'm writing. Right now that journey is health. Healthy eating and slowly removing all the chemicals and pesticides from my kitchen and life. I'm not following any specific diet (been there, done that...MANY times...), and I'm not swearing off anything forever either. I just found that recently I've been viewing food and health in a whole new light and have noticed I'm not the only one either. I wrote a post on Facebook last week about this, asking others how they live this lifestyle on a tight budget, and got some great info as well as encouragement that it is possible!! I wanted to continue the conversation without boring everyone on Facebook and create a "journal" of sorts through this new venture, so here I am! Back to the ol' blog. :)

I would love for people to comment and share about their journeys, as well. I'm no expert on health, but I really don't think it's rocket science either. I've tried WAY too many diets in my lifetime and read a few books on the subject, perhaps trying to find some "secret" no one else seems to know about. Surprise, every "secret" is simply eating more fruit, vegetables, and lean proteins and cutting out the trips to Dairy Queen! Duh. And, of course, getting off the couch. So, nothing new here!
But what has hit me lately, is how much processed, "fake" food we eat (tons of chemicals) coupled with cleaning and toiletries (a ton more chemicals) and I suddenly found myself on a revolt against it all. No wonder this world has so many health problems! I know I'm not sharing with you or even myself, anything new here at all. I can't name how many times I've heard the line "We're poisoning ourselves", but for some reason it all makes sense now.

So I'm planning on sharing recipes (for cooking, baking, cleaning, toiletries, etc.) on what I have found that is super spectacular and actually works. Also any great sales I find or ideas on how to save, and websites or links I find interesting and helpful. Cisco and I are currently on Dave Ramsey's financial plan, so we're working with a super tight budget here too folks! One little fun side note: I went to the Farmer's Market last weekend, after getting a burst of motivation on all this and hearing that many people are able to eat organic and healthy on little money. We got there towards the end of the day and about a half hour before people starting closing their booths. Well, I came to find out that day that if they aren't going to another market that day or the next, they will sell their produce for SUPER cheap! Like $1 a bag! So I ended up scoring a whole grocery bag full of vegetables for $4! And I mean a FULL grocery bag. I was so stoked and took it as a sign from the Lord that He was blessing my healthy endeavors! Really though, it was a great push into this and seeing the possibilities. On my part, I'm going to have to be wise and ease into it. Realistically I can't just go buy everything new right away. But I'm ok with that. And I'm finding that as each day rolls around and I wake up making the choice to be healthy, it's already a step in the right direction. :)