Chemical free home...Part II

Here is where I left off in the last post about chemical free home...

If you feel like you cannot go full-boar chemical free, pick one product and convert it. Then after a while pick another...ease into it. Soon, it will be like a normal thing to use those products for everyday use.

6. Furniture/wood polish. Mix 1/4 cup alcohal, 1/2 cup vinegar. Mix in 2 tablespoons lemon juice and about 2 tsp olive oil or jojoba oil. Mix this one well before each use, as the oil will seperate in between uses. Decant from a pop top lidded bottle like a shampoo lid bottle where you can squirt the liquid into a rag for use. Spray bottles do not have enough pressure to dispense the oil.Dust first, then place a little on a soft cloth and polish.

7. Leather cleaner and conditioner. Mix 1/4 cup vodka or rubbing alcohol with 1/4 cup white vinegar. Add 1 tsp jojoba or olive oil.  Decant from a pop top lidded bottle like a shampoo lid bottle where you can squirt the liquid into a rag for use. Shake very well, and squirt mixture onto a soft rag and rub into leather. Do not rinse. Buff well for best results.

8. Disinfectant. Use straight Hydrogen Peroxide 100% right from the bottle. Use on all solid surfaces; counters, sinks, bathrooms--anything you need to disinfect. It must be kept in a brown light-free bottle like it comes in the store, so purchase a sprayer top, or find an old Windex sprayer that fits (most bottles are universal), and screw it to the top of the Peroxide bottle. Spray surface and let sit for a minute or two and wipe dry, or simply allow to dry on the sruface if you want.

9. Dish Soap. This is the only thing I use. Dr. Bronner's 100% Organic Castile soap. It is made only from olive oil, is all natural and not harmful in anyway...no chemicals. Now, Dr. Bronner is a bit of an activist, and while I don't prescribe to all that, his products are PHENOMINAL! They are readily available now, even my SuperTarget sells it. Its a concentrate, so you mix it with water to use.

10. Sponges I love! Twist-you throw them away and then they decompose!
In addition: scrubbies–use wadded up tin foil. Seriously! it works, wont scratch teflon and is magic on cast iron. Then, it goes in the recycle bin. A close 2nd eco-friendly I get at target is the 3M scrubbie.

Note: Ok, what I do for this and the washing machine may not be for everyone, and I know that, but you will at least know that it works--I think good enough--to be chemical free of all the things dishwashing and washing machine detergents leave behind for us to absorb or ingest.

11. Dishwasher. Before running, add 1 cup white vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher, add enough to fill the detergent dispenser, and fill the rinse agent area. Then run the cycle on hot and use a hot dry cycle. This is all you need! The heat cycle degreases the food, and then the heat dry is a sanitizer. The vinegar does the rest. Now, depending on how good your dishwasher is, will be how good your results will be...however--I find this works good for me, and I use no chemicals.

12. Washing machine. Believe it or not, i use no detergent. Nope, none at all. Again, 1 cup vinegar in the detergent area, and I wash on hot. Arm & Hammer recommends 1 cup of baking soda in with your clothes, and we do this too, though not each time. The clothes are clean, as clean as with detergent (I did a test). You can pretreat stains if you need to however you feel like it.

13. Dryer. I use nothing in the dryer. Please read up on the internet about dryer sheet usage, it is something to be educated about...and then most liklely choose for yourself or family to not use them.

Well, that is how we went chemcial free. I feel good about it because there is no worry while cleaning about breathing or ingesting chemicals. Or any residue on my clothes, or dishes...plus its way more economical! Costco sells the huge jugs of vinegar for about $2.50, the 5lb. baking soda bags for $5 and alcohol, and peroxide are 99-cents each. Much more economical than a $4.99 bottle of cleaner.