Natural Cleaners

Natural Cleaners

1. Vinegar

Vinegar is a natural all-purpose cleaner that disinfects and deodorizes. It is safe to use on most surfaces and is incredibly cheap. Always test on an inconspicuous area first and never use it on marble surfaces. The scent of vinegar disappears when it dries.

2. Lemons

Lemons are effective natural cleaner.

3. Baking Soda

Baking Soda is a natural abrasive cleaner and  deodorizer.

Note – please use new clean spray bottles for any mixtures and be careful when mixing cleaners together. Some ingredients will have chemical reactions when mixed. Always follow instructions.

All-purpose cleaner:

• 1 part water
• 1 part vinegar

Mix ingredients and store in a new spray bottle. Use in bathrooms and kitchens as an all-purpose cleaner. Great for counters, stove tops, sinks, etc. Always test on an inconspicuous area first.

Natural fabric softener (suits sensitive skin):

• 1/2 cup vinegar

Add to rinse cycle for a natural fabric softener that helps break down laundry powder (great for families with sensitive skin). It also helps keep washing machine hoses clean.

Furniture Polish:

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Mix 2 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice and rub on hardwood furniture.

Carpet Cleaner:

• 1 part bicarb
• 3 parts vinegar
• 5 parts water

Mix ingredients together in a new spray bottle and use to clean carpets and rugs.

Toilet Cleaner:

• 1 cup vinegar

Pour vinegar in toilet and scrub stains away with a toilet brush. Flush to rinse.

Bathtub Cleaner:

• 1 cup vinegar
• Baking soda

Clean bath tub with vinegar using a sponge, then sprinkle baking soda on any grime and scrub it away. Rinse clean.

Carpet Deodorizer:

1. Sprinkle baking soda over dry carpet
2. Let sit for about 15 minutes
3. Vacuum up the powder

Drain Cleaner:

• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup salt

1. Pour mixture down the drain
2. Pour boiling water down the drain
3. Let sit overnight
4. Turn on the tap in the morning and let it flush out the mixture

Did you know?

I’m going to use this post to add a collection of facts as I find them out. It’ll be updated whenever I find a new one, so check back from time to time

Did you know?

Food scraps that are thrown in the bin are compacted, removing the air that would otherwise help break them down? Then they’re added to the mountains of non-organic rubbish at the tip where, instead of composting, they break down at a much slower rate and release dangerous methane into the air.

If these same food scraps were composted properly, they would break down faster and return valuable nutrients to the soil, which would feed new plant life.

What to do about it? A few friends over at Aussies Living Simply gave me a few tips about getting a small worm farm (the lil dudes can even digest toilet paper rolls and shredded newspapers) or just burying a few scraps into the garden and letting the worms and plants have at them, but one thing I’d like to try is by making this super cheap and smell free kitchen compost bin that you can just keep under your sink. Check it out here.

My First Veggies

I’m so proud and excited. I’ve wanted to learn to grow my own veggies for a while now but I never knew where to start. So.. I did what I always do and just jumped right in. I mean.. I know the basics; you need some dirt and you need some plants. Right? Just put the plants in the dirt? Sure!

Hehe.. anyway, here they are. I planted the tomato seedling while my boyfriend did the parsley.

Unfortunately, we don’t actually have a clue what we’re doing and didn’t really think about spacing properly (mostly because Jasmine was tired and crying while we were at Bunnings) so we have some left over seedlings. Maybe this means another trip to pick up some more containers.

I don’t mind learning this way – it’s all still fun. Next week, I’m hoping to get some lettuce and just keep adding vegetables as we go. There were so many to choose from that I was getting really excited and wanted to get them all, but we have limited space to work with so this will do for now.

These are the seedlings we bought:

This is our parsley:

And this is our first lot of tomatos:

What is Organic?

Organic food is produce that is grown or raised and processed free of synthetic chemicals. It also means free of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, artificial fertilisers, animal growth hormones, chemical feeds or antibiotics.

Most organic foods are also higher in nutrient content than conventional foods and are free from artificial colouring, flavouring and preservatives.

Organic foods must be free of artificial food additives such as artificial colouring, flavouring and preservatives and is produced with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation (exposing food to ionizing radiation todestroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses or insects that might be present) and genetically modified ingredients.

If organic foods are better for us, why do people opt for conventional foods?

Conventional food can be produced faster and cheaper than organic food. As the demand for food increases, producers are forced in intensify production, which means resorting to hormones, antibiotics and other drugs in an attempt to maximise the amount of meat and eggs able to be harvested from chickens, for example.

It really all comes down to choice and demand. You can choose whether to smoke, drink or eat meat, but a lot of the conventional processed food doesn’t give you the choice whether you want to ingest artificial chemicals. We want faster food and commercial producers resort to methods that help them fill that demand.

For me, personally, I’m excited about the ability to learn how to keep a clean, chemical free kitchen, how to safely store and prepare wholesome foods that are as delicious as they are nutritional.

I see all these simple jobs as things that I should have learned growing up, but didn’t. I hope to learn them now so that I can have control over what my baby eats and so that she can grow up knowing these very basic skills that are essential in any healthy household.

Even if you’re not the type that is interested in having to bake or cook for yourself (which I am quite certain there are many people with ‘better’ things to do) then hopefully you’ll at least question where your food is coming from so that you can make a more educated choice about the quality of the food you choose to eat.

Opening my eyes

I really do feel like I’m opening my eyes for the first time. I never really understood the importance of responsibility as much as I have since giving birth to my beautiful daughter.

Responsibility for the life of someone so innocent – it’s a huge thing to take on. I had never given ‘organic’ a second thought before, it always just seemed like a new trend and as such, my eyes just kinda glazed over it all.

I did try going vegetarian for a while, after I saw a video on how animals were mistreated on some of the commercial factory farms. It disgusted me that life, even that of a smaller creature, was so unappreciated and undervalued, despite the fact that many of us wouldn’t know what it’s like to survive without eating meat.

Unfortunately, going vegetarian wasn’t the answer for us (my boyfriend and I). While it did work for a little while, it was just something we couldn’t keep up and I suspect it’s because we were raised eating meat and it’s what we knew and were comfortable with.

We did make an important change as a result of it though. Since we knew we didn’t want to keep eating meat the way we were.. and we also knew we didn’t want to cut it out completely, there was only one other thing we could do – find an ethical way to eat meat.

And now, we eat organic meat, not out of fear of any chemicals the animals may have ingested, but just because we feel better knowing where out meat has come from and that it was grown and killed humanely.

I’m not a perfect mother or housewife (well, girlfriend) but I am trying. It’s an on-going learning process. The more I learn, the more I realise how ignorant I was before – and how naive I still am. My goal is to learn to be self-sufficient and have a sustainable future. I want my little family.. and my friends.. to be able to survive and live healthy, happy lives to the best of our abilities.

I stumbled upon this quote today:

“Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?” – Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring, 1962

And it’s really got me thinking about all the poisons and toxins we expose ourselves to. And they’re EVERYWHERE. Indirectly, we’re responsible for them in the manufacturing process of everything we use, including our homes and clothes, and directly, we’re exposed to them in the food that we eat.

As a mother, I am worried about the consequences of a society with a mentality of “I want everything, I want it for free, and I want it yesterday.” Technology is supposed to help us advance, but our own laziness is going to hurt us.

For example, many of our clothes are made in sweatshops overseas where employees are worked to the bone in miserable conditions that would make us balk in protest AND they only receive a few dollars a week for what is pracitcally slave labour.

Our meat is raised in overcrowded pens and fed with growth-enhancing chemicals just so we can get more of it faster and cheaper. The same goes with our vegetables and fruits – they’re treated with at least two out of 23 possible herbicides, 34 pesticides and 36 fungicides available.

These things AREN’T healthy for us. They’re poisons. And since it’s the first issue of importance that I’m going to deal with, I’ve set myself a goal; I want to feed my family an organic diet.

Yes, buying organic food is more expensive, but many of us consume more food than we need to – especially food with empty kilojoules – and we also waste a lot. Either we have eyes bigger than our stomachs, or we have just become very complacent with the availability of cheap food.

We are very guilty here – we buy food and have to throw it out of the fridge because it goes to waste. It may only be a few cents to a few dollars per meal, but I can guarantee it adds up quickly, especially when you times it by how often we eat and then by all the other families doing the same thing.

I don’t really know how to cook. I can throw some things together but I am so used to the convenience of grabbing a bottle of pasta sauce, already made, from the shop. Have you ever read the ingredients though? They have SO much salt and sugar – like 10 teaspoons worth! It’s disgusting.

But before I can worry about cooking, I have to focus on having a clean kitchen. I saw an article in the news the other day about how our bathrooms are cleaner than our kitchens, because most people are aware of how sick we can get from bathrooms.. but our kitchens are often a disgrace. Not saying everyone’s are.. but yep.. I have dirty dishes on my benches and it needs a good mop

I -suck- at cleaning and the pressure of being a stay-at-home mum makes me feel like I should be getting it all done.. and I resent that! But only because I hate cleaning.. and I think I only hate cleaning because I was never really shown how to do a good job of it.

So, first things first, I’m going down to my kitchen, sorting out my pantry, cleaning out my fridge. It will give me time to think about how to use up the haphazard mix of ingredients that I already have, and plan for what other ingredients I need to buy. I’m also going to have a look at some ‘natural’ cleaners like vinegar and bicarb and good old fashioned water.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

~Romi