My committment to changing little things in our life is still a priority. Like most of the things I plan I do around the house, the time it takes me to finally get there could be a week, a month or several months before they come to fruition. SO, this week I finally got all the ingredients for my next household project! I decided that one very important change I wanted to make around the house was my laundry detergent. Since there are a lot of added ingredients in laundry detergent (parfums, brighteners, bleaching agents), it makes you realize that all of those chemicals get onto your skin all day. Think of all of the things that come in contact with your skin that you have washed: your sheets, your towels, your clothes…..I found a great DIY recipe for a safer laundry detergent using these ingredients:

1) 1.5 cups Washing Soda

2) 1 cup Baking Soda

3) 1 Bar of non-suds soap (important for HE washers)

4) 1/2 cup Citric Acid (I got this at Whole Foods)

5) 5-10 drops Essential Oil ( not necessary, but I chose one of my favorites: Young Living Jade Lemon for a nice fresh scent)

This is very economical, and all the ingredients are natural, and the Dr. Bronner’s bar soap is even organic, so no scary chemicals on our clothes or in the water supply.

  
Chop or grate the bar soap and then put it into a food processor. Pulse until fine. 

Then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse a few times. Transfer to a container and shake a couple times. 

  
 
Use 1 Tbsp for small loads and 2 Tbsp for a large load.

* I tried my first wash load of towels and it worked! 

The next project I will write about will be a great DIY way to dry your clothes and save energy on your heating/electric bill with wool dryer balls!

-Kim

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When I say that I’m guilty, I literally mean it. I have had this 1/2 finished soap bottle in my bathroom, but have just been waiting for it to get all used before I tried my “Germ-buster” DIY soap!

So, finally I have an empty foaming soap dispenser. Now to make my first bathroom toiletry that is free of “fragrance”, “sodium lauryl sulfates”, “PEG’s”, and synthetic dyes. (Just to name a few).

*Fragrance can be literally hidden is hundreds of ingredients in “parfum” or “fragrance”:  a “trade secret”in the industry. More than 75% of the time if you have a fragrance, you have legally hidden phthalates (THAL ates), known endocrine disruptors, that are linked with birth defects, breast cancer, infertility, liver, cancer, diabetes, obesity and now with autism and ADHD in pregnancy by Dr. Philip Landrigon, Mt Sinai, Children’s Environmental Health Center. 

* PEG’s (polyethylene glycol) are petroleum byproducts. During manufacturing process, carcinogenic contamination is created: 1,4 dioxane, which is a known human carcinogen, with liver and kidney effects.

* Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) are considered carcinogens. SLES is sometimes contaminated with 1, 4 dioxane (remember from above?). You will never see 1,4 dioxane on a label, as companies are not required to list carcinogenic contaminants. (CRAZY, right??!)

*Synthetic dyes/colors are made from coal tar, which is a mixture of many chemicals, derived from petroleum. These colors may be contaminated with low levels of heavy metals and some are combined with aluminum substrate. Aluminum compounds and many heavy metals are toxic to the brain. i.e. FD&C Blue 1, Green 3, Yellow 5 & 6, Red 33.

Like I mentioned above, until very recently, these were ingredients in my soap. It is a name brand that is not that expensive. Most people probably have used this handsoap in their homes.  This week, I made the switch to a “safer” soap option:

“FOAMING GERM-BUSTING HAND SOAP”:

(What you’ll need: a foaming hand soap dispenser, liquid Castile Soap, Thieves Essential Oil Blend)

1 part Castile Soap

+

4 parts Water

+

5-10 drops Thieves Essential Oil Blend

 (You can always tweek it if it doesn’t feel right to you. Be sure you’re using a foaming pump as the Castile soaps do not work well in a regular soap pump without clogging or shooting the soap sideways or up!! (I use Thieves Essential Oil blend because it is a blend of Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, Cloves and Rosemary….talk about great a great safe-guard oil!) 

This DIY hand soap avoids dangerous chemicals AND saves money! What changes can you make?

Stay tuned to the next part of the series!
-Kim

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Soothe dry lips with this really great, simple DIY lip scrub recipe!

What you’ll need:

1 tsp jojoba or apricot kernel oil

4 tsp brown sugar

3 tsp honey

3 tsp organic coconut oil

2 drops of Orange or Peppermint Essential Oil (I used Orange in this one)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and stir until combined; transfer to an airtight container. To apply, scoop out a dime-sized amount with your finger. Rub over dry lips. Rinse with water.

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I’ve learned to look for ingredients like: fragrance (a phthalate, a known endocrine disruptor) , butylene glycol (a synthetic petrochemical mix known to cause allergic and toxic reactions) and PEG-100 Stearate (a petroleum byproduct) There are tons of fancy words here…. I’d much prefer to see a  simpler list. Wouldn’t we all?

So, again I found a great DIY recipe for a Lemon-Mint Sugar Scrub that I just had to try out! First off, lemon is such a great frangrance. It boosts your mood and has so many antibacterial properties. The peppermint gives it that refreshing kick! 

 In a bowl, mix together 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, zest from 1/2 lemon, 5 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil and 5 drops of Lemon Essential Oil (get them here) . The sugar and lemon juice and zest gently sloughs off dry skin, the coconut oil moisturizes and lemon and peppermint provide a mood boost.  
  

I really enjoy making homemade products now. Not only is it fun and inexpensive, you know what’s in it!  These would make a great gift as well! I probably filled up 3- 4oz jars of product with this recipe. I topped it with extra lemon zest for extra flare.
  

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We’ve been using the  Think Dirty app recently and it shows us just how “safe” your personal care products are (are on scale of 1-10) . It lets you know potential health risks in each of the ingredients found in the product. Scary, right?!  You could literally drive yourself crazy looking at all of these .

When thinking of “safer” products that you would want to use for your little one you probably think of soaps, shampoos and diapers, right?  Well, what about wipes? One of the things you probably go through the most on a daily basis (for diaper changes, messy face clean-ups, dirty hands, table top cleaning, etc) are those convenient, pop up wipes! No one ever thinks about what are on those wipes. It’s not just a wet cloth of water.

I did a search on the app for the wipes that we currently use and here is what came up:

Gahhhh…..on a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being a product with high concern), my “Natural Care”, “Fragrance Free” wipes got a 7 !  This totally shocked me.  I didn’t even want to know the results from regular wipes that weren’t “Natural” and “fragrance free”.

With a little investigating, we found a recipe for DIY baby wipes.  We are confident that the ingredients in it are a MUCH safer alternative for your kiddo’s bottom! They do require a little bit of work, but that’s the name of the DIY game, right?

SUPPLIES:

1 Roll Paper Towels

2 cups Distilled Water

2 Tbsp avaBABY Body Wash and Shampoo 

1 Tbsp avaBODY Hand Sanitizer

2 Tbsp Olive Oil or warm coconut oil

A few drops of Essential Oil (Optional). We used Thieves.

DIRECTIONS:

1) Cut the roll of paper towels in half with a sharp kitchen knife

2) Mix all ingredients into a bowl, pour mixture over the paper towels.

3) Let soak and remove inner cardboard.

4) Store wipes in a ziplock bag or reuse an old wipes container. Pull from the middle. Ready to use!

* We’ve been using them for a week now and so far they’ve been great! We used paper towels from Costco. Their Kirkland brand is really heavy duty, so the wipes actually hold up!

-K and J

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INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp cocoa butter

1 tbsp sweet almond oil

2 tbsp beeswax pellets

1/4 tsp peppermint essential oil (~10 drops)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1)Place all ingredients (except for the essential oil) in a double boiler. I used a pyrex measuring cup on top of the double boiler.  (I’ve also done this previously by just putting the pyrex measuring cup right into the pot of hot water)

2) Once melted, remove from heat and let it cool for a short amount of time (I waited about 15 seconds)

3) Add the essential oil and stir

4) Fill the empty lip balm tubes

5) Leave them for about 10-15 minutes to set and put the caps on

Easy right?  You can always switch up the essential oil as well.  I did a small batch with Tea Tree Oil, per my sisters request. 

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