Naturally Clean: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

This is another thing that had been on my to-do list for a very long time. I found a recipe from The Eco-Friendly Family for a dishwasher detergent that doesn't contain Borax. Although I use Borax in my laundry detergent, there is a bit of a controversy surrounding it. Borax is listed as being hazardous but only if ingested in large amounts, so I feel more comfortable eliminating it altogether from food and eating surfaces.

To preface the recipe, let me tell you about my dishwasher. When we first moved into our current town home, the dishwasher quit working after 2 wash cycles. I called the landlords and twice they sent someone over to fix it to no avail. They decided to just install a new one. My dishwasher is a little over a year old and it never really cleaned dishes. You have to excessively pre rinse so that it doesn't throw food chunks all over your other dishes. I have to be careful where certain things are placed in the dishwasher or they won't get clean. In other words, we have a bottom of the barrel quality dishwasher. Oh yeah, and hard water on top of that. Some days I felt like I might've been better off just hand washing everything. I was using liquid Cascade for years and it did an alright job but it would leave these weird white spots all over things. Even with Jet Dry, and I eventually switched that out for white vinegar. I don't know if it was soap goo or hard water minerals or what. All I know is I didn't want whatever that was in my food.

I already had most of the ingredients for the detergent except the sea salt and the Lemi-Shine. I do a lot of cleaning with baking soda and I had the washing soda from making laundry detergent. The great thing about the Lemi-Shine and salt is that they soften your water if it's hard. After a week's worth of washes, not once had there been any weird white spots on anything. Sold! It does a good job at getting everything clean, too. Everything should be easily available at your local grocery or big box store.

12 oz container of Lemi-Shine (found with the dish detergents)
1 1/2 cups washing soda
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup sea salt

Mix it all together and store in a dry container. Use 2 tablespoons per load. I like to use white vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser.

Product Review: Rubbermaid Reveal Mop

Before I start, I want to state that I was not asked or paid to write this by any person or company. I purchased this item on my own with my own money.


After the death of my Shark steam mop, (and by death, I mean explosion) I went to Home Depot looking for some sort of replacement. Not necessarily another steam mop, but something to quick clean the floors between scrubbings. The only thing that initially came to mind, and what first ended up in my cart, was the Swiffer and a pack of the wet wipes. I can't even begin to describe the knot that appeared in my stomach over this. I'm probably a bit more neurotic than your average person...ok a lot more, but the thought of those chemicals in my house left me feeling extremely uneasy. Not to mention all of the waste. My husband suggested finding a reusable cover for the Swiffer and just not using the bottle of spray chemicals that came with it. That sounded like a better idea and we were off to try and find something that would fit. Unfortunately, there weren't any appropriate options. I was still feeling a bit defeated when my husband pulled down a Rubbermaid Reveal Mop. After looking it over, I realized this was the perfect product for me. It is a spray mop with reusable cloth cleaning pads that velcro onto the bottom and an empty bottle to fill with whatever cleaning solution you prefer. Vinegar and water in my case! All my problems were solved at once! No waste and no chemicals!

The mop itself is self explanatory. Pull out the bottle and fill with cleaner, replace. The mop handle is a comfortable length and the spray handle is convenient and easy. The cloth pads are absorbent and were able to scrub away grime with ease. My toddler's food-throwing is no match for this thing. Afterwards, I threw the cloth pad in the wash with a load of towels and it came out nice and clean. It's extremely lightweight and can be stored anywhere you keep mops, brooms, etc.

I would most definitely recommend this product over any other mops on the market. I never did like Swiffers, anyway. I never felt like they really cleaned. The Reveal does.

Naturally Clean: Homemade Laundry Detergent

For the longest time, I've been wanting to make a homemade laundry detergent. I did some research and found out that most are made from just 3 ingredients. While the ratios can vary, it seems that you can just use equal parts grated castile soap, washing soda, and borax. I saw some recipes included baking soda. I didn't add any to mine but I might try that later. Although I used equal parts, you could always adjust the ingredients based on your own laundry needs.

Why bother? Well, most commercial laundry detergents contain ingredients that aren't biodegradable. Every ingredient in this soap is, and it's all natural. It's so gentle it can even be used for baby clothes. My son has sensitive skin and has had no adverse reactions. The other good reason? It's extremely cheap!

I tested this detergent for a little over a week and I've been very happy with the results. It leaves my laundry soft and smelling fresh. I used it on sheets, blankets, clothes, and towels. The only thing that I did not wash was my cloth diapers. I read that the castile soap can leave a film and cause repelling so I decided to keep using my Country Save for diapers. In the future, I may try it out on just flats and prefolds.

So here's exactly what I ended up using but feel free to change it up or use different scents:

1 bar of Dr. Bronner's Hemp Tea Tree pure castile soap grated (~2 cups)
2 cups Arm and Hammer washing soda
2 cups Borax

I have an HE washer so I use one tablespoon per load. If you have a top loader, 2 tablespoons is recommended. I tested on hot, warm, and cold washes. It works well on hot and warm as is. If you are going to use it for cold washing, I recommend dissolving it in some warm water before adding it to your wash.

With this recipe you'll get about 96 HE loads or 48 conventional loads.

Naturally Clean: The Many Uses of Baking Soda

Baking soda is a great natural green cleaner and it has an almost endless number of uses. I mainly use it as a scrubbing agent and a carpet freshener. When it's paired with a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water, you can clean pretty much everything in your house. It's safe, non-toxic, environmentally friendly and DIRT CHEAP. You can even use baking soda and vinegar as shampoo and conditioner, respectively. (More on that in a week or two!)

Some of the other common uses of baking soda:

-toothpaste
-deodorant ingredient (homemade)
-acid/upset stomach relief
-deodorizer (household)
-moisture absorber (household)
-detox bath
-shampoo
-laundry booster
-face scrub


To use as a scrubbing agent, simply sprinkle a generous amount over the surface and scrub with a sponge. It's amazing how it cleans and gets rid of hard-to-remove gunk. It's especially great for stovetops, sinks, and bathtubs. I also use it in the toilet. It makes my surfaces shine. Take a look for yourself.

It even got out the coffee stains. I <3 this stuff.

To use as a carpet freshener simply sprinkle around your carpet and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then vacuum normally. You could also add some essential oils to your baking soda before sprinkling it onto your carpet for added fragrance and freshness.

Naturally Clean: Cinnamon and Honey for Acne

I've always been concerned about the state of my skin. I've tried almost every face wash, mask, and spot treatment on the market, all to no avail. Since my pregnancy and birth of my son, my face has only gotten worse. Yeah, all those things I heard about glowing skin during pregnancy...lies! At least, for me it was. Ever since then, it has persisted. Hooray hormones.

I never even thought twice about buying face goo from the drug store and slapping it on my face in the hopes that it would perform some miracle. I also never bothered to read the ingredients. There's some pretty questionable things in a lot of skin care products and all of those questionable ingredients aren't going to just sit on the surface of your face. They are going to be absorbed into your body. Not to mention, they just plain don't work!

My sister started mixing honey and cinnamon and using it as a face mask. She insisted it was amazing and it got me curious to try it myself. At the time I first gave it a try, I had a mountain of a zit on my face. I mixed up the honey and cinnamon and smeared it all over my face and let it sit for about 15 minutes. I rinsed completely and let my face dry naturally. In a few minutes, I noticed results. I'm not even exaggerating when I say the zit had shrunk to about half its original size. Not only that, but I noticed my skin tightening and my pores were also noticeably smaller. I finally witnessed a real skin care miracle and it had been hiding in my kitchen the whole time.

Honey is naturally antibacterial. By leaving it on your face, the bacteria can't survive and dies. Cinnamon is anti-inflammatory and helps reduce the redness and swelling of acne. Here's how to make your own:

Make sure your honey is actually 100% honey. Check out your local farmer's market, bee farm, health food store, or organic section of your grocery store. Scoop a small amount into a bowl. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and stir until you have a thick paste. You may need to add more cinnamon. Spread on affected areas or all over as a mask and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Gently wipe off or rinse with warm water. Let your face air dry. Apply a thin layer of coconut oil to replenish your skin's natural protectant and moisture. Repeat daily.

Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Wash Routine

It's day 4 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.

My wash routine has been pretty simple. I made a wash tub out of a 5 gallon bucket and a plunger. It works really well and wasn't as difficult to do as I had imagined.

I start by storing dirty diapers in the wash bucket. I've been washing the diapers every day because the fewer that are washed, the easier it is on your hands and arms. Every evening I haul the bucket to the bathroom and fill it up with lukewarm water. This is my pre-rinse. I plunge it for about 5 minutes and then drain all the water. Next I add a small amount of my detergent and fill it with the hottest water I can get. I let it sit for a few minutes (usually enough time to watch final Jeopardy, haha) and then I wash vigorously for five minutes. 

I then dump all that water out and fill it again with hot water. I add about 1/4 cup of vinegar and then plunge for another 5 minutes or so. Dump again, fill again with hot water and repeat without the vinegar. Dump water and fill with lukewarm water for final rinse. Swish until there are no more soap bubbles, remove diapers, wring and hang to dry.

It's pretty simple and it usually only takes me 30 minutes or so. It does take a bit of upper body stamina to do this but I keep the music going to help keep my mind off of it.

I make sure to smell my diapers after taking them out and they always smell clean to me.

I do want to say that while this isn't so bad for a week, I am very much looking forward to getting my washing machine back. Handwashing diapers is very doable but by no means is it an ideal situation. If I were in a situation where I did not have access to a washing machine, I would look for a different long-term washing option other than a bucket and plunger.

Naturally Clean: The Power of Vinegar

I've written about this before on my previous collaboration blog but I'm going to do it again. I'd like to do a mini series about green cleaning/chemical-free living and I'm going to start with the most basic thing to use: white distilled vinegar. We've all seen the millions of posts about making your own cleaners on Pinterest, and that is awesome. I'm here to tell you that if you haven't already tried them, you are missing out! I use a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water in a large spray bottle to clean EVERYTHING in my house. Every surface in the bathroom and kitchen, windows, mirrors, floors. The only thing I wouldn't recommend using it on is finished wood.

Cleaning with natural cleaners is something that is very important to me and I take it very seriously. A lot of the chemicals used in everyday household cleaning can cause a plethora of ailments including cancer. Women who work in the home were found to have a 54% increased risk for cancer than women who work outside of the home. Coming from a direct line of stay-at-home moms who are also breast cancer survivors, I want to lessen my odds in any way I can.

Vinegar is antibacterial, antifungal, kills mold, and absorbs odors. It really is the most perfect cleaner out there. You also have no worries about children or pets getting under the sink or being poisoned.

Now to get real with you. It cleans extremely well and I am very particular when it comes to dealing with germs and dirty surfaces. My stuff gets clean. Clean enough that I feel comfortable letting my child eat off his high chair tray after being wiped down with vinegar. (hey, I'd rather that than some toxic chemical...vinegar is food!) It does require some extra elbow grease but that's no big deal in my book. I will admit that a few weeks ago I ended up cleaning some glass in the house with some leftover Windex and holy heck. My eyes burned, my throat got sore, my lungs hurt. That was enough to really give me the final push over the edge to say no to cleaning chemicals forever.

Some of the benefits of natural cleaning are better health for you and your family, better health for the environment, and more money in your pocket, which everyone can appreciate.

Stay tuned for more natural cleaning tips in the following weeks.