Vinegar – the Nectar of the Gods

Okay, so maybe not the nectar – but the cleaning agent, definitely.

When we bought our new house, I decided that I was just going to buy a bunch of vinegar and a bunch of baking soda instead of stocking up on 409, Windex, and bleach. We’re trying to get rid of the amount of artificial junk we have in our house (I say as I’m eating Flavor Burst Goldfish – DH bought them – it wasn’t me!). We already started washing with soap nuts, and now it’s the only thing I use in my laundry (except for a little vinegar and baking soda).

Vinegar is effective at killing bacteria and mold (perhaps more effective even than bleach). And your kid could drink vinegar and be safe. Bleach on the other hand... Once I realized how effective vinegar is, I had to start cleaning with it. Granted, my house smells a lot like vinegar on my “deep cleaning” days, but it’s better than a bleach smell.

And I used to have to cart around 5-6 different spray bottles to do my cleaning.

Now my cleaning looks something like this:

Laundry
For a regular load (one with no peed on sheets, etc), I use my bag of soap nuts and 1/2 c. baking soda. I’m going to try out borax one of these days (probably next week, since I need to get some borax for a preschool activity we’re doing tomorrow). So far the soap nuts with the baking soda has been working great, and I can get the baking soda dirt cheap in bulk at Winco.
For towels and for loads that have V’s pee-soaked sheets (still having a hard time with nighttime dryness, but he’s getting there – he is only 3 1/2 after all), I add vinegar to the rinse cycle to make sure to get all the urine smell out, and I run it through an extra rinse.
I still use Shout for a stain remover, but I am going to start trying a soak in a borax solution. I soak stained clothes anyway (I keep a few dish pans in the laundry room for this purpose – you could use dish pans, an old bucket, or a gallon ice cream pail – I used those for a while).

Floors
After reading an article recently about cleaning tile floors, I decided that from now on I am going to wash my floors the old fashioned way – down on my hands and knees. I just bring along my handy dandy spray bottle full of white vinegar, and a rag, and spray, wipe, spray, wipe (with an occasional scrub when there is a spot that doesn’t just wipe away). It takes only slightly longer than using a mop and bucket, but I’m not using water so I don’t have to worry about little feet walking across my freshly mopped floor. Another advantage? I can actually see the floor, so I can make sure I’ve mopped up everything – even corners and edges (which are easily missed with a mop).

Bathrooms
For the bathrooms, I do a “swish and swipe” every day, which involves spraying the sinks/counters with my vinegar bottle and wiping them down, then pouring a little splash of vinegar in the toilet and cleaning out the inside of the bowl. This keeps the bathrooms in guest-ready shape, and I don’t have to worry so much about my “deep cleaning” bathroom days. On those “deep clean days” I wash the entire toilet bowl (inside and out) with vinegar from my spray bottle and a rag. I mop the floor in the bathroom the same way, and the tiles in the tub, and the tub, and the faucets, and the mirror... basically all I need is that one spray bottle of vinegar. And a few rags – I always use a different rag for the toilet than I used on the counter, or I do the counter first and then the toilet. For obvious reasons. I usually use a paper towel on the mirrors so I don’t leave fuzz on them, but the vinegar doesn’t really streak, so that’s good. Bye-bye Windex.

Windows
A little vinegar/water solution in a spray bottle is perfect for this job, too. I can’t believe how good at cleaning some vinegar is. It’s nuts.

Kitchen
I read the other day about using vinegar to spray down your cutting boards and letting them sit out over night (so the vinegar smell can dissipate). I might try doing that, because I hate nasty cutting boards. I also use it on my counters after cutting meat, or dividing up the 10 lbs tubes of ground meat I buy on sale for the freezer.

The only thing I haven’t tried with vinegar is cutting grease, but I also read that a borax and/or washing soda are good at that, so I might need to try that out. I did buy one spray bottle of 409 when we moved in, just to make sure I could clean everything. It’s kind of my last resort tool. In case nothing else works.

Well, there you have it – why I clean with vinegar and only vinegar.

What is the staple of your cleaning products? Do you think you could switch to vinegar and sodas if you haven’t already? How about mopping? Think you could do hands-and-knees mopping?

Checking In

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted – we’ve been moving and finishing school and all sorts of other crazy stuff, so it’s been really really… busy, you know.

Just wanted to check in on how our goals have been working for us.

R was worried about soy milk making V too “girly,” so we’ve moved on to Almond milk. It has more nutritional value than rice milk, and I think it tastes great! It’s a little more expensive, but I’ll do what I have to in order to keep my family healthy and my husband happy :)

All the other goals are going as well as can be expected, since our live is in a period of HUGE transition right now.

I think I need a goal for this transitional period of our lives, and so I am going to try to still be as green and healthy as possible, even while moving and living with other people. It’s going to be hard, but I can make it. We’re going to stick to our guns, even if the people we’re living with don’t make as green choices.

I still have to get my MIL to stop putting dryer sheets in with my laundry when she switches them over for me. I don’t really know how to approach that.

Any ideas on accepting someone’s hospitality and still hold true to your eat healthy/live green mentality?

Soapy

Yesterday was my first day washing with these and it was overall a good experience.

My towels came out smelling better than ever, but my whites turned a little brown (even with a whitening agent in the wash). But I’m pretty sure that’s because I accidently threw in some of DH’s green army issue cotton/wool socks with the whites.

Oops.

Well, at least the only semi-expensive thing that turned “off-white” was one of DH’s fitted French cuff shirts. And it’s not completely brown. Just a little … less white.

So, other than my own laundry faux pas, washing with soap nuts are amazing!

I also did a load of cloth diapers, which have been smelling kind of… hmm… lately. Before soap nuts I’d tried washing them in just hot water, trying to get any soap residue off, to no avail. Every time I washed them in hot water they STILL sudsed up (is that a word?). Then I washed them with the soap nuts today. The wash cycle sudsed up, and then the rise cycle ran clear! But then, just to make sure, I ran the wash cycle again. No suds!! Hooray! My cloth diapers are clean! Hopefully the nasty smell that was accompanying the suds will be gone too.

The clothes are also as soft as promised – sans dryer sheets.

And my clothes smell like… clothes. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier!

I used about 6 soap nuts in my little bag, and I’ve used the bag three time (four if you count the second wash cycle with the diapers). We’ll see how long they last. Next time I’ll use less, to try that out. Six seemed to work fine, but I’d like to stretch my dollars, and my soap nuts.

All Sorts of Changes

Okay, we’ve upped the ante!

Remember that New Year’s Resolution we made about making our home environment more healthy? Well, that coupled with me reading The Happy Minimalist has brought on a strong desire for me to simplify my life.

So now I’m trying to go back to the basics in everything. Home cleaning, self cleaning, and eating.

You read about soap nuts, and our swap meet. But now, we’re going “no-‘poo” – as in, we’re not using shampoo anymore. Oh, we’re still washing our hair, but either just with water, or with baking soda (followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse) if the need arises. For the kids, when they get really dirty, I am thinking about making a soap from my soap nuts when they get here. I will also make a body wash from soap nuts. Stinky/greasy/dirty bodies often need more TLC than just baking soda. But I bet baking soda will be one of the ingredients of my homemade soap-nut body wash! And some essential oils… maybe lavender… mmm.

Today was my first “no-‘poo” day. I washed with baking soda because my hair was pretty greasy. I switched shampoos about a month ago (trying to cut costs) and I have hated hated hated it. So I’ve got to do something else. Going back to my high-maintenance, high-cost salon products is just not going to work, so I figured I’ll go low-maintenance, low-cost, and natural.

I loved it, by the way. At first, scrubbing baking soda paste into my hair was a little… unnatural feeling, but once I rinsed it off, I was surprised! My hair had never felt so clean and natural, without being also frizzy, dry, and coarse. I’m hoping this will help my frizz-headedness as well.

I’m going to try some Vitamin E oil as well for the frizz if it gets really out of control. And Aloe Vera gel for when I want some curls or something a little more intense.

Already I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the best changes I make all year!

I have already made a list of all the parts of my “cleaning” life I want to swap out for cheap, natural, homemade versions. We’re moving in a few months, so I think I’m going to leave all my old chemical cleaners behind (I’ll probably donate them to friends or something) and swap out when settle down again. I’ll keep you posted. It’s sure to be an adventure!

Good Reads

Two of my new favorite blogs:

http://bonzaiaphrodite.com

and

http://tinychoices.com

Go there. Read them. Now.

The Healthy Soap

I found out today about this really cool way to wash. Use a soap that grows on trees. Yes, you heard me right - soap nuts.

In fact, they are eco-friendly, good for you, and CHEAP!

I have been using a free and clear detergent for years. I know even the regular detergent isn't good for you, but I just don't have the $$$ to really do much about that. Soon that will change.

The soap nuts also naturally soften fabrics, so that means away with dryer sheets.

I am going to try them out and see how they work for my family. I imagine they will work pretty well (a friend in my neighborhood uses them, so if they work for her, I can’t see why they wouldn’t work for me).

If you read my last post, you know we’re doing a big switcheroo at our house this year. Add to that list – switching detergent for SOAP NUTS!

Aerobic vs Anaerobic Exercise

I have been reading a book called Perfect Weight America. It's actually a really neat book. The author wrote it actually after gaining weight, not losing weight - his crusade is that everyone has a perfect weight, and eating right will help you get there - wether it means gaining weight, or losing weight. I don't think I've ever seen a "diet" book that has addressed BOTH issues. Incredible, really. And in the same breath he talks about conserving - water, energy, etc.

One thing that I found interesting was his section on exercise. He says doing only long-duration aerobic exercise is not good for you. And especially doing exactly the same aerobic exercise day after day. He quotes some doctor saying that doing repetitive aerobic exercise like walking on a treadmill dimishes our body's ability to produce quick bursts of energy. He recommends doing at least 20 minutes of anaerobic exercise each day.

He has a cool little chart in his book that say something like this:

1 hour of aerobic exercise: during workout - 210 calories burned, 2 hrs after workout - 25 calories burned, 3-15 hours after workout, 0 calories burned

1 hour of anaerobic exercise: during workout - 650 calories burned, 2 hours after workout - 150 calories burned, 3-15 hrs after workout - 260 calories burned

Examples of anaerobic exercise are jumping rope, sprinting, lifting weights, doing high-intensity step aerobics, and elliptical machines. Anything that is high intensity is usually anaerobic.

So add some anaerobic to your workout routine today!!