Putting the green back into your clean!
Although there's always room for improvement, I like a tidy house. I like it to look and smell clean, but I also want it to be clean.
But for years, many of us have been getting that clean at a cost by introducing a laundry list of chemicals including ammonia and chlorine bleach into our homes for the sake of banishing mold and mildew or bathtub scum. I'm sure you thought that duck in the bathroom or that scrubbing bubble were just what you needed to achieve a germ free sparkle with less effort on your part but did you ever stop to think what that's doing to your health?
There's more than one way to skin a cat (note no cats were harmed during the writing of this blog) and I've seen the light. I'm going back to my Grandmama's recipes, tweaked with a few essential oils and a few new cleaning brushes and tools and every week I'm going to share with Free From Friday; recipes for tacking cleaning that are free from toxins.
Some are very basic, but it's like making fire. Super easy if you have a lighter, but would you know how to do it in the woods should you need to? So consider me your girl guide to helping us all ditch the chemicals so we can clean our home and improve our lives without risking respiratory damage or adding chemicals into our water supply.
I've already show how baking soda and essential oils can make a super "carpet fresh" to freshen your home for pennies and each Friday I'll offer new insights on old fashioned and earth friendly solutions to help us all achieve a level of clean that still allows us to breathe easy, so keep your eyes peeled on Periscope and on the Landed Gentress Facebook page for the links to each new episode.
Easy Peasy Carpet Freshener
Mix 2 cups
You will nee: Two cups baking soda
30 drops essential oil.
Mason jar with lid and one piece of card stock or construction paper or
Jar with holes such as sugar shaker or recycle an old and well cleaned shaker top dispenser such as parmesean cheese, Wondra
Mix the baking soda with 30 drops essential oil, and there are a number of choices, see belwo. After mixing well, and you may want to put into a container and shake vigorously until everything mixes. Transfer either to a mason jar.or container of your choice. If using a mason jar, remove the inner lid, trace around it on a piece of cardstock or construction paper, punch holes in it and replace between the top of the jar and outer ring.
Shake on carpets and leave for an hour or two and vacuum well. Your room should smell refreshed and all without the help of synthetic fragrances.
Baking soda is good at absorbing nasty smells and you can create your own blend as long as 30 drops is the maximum you use.
If you have a cat, because of their liver's inability to handle pheonols and monoterpenes,which are constituents in essential oils, you may be relegated to using only: lavender, cedarwood, lemongrass and rosemary, which are generally considered safe in this recipe as you vacuum well.. With dogs you can use the above list as well as geranium, ginger and clary sage.
For both animals, essential oils that you may like for the holidays but are toxic to dogs or cats are clove, cinnamon and pine so please don't use them at all.
For the rest of you, feel free to go nuts
I personally love cedarwood for calming and teatree to help clear the air, especially if it's cold and flu season or your trying to rid the home of smells. Orange and patchouli are also a good combination to fight funk and the resulting fragrance of your newly scented carpet may also be enough, that you can ditch the air freshener too.
