DIY Room Freshener

This is so simple to do, I'm not sure why anyone would use the chemical-laden, hormone disrupting, cancer-causing commercial air fresheners.

All this one involves is using a 3 oz. travel spray bottle, filling it about 3/4 full of water and adding about 15 drops of orange essential oil and about 2 drops of lavender essential oil.  Shake before use.

You can also spritz this particular formula on your hair for a little extra shine or for a nice perfume.  You know how smells always last longer in your hair?  You can take advantage of that fact here.

Orange oil is especially good for oder removal and is even recommended for improving the Feng Shui of a room.  If you made one of only lavender or lavender, ylang ylang and maybe some geranium oil, it would be for a great for spraying in your bedroom before bed for a nice, restful sleep.    

There are plenty of aromatherapy formulas out there, so you're sure to find one you love.  A couple awesome things about essential oils: most are naturally anti-bacterial and if you whatever you don't mix with a carrier oil/other essential oil or water lasts forever.  The 3 oz. bottle is nice because you will probably use it up before it goes bad.  If it smells rancid, don't use. (That makes sense, right? ;)

Just be sure the oils you use are actually essential oils and not "fragrance oils" or you risk just making a nasty chemical version.  There are some oils that shouldn't be used for certain conditions, so be sure to research that.  The ones I've listed are pretty safe and can even be used during pregnancy. (Except don't use lavender directly on little boys.  There's a possibility it affects their hormones.)

iHerb.com sells plenty of essential oils and their service is great!  If you use this code: ZEV497 then you get $10 off your first order of $40 or more or $5 off your order of less than $40.  If your order is over $60, you get free 1-3 day shipping and they always fill orders fast!  I do get credits if you use this code, but I really am very happy with their service and it sure beats using up gas and time driving around to find all the natural products I need.  They even have non-perishable food.  

Make Your Own Laundry Soap

After running out of our last bottle of 7th Generation laundry detergent and using our Citrus Magic Fine Wash for a couple of loads, I decided to finally try making my own laundry soap. "Make Your Place" and Soule Mama both use the same ingredients, but I used Soule Mama's proportions since she had 4 children at the time of the post (5 now) and the MYP proportions suggested it would wash 3 loads. The Kirk's soap acts a bit differently than Dr. Bronner's, so I'm hoping that it will still wash well. Though all that grating made my hand a bit tired, it was exciting to make this "on my own". Angelo is always available to stir and pour, as long as he's awake, of course. It took a bit of convincing to keep Salty and Thomas the trains out of the mix, though. ;) A load is spinning now, and probably for the first time ever, I'm wishing I had more laundry to test this out on. That alone worth making my own laundry soap!

Where I got what:

Baking Soda - Mountain People's Co-op

Washing Soda/Soda Ash- Dharma Trading Company (left over from some dying projects... I believe Amazon also sells it if you can't find it locally)

Borax- Rose Mountain Herbs (Angry Chicken, who is awesome about sharing all kinds of information has a link here. If you buy something, go through the link and pass on the love. :)

Castile Soap ihealthtree (haven't found any local non fish children's DHA, so went ahead and ordered this for efficiency, but most health food stores will carry castile bar soap...)

BTW, SM mentions using 1/8 cup per load. That's about 2 TBS. I have an extra TBS measuring spoon, and it seemed to be useful in getting the powder out of the jar. Also, before mixing all this up, I looked up whether it was safe for high efficiency machines and because it is low-sudsing, it is safe.

If you have already made your own laundry soap/powder or try this out on your own, please let me know what your results are. I'll keep you posted on our results here.

Happy laundry day!