prettying up the silver...

over the weekend i managed to score a few new utensils for lucy. she was desperately in need of forks, only having two. finding antique silver baby spoons is a relatively easy task due to their collectable nature--forks and knives, not so much. so when i came across 4 forks at the sacramento antique fair (priced at $1/each!) i snapped them right up. two of the forks even had matching spoons to go with! aren't they cute?

i mean, cute if you can get past all of that tarnish. not being a very fancy girl, i had no idea about polishing silver, but you can bet i wasn't about to go buy some chemical-laden silver cleaner, right? no, instead i googled "natural way to polish silver," and learned that it can be easily done by making a paste of baking soda and water, letting the items set in the paste for awhile, and then scrub-scrub-scrubbing at them with damp cloth. yes, it took quite a bit of elbow grease (i enlisted jeremy after my arm got tired) but take a look at how cute lucy's wee utensils are now:

pretty pretty, right? and for those of you who requested a belly shot, well, i guess technically that's me (upside-down) in the reflection of the spoons. ha!

truly clean dishes...

i've yet to have tons of luck in finding an eco-friendly dishwashing detergent that really works well. we've tried trader joe's powder and liquid, ecover tablets and seventh generation without tons of success. for the most part our dishes get clean enough, but often times there's a bit of residue, spottiness, or icky bits of food left behind.  

enter the ants. 

our dishwasher (well, our whole kitchen, really) was recently taken over by ants. i ran a rinse cycle to get rid of them, but there was nothing stopping them from coming back. so i whipped out my spray bottle filled with peppermint dr. bronner's (the peppermint is a mild insecticide and kills on contact) and sprayed down all of the dishes in the dishwasher to avert their interest in my dirty dishes. score 1 for your loyal blogger--not only did the ants fail to return, but the dishes came out super-squeaky clean. shiny & beautiful. not a bit of residue or food left behind. 

my new dishwasher routine is an ecover tablet, a light misting of dr. b's on the dishes, and vinegar in the rinse aid compartment. give it a try & see for yourself!

laundry day...

it seems like every day is laundry day around here. really, we do a heck of a lot of wash. i'm not complaining (well, maybe just a little), but whether it needs to be washed, dried, folded or put away, laundry is kind of filling up my little world. i fear it may actually overtake me when i'm not looking. 

last july i gave up the dryer entirely for a 3-month span. every little baby sock was hung on the line or on a drying rack indoors if it happened to be raining (rare). now, with a near-toddler in my presence, it seems i barely have time to get the wet clothes from the washing machine into the dryer. yes, teeny babies are time-consuming, but those who crawl and get into everything bring a whole new level of hurriedness into the daily routine. how fast can i get this load into the wash? how fast can lucy get into the dog food? 

anyway, here's how the laundry goes down at our house:

for diapers & wipes, we use 7th generation delicate care. i've never had any issues with this detergent. it gets the diapers very clean, and i don't notice buildup or anything like that. my only problem is that i've never seen it available locally, so i order through drugstore.com. which reminds me, i'm nearly out of cloth diaper detergent. (i did run out once, and ever since, i keep an 8 oz. mason jar tucked out of sight, just in case.)

for our clothes, we use ecos liquid detergent, which is available at costco. love everything about this eco-friendly soap (especially the essential oil fragrance), except it doesn't seem to get jeremy's work clothes all that clean sometimes. 

for cloth rags and towels, we use tide. horrible, horrible tide, a holdover from our less eco-friendly days. thankfully the massive jug is almost empty--the super-strong smell that i used to love now gives me a headache. 

bleach? i use it on very rare occasions, mostly when i'm doing an all-white load of items that are particularly stained. i really hate to use bleach (mainly because it is such a toxic substance and horrible for our waterways) but i have not found anything that removes set in stains. i tried my very best to love oxyclean for this purpose, but it was a no-go for the really set-in stains(though i do find it excellent at whitening yellowed vintage clothing). baking soda does help with some stains, as does setting clothing in the sun to dry. if anyone has another remedy for whiting clothes, lay it on me!

for wool and delicates, we use ecover delicate care. no complaints. love the scent. 

in the dryer, we use wool dryer balls. we used to have 7, now we have about 3 or 4. where do the balls get to, i have no idea. with their use, i have noticed much less static cling on our clothes. this can also be achieved by not overdrying. 

now here's what inspired this whole post (besides the fact that i am mad at myself for not hanging diapers on the line today even though it was 70 degrees & sunny): the back of my ecover bottle states the following: "no optical brighteners – research has shown that optical brighteners bind to the skin irreversibly."

 i did a bit of googling around but couldn't find much research on this. the best info i could find was here which still doesn't have much information. personally, we're in the clear. none of our detergents have brightening agents. thank goodness--i don't need anything permanently bound to my skin. really, isn't the idea of it just kind of unsettling? 

what we're using...

i thought i'd put together a short list of our "daily" products--the stuff we trust enough to have put in the heavy rotation. i was kind of a product junkie before making some real lifestyle changes since lucy's birth. i can now count on fingers the amount of lotions & potions that get used around these parts. our life is certainly simpler (and more affordable) due to the shift. you may have seen me blog about some of these before, but i thought it'd be handy to have them all together now that i've reached bodycare almost-nirvana. here's a rundown, for those looking for great "green" products in an affordable price range:

shampoo & conditioner: trader joe's tea tree tingle

anti-frizz serum, when needed: extra virgin olive oil

deodorant: the crystal stick

body lotion: aveeno naturals daily moisturizing lotion (i can get this at costco!)

toothpaste: trader joe's peppermint 

liquid body soap: dr. bronner's peppermint castile soap

bar soap: dr. bronner's almond

facewash: local raw honey

for makeup, i use bare minerals foundation and bronzer--this stuff is a little on the pricey side but it lasts forever! i use clinique eyeliner, eyeshadow and mascara. when these run out, i will be looking for a line that does not include parabens or other nasties in its ingredient list. if anyone has any suggestions, i would LOVE to hear them. 

lipgloss: alba passionfruit lip gloss. so yummy and gives a nice pretty shine, comparable to the stuff i used to use that was basically liquid plastic with some synthetic flavoring & scent. i also use lansinoh lanolin for healing chappy/dry lips. 

for lucy: 

california baby calming hair & bodywash in the bath. olive oil on rare occasions for dry skin. weleda children's tooth gel for her bitty teethies. we do not use rash cream for diaper rash--primarily because she doesn't get rashy, but also because if she does get rashy, i find that fresh air clears the rash quicker than any cream. 

for regular laundry: 

ecos liquid detergent in magnolia & lily scent. this stuff is 100% biodegradable, smells delicious without synthetic fragrances, and has a soy-based softener. 

for cloth diaper laundry: 7th generation delicate care. gets them clean, every time. 

for wool: ecover delicate wash for fine fabrics & wool

for lanolizing: lansinoh lanolin. SO much better than medela. 

for extra whitening & stain removal: oxyclean. pure magic. swear. 

around the house: 

dr bronners & baking soda for pretty much everything that needs a scrub. 

vinegar for the windows. 

a sprinkle of baking soda for stink in the diaper pail. 

an open window for air freshener. 

in the diswasher: trader joes liquid detergent. to be honest, it's not all that great. sometimes the dishes are squeaky clean, sometimes not so much. i have a box of ecover dishwashing tablets that i am itching to try when the tj's stuff runs out. 

as a rinse aid in the dishwasher: vinegar. 

there you have it. life has gotten pretty simple here. i like it. 

here's a story...

over the weekend i decided to clean the toilet. i grabbed a rag and my go-to cleaning supplies: dr. bronner's peppermint castile soap, baking soda and an old washcloth that is now designated as a bathroom rag. i mixed 1/4 of a cup of baking soda with a few squirts of dr. b's, along with a drizzle of water from the tap, and got down to business cleaning the potty. when i was done, i tossed the rag on the bathroom rug (intending to wash both of them later). i hopped into the shower. 

not long after, (and unbeknownst to me) this little girl i know crawled down the hallway. she stopped by the bathroom and took a peek in the door. she spotted the dirty toilet rag--no doubt looking like the perfect play toy. jeremy was hot on her trail, but not quite quick enough. she picked it up and, well, you get the idea. yum, right? 

my mother's intuition kicked in as soon as i heard a little, contented giggle from the bathroom floor. i hollered from the shower "don't let her play with that toilet rag!" and jeremy quickly pried it from her little hands. i returned to my ever-so-relaxing shower, (while jeremy went the kitchen sink to scrub down our daughter), no-doubt grossed out by the entire thing. but i was also struck with real relief and satisfaction, as it hit me that there were no harmful chemicals on that rag to make my baby sick or irritate her skin. 

switching to homemade cleaners has not only saved us money, but i find them just as effective as the old stuff we were using: ajax, soft scrub, pine sol and liquid bleach. (can i just tell you how many sweatpants i've had that have been ruined while cleaning with bleach-laden cleansers?) for the most part, i use dr. bronner's, water and baking soda. it makes a great "soft scrub" cleanser and you really can't mess this recipe up--just add the castile soap to the baking soda until you get a good consistency. a little bit of water helps to thin it down. the rest of the time, i just use straight vinegar. it gets glass gleaming and streak-free, gets cemented bananas off of lucy's high chair, and gets rid of mildew (good scrubbing needed for total success) in the bathroom. 

lucy is fine after the toilet rag incident, by the way. but this whole crawling thing is certainly keeping jeremy & i on our toes!

tried it: crunchy clean laundry detergent...

i am loving laundry these days. my clothes smell yummy again, and all because of a new , eco-friendly detergent i am using. crunchy clean is made by a work-at-home mom, and is phosphate & chlorine free, and safe for use as greywater when we (hopefully) get a system running sometime in the not-so-near future. the detergent comes in a plethora of different scents--i chose a sampler trio of apple orchard, milk n' honey, and monkey farts. my favorite? by far the monkey farts. the name, though whimsical, doesn't do the scent justice. it's described as a blend of bananas, grapefruit, kiwi, bubblegum, strawberries, and a touch of vanilla. delicious. the powder itself smells very, very strong going into the machine, but freshly-washed clothes retain only a small bit of the scent on them once line-dried.

the clothes seem just as clean as they are with my regular detergent (planet, which is also eco-friendly). and i love the idea of supporting a work-at-home mom. crunchy clean is available on etsy.com. clicking here will take you directly to the crunchy clean store. she also makes a detergent that's safe for cloth diapers, but since i'm having tremendous success with seventh generation delicate care, i'm not in the market to switch.

all detergents offered by crunchy clean are scented with either fragrance oils or essential oils (there's also an unscented offering too). fragrance oils are synthetic, while essential oils are 100% natural. that's my understanding of it, anyway. the monkey farts blend is scented with fragrance oils... which must be why it smells so delicious!

in the future i'll probably try to fall in love with a scent that uses essential oils, since my constant goal is to cut back on unnecessary chemicals within our home. but there's no doubt that even with the fragrance oils, crunchy clean is a greener, safer, alternative to most store-bought detergents. at .12 per load, it's a totally affordable indulgence. i totally recommend it.

vinegar, by the gallon...

you would not believe how many things can be done with a bit of white vinegar. from killing weeds to deterring fruit flies to cleaning an icky toilet, this stuff is powerful. stinky, yes. but effective. so good that on a trip to costco a few months back, i bought 2 gallons of the stuff. it set me back about $4. not to bad of an investment, right? to read a full list of household uses for vinegar, check out this link from the folks at the vinegar institute. (yes, there really is such a thing).

anyway, the here's one of the uses that i'm absolutely loving: vinegar as fabric softener. i read about this and thought that it was totally crazy. but, muttering to myself about how crazy it was, i decided to give it a try. i filled up the liquid fabric softener dispenser on my washing machine (you can also use a downy ball) with the vinegar and let the machine run through the cycle.

can you believe i found this image? the internet is amazing.

upon my return to fetch the laundry, the entire garage smelled like someone had been dying easter eggs. the clothes had to stink, too. bracing myself for a rewash, i opened the lid and pulled out a pair of jeans. took a big whiff and... no stink. amazing.

i was once a 3 dryer sheet, snuggle & bounce girl. i used so many dryer sheets, in fact, that my clothes had kind of a super-soft, slick, filmy feel to them. i associated it with cleanliness, softness, comfort. but here's what that film actually is: a thin coating of artificial chemical fragrances, many of which are known carcinogens. banned for human consumption, but apparently fitting for use against our skin. i'm steering clear, and not only because i'm forgoing dryer use for another month: besides the sketchy chemical aspect, let's not forget that dryer sheets are yet another single-use, throwaway item. they take energy to produce, need to be packaged and shipped, and are not recyclable or compostable due to questionable ingredients.

were my vinegar-rinsed clothes any softer that the non-treated ones before them? well, line drying makes things crunchy. there's not too much you can do about that. but i did notice a difference, mainly in that the vinegar-rinsed clothes were easier to fold. it's not like they were fresh out of the dryer or anything, but that's to be expected. i have no doubt that with machine-drying, even just a fluff-cycle, they would have been much softer. as soft as with a dryer sheet? probably not. but pretty darn close.

BUT.

I WANT PRETTY-SMELLING LAUNDRY!!! i'm bored of nature's 'sun-dried special.' and since we use biodegradable laundry detergents without any scents or dyes, i'm looking for something natural to scent my wash with. i've read about (but have not tried) adding a few drops of essential oil to the vinegar to help scent the clothes a bit. right now though, i'm banking on "crunchy clean." it's an all-natural, biodegradable detergent handmade by a very nice work-at-home mamma who sells on etsy. my order is due to arrive any day. i chose 3 scents to sample... 'apple orchard,' 'oatmeal, milk n' honey,' and 'monkey farts' (a blend of bananas, grapefruit, kiwi, strawberries & more). i've heard nothing but absolute rave reviews about her stuff and i cannot wait to try it.


could it be? soft and yummy smelling laundry, naturally? stay tuned. you know i'll keep ya posted.

ick. we've got ants...

this has been a bad summer for bugs. ants, specifically. we've had them in every room of the house. we've had them in the backyard. we've had them in the garage. heck, i've even seen a couple in my bed here and there. they come in to get out of the heat. they come in to get out of the cold. they come in for water. for food. for teensy, infinitesimal crumbs. and most recently, they come in for poopy diapers. gross.

i spent a fair amount of time cleaning up an infiltration of ants this morning. they found the dog food that we keep in the kitchen. i vacuumed them up and sprayed the dog food bucket with dr. bronner's peppermint soap. this is a pure castile soap (fair trade, organic, 100% biodegradable) and can be used in a wide range of ways... for dishes, as a bodywash or shampoo, for making your own household cleaners, as a fruit & veggie wash, etc. i have dr. bronner's in both almond and peppermint varieties and love them both. the oils in the peppermint variety supposedly work as a mild insecticide. we've used it on and off to help deal with the ants. it kills them on contact, and if you let the soap dry on surfaces, they don't seem to come back. the problem with leaving it, however, is that it creates a kinds of slick, sticky soap residue. not something you'd really want covering all the surfaces in your house.

but i certainly don't want to be spraying raid, either. so when they got into the dirty diapers today, i sprayed the dr. bronner's all around the floor and diaper pail to kill the ants. but i didn't want the soapy mess on the floor. so i wiped it up and sprinkled cinnamon around the pail. supposedly it burns their little feet so they stay away. (can you picture this?) anyway, it seems to be working. no ants at the moment. i mean, i have a fair dusting of cinnamon on my floor, but if it's safe for the baby (and the rest of us) than i guess that's okay.