In keeping with my quest for sustainable clothing I needed to check them out. And, just in time to trade in the winter boots for something light. After trying out the selection at my local Payless store, I selected the casual brown Ginger Mary Jane style. These are made with organic cotton uppers and recycled rubber soles. Even the elastic strap is made from recycled recycled PET.

I’ve had them now for a couple weeks and they are still comfortable and enjoyable to wear. A nice under $25 find!

Check out all of the Zoe&Zac styles at Payless ShoeSource.

This has been the challenge in my house ever since I converted the household to green cleaning. How will we get the dishes spot free without our mainstream dish detergent? So far we’ve tried several options and Seventh Generation has performed quite well.

This weekend, however, I received my shipment from the Ecostore. I won a $25 gift certificate from The Queen Mommy’s Cafe. Honestly! [by the way, April 3oth is National Honesty Day, you may read about it on her blog]. After reading about the Queen Mommy’s satisfaction with the EcoStore’s laundry whitener (and having less than satisfactory results in that area myself), I knew I wanted to try it too. To fill out my order I included the hand dishwashing liquid and two bars of soap.

The dishwash liquid is made from a blend of palm and coconut surfactants into a super concentrated formula. The directions call for using only a squirtful for a sink full of dishes. Knowing how much liquid we usually use, I immediately created a small amount of diluted solution (about 2/3rds water) in an empty dishwashing liquid container.

I was first surprised at the rich amount of suds that developed. The dish liquid I was currently using claimed to produce “lots of suds” when in reality it produced hardly any. Despite being watered down, I was able to wash the glassware to my satisfaction (i.e. no finger prints or spots). The real test came from trying to clean the glass measuring cups that I had just used to make a batch of lotion.

My homemade lotion is made by blending vegetable oil, water and melted beeswax. A desirable quality of lotion is that it doesn’t wash off easily, at least that’s what I’m looking for. Since I’m still an aprentice lotion maker, I’m rather messy on the job. Trying to wash lotion off the dishes while my hands are heavily coated (from trying to clean up the excess lotion) is no easy feat! In the spirit of National Honesty Day, I must admit that clean-up takes much longer than I’d like. Yet, my new dishwash liquid (even diluted) cut through the lotion and cleaned the glass (after a second washing)! Hurray!

Now I need to go check on the laundry…

Let us start with an easy one. In my last post I suggested some inexpensive items to add to your next grocery list. If you already picked up the distilled white vinegar (made from grain), great! If not, there’’s still time.

All-Purpose Household Cleanser/disinfectant

supplies: clean spray bottle, vinegar, water (optional: essential oil such as lavender or grapefruit)

Step 1 – fill bottle half-way with plain water

Step 2 – fill rest of bottle with vinegar

Step 3 – spray surface to be cleaned (!!!NOT MARBLE!!!!)

Step 4 – wipe clean with a sponge or  soft cloth

Now, is not that easy?

BONUS TIPS:

Surface does not seem clean enough? Try full-strength vinegar next time and let the surface soak for a few minutes.

Do not like the vinegar smell? Add a few drops (3-5) of your choice of essential oil. The vinegar disappears fairly quickly leaving a more pleasant sent behind.

I have been reading two very informative books on simplifying the household cleaning chores. The first book, Organic Housekeeping, by Ellen Sandbeck, I discussed here earlier. The other book is Green This!, by Deidre Imus. Both are full of suggestions for how to eliminate the toxins in your cleaning routine and Ms. Imus goes into detail on why we do not want these toxins in our homes.

Reading these books and following the cleaning suggestions described by these two ladies can seem like a daunting big step if taken in all at once. But even big bites can be broken down into little nibbles.

One of the steps toward healthier housekeeping is acquiring the right ingredients. So, here is Baby Step No. 1. – the next time you are in the grocery store, big up the following:

• A large bottle of distilled white vinegar. Look for the kind that specifically says it is main from grain. Vinegar can also be produced as a petroleum by-product, so unless the bottle says “from grain”, we may not know the actual origin. Heinz is one example.
• a large box of baking soda.
• Optional: a bottle of distilled water.

All of the above should add less than $5 to your grocery bill. If you want to stretch this Baby Step a bit further, also pick up an empty spray bottle, preferably with a trigger similar to those used for glass cleaners.

That is all there is to to Baby Step No. 1.

The little steps I will tag as Baby Steps. These are actions or choices that involve minimal effort and/or cost.

The bigger steps I will tag as Big Steps. These often involve more forethought and a more than nominal investment in time and/or funds.

Our babies grow and change right before our eyes as they develop through big and little steps. In the same way, we can create a safer, healthier environment to support their rapid growth and our family’’s overall well-being.

Drop us a comment to let us know what steps you have taken recently.

Enjoy!

Of the 3,000 chemicals that the US imports or produces at more than 1 million lbs/yr, a new EPA analysis finds that 43% of these high production volume chemicals have no testing data on basic toxicity and only seven percent have a full set of basic test data.

She points out that innocent until proven guilty seems to be the way chemical usage is addressed in the United States. “Only chemicals that have been proven dangerous beyond a reasonable doubt are removed from the market.” After setting the stage for why organic housekeeping is worthy of serious consideration, Ms. Sandbeck, quickly moves into practicalities.

Rare is the person who really enjoys doing housework. Chemical concoctions were supposed to provide the happy homemaker with quick and easy solutions to help her breeze through these mundane duties. However, as our homes continue to fill with more and more stuff, finding the surfaces that need to be cleaned is our first challenge.  Thus, organizing and de-cluttering make up the first chapter in Organic Housekeeping.

After rediscovering our household surfaces, closets, and cabinets, we next work chapter-by-chapter through each of the major rooms in a house from the kitchen through to the bedroom learning very practical techniques to efficiently clean, disinfect, and maintain our home”’’s health and by extension protect our family”’’s health. It was a relief to learn how vinegar rather than expensive and fancy store-bought petroleum-based concoctions can be used throughout the house to effectively and simply clean.

As more and more of us learn to live with asthma, allergies, and autoimmune diseases, reducing or eliminating triggers, disruptors, and irritants from our indoor living environments will continue to grow in importance. Organic Housekeeping introduces a post-chemical-revolution generation to cleaning and sanitation techniques that are not only safe for the home and the people in them but also safety to the planet as a whole.

Hunt out a copy from your local library to learn more!

Garden Squares

It is February which means it is time to plan what to grow this year. Here are a few relatively easy suggestions to promote healthy home and body care.

• tomatoes – nothing in the store can compare to home grown!
• basil
• mint
• loofah – Yes, you can grow loofah. I do not know who started the rumor that loofah sponges come from the sea!
• marigold – pretty and good for pest/rabbit control
• winter squash (including pumpkin)
• lettuce
• garlic – tasty and also good for pest control (plant near the lettuce)
• various peas and beans are easy too – I do not grow them though due to family allergies.

Looking for extra-credit? Add:

• lavender
• roses
• lemons
• carrots
• potatoes
• chamomile
• sage

If you start now (or real soon), you can get many of these going from seed, a much more economical investment than starting with plants. Of course, one fruitful tomato plant will more than earn its keep and that of the other plants as well.

On a tight budget, and who is not these days? Try container gardening by reusing household containers (yogurt, milk cartons, those blue mushroom baskets…). If you have never gardened, the important part is to just try it! But, start small – even a few basil leaves or a tomato or two can be counted a victory! A few seed packets and a big bag of potting soil should be expense enough to get started.

Check out the local library for some great books on seed starting tips, organic gardening advice, and container gardening ideas. Here are some resources to get you started:

Mail-order seeds – The Oldest Seed House in America – D. Landreth, loofah seeds from Local Harvest

On gardening – Square Foot Gardening website and thanks to Amazon, I am able to show you some of the books that I found helpful by creating a personalized Gardening Bookstore. However, I still strongly recommend that you check out your local library for these and other great books!

Not daring to bare hairy legs, I switched to using those cream hair removers. That, of course, was before beginning my quest for sustainable choices. So, with my cream hair remover nearly used up, and a longing for those smooth summer legs – must be due to winter blues – I began searching for a solution that didn”t involve disposable razors or harsh, smelly chemicals. That’’s when I read about using a simple sugar solution to remove hair. Organic Beauty, by Josephine Fairley, gave the recipe and described the technique called Sugaring.

Come on, sugar to remove hair?!

Humph! I headed to my local organic grocery story to see what options they might have. Lo and behold, I find a package of MOOM! What is MOOM? Well nothing other than a sugar based hair remover enriched with Chamomile, Lemon Juice, Water and Tea Tree Oil! So, I picked up the Classic Hair Remover Kit which came with everything I would need to give sugaring a try.

I didn”t think “shaving” could be an enjoyable experience. Using MOOM, I”ll have to admit I had fun. Maybe it was the sticky, sugary treat for my legs; or maybe it was knowing that I was using something natural and organic! I”ll definitely try this again. Check out MOOM for yourself at your local natural foods store or visit them online.

This advanced skin therapy is also known to greatly reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

Stretch marks are a form of scarring on the skin caused by tearing of the dermis, and over time can diminish but never disappear completely. They are the result of rapid stretching of the skin associated with rapid growth or weight gain (pregnancy).

They first appear as reddish or purple lines, but tend to gradually fade to a lighter color. The affected areas may appear depresses or have a smoother texture than the surrounding skin.

Anti Striae stretch mark cream by Mommy Care helps to prevent stretch marks.