In her research for the second edition of her book, Secrets of a Vet Tech (coming out soon), Jamie found significant evidence that chemicals in our environment, including in our cleaning products, fertilizers, weed killers, and cigarette smoke, have a major impact on our pets.
In a 2008 study by
the Environmental Working Group, dogs and cats were tested for industrial chemicals. The results showed that
48 out of the 70 industrial chemicals they tested for were present in
those pets.
We
have to keep in mind that our pets can be exposed to environmental
toxins even more than we can. When we walk, most of the time, we wear
shoes. This gives us a barrier from the chemicals we have cleaned our
floors with or the pesticides we use in our garden. Our pets on the
other hand, walk on unprotected paws. Our children crawl on the floors, bare feet and bare handed. What it is doing to them? In addition to the respiratory, skin, eye irritation, and other unknown effects, we do know that every year more than a million children under the age of 5 swallow poisons like household cleaners.
So being parents to an adult daughter and pet parents to a large group of animals, we had to ask ourselves what we could do to create the healthiest home environment for our family.
We believe our homes to be "clean", when they have a scent such as pine, citrus, lemon, Lysol, or some other "chemical" scent. We spend hundreds of dollars per year, purchasing cleaning products and air fresheners to make sure our homes have a "clean scent," when in reality, a true clean has no scent. Clean smells clean. Chemicals smell like chemicals....toxic!
So, all the old cleaners are out! How do we begin? With simple homemade cleaners with all natural ingredients.
We have already been making our own laundry detergent, so this week I began making an all natural home made bleach alternative for clothes, and white vinegar serving as a very wonderful fabric softener. My next project is to felt wool dryer balls to decrease the static in my clothes dryer and Jamie and I will be constructing clothes lines for drying our clothes outdoors.
The cleaner that surprised Jamie and I the most in its effectiveness has been baking soda mixed with a small amount of Dr. Bronner's Soap. For those unfamiliar with Dr. Bronner's Magic "All-1!" soap, it is a certified, organic, fair-trade saponified castile liquid soap with more uses than you can shake a stick at. Dr. Bronners can be used as an all purpose cleaner, fruit and vegetable rinse, soft scrub for cleaning bathtubs, tiles, and toilets, window cleaner, hand soap in a foamer bottle, dog shampoo, human shampoo, laundry detergent, dish detergent, shaving cream, bath soap, baby wash, body wash, mopping solution, and the list goes on. It comes in various scents such as peppermint, almond, tea tree, lavender, eucalyptus, and unscented for baby. For a link to some of the great uses for Dr. Bronner's see this link: 14 uses for Dr Bronners Soap
Dr. Bronner's Castile Soaps are available online, at most natural foods markets, Kroger's, Target, and our local Mac's Medicine Mart in Kingsport. For more information on the soap please see their website: https://www.drbronner.com/
The following are our recipes.
Laundry Detergent:
2 Bars Fels Naptha Soap
1 Box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
20 Mule Team Borax
Using a cheese grater, grate your soap bars. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Store in a re-purposed gallon container. Use 1/2 to 1 cup per load. For a fabric softener add 1/2 cup white vinegar at the rinse cycle.
Natural Bleach Alternative/All Purpose Cleaner:
3 quarts spring water
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup 3 % hydrogen peroxide
Pour ingredients into a repurposed gallon size jug. This is also good for tubs, toilets, and sinks or add to a spray bottle and use as a window cleaner. It kills 99.9 percent of bacteria making it an excellent disinfectant. You can also pour the mixture and baking soda into the toilet and let it sit for 10 minutes before using your toilet brush to clean.
Dr. Bronner's Soft Scrub:
Mix a small amount of baking soda with Dr Bronner's soap to make a paste. Depending on the size of the job you are doing, the amounts will vary. You may add a small amount of water to the mixture. Use a stiff brush or scouring pad if necessary. This removed stains in our tub and refrigerator that we could not remove with undiluted bleach.
Dr. Bronner's Castile Soaps are available online, at most natural foods markets, Kroger's, Target, and our local Mac's Medicine Mart in Kingsport. For more information on the soap please see their website: https://www.drbronner.com/
The following are our recipes.
Laundry Detergent:
2 Bars Fels Naptha Soap
1 Box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
20 Mule Team Borax
Using a cheese grater, grate your soap bars. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Store in a re-purposed gallon container. Use 1/2 to 1 cup per load. For a fabric softener add 1/2 cup white vinegar at the rinse cycle.
Natural Bleach Alternative/All Purpose Cleaner:
3 quarts spring water
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup 3 % hydrogen peroxide
Pour ingredients into a repurposed gallon size jug. This is also good for tubs, toilets, and sinks or add to a spray bottle and use as a window cleaner. It kills 99.9 percent of bacteria making it an excellent disinfectant. You can also pour the mixture and baking soda into the toilet and let it sit for 10 minutes before using your toilet brush to clean.
Dr. Bronner's Soft Scrub:
Mix a small amount of baking soda with Dr Bronner's soap to make a paste. Depending on the size of the job you are doing, the amounts will vary. You may add a small amount of water to the mixture. Use a stiff brush or scouring pad if necessary. This removed stains in our tub and refrigerator that we could not remove with undiluted bleach.
The following is the link for the Dr. Bronner's Dilutions Cheat Sheet : Dilution Cheat Sheet for Dr. Bronners
See all the cool crap you can do when you don't waste your time watching tv?
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