I'm back!
I have had many requests to get back to blogging and I have been so bad about it!
I have been pretty busy with a lot of great things though, so I hope you will all understand!
We are welcoming baby #2 in April of 2014, and let me tell you that this pregnancy has NOT been easy! I have been sick, sick, sick! Thankfully I am starting to feel better at just over 20 weeks, but for heaven's sakes, it was a rough go for awhile!
Little miss is back at school this year, as are the hubs and I and things are going pretty well! I finally got my tenure after 9 long, hard years of trials and tribulations in the teaching profession, so it was definitely something I was and am very proud of receiving!
With the the upcoming addition we *almost* moved! We were thisclose to selling our little house and moving to a bigger one, but in the interest of saving money and also not RUSHING to find a house in 8 short months while getting ours ready for sale, we decided to stay and do a few updates! So we have been busy turning the attic into a bedroom for little miss, and soon will start renovations to partially finish the basement for an office/extra family room/man cave.
So needless to say I haven't thought about blogging much!
Well scratch that, I totally HAVE, it's just that I am usually passed out pretty soon after little miss goes to bed, and on the weekends there is always something going on. I vowed to never let schoolwork, housework, chores, errands, etc. get in the way of spending time with my family, and blogging is no exception. But now that I am feeling better, and things have calmed down a bit (the calm before the two kids storm, I KNOW!) I figure I can hopefully be better about it here and there.
One of the things I am frequently asked, and was asked to blog about, is what I use to clean my house with. There is this silly notion in our toxin-laden world that if it doesn't have chemicals or a strong chemical smell then it must not be getting your house clean enough. The opposite is true! Think about it. All of the chemicals that are "disinfecting" are now seeping into the surfaces of your home. So every time you or your loved ones touch those surfaces, you are getting those chemicals on your skin and in your mouth. Not to mention breathing in all those fumes!
One of the first things I did before I had little miss was go through all the gross cleaning products that were under my sink in the kitchen and DITCH them! I really wish I had a picture of the before, because I had a ton of stuff under the sink! It looked a lot like this:
Now, it looks like this:
Ok, I don't really keep lemons under the sink, but I always have some in the refrigerator!
Going "green" in your cleaning routine isn't hard at all. It's really very simple. And it's cheaper too! Here is what you need to do:
Throw away any and all cleaning supplies. Recycle whatever bottles you can. I dumped out the products in the stationary tub and recycled the bottles. I kept and cleaned out a bottle from the glass cleaner and that's what I use to keep my cleaning solution in. If you are using essential oils it's better to use dark glass bottles, but those are hard to come by, so just do the best you can! My plastic spray bottle will suffice until I can be bothered to order a glass one!
I fill up the bottle with equal parts vinegar and water, and for good measure I will sprinkle about a teaspoon of baking soda in as well. Not too much, because otherwise you'll have a volcano on your hands! Then, I drop a few drops of essential oils in and shake it up a little bit. Recently I have been cleaning with doTerra wild orange and LOVE how fresh and citrusy it makes my house smell!
That's it! Start cleaning! I use this spray to clean pretty much everything in my house. All surfaces, including counter tops, glass, cupboards, etc. See this website for lots and lots of great ways to clean with vinegar!
Here are some other ways that I clean using cheap and natural alternatives:
To freshen and clean out my drains I sprinkle baking soda right into the sink and drain and let it sit for awhile. Then I pour straight baking soda in and enjoy the show. This time it's ok for a volcano!
For a carpet deodorizer that really freshens nicely, I shake together baking soda and a few drops of whatever essential oil I want my carpets to smell like in a container. Then I sprinkle over the rug and let it sit for about an hour (do this during nap time mommies!) then I vacuum it up and my rug is refreshed!
For bathtub cleaning, sprinkle a good amount of baking soda into the tub and let it sit for quite some time (about and hour or two). You can also do this for toilet cleaning. Then just scrub and rinse as you normally would! For both, I like to make a vinegar volcano just because it's fun and I like how the fizz works to help give it a deeper clean, but this is not neccessary.
This is a great shower head cleaner that I found on pinterest. I did this and it REALLY works!
You can also try this one for cleaning the gunk off of your faucets! Gotta love pinterest!
The moral of the story is...
You don't need all of this:
To get results like this: 
You just need a TON of money because DAMN that's a nice kitchen.
But in all seriousness, it's true. You don't need all those fancy-schmancy cleaners to clean your house. Even cleaning supplies that are marketed as "Green" aren't always completely natural and are often more expensive than regular cleaners.
I for one can tell you that I always feel comfortable knowing that if my child happens to get into the cleaning supplies, there is nothing in them that can hurt her if anything is ingested.
Isn't that enough peace of mind to make you get rid of all the other yucky stuff?!
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