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Homemade Cleaning Recipes & Tips

How to make a natural lemon and lime all purpose cleaner

| Homemade Cleaning Recipes & Tips

You can easily make your own natural cleaning spray that is equally effective and won’t cost you nearly as much as other store-bought products.

  • 2 limes
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • 1½ cups filtered/distilled water

Juice the limes and the lemon and strain the juice into a glass spray bottle using a funnel and mini strainer. Add the water and vinegar and shake well.

Directions. Effective on a number of surfaces (except wood) and emits a wonderful, fragrant, citrus aroma. Works well on mirrors and glass; just spray and buff dry with a microfibre cloth for a sparkling, streak-free finish. After spraying, allow the cleaner to work on tough grease and grime for a few minutes before wiping off leftover residue with a warm, damp microfibre cloth.

Direction. To freshen and humidify the air in your home, fill a pan with water and place on the stove on a low heat and gently simmer until the air is filled with an intoxicating aroma of fruit and spice. Keep an eye on the simmering pan, to ensure the water does not evaporate completely. See below for alternative recipes.

Note: Once cooled, the liquid can be poured into a glass spray bottle and enjoyed as a fabric or room freshener spray. Be sure to use organic or chemical-free fruit if you are going to re-use the liquid as a fabric spray. Conventional fruit is often dyed to make it appear more appetising, and these dyes can damage and destroy light, fragile fabrics.

Out with the mothballs

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Mothballs have been a familiar deterrent for years in cupboards and wardrobes to ward off troublesome moths. Unfortunately, they can contain paradichlorobenzene, which has a strong unpleasant odour and is incredibly poisonous. To repel moths naturally, consider our pretty orange and clove pomanders or try your hand at the fragrant sachets fashioned from natural herbs and essential oils such as rosemary, lavender, thyme, and mint; all chemical free moth-repellents that smell divine.

You will need: 

organic oranges
dried cloves
ribbon

Using a toothpick or a fine skewer, make holes all around the orange and place a clove in each hole until completely covered. Once complete, put the oranges on a baking tray and bake on a low heat for approximately one hour, until they feel hard to the touch. Leave to cool.

Directions. When cool tie with pretty ribbon or string and hang them in the wardrobes and laundry cupboards. Pomanders not only look cute, but they are also especially effective at repelling moths and houseflies and pack a punch when it comes to freshening up drawers, cupboards, bathrooms and kitchens. The refreshing citrus fragrance and warm spicy tones are a great mix and emit a sweet, earthy scent.

Note: Always use organic or chemical free oranges for pomanders as many conventional fruit growers dye their produce to enhance their colour, which could damage delicate clothing or linen. 

 

 

Dry cleaning dangers

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dryclean

We all love the ease of the dry cleaners and how amazing our clothes appear when we collect them. Unfortunately, many dry cleaning products today contain oestrogen nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates both of which are suspected hormone disruptors. These hostile pollutants have already been banned in a number of countries and other countries are moving to follow suit. However, until then, it is best to avoid dry cleaning whenever possible to limit exposure to these potentially harmful toxins.

If you must have your clothes dry cleaned, always ask that your garments not be placed in plastic wrap after cleaning as this method holds the toxins in the fabric. When you bring your dry cleaning home, hang the garments outside to air for 2 to 3 hours before wearing or returning them to the wardrobe. 

What’s your favourite essential oil?

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essential oil

Eucalyptus oil
The list of uses for Eucalyptus oil around the home is endless; it is cost effective, readily available and a worthy addition to any natural cleaning kit.  Eucalyptus oil is derived from a rapid-growing, evergreen tree, native to Australia. Traditionally, indigenous people would collect the leaves and turn them into lotions to soothe physical and emotional discomfort. This oil has a wonderful fresh, invigorating and earthy fragrance. Celebrated for its proven antibacterial, disinfectant and antiseptic properties, it is a natural, environmentally-friendly addition to your sanitising cleaners. It is ideal for kitchens and bathrooms, where its strong aromatic fragrance aids in eliminating stale, unpleasant odours. This indispensable oil blends excellently with cedarwood, chamomile, cypress, geranium, ginger, grapefruit, juniper, lavender, lemon, marjoram, peppermint, pine, rosemary and thyme.

Tea Tree oil
Produced from the Australian melaleuca tree, tea tree oil has a robust medicinal aroma and harbours potent antibacterial, antiseptic and antifungal properties. The ideal choice for home-made bathroom and floor cleaning solutions. Tea tree oil mingles pleasantly with basil, clove, eucalyptus, ginger, lavender, lemon, peppermint, rosemary, thyme and ylang ylang.

Lemon/Orange/Grapefruit oil
Loved for its light, clean scent, this essential oil is also a powerhouse in homemade cleaning recipes. Naturally antibacterial and antiviral, citrus fruit is commonly used to degrease stubborn stains as well as freshen the air. Use it to deodorize your fridge, clean the floor or combine 10 drops with 1/2 cup olive oil for a natural wood or leather polish.

 

If rosemary is for the spirit, then lavender is for the soul

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Did you know? Pruning your rosemary will help make a bushier plant. Most herbs thrive on being trimmed every now and then, especially those used for flavourings. Cut some springs just as you would when cutting back a houseplant. The general rule for trimming rosemary is not to take more than one-third of the plant at any time. These can then be dried like any other herb by hanging tied bundles upside down in a cool, dry place.

How flooring and household cleaners affect pets and children

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When you have a pet or children at home, it’s normal to wonder how flooring and other household cleaners are affecting them. Some cleaners can be toxic to humans and many are also toxic to pets. Babies and small children are susceptible to household cleaners that contain harsh chemicals. Some household cleaners can affect a baby’s skin, eyes and airways. There are several ways you can turn simple ingredients into cleaning products for a wide range of purposes.

This ginger spice shake and vac is a powder carpet freshener which eliminates lingering, pet and cooking odours that get trapped in carpets. With this recipe you can sprinkle the mixture evenly over the carpet and vacuum thoroughly for a clean, fresh scent in minutes.

Recipe
1 cup baking soda
5 drops cinnamon essential oil
2 drops of ginger essential oil

Method
Mix all the ingredients together and spoon into an empty spice jar or cocoa shaker, or any other vessel with a sprinkler lid.

Instructions
This spicy deodoriser is especially effective at eliminating pet odours from carpets and rugs, leaving them feeling and smelling instantly fresher. Shake the powder over carpets or rugs and leave to work for a few hours before vacuuming clean.

Change is imperative if you value your health and the health and wellbeing of your family and the future of our planet

| Homemade Cleaning Recipes & Tips

Deep inside we all have a passion and a desire to want to make a difference and to be the very best we can, regardless of who we are, where we work, what profession we are in, be it Doctor, Grocer, Dentist or Stay at home mum.

Through working harder, and longer, putting in more and more hours than ever before, it becomes difficult and extremely daunting to even consider how on earth we could possibly have the time or inclination to implement new healthy lifestyle changes. As most people are too tired out and burnt out by life itself.

Change is imperative if you value your health and the health and wellbeing of your family and the future of our planet. Come and join our revolution and let’s start fighting to be the very best we can together, turning hardships and challenges into positives.

Are your eggs really free-range?

| Homemade Cleaning Recipes & Tips

It can be difficult to tell which products meet the definition of free-range. And one free-range brand may have a very different stocking requirements to anothers. If you’re dissatisfied with the offerings at your local supermarket, here are a few suggestions:

🥚 Shop direct from the producers, such as at farmers’ markets
🥚 Go to independent stores like organic grocers and ask them about their suppliers
🥚 Get your own chooks! If you have a backyard large enough, chooks can be a reasonably low-maintenance pet

“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.”

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If someone you know is struggling to cope or having a difficult time, you might feel unsure of what to say or how to help. While checking in and asking if they are okay might seem like a difficult conversation to have, it could be a life-saving one. You can start by asking someone if they are OK and tell them you are here to listen.
Here are some questions you can ask:
  • Are you ok?
  • Is everything ok?
  • You feeling ok?
  • What’s been happening?
Make sure you’re being non-judgemental and speaking from a place of empathy and love. We underestimate the power of simply listening to someone else when they’re going through a rough time. You don’t need to be an expert with ten years of study in psychology to be a good listener. We’re all currently facing unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19, and one of the most important things we can all do is check in with each other.

The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen™ 2021

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The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen™ together make up Environmental Working Group’s annual Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™, which analyzes Department of Agriculture test data to identify which fresh fruits and vegetables are most and least contaminated with pesticide residues. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) are a US based body that dedicate their time and resources to educating the public on chemicals in our food, products and environment that could be harmful to our health. Each year they release a list of the best fruits and vegetables to eat organic (the dirty dozen) and the ones that you can just buy conventionally grown (the clean fifteen) if you can’t afford to eat fully organic.

You can provide your email address via their website to get a downloadable version of the Clean Fifteen™ and Dirty Dozen™ lists to help you reduce exposures to toxic pesticides.