How to "Go Green" with Class While Going Natural as
Well
by Deborah Dolen
Of course you separate your empty cans from your glass
bottles and make sure paper products also go in
dedicated bins meant just for them. You even
bought those hideous looking bags at the grocery store
to make a statement that you do not need paper bags.
You are the recycling role model for your community.
But what about you?
We
treat our bodies like we have another one.
Going green is not a theory it is a lifestyle.
Going green does not always mean going natural or
saving money, so you need to pick a denomination of
the concept that promotes all three. I
have always preached is going green while going
natural and saving money. Possible because I
do not sell expensive windmills, not that I dislike
windmills. I think everyone should have a
windmill. Good practices have to "work" in real
life and have a great benefit or people are just not
going to have any real on-going commitment.
Saving the wallet and protecting health does come
before saving the world.
My largest concern has gone diluted in all of my years
of writing. My biggest reason for going green
is my health. Our skin is our
largest organ and absorbs over 60% of what is put on
it - which goes right into our blood stream.
The health costs of what non-green products have done
to our general health is astronomical. Do
you understand the water you shower with goes right
into your body? Get your "green" priorities
straight before you are too sick to pick a bin in
which to recycle what you are trying to throw out.
Address your water first and what you put on your
skin, second. Work from the inside out in
your going green effort. It is my opinion you
cannot filter water enough and that is a complete
novel of its own. And 99% of bottled water is a
major farce not to mention a plastics load on the
environment, so do not look there. Filter
everything, and twice if you can. When I opened
my first apothecary in Houston a lady asked me what I
thought of a rash on her neck and chest-not that I am
a Doctor but hers sure did not have a clue. She
said she had suffered horribly for several years.
I simply asked her a question and she came up with her
own answer. "Is that where your shower water
hits you?" I asked her. And the same
situation a few months later with a child who had a
rash feet to his trunk. I asked "does he bathe
instead of shower and would that be his general water
line?" I do not sell water purifiers and it is a
pity because it is my most important "I was right"
moments. Consider this is just bathing not including
ingesting. Read up more on my water articles
because I cover a lot of area and will always continue
writing on water. As far as purifiers, I think
Consumer Reports listed Amway (of all things)-to be
superior in that market. Once we get past
your phenomenological world, then read about going
green in the home. Using cloth towels over paper
towels is a huge savings and one of my biggest in my
house hold. I think I save over $800 a year while also
saving trees.
Cleaning
with essential oils is a non-toxic way to clean
the home while lifting your spirits at the same time!
As shown below, the power and energy of an essential
oil can be delivered through a variety of systems,
alcohol (for disinfecting) and the most common
cleaning medium-good old soap and water. As you
may all be aware, we use our own liquid castile soap
to clean almost everything.
Mabel's Miracle
Liquid Castile Soap is a vegetable based soap made
with 100% olive oil for its gentle nature and
coconut for its lather. It's multipurpose and can be
used as a gentle yet effective, fruit and vegetable
wash, floor & counter cleaner, laundry soap, window
wash, pet shampoo and even straight on the body as the
worlds most gentle cleaner. Made in America, it's
petrol-free, detergent-free, completely biodegradable
with literally hundreds of uses.
*Our
products are never tested on animals, only on
husbands.
Incidentally,
bubbles do matter and castile generates beautiful
natural soap bubbles. They are not dramatic,
fake and uniform as with the chemical laden SLS
surfacants. We know 60% of what goes on your
skin gets in the blood stream. So go Castile!
(Photo: Castile Bubbles.)
Cleaning with Liquid
Castile Soap & Essential Oils
by Staff
We love our Liquid Castile Soap so much we keep a 1/2
gallon by the kitchen sink, in the laundry
room and in the bathroom to use as a body
wash. Our cool looking Crane pumps
measure one perfect ounce every time! Old fashioned
goodness complimented by modern technology.
Beyond great function our method of dispensing liquid
soap is definitely a conversation piece.
Everyone wants to know what they are for and what it
does! Our Liquid Castile Soap is now available in
Pearly Peppermint and Myers Lemon as well. The
new lemon has a natural yellow color from
lemon essential oil. We find the Peppermint
great for bath and body. The Lemon is more
for kitchen/laundry use.
This
article will provide you with easy and uplifting
cleaning methods, recipes and Formulas to lift your
spirits while you really go green at home base.
*You can use any liquid Castile you can
find, although make sure there is olive oil in it and
not just all low end vegetable oil components which
can be drying to the skin when they constitute 10% of
the formula, and they tend to be too watery.
Cleaning Recipes &
Formulas (excerpts
from Maid
Holistic by
Mabel White)
Every formula has a
"base". In this case we are using soapy Castile
water as our base for most cleaning, alcohol 90% or
higher as our disinfectant base, bases such as Borax
(the Mule Team salts), and/or simple items like baking
soda and vinegar. This also saves substantial
money by not having to buy several pricey commercial
products to do the time thing. Some of the commercial
products we buy we do not even use often-so the
overall price is high to you as well as the
environment.
Automatic
Dishwasher Formula
1/4 Teaspoon of Lemon
Liquid Castile Soap
2 heaping tablespoons
of citric acid
Put
the 1 Teaspoon of Lemon Liquid Castile Soap in the
soap compartment, and 1 heaping tablespoons of citric
shine (citric acid) tossed in the bottom of the unit. It does not
matter where. The citric shines everything beyond
taking care of the alkaline look when using natural
soaps. Do not use more than 1/4 teaspoon
of Castile Liquid Soap or you will have a kitchen full
of suds. This is not going to work without the
citric so don't even try it. To clean residue
out of a dishwasher-(we recommend once a year) run 1/2
cup of citric acid through a whole cycle with a 1/4
teaspoon of castile and no dishes in it. This usually
will shine your unit. The same principle works
anywhere there is a soap build up, such as bath tubs.
*
For wine glasses-just pump a little into each dirty
glass and let sit over night. I LOVE that pump
because it saves reaching for a heavy jug when I am
already exhausted.
Tags: Castile Automatic Dishwasher Recipe. DYI
Dishwasher Soap.
Laundry – Making Your
Own Laundry Soap
You can use Mabel's
Liquid Castile as laundry soap in your 'green
routine'. To clean laundry naturally use ¼ cup of
liquid castile in the wash. You can add scent by
adding it to the soap you are about to use. This
disperses the scent into the soap first and not
directly onto clothes. The lemon scent will not
over ride your choice of scent. Although
uplifting and clean, Lemon is a more "fleeting" scent
is one reason why.
1/4 Cup (2 Ounces) of
Mabel's Lemon Liquid Castile Soap
1 Cup of dry Green
Laundry Booster (Baking Soda, Borax, Citric Mix)
For serious cleaning
power add one cup of a dry booster (baking soda,
borax, and citric mix described below). You can add
essential oils to the soap about to be used
into the soap you poured to wash too! Lavender
is a nice choice, Lemon a clean
scent, or my favorite, 'Fresh Cut Grass', not
an essential oil, per se--but an effective
aromatherapy grounding scent. For adding scent we use
one pipette full, (1/10 of a ounce) although prudent
people suggest only a few drops of essential oil.
Either way is fine if it is mixed in the soap first,
since the oil disperses into the soap first and not
your clothes.
Tags: Castile Do It
Yourself Laundry Recipe. Make your own laundry soap.
DYI Laundry Soap.
Dry Green
Laundry Booster
2 parts mule
team borax
1 part baking soda
1 part citric
(Optional)
Borax is a natural salt
and helps the soap clean more effectively.
Citric Acid is a great fabric softener. People who try
to use vinegar but complain of smell, should use
citric acid. We mix ours and keep it in a
reusable one gallon white pail. Many people have tried
this entire system and say it cleans just as well as
the commercial brands. We agree. They also swear using
the soap directly on a stain as a stain remover
is as good as the commercial brands. Again, we agree.
Blood, however comes out better with hydrogen
peroxide and ink comes out better with hair
spray. Something in hair spray lifts ink out really
well. Gummy items come off real well with real
orange essential oil. It acts as a solvent.
Keep hydrogen
peroxide in your natural laundry bag of
tricks.
Disinfecting
Colds and Flu
viruses were reduced 100% in our lab area since we
started wiping down after everyone with 90% or higher
alcohol over two years ago. We actually keep it
in marked-but pretty hand painted vinegar bottles that
have that easy pour spout. We use the alcohol to
disinfect
communicable
areas,
but not until it is cleaned with
soapy Castile water. Exceptions to soapy water would
be like key boards, but we sure do wipe them down with
local. Alcohol
may disinfect (by making germs evaporate with
it--sucking the life out of them), but it does not
'clean' an area. Alcohol is not really effective until
it's all evaporated, so you need to wait a good five
minutes to use an area after wiping it down with
alcohol. Any kind of 90 proof or higher of
alcohol is okay; we use the stuff from the
pharmacy, just regular rubbing alcohol.
(Photo name: Stickem Up)
You can add
essential oils to alcohol giving it a great scent.
Just add a couple of drops of Lavender, Tea
Tree (which is
a germ busting powerhouse in its own right) per 8
ounces of alcohol. You can even add Ylang
Ylang, from the floral family; Lemon, Lime
or Siberian Fir Needle essential
oils may also be appealing candidates to scent your
alcohol. In the autumn you could add a touch of
orange and clove essential oils. The
catalytic lamps? This is ALL the base is for fuel.
Alcohol 90% or higher and a few pipettes of scent per
16 ounces of "base." Base meaning alcohol.
Adding Liquid Castile
and Essential Oils to Mop Water
Mop water has
never been more interesting!
We use one ounce of
Liquid Castile per gallon of mop
water, dropping essential oils into our mop water to
give it a refreshing, natural and clean scent. Our
favorites? Lemon for kitchen and
dining areas, Lavender for bedroom
areas, Lime or even
Peppermint essential oils for the bathrooms.
Siberian Fir Needle is quite pretty
and smells like a high class pine. One Mabel Rep told
me she loves Spearmint. I tried it and it was
seductive. I know, spearmint seductive? Yes,
more so with Lime.
Add up to an ounce of
Tea Tree Essential
oil to soapy castile water if you need serious germ
busting effects-such as areas that are conducive to
mold such as showers and toilets. A few drops of
lemon oil can replicate what you may be using to
smelling as "clean and fresh."
Mold Spray
You can also make a
spray in a spray bottle to specifically target mold
instead of using chlorine products. To have that fresh
and clean commercial scent, use Lemon essential oil
and Tea Tree essential oil for its mold
busting powers--shaken with water in a sprayer. Spray
all potential mold areas until mixture is gone. This
is because certain essential oils do not store well
and may melt the plastic pump parts. You may want to
"flush out" your pump when done with soapy water made
from liquid castile soap.
What is the Best Mop?
Well sit down next to me and I will tell you! I
have changed mop loyalties. The Clorox Mop was
"OK" even when I made my own essential oil solution to
go in their pads. I cannot say it really cleaned much
and just became convoluted and expensive over time.
I found a really chic mop that helps me look forward
to "mopping" and works! Under $10 I like the
Libman mop. It does not tend to "hold"
micro-organisms in like the cotton mops can-so we need
not use Clorox as we would have to really clean the
mop. And with this I am able to drop essential
oils into the mop water, switching pretty easily as I
change rooms. With essential oils, my time is almost
as fun as bath time! Click the photo of the mop to
find out where to buy it.
WMD
Garden Soap: Spiders and Bug
Spray
To make your own
natural garden bug controller, add a tablespoon of
Mabel’s Liquid Castile Soap to a 16 ounce spray
bottle of water. Adding a few tablespoons of
cooking oil to the 'potion' and shaking well will
really do them in. Bugs do not really like to hang
around soap, and oil seems to suffocate tiny ones.
Spray the base of your plants because that is where
they tend to 'hop on' and leaves, that they are trying
to eat in the first place. If you need extra fighting
power, they HATE Geranium Essential Oil,
(this is why planting geraniums often protects
gardens). So a few drops of geranium and maybe
Black Pepper Oil, in your potion, will give
you WMD in the garden. Other essential oils they do
not like include Lemongrass, Orange, Spearmint, &
Peppermint. To make a spider spray for inside the
home, you may just want to omit the oil part of the
recipe and spray where you think they are gaining
entry.
Pets
& Liquid Castile
Rich
and creamy, our Castile Liquid Soap is the way to
lather Rover and also achieve a clean and shiny coat.
Most commercial products in the market are
overpriced and geared with heavy scent to make the
humans happy. They don't have the proper PH, make
the dog miserable as well as rob natural oils from the
pets coat as well as cause skin conditions. Also,
animals often develop
sensitivities to the detergent chemicals commonly used
in synthetic pet shampoos. Then we are told they are
'hot spots' as if they are some unexplained
phenomena.
When your pet suddenly has a skin condition,
then they have more high priced products for that too.
As far as scent, dogs have 25 more times scent
receptors than humans do. It does not take much to
overwhelm them. For this reason, essential oils can be
used, but sparingly. To use, mix 4 ounces (1/2) a cup
of our Castile Liquid Soap too a
gallon bucket of water. Mix well and lather away.
(That is Ringo my very spoiled
adopted Katrina pooch to the left.)
Essential Oils and Dogs
Never apply essential
oils directly to your dogs skin. To repel buds, a
dosage of 1 drop per 8 ounces of soapy water of the
following essential oils can be used on your pooch:
Lemongrass, Lavender, and/or Tea Tree.
Our lemon Castile Soap has enough lemon essential
oil to be sufficient.
Other Natural &
Aromatherapy Household Tips
You can spray bath
towels with a slight mist of Peppermint
for that 'luxurious hotel' feeling. This idea has been
borrowed from a Ritz Carlton. I have said this
before and I will say it again. BUY WHITE COTTON
TOWELS to rewash instead of paper towels. That
alone will save you a fortune. I have a "clean"
bucket and a "dirty" bucket just for cloth towels.
If you are in the UK you will NOT see a paper towel.
Last I heard they are alive and well over there.
Eucalyptus
is another viable essential oil to use in the
disinfecting department.
Orange
essential oil will dissolve and get gum off
most anything.
Castile for Bathing
Everyone loves the peppermint because it always give a
tingly fresh feeling even when entering the hot steamy
weather of the summer. It feels revitalizing.
I look forward to using it as a body wash along with
essential oils I drop in the tub. I know it is
natural and will not present toxins into my blood
stream. Castile bubbles are also more friendly to
those who usually cannot use bubble baths for a
reason. This is because commercial surfactants
clean too harshly and strip good bacteria, allowing an
imbalance-thus yeast infection. And Castile
Liquid Soap works great in Jacuzzi bath tubs as a
bubble bath. It does not take much-maybe 2
ounces for total luxury!
Yes,
I actually still find time to make products for my own
family. This last year I found I was more busy talking about
how to live a cooler life and making neat things, but not doing
much for myself. I decided to finally use the beeswax sent
to me from the Official Beekeeper of the Queen of England I was
sent after my trip to London. I
found the three pound brick of gold with a cute bee emboss could
not last forever. So,
I looked at my recipes that were beeswax heavy and I found lip balm was the first plan of usage. As
you may know, most of my balm recipes are 45% SoyWaxTM of an edible nature and
45% most edible oil, and 10% beeswax.
That is a VERY general rule of thumb depending on how hard you
need it. In the winter you will need less hardening waxes
and in the summer more-unless you are after jelly which is what
would happen in the summer with no extra wax. The seasonal
divergence is about 10% more hardening waxes for summer-defined by
when April hits. After September of each we tend to drop our
wax 5%-10%. I wanted mine firm, but not Lip Balm Stick hard
(where it hurts to rake across the lips.)
I decided I
also wanted lots of flavor that would
compliment the wax. More flavor this time is why I
titled this "power balm."
Deborah
Dolen is the
Editor in Chief for Mabel White DIY and author of
over 25 DIY books, 1,000 articles and several TV "how to" Films.
Deborah Dolen is also an environmental writer and has
her own content syndication. Deborah Dolen was widowed
when she was on her 30's and went on to raise three
great daughters in FL up against many obstacles. This
is the time period she generated her most fascinating DIY books.