Tales from the Crunchy Trials, Part 1

It started about 5 years ago, when I happened onto 100 Days of Real Food. I love this blog and her approach to simple, delicious food. There was no nonsense, just easy, common sense rules to assist in buying wholesome food with little to no sugar and minimal processing. I overhauled our diet and really made a change toward better health. Now, better than 80% of our breads are made fresh at home. I try to make our food from scratch and we lean toward fresh fruit, nuts, homemade granola, etc for snacks and we only drink herbal tea, coffee, milk or water at home. While our lives have grown busier and our food prep space smaller (see Day 1 of our tiny house adventure), we have had to make a few concessions. I can no longer buy 25lb of whole wheat flour or whole cases of apples. I literally have no where to store bulk foods unless they are frozen.
Anyway, I've felt a nagging in my spirit about the chemicals that are use in our home, from the beauty aids to the cleaners and detergents. I have known for years that the aluminum in our deodorant is bad and that the sodium lauryl sulfate in our shampoo and body wash is bad. I just haven't been able to find a store bought alternative that I could afford or that works. More on that later. I have been making our laundry soap for about 7 years (recipe here ) and more recently started using a 1:10 ratio of white vinegar and purified water with essential oils as fabric softener. So, I've dipped a toe into this endless pool before, but I just kept ignoring the other stuff, thinking I'd figure the rest out someday... or we'd strike oil in the front yard and I could afford to buy all organic, perfectly natural beauty and cleaning products at the health food market. Right?
We haven't struck oil and I'm not sure why, but the nagging became more persistent over the past several months. It started last winter, when we all seemed to be struggling with severe cold and flu symptoms. I was tired of fighting to keep us healthy and trying to keep one sick child from wiping out the whole house and quarantine in a tiny house is joke. It seemed like bug after bug kept spreading through our home and I got fed up! I went online and actually found an essential oil diffuser at our local supermarket. I was in luck that this came with two sample blends, one which was a breathe easy mix that immediately improved our symptoms. I then hit up my friends on social media and asked what the best go-to oil would be for my next experiment. The overwhelming response was for a blend of cinnamon, rosemary, lemon, clove and eucalyptus essential oils. It is best know by this brand name. It has been proven to stop the replication of the flu virus, is great for cleaning the house, diffusing into the air and even applying topically to fight germs. I know, hard to believe, but I was desperate and tired of  hitting the pharmacy for a different medicine for every symptom. I will admit that I did a lot of research and found the among the top 10 essential oil companies (of which the above link is #1) the #3 company listed was available at my favorite, local, natural food market and was about 1/2 the price.
***Disclaimer: This was a decision I made for our family and our budget. I am in no way endorsing either brand for anyone and will be happy to put you in touch with a beautiful soul and personal friend who is a licensed distributor of the #1 brand, should you ask.***
Anyway, this stuff works! I diffuse it anytime anyone gets a little puny. I made roll-on vials to keep in all our vehicles and at home. I use a couple drops in with the laundry anytime I have a challenging odor...I mean all of them! I made a spray bottle of cleaner with this and lemongrass. It smells amazing and really makes me feels like we're getting clean without breathing in harsh chemicals.
So, that was the beginning of what has been a lot of experimenting. I have seriously beefed up my essential oil inventory, my Pinterest board dedicated to a toxin-free life is growing every time I find a new recipe to try and my family and I are all guinea pigs in my crazy trials. I'm going to share all that works (and what doesn't) in the next couple of posts. I might even get brave enough to do a few videos!
In the mean time, I leave you with the multi-use household cleaner recipe that I've been using.

You'll need:

One spray bottle (except, obviously, empty, not half full of homemade cleaner like mine)

1 cup white vinegar (this was what I had on hand).

30-50 drops essential oil blend (as mentioned and linked above).

Optional : 15 drops lemongrass essential oil (because it smells yummy!)

Optional: 2 drops dish soap (because I feel it helps cut the grease in the kitchen.)

Add all ingredients to the bottle and fill the rest with filtered water. Shake well before each use. Occasionally, if I feel I need extra scrubbing power, I sprinkle a bit of baking soda on the surface and then spray. It gives a bit of abrasive texture that helps with stuck on stuff. WARNING: DO NOT throw the baking soda in with the other ingredients. I'm sure everyone has done the baking soda/vinegar volcano, but just in case, I thought I should mention that you don't put those 2 substances together in closed container.

OK, so there you have it! I have successfully replaced laundry detergent, fabric softener and pretty much all the other household cleaners with homemade, simple ingredients that I can pronounce and feel safe using around my family.
Tune in next time to hear about the deodorant trials, and coming soon, Poo Contra: the great shampoo controversy of 2017!
Also, feel free to follow and suggest DIY/ homemade, toxin free recipes on my Pinterest board. I'm such a novice that I lean on the experience of those who are pioneering ahead of me.