Borax free, hard water friendly dishwasher detergent

Hello all! 

We have had a busy week over here at the house on the lake. Constant running around, time outs and diaper changes. Lots of fun too. Fall festivals and science centers for kids and playground time. In fact, things have been so insanely busy and fun that we ran out of dishwasher detergent and I am too lazy to get both kids in the car to go buy some from the local grocery store. Seriously, I think I'd rather just walk the mile and a half rather than get both kids in and out of the car twice and keep the toddler from grabbing everything on the shelf that looks slightly "cool" while having to walk through the store nursing the baby because undoubtedly, even though she just ate, she will be STARVING as soon as we step through the doors. 

This is where my usual solution of I'll just make something comes into play, haha. Sometimes I remind myself of a Rube Goldberg machine.

Oh well. Time to put the little miss in the DIY Moby Wrap (made by my wonderful step mom!) and get to makin'. 

What you need:

Super washing soda

Baking soda

Lemi shine

Salt

Something to put it all in ( at very LEAST it needs to be able to hold 4 cups-- better at 5)

What you do:

First, you need 12oz (1 1/2 cup) of Lemi shine. 

Pour it into your container. This is the main thing that makes this hard water friendly! DO NOT substitute for citric acid. Citric acid will oxidize (a.k.a. ruin) your silverware/ metal wear.

Second, add 12 oz (1 1/2 cup) of super washing soda.

Third, add 4 oz (1/2 cup) Baking soda

Fourth, add 4 oz (1/2 cup) Slat

Finally, mix it all together thoroughly, slap on a label and you are done!

you will only need 1-2 table spoons each wash!

If you have trouble with it clumping together because it is moist under the sink, just fill a clean sock  (or some other breathable bag) with rice and stick it in your container with your dishwasher detergent! Rice will absorb the moisture and there for keep your stuff from clumping. You can also just shake it up again or mix it with a spoon when it clumps since it unclamps really easily! 

Other notes:

I did three batches in one of this because we had all of the ingredients and this means I won't have to make more for months. Amazon.com sells 3 packs of lemi shine for a good price, although you can find it at most grocery stores in the dishwashing section! 

1vs. 3 batches

Bonus to my making this today:

My one month old is actually sleeping. My crafting calms her also, i guess. ;)

Oh yeah, and happy national cat day! 

Poor Smokey...

Super moisturizing DIY body lotion

We have been getting our new to us home ready for winter since July, so it is surreal to think the cold weather is finally here. After putting up insulation on the outside of the house (to preserve the 100+ year look on the inside), putting in new windows, spray foaming EVERYTHING, closing up the porch and getting a new gas burning stove, the last thing on my mind was my winter skin.

Since we just moved from a state that has a total of 2 winter-like days all year long, to the north... having a real fall with cold, windy weather and promises of colder, windier weather ahead is a little overwhelming. My skin hates it. Just hate. On top of my skin healing from stretching beyond its ability with our second baby, now I have to deal with the cold sucking the life out of it too. Not to mention I'm breastfeeding, which makes my skin even more dry... 

My solution? To make something, of course. In this case I'm making some super moisturizing lotion.

This recipe is a slightly edited version of one by my best friends mom made me a few years ago. I LOVED it and have been using it for a few years. That is the other thing that makes this stuff wonderful. It last forever because you only have to use a tiny bit of it. 

I'll explain each ingredient as we go through it. Each part has a special reason for being in the recipe.

So, lets strap this baby in her momma carrier and make some lotion. 

What you need:

1 cup Shea butter

1 cup Coconut oil

6 tbsp Vitamin E oil

1/2 or 1/3 cup Arrow root powder

75-100 drops Essential oils of your choice

A container to put it in

mixing bowl and spoon or stand mixer/electric mixer

What you do:

So I bought this Shea butter. It is solid, as Shea butter is. It comes in a convenient 8 oz tub. 

The first thing I did was stick it in the microwave and melt it so I could pour it into a mixing bowl. I took it slow-- 20 seconds at a time until it was melted and I stopped it if it began to pop. I really don't know if it would hurt it but all I had was the 8 oz so I took it safe and slow. 

After melted you just dump it in the mixing bowl.

The Shea butter is the meat of this recipe. It is the main component for moisturizing your skin.

Next, you add the coconut oil. This should be liquid around 75 degrees F. If it isn't squishy or liquid you will have to melt this too. Same advice. Warm it up slow. 

The coconut oil will keep the mixture liquid-ish once it is all said and done. It will also contribute to the moisturizing ability of the lotion.

The third componant is the vitamin E. Add it to the same bowl. 

The vitamin E is to help preserve the lotion. It is a fat soluble antioxidant, therefore will help to preserve the lotion (coconut oil) from spoiling.

Next add the Arrow root powder. 

The arrow root powder helps the lotion be less greasy. I prefer using arrow root powder over cornstarch because it will not be a GMO product (yet, as far as i know) and cornstarch is almost always from GMOed corn. Since we really don't know how GMOs effect us, I do my best to avoid them. 

Finally you add your essential oils-- I've said this before in my diy laundry detergent post, but I will say it again. Essential oils are strong chemicals and need to be used with caution. see the laundry post for more info (at the bottom). 

Now you mix it up until it is smooth.

Pour it into your container-- i used a kitchen funnel to get it into my pump bottle

Put it in the fridge, if needed.

You will only need a little of this to cover your hands and arms. Enjoy!

Easy DIY Borax free liquid laundry detergent

Laundry... The never, ever ending chore.

With two kids, this just got even more aggravated, haha. This is one of the reasons I have decided to try to make my own laundry detergent. Other reasons are to avoid any chemicals I don't want to put on my, or my families skin and to save money. 

We have used the free and clear for a while, but after moving funds are tight and I just like making things. You need three (or four) ingredients to make this wonderful stuff. 

This will save you TONS of money in the long run and its easy on the skin.

There is no grating required also, which is a big positive for me because grating soap with a newborn in arms is not an easy feat. 

Ingredients:

Super washing soda

Liquid Castile soap ( I use Dr. Bonners, but any will work)

Water

the option of essential oil

And, of course, something to put it in (1 gallon size)-- I used an old laundry detergent jug. 

What to do:

Put 3/4 cup of super washing soda into 1 cup of VERY  hot water. Make sure not to burn yourself, which I inevitably did... sigh.

Stir water and washing soda until it dissolves... this is kind of a pain since it likes to sit at the bottom when it gets hot.

Add 6 tablespoons of Castile soap, mix well.

Pour it into your container 

Slowly fill up the remainder if the space in your container with cool water. The key is to do it slowly so you don't make a ton of suds. 

This is where you would add your essential oil. I usually add about 20 drops or so. Just until I like the smell. :)

Now, mix it with a long spoon handle or something like it. Don't shake it, you want to avoid making suds! 

Voila, just like that, you have some liquid laundry detergent.

use 1-3 tbsp per load

Other notes:

In this making, I used peppermint dr. bonner castile soap because that is just what I had, but you can just use the plain old stuff with no sent and add your own or leave it free of scent! 

I would suggest looking up some information on essential oils before you decide on your scent, especially if you have kiddos.

There isn't a whole lot of (peer reviewed) research on essential oils, but I know from past research of them that Lavender may combat anxiety, but overall most studies are inconclusive. This is a peer reviewed article on essential oils that may interest you. That is really the most I have to offer at the moment. I will eventually do more research and do a post on essential oils! Promise! :) 

It is also important to note that essential oils are STRONG CHEMICALS that should be used with caution. They can be as strong as prescribed medications and can cause toxicity. That being said, they can also have great healing powers. They have many properties that are not understood by modern science, which makes them very interesting, yet disconcerting to the scientific minded. Medications are often formulated after plant properties such as the compounds found in essential oils, so please, do research and know what you are using! 

DIY sugar honey body and face wax

Since our daughter was born I haven't had much time for my usual hygiene upkeep. Don't get me wrong, I still shower and brush my teeth but, well... Hair removal is a different story.

That being said....

I don't shave. Not since high school, at least. It is way to time consuming since you have to do it so often ( I used to have to do it every other day to keep my legs smooth.. Ick!) and at makes it more expensive. 

I opted for the waxing route. At first, I was going to a professional to do it but that got REALLY pricey after a while. I decided to do it myself. I went to Sally's beauty store and bought a wax warmer, wax and all of the necissary accessories. I did it that way for 3 years. It's great. I'm hair free and smooth all of the time. 

But...

There are some issues with that. First, store bought wax is messy. It's nearly impossible to clean up. At our last apartment I was still cleaning up wax I had spilled two years earlier when we moved out. Part of that is me being lazy, the other part is that it is nearly impossible to clean up unless you have tons of time on your hands-- which I never did because I was in college and had my son and work and a husband to pay attention to. I would put towels underneath to keep it mess free but then there are towels with wax on them and that isn't great either. Sticky mess.

Also, and this is the real reason I am going the DIY route is that I turned on my wax warmer the other day and forgot to take the lid off of the wax... I got called away by he infant for feeding and the lid melted all into my wax and all over the warmer. Seeing as plastic is known to secrete known carcinogens when heated, I just had to throw it out. Oopsie...

So... My solution:

DIY wax made of honey, sugar and lemon. 

I found TONs of recipes for this online. It was a little overwhelming. I chose to go with one I had all of the ingredients for, although I changed it up a little.

This is what you do:

Combine in a microwave safe bowl:

One cup of sugar... White or brown (I used brown)

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 of a lemon, freshly squeezed (I'm sure bottled lemon juice would work fine too, but i don't know what the measurement would be.)

Put them in the microwave for 30 seconds... stir it... another 30 seconds in the microwave... stir...

Do this until the wax "bubbles" and be careful not to over bubble it-- it will make a mess all over your microwave (yes this happened to me). If it doesn't bubble, it won't work. 

After it bubbles you need to let it cool until it is cool enough to comfortably put on your skin without burning. I burnt myself the first time. Don't do that, it hurt. 

If you let it cool then apply it and it doesn't work, then it didn't get hot enough. Put it back in the microwave and keep heating and cooling until it works. It WILL work if you follow my instructions.

How to wax with the sugar honey wax:

Apply wax to skin with a popsicle stick or spatula of some kind in the same direction that your hair grows

Put a waxing strip on top of where you put the wax and rub it, lightly pressing down in the the direction that your hair grows

Now you swiftly pull the waxing strip away from the skin in the opposite direction of hair growth

It helps to keep the skin tight when you are pulling the waxing strip off. It helps a lot, actually. Just hold it tight by pulling with your other hand. 

Reheat as needed

I used a pyrex 2 cup bowl with a lid. This made it easier to store the extras for next time!(In the fridge!) 

How does it compare to store bought wax?

It is a little less effective, but really not enough to make a fuss about. I won't be buying any store bought wax any more. I had shaved my armpits after my daughter was born because my mom mentioned they were gross and we had other company coming in to meet our little girl who would inevitably see my armpits. I had to re-wax areas on my armpits which I usually don't have to do, but I had to do that with store bought wax if I shaved also. My legs, which I didn't shave, worked perfect with the wax. I didn't have to re- wax anything and they are smooth and had no irritation. 

The other thing to note with the sugar honey wax is that it takes reheating. When it cools, you have to go back to the microwave and re-heat. You could probably fix this problem with a plate warmer and a dish that is safe on it. You would just have to be careful not to heat it too much. I used a parissa wax warmer before and loved it. I might try that next time, so stay tuned. 

Another note: since this is a water soluble solution, you could use reusable waxing strips. I think I might make some from an old t-shirt and see how that works, but as of now, using a thick waxing strip is best, I think. 

All in all, I liked it A LOT and so does my husband (no mess and free!)

Water only-ish method for hard water

Today I want to talk to you about washing your hair.

I have tried everything. Regular shampoo, organic shampoo, free and clear shampoo, low- poo method, No poo method (baking soda and apple cider vinegar), Water only method (just that, water only), a mixture of them all.

Finally I made up my own routine with a little help from science. I call it my water only-ish method.

Why have I been trying all of these crazy hair methods?

Easy. Because shampoo have nasty chemicals in them. Pretty much all of them. All natural, Organic, dollar tree, salon, expensive and inexpensive. I've searched extensively for a shampoo that doesn't have nasty chemicals. I have found some but that is where we run into another problem: Hard water

Hard water is pretty much my arch enemy when it comes to cleaning and beauty products. Everywhere we live since I started trying to avoid harsh chemicals has had hard water. Not fair. *stomps foot, crosses arms*

What is hard water?

Hard water is water with certain minerals in it (calcium and magnesium) that bind to chemicals in soaps and other cleaning agents to leave a residues on whatever surface it has been used on. In this case, we are talking about hair. A lot of shampoos contain phosphates or other chemicals that help to reduce the film left on your hair, but in order to do this and not make your hair a brittle mess, it has to strip everything off and then replace it with a wax like coating. Not only do these chemicals strip your hair of its natural oils, they are also potentially harmful.

Why are the chemicals bad for you?

Chemicals such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) are used in TONS of beauty care products, yet are known to be irritants. In my search (on pubmed.com -- a site where you can search for peer reviewed scientific journals), I didn't find much on how SLS negatively effects you, but instead found many studies that used SLS as an irritant! So, we know SLS is a skin irritant, yet we put it in all of our beauty products... Sounds odd. 

There is also talk about it being a potential carcinogen (when it binds to other chemicals that are also common in skin products or just he environment) and it can also cause ulcers when ingested. If it can cause ulcers when ingested, imagine what it can do to the skin. Our stomach protects itself from HCl (a very strong acid) on a daily basis without contracting ulcers, but fails in protecting itself against SLS. This alone is enough to convince me that SLS should be avoided. From a mom's prospective it is an obvious choice to avoid it for the oxidative stress standpoint because of risk of cancer and the potential of having a negative effect on epigenetics. 

To read more about SLS, I suggest you read this article. It isn't from a .edu or .gov, nor is is peer reviewed but it has scientifically sound information in a easy-to-read format. 

Read more about hard water here.

To see a cool video on epigenetics , if your interested, click here.

SLS is NOT the only chemical that is dangerous in common beauty products, it is just the one I chose to focus on today! 

How I avoid chemicals when washing my hair:

There are many ways you can avoid these chemicals when you are washing your hair. 

There are awesome things called shampoo bars that are harmful-chemical free-- but don't work with hard water.

You can do the No-poo method which is typically baking soda for shampoo and apple cider vinegar for conditioner. It actually works amazingly well-- if you don't have hard water... You can also adjust the amounts of baking soda and apple cider vinegar to make it work better for hard water, but I have very curly hair and any amount of build up from scale in my hair is detrimental to my curls. Aside from that, I have noticed that baking soda makes my hair a bit brittle. I blame it on my curly hair. It is naturally dry and baking soda seems to agitate that for me. 

Next, the water only method. This is also great. It consists of just water and a baking soda, apple cider vinegar rinse once a month or just as needed. This is an awesome option if you don't have hard water

do you see a theme here? this is why hard water is my arch enemy. We simply will never get along because of the long months I spent attending classes and work with waxy, gross hair.

This is where my method of water only-ish method comes in. 

My method consists of "washing" the hair with water and nothing else and then using citric acid dissolved in hot water as a second wash/ conditioning cycle.

What I do:

I put one (sometimes 2) tablespoons of citric acid into a 24 oz mason jar. 

(I buy my citric acid on amazon.com in bulk)

I then fill it up with hot water (the water I'm showering... not boiled or anything hotter than you would comfortably put on your body)

Put the lid on, shake until completely dissolved.

Pour it over my hair as evenly as possible-- making sure to get the underneath, also.

Comb my hair out with the citric acid mixture still in there

I then let it sit for a few minutes-- usually as long as it takes me to clean the rest of my body and answer 50 questions from my 4 year old.

Rinse THOROUGHLY and you are done!

VERY important:

Citric acid HURTS when it gets into your eyes! Horribly! so don't do that! Also, if you have an open wound, I suggest covering it. That burns also. It is basically like squirting lemon juice into your eye or open wound. Just don't do it. It hurts. 

Why does citric acid work with hard water?

Citric acid is a metal chelator. This means to say, it binds to metals (such as calcium and magnesium) and prevents them from binding to other things. 

In the apple cider vinegar rinse, it is the same general idea, but apple cider vinegar is a little weaker than citric acid in chelating. 

Does it really work?

Yes yes yes!!! My hair is so nice now! I just love it. I "wash" my hair once a week (Don't worry, I take baths more often than that!)

I need to warn you though:

If you are going strait from regular, store bought shampoo to water only-ish method, there WILL be a transition period. 

Your hair is used to having to produce TONS of oils to keep up with the stripping of your hair every time you wash it with a shampoo. Therefore, your body has to learn to not do this. This is the transition period. The transition period also consists of the time period it takes for your hair to get rid of all of the build up that shampoo has been putting on it since you started using shampoo! The time period depends on a lot of things. Mine took a month. Some people it takes a week or 6 months. It just depends.

I suggest doing the change over a time period. Start slowly spacing out how often you wash your hair and then start the water only-ish method once you've reached the once a week washing. This will help the transition be less gross. 

My hair:

(I am a horrible selfie taker... bare with me... Also, ignore my tired, no make-up face... I haven't slept in 2 months!)

Using old curtains and burlap to make adorable new curtains

Toddlers and Infants, Infants and Toddlers. Thats pretty much all I have experienced in the last 4 weeks since our beautiful daughter was born. The most exciting thing I have done this week (aside from watching our little girl learn to roll over!!!) is drive to pick up diapers. In my defense, they are cloth diapers and we got a great deal, but still.. It is kind of sad. My husband does his best to entertain me while he's home, but we just moved into a 100+ year old lake home and the workload to fixing it up and getting ready for winter is IN-SANE.

Today I had big plans to go do something fun out in nature, so naturally I am at home watching my little girl sleep and my sweet son play with blocks while it pours rain outside. I need a project.

There is always Pinterest... or learning a new skill... or doing my to do list that has been sitting on my desk for 2 months (untouched because to do lists suck). No, no, instead I will do something completely unnecessary, like making different curtains out of curtains we already have. Completely makes since, right? Right.

So here is the story: Like I mentioned earlier, we just moved into a new home. This "new" home is one that has been in my family since my great grandparents. It usually sits empty 80% of the year. I just graduated college (woohoo!) and was 6 months pregnant and we decided I should be at home with the little babe for atlas 6 months after she was born so we needed a less expensive place to live. Here we are. It's amazing and SO beautiful. We absolutely love it...

BUT...

 It was, to be frank, a complete unorganized mess when we moved in. It was a summer home shared by  my entire family. It had become something of a storage place for people who graduated college or moved out of state (or the country) and needed to store things. The town it's in is also in a fantastic spot for garage/yard sales, which are imposable to pass up. needless to say, it has quite the array of different fabrics and random trinkets. This home has lots of character, and i love it, but i don't do well with mismatched anything. Ten years ago, the kitchen was torn off and replaced by an absolutely gorgeous one. Although sometimes I miss the color spectrum speckled linoleum of my childhood, I am SO glad we have the current kitchen. I mention this because of the curtains. The curtains that live in the current kitchen also lived in the old kitchen. I admit, they are cute, but if you have ever moved into a new home you will know that no windows are created equal (especially new windows vs 100 year old windows) and that your old curtains almost never fit on the new windows. This is the case here at the lake. It really isn't a BIG deal but it drives me crazy! Blame it on the pregnancy and breastfeeding hormones.

My solution:
  Burlap, scissors, the old curtains and a sewing machine

I loved the apple theme... its actually what we had in the kitchen we had before we moved here also. I decided to use pieces of the old apple themed curtains for the new curtains.

The theme of how I fixed all of the curtains is pretty similar across the board but the pictures are from  the largest window. I love the results!

Here we go:

this is what we started with:

First, I cut off 5 inches (not including the loops) of the original curtain.

Next, I cut my burlap. I used burlap in a big roll from the garden section of Lowes. I'm sure you could find a similar item at any hardware store or gardening center. 

I used the original curtain as my measuring tool. I cut the burlap twice the width of the original curtain. When working with burlap I usually give myself an extra inch since you typically lose a little when you are working with it. 

This is important

in order to cut burlap strait, there is a trick:

Cut a small part where you want to cut.

Take a string right next to your cut and pull it all of the way out

Now you have a clear area where you need to cut. 

Cut down the middle of that.

Now you have a perfectly cut burlap. Easy peasy! 

Next, I had to make my burlap the right length. I made sure that the end that was already "finished" was at the bottom and I, again, used the original curtain as my measurement. I made it the same length as the amount I had cut off of the original curtain (plus an inch). cut the same way as above.

After you have your burlap cut, you have to sew up the sides so it doesn't unravel.

I use a zig sag stitch that is as long and wide as I can set it on my machine.

I use one of the burlap strings as my guide to keeping it strait. The string I use as a guide will be loose and come off in the end. I keep it at the edge of my foot the entire time I am zig zagging the stitch. This keeps the stitch perfectly strait all of the way down. 

Do that to all THREE sides (remember the bottom has the already finished bottom on it). 

Once that is finished you can attach it to your cut from the original curtain. You need to pin the right sides together. There are many ways to do this. I choose to do it the pleat style. 

To do the pleat style I start by folding one side over then folding it again over on itself...

It makes a nice pleat. You need to evenly space the pleats across the whole curtain. I used trial an error with the first curtain, which took way too long. The second curtain I pined the middle of the curtain clip to the middle of the burlap and it made it easier to see how to space them. It ended up being a pleat every inch and a half and then a inch and a half gap all of the way across. This spacing worked for all of the curtains. you could always do larger pleats with larger gap or smaller with smaller gap, it is completely up to you!

After all of it is pinned you simply sew the curtain together using a strait stitch. 

And hang it up!

Ta-dah!!