Ralphie Rough Road

I love yoga.  In fact I am addicted to yoga, a good thing to be addicted to.  After practicing yoga for several years now and reading up on natural ways of taking care of myself, I knew it was time to rid my household of chemicals.  I should premise that with, as much as possible.  It can be challenging to completely rid your home of chemicals.

It was simple to start small, say hand soap.  Our skin is our largest organ and most of us use hand soap on a daily basis.  After reading the labels of commercially available products I quickly found I wanted to find a replacement for my household cleaners, hand soap, laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher detergent, body wash and shampoo.  With the cost of buying products from the store, there had to be a healthier and more cost-effective way.

After jumping online and doing some research I found many sites dedicated to my mission. There are so many out there it is amazing.  I found after some trial and error most of the products I wanted to make required a few simple ingredients.

With the following ingredients I am able to make my own household cleaner, hand soap, laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher detergent, and body wash.  Water, liquid castille soap, olive, coconut &/or almond oil, raw honey, vinegar,borax, washing soda, citric acid, salt, and grated bar soap.

Essential oils are optional & can be expensive.  I have left them out of my recipes for now.

Once a month I sit out my ingredients, measuring cups, mixing bowls and my blender and whip up a batch of  the above cleaners.  It’s actually kind of fun.

I always have plenty of the above items on hand so I never worry about running out of any of my cleaning products.  After using my homemade versions for almost a year I could not be happier with the results.

Homemade hand wash:

Fill a dispenser 3/4 full with water.

Add 2-3 tbsp. of liquid castille soap.

Add 1/2 tsp of olive oil (optional).

(I use a foam dispenser & the oil maintains the life of the dispenser.)

Another benefit of making your own homemade products, less waste.  Instead of throwing out a bunch of plastic dispensers and bottles, I reuse my old ones.

Homemade body wash:

6 Tbsp of liquid castille soap

6 Tbsp of raw honey

4 Tbsp of olive, coconut or almond oil

Makes approximately 8-10 ounces.

Homemade Dish Soap:

1 3/4 cup of boiling water

1 Tbsp. Borax

1 Tbsp. grated bar soap

Combine all in a bowl and let it sit for 8 hours.

I have found this does not create suds like most of us are used to.  However from my research I have found suds are not necessary to clean.

Homemade laundry detergent:

1 bar of grated bar soap

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda

Mix well.  I use my blender to make a fine powder out of the mixture.

Makes approximately 32 ounces.

I use 1 Tbsp. per load of laundry and I re-purpose pickle jars to hold the powder.

Dishwasher detergent:

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda

1/2 cup citric acid

1/2 cup of salt

I use vinegar as a rinse agent.

Multi-purpose household cleaner:

Fill a squirt bottle with half water and half white vinegar.  Done!

Works well in the bathroom, kitchen and on windows and mirrors.

I re-purposed my old glass cleaner squirt bottle for this all around cleaner.

The time it takes to make your own homemade products is negligible.  I can have all of it made in less than 30 minutes.  It not only saves time but money too.  The cost of making laundry detergent alone is drastically reduced compared to your favorite brand.  Personally, I do not enjoy throwing my money away on such items.

In the end I feel better about my health and what is coming in contact with my skin.

“Take care of your body.  It’s the only place you have to live” Jim Rohn 

Note:  After much research on homemade shampoo, I found there are so many different hair types out there. This makes it hard to find a recipe that will suit me personally.  For now I have left that one alone. Experimenting will take more time and money than I am willing to invest at this time.