My Experience with Going Green

I never really thought a lot about 'going green' when it got popular. I bought cleaning supplies at the grocery store just like most everyone else. As my family grew, however, and I tried to find ways to save money each month, I cut back on the expensive cleaners, and began to use the cleaners I could buy at the Dollar Store.

Then, after our septic tank backed up and we had someone come out to work on it, we were told that our tank was too small to hold all that a family of 10 children and two parents tried to put into it. The very interesting, drunk man who came out to work on our tank told my husband that since we lived outside of the city limits, we should consider running a pipe from our bathtub and kitchen sink out into our pasture to save us from having to put in a new, bigger septic tank, which was going to cost hundreds of dollars.

Since we were trying to grow an orchard on our few acres out here in the Texas heat, I thought that sounded like a very good thing - it sure made more sense to use that gray water to water our dying trees, than to just let it pour into the septic tank. So my husband ran the pipes out to the orchard, and we let the water flow out there.

I was already a soap maker, and I knew that the homemade soap would not hurt the trees. But I had never had good luck making laundry soap for a family with lots of boys who got very dirty. So I began to think about 'going green' with my laundry soap. Before long I was buying Melalueca soaps for laundry and dishwashing. I liked them so much I got a distributorship, not because I wanted to sell it, but because it was the cheapest way to get the products. Soon, I was buying extra, and giving it for wedding presents and birthday and Christmas.

That got me on a roll, and after having a few foster children, two of whom we adopted, with asthma moving in with us, I began to rethink a lot of the things I used to clean the house. After doing some research, I found that I could clean almost everything in my house with vinegar and baking soda. Not only did that save me a lot of money, because these two things are so cheap, but I felt good about knowing that I wasn't adding to my children's breathing problems, or to the environment.

I now mix baking soda and salt into a canning jar, and poke holes in the lids. I sometimes add essential oils, tea tree is my favorite, but sometimes I might add peppermint or lemon, just because it smells so good. For the bathroom, I sprinkle this mixture in the toilet, tubs and sink, and then I spray on top of that with vinegar that I have put in a spray bottle, usually with some tea tree oil added to it. It causes the baking soda/salt mixture to bubble a little, and I scrub down the fixtures with this mixture. When washing the toilet, I usually spray the walls and floor around the toilet (remember, I have a LOT of sons, six to be exact, plus a hubby) with the vinegar and tea tree oil mixture, and wipe it all down. The urine smell that used to plague me is now a thing of the past.

I keep the baking powder/salt mixture on the kitchen sink to wash the sink down when I do the dishes. I use it to scrub messy plates and pots. I sometimes use it on my stove. I don't have to buy Ajax anymore, and I love knowing that the baking power/salt mixture is safe if my baby gets into it.

I mop my floors with vinegar. It smells a little while it's still wet, but once it's dry, you cannot smell it anymore, and it's a natural deoderizer. I wash down the baby bed mattress with vinegar mixed with tea tree oil if the little one makes the mess.

When I need to wash windows, I get a wet cleaning cloth, squirt a little bit of my Melaleuca dishwashing soap on it, and wash away, and then I wipe it with a dry cloth. The windows shine.

These things are now all I use in my house to clean with. Five products, the Melaleuca laundry soap and prespot, Melaleuca dishwashing soap, and vinegar and baking soda/salt. What was once a large part of my grocery bill has now been cut way, way down.

I like to use natural products on our bodies, too. As I said, I like making soap. Sometimes, when we run out, and home duties keep me from having the time, I go to the discount health food store in our area, and I buy natural soaps on sale. We use shampoo from there or from Melaleuca, and also the natural baby bath from one of these two places. The females in our family do not cut their hair, so we all have waist length hair. I used to buy conditioners until I found out that vinegar works even better as a hair conditioner. Now, I put vinegar in glass jars, stick a sprig of rosemary from our garden in it, and sit it in the window sill until we need a new bottle. Then I remove the sprig of rosemary, and pour the vinegar/rosemary tincture into an old shampoo bottle, or even a plastic vinegar bottle and we rinse our hair with it before we get out of the shower. I usually rub it into my face, also, since it's a natural PH balancer. Once again, you can smell the vinegar until your hair dries, and then the smell is gone. My daughter likes to rinse it out after she has rubbed it in well. Either way seems to work great!

Since I am in my 50's now, I need to use a moisturizer and a wrinkle help. I was buying those, too, until I discovered the best thing I could use on my face was honey and olive oil. I mix these two things together, and spread it over my face and neck, leave it on for 10 minutes, then clean it off with a warm, wet washcloth. Sometimes I pour a little vinegar into the cloth, sometimes not. It works better by far than anything I have paid a lot of money for in the stores.

I hope these hints help. I will never go back to buying commercial products after using these things in our home for many months now! They work very well, and free up the money I was spending before for more important things - like feeding six sons and a hubby!!