Green Clean

I cant believe we are hopping forward into April already!!  Where has the time gone?  I feel like moments are rushing by and I can hardly catch my breath.  Do you ever get those moments where you are thinking ahead to the next few weeks and months and in your mind the year is already gone?  That's what life is like right now.  We have lots of things coming up... trips, visitors, meetings, work stuff, and house projects.  I'm trying hard to live in the moment and not for the next event on my list.  

With time whirling around me, I am still managing to plug on though my 2014 goals.  One of my goals is to be cleaning chemical free by 2015.  As some of you may know, I cleaned houses for a year when I lived in Georgia.  It was certainly not a "fun" job and I tried my best to move more into nannying and out of home care, but my time cleaning gave me an appreciation for "green" cleaning supplies.  Trust me, when you spend hours breathing in fumes and gagging on chemical odors, you learn to appreciate clean air.  I had several families that chose to use green cleaning supplies like Shacklees and Seventh Generation.  I was so grateful for that and I vowed that when I had my own home to maintain, I would do the same thing.  

Now, I'm still a huge fan of Shacklees but I started looking into home-made cleaning supplies, especially those containing essential oils.  I wanted to be simple, cost effective, and naturally CLEAN.  I didnt know much about oils but started using lavender water to clean counter tops about a year ago.  I've added a couple more lavender and vinegar base concoctions to our cabinet over the last few months and tried several variations of recipes.  Hubby was quite skeptical as his nose tells him that only that chemically smell is clean, but even he has come around and began to associate the sweet and calming smell of lavender and even the tangy smell of vinegar with clean [it can be done!].  

After a bit more research, and with hubby's reluctant blessing, I took the plunge.  I bought my first set of 6 essential oils: lavender, lemon, orange, eucalyptus, tea tree, and peppermint from Eden's Garden along with a Young Living Purification Oil for good measure.  I compiled all my favorite recipes from pinterest and got started.  My timing could not have been better as we have company coming to stay at the end of this week.  I cant wait to try out some new home-made cleaning products and let you all know how they work!