Laundry Love. Yeah, right.

Laundry is my pet peeve.  I can spend all day doing laundry; washing, drying, folding, putting it all away.  And then, at the end of the day, I change into my P.J.'s to crawl into bed and *bam!* there's more laundry.  It never ends.

I'm picky about my laundry detergent, too.  It has to work AND it has too smell good.  I have been hesitant to make the switch to chemical free in the laundry room because of those reasons.  I've made my own detergent powders in the past and always been disappointed.  Other recipes with rave reviews still contain store bought softener which, I feel, defeats the purpose.

I decided to try again a couple months ago with a recipe I found on pinterest for a liquid laundry detergent.  Hubby was skeptical telling me we would be separating our clothes so he could use tide.  I started using the new home-made detergent without even telling him just to see what he thought.  One day, while he was switching the load from the washer to the dryer, he yelled accross the upstairs balcony, "This laundry smells so good!"  Only then did I reveal that I had made the stuff.  We have been pleasantly surprised with the recipe as I made my second batch of it last week.  Our laundry smells fresh and we have not been disappointed by its cleaning power.  It was also a good introduction for me to the world of Dr. Bonner's Liquid Castile Soap.

Check out the recipe at the Live Simply blog.

The dryer sheets were an easier thing to cut.  I had been phasing them out for the last several months before buying some wool dryer balls.  Wool dryer balls are an all natural way to fluff your laundry while decreasing static and drying time.  I heard good things about Woolzies brand so I bough a package of 6 XL balls.  I toss all 6 into the dryer.  It couldn't be easier.  I intended to try adding 10-15 drops of essential oil on one of the balls and tossing it in later in the cycle for an added fresh scent, but haven't felt the need to try it yet.  As an added bonus, the fur-babies are anxious to help with the laundry now.  ;)

College Kids

Want to know what makes me feel old?  The fact that my baby sister and Ronnie's little brother BOTH STARTED COLLEGE THIS WEEK.  How is that even possible?

We are so proud of them both and can't wait to see what God has in store for them in the years ahead.

My Norwex discovery and anti-cleaning-chemical mission

All my free Norwex stuff!

I've been working on going cleaning chemical free for some time now.  I was doing really well, too.  I took a little tumble off the band wagon when we moved in March, but I am making up for that now!

A friend invited me to her Norwex party a month or so ago.  I had never heard of Norwex, so I went to the party with zero expectations.  At the party, I was pleasantly surprised at the demonstrations and sales pitch.  So much so that I hosted a party of my own a few weeks later!  For those that don't know, Norwex is a brand that specializes in high quality microfiber cleaning cloths for cleaning with just water.  Their cloths contain fibers that are smaller and more dense than anything else on the market.  Many of their cloths also contain silver which has anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties (Side note: When Ronnie was in the hospital at BAMC with over 50% burns, they used silverlon- silver cloth- bandages on him.).  I feel like this would be a good time for me to throw in the "trust me, I'm a scientist" spiel.

My mom introduced me to cleaning with microfiber over a year ago.  She started buying e-cloths, a main Norwex competitor, and swore by their results.  I should mention that my mom is also a lab rat like myself and is the parent from whom I received my dominant neat-freak gene.  She loves her microfiber and was super excited to learn more about Norwex.

Now- I am going to go on a slight tangent here for a minute.  I was asked recently what my thoughts are on e-cloths verses Norwex cloths.  Norwex is certainly the higher end brand and it shows in the price and the quality.  Cloths like the polishing (window) cloth and dusting mitt have superior cleaning power- one swipe over a surface does the trick.  E-cloths are much less expensive and do not contain silver but they have several innovative products that add to your cleaning arsenal (I love their stovetop/range cleaning cloth set).  They are still made of high quality microfiber that leads to disinfected surfaces with just water.  If you are looking for a place to start or are overwhelmed by the vast catalog or higher prices of Norwex, take e-cloths for a spin.  When you are ready to commit and want some really nice and durable products, talk to your Norwex sales rep.

Ultimately, both brands promote an easy and effective way to clean your home without chemicals and I applaud that.  I myself (and my mother as well) use mostly Norwex and also several e-cloth products that I love.

I would love to say that microfiber cleaning cloths are the way of the future and will take over the industry one home at a time, and that would be my goal and I would believe it.  But I work in a hospital lab that believes in the one and only, all powerful bleach and that is a culture I do not foresee changing for quite some time.  So as for me and my house, we are kicking bleach aside.  We believe we are exposed to enough in the workplace and do not need it in our home, too.  We are so excited to be chemical free AND germ free with the help of Norwex and e-cloths.  I hope you will consider it, too.

Even Ronnie got in on the Norwex action!  He was actually really impressed.