Chemical-Free Living - Make your own Natural Cleaners at Home

As a chemical engineer by training, I have always been dubious when anyone talks to me about chemical-free living.  My typical response has been everything is a chemical!  While technically this may be true, there is a lot to be said about our reliance on toxic and hazardous chemicals and their effects on our overall wellbeing.  

The other day I read a statistic on the Sierra Club website that we use over 500 chemicals per day and over 200 of those chemicals are stored in our bodies in our fat.  I found this to be both alarming and concerning.  For some time, I have been a victim of allergies.  I have been prescribed various steroid nasal sprays and prescription drugs to combat my allergies throughout my life.  I started thinking about the what if I just looked at what I am using every day and start to make changes in what I am using to clean my home or freshen the air in my home.  The effects of reducing these chemicals in my life has had a profound effect on my overall wellbeing.  

Here is a quick recipe for  a hard surface cleaner you can make at home.  This cleaner is for a 16 ounce spray bottle:

1 teaspoon fragrance-free Castile soap
15 ounces distilled water
10 drops pure, therapeutic-grade Peppermint essential oil
20 drops pure, therapeutic-grade Lemon essential oil

Add the Castile soap and essential oil to the spray bottle.  Add the distilled water to the spray bottle leaving enough room to put in the spray bottle top so that it does not overflow.  Shake before use.  

This cleaner should be used within 1-2 weeks because there is no preservative in the cleaning spray.  Ways to improve the preservation of this formulation would be adding vinegar or alcohol.  Personally, I do not like the smell of vinegar in my cleaners so I go without and try to use it.  

Alcohol is a good way to help with preservation of the system.  Many people do not like using alcohol because it is derived primarily from the petroleum industry.  If this sounds like you, a nice alternative to that is using vodka or organic grain alcohol. You can make the above recipe into a very effective glass cleaner with the addition of 1 tablespoon of alcohol!

After switching all of my cleaners from traditional over the counter cleaners to natural ones that I make myself, my allergies have significantly decreased!  Also, when I smell synthetic fragrance, I really feel ill because I can recognize those things that I once liked were really having a poor effect on my body.  The power of plants and their effects on our body are truly profound.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and tune in for more recipes to come!