Entry #7: I’m Starting Backwards - May 1, 2011
Before I start telling you (whoever you may be) I must tell a little bit about myself. I am a Psychology major at Azusa Pacific University, and I am taking a Global Studies class my senior year called Sustainable Societies. Although I am excited I am a bit fearful of this class and this project because Global Studies students are known on my campus as the “world changers,” “hippies” and “doers.” My major, Psychology, is known for “analyzing people” and “feelers.” What I am trying to say here is this: I fee very humbled by taking this class, because for one I have no idea what sustainable societies actually means, I am a feeler, they are the doers, and I am walking into a project not having any idea what to expect. So with this background knowledge I will start to tell you about my adventure with my “going green cleaning” project. I Started an online website thinking it was going to keep my accountable to share my stories with friends and family members. I should have known better that it would only last a few weeks. So I started to take note in binder what cleaning products worked, and what products I liked using. So with all that said I will now share my proposal and some of my online website journal entries. And then I will share with you what I had processed and written down in my binder. I hope you enjoy.
My Online Journal: Which can be found at: http://www.whoopsiedaisie.blogspot.com/
I gave it this name because one, I love daisies, they are so beautiful because they are so simple and fragile. Plus they are a plant, so I assumed that this could count for green. Whoopsie is something I always catch myself saying when I spill something or make a mess. Which I then run for cleaning products to clean up my big mess. Therefore, I created my blog name after this. Like I said, I didn’t get as far as I liked with the whole blogging thing, I guess this can be for another day. So here are my few entries I did write:
Entry #4: The Day Has Come - March 7, 2011
I gave up on my online blog, I do better when I just write down my thoughts on random pieces of paper, so when I get these random thoughts on the experiments I have done, I am just going to throw them into a binder and save them. So I will share my thoughts that I have had on making my own laundry detergent out of natural products. I finally got enough courage to take a risk and try it. And I am so glad I did! After a few loads, I had this down. I had to play around at first, but it came natural. I got some of my idea’s from the Urban Homestead book, and added some of my own thoughts (like the lavender) into the mix. I learned from the book that baking soda is actually good for your skin, which made me want to try this out. I have a really bad skin allergy to laundry products, so I was excited to actually find out that this had no effect on my skin what do ever. This little project has helped me stop itching all day long!
Here is my recipe to my “green cleaning laundry all natural detergent:”
- 1 cup of baking soda
- 1 cup of distilled white vinegar (this is my softener)
- 1 whole shaved bar of castile soap or 1/4 cup liquid castile soap (I liked better, less work and less soapy)
- Lavender shavings or orange peels (chop these up real fine, and place in a tea bag, it adds lots of fresh smell to the clothes)
** I started my load in warm/cold water, so the baking soda could break down better. The first time I did this, it left white on some of my clothes because I always use to use cold water when I did my wash.
Directions:
1. Toss your clothes into the machine and start with warm cold water, and slowly add in the castile soap.
2. Add the distilled white vinegar either into the machine or into the fabric softener spot.
3. As the machine starts to spin, shake in the 1 cup baking soda and watch it dissolve into the water, this will help the white residue stay off your clothes.
4. Drop in the tea bag with your blend of smells (aka: Lavender shavings and orange peels)
5. If Possible hang your newly washed clothes out to dry, the sun is magical :)
Entry #5: I have always been a clean freak! - April 10, 2011
So for the last few weeks I been cleaning away and experimenting with natural cleaning products. Its actually been quite funny and entertaining. Let me tell a story: once there was a girl who thought she had OCD growing up because her grandpa had actual OCD, and she wanted to be just like him. The little girl grew up and moved in with her 3 best friends at her University and cleaned their apartment every chance she got. This girl finally found herself being the last of the 3 roommates to graduate, and moved in with one of her roommates parents. Now this girl is cleaning her roommate’s parents house with experimental natural green product cleaners, and she is know as the “green cleaning freak!” The End!
As you can see, from my short life story I like cleaning which is why I wanted to play around with all natural cleaning products! Let me share a fun story about cleaning my roommate’s mother’s kitchen one day.
For Starters: I used the book The Urban Homestead once again to see what kind of all purpose cleaner I could make. I opened the book and BOOM there it was: Formula 1 for kitchens! So what I did was simple, I took a spray bottle I found under the sink, added 1/3 vinegar and filled the remaining bottle with water and added a tablespoon of castile soap. And because I like thing to smell yummy, I also added lemon peels. I shook the bottle up and let it sit. And there you have it, I was set.
Now, the parents I live with are cleaners too, but much different cleaners, they love Windex! Windex is their favorite item in the house! Jenny, my roommates mother, used Windex on the counters, in the sink, on the windows, in the fridge, and she even uses it to kill ants and clean up cat puke!
One day I said to Jenny I was going to clean her kitchen with my magic green cleaning all purpose cleaner, and she laughed and said “It wont be as good as Windex!” She left for the day to teach at the school close by. I stayed home and started scrubbing the kitchen with my mix, and it worked wonders. Because vinegar eliminates smells and odors (like cat puke) the kitchen started to smell fresh! I also think the lemon peels were working too. When Jenny arrived home, she was in shock, she didn’t think her kitchen would have been that clean just from a few simple harmless products! I informed her what vinegar can do with a little bit of castile soap, how it cleans up grease real easy. I explained to her how Windex does clean too, but all the chemicals can be bad for the environment, but also for humans too! She now has me make her my special all purpose cleaner every thursday because her sister comes to clean her house. She has told her sister all about this new “green cleaner” I have made, and her sister now uses it too. So thanks for The Urban Homestead book, we now have a favorite family house cleaner! But we still have not tried it out on the cat!
Entry #6: Final Thoughts on Sustainable Living - May 1, 2011
After experimenting a few times with natural cleaning products I have decided I will keep using these products in the future. The Laundry soap was my favorite product because it actually did something for me, not just for the planet. I have always been so allergic to fabric softeners and soaps that it made it hard for me to use even one from a local store. This new solution I have tried out has become my best friend. I never thought in my life that vinegar, castile soap, and baking soda, things I have always had in my kitchen, well maybe not the castile soap, were products that could help solve an allergic reaction I had.
I love telling people about this new way of living because I have a real testimony and proof of how this can actually change a life. I think from taking this class and actually putting into practice sustainable living has helped shape my worldview. I am always one for new ideas or ways of living life, but I had no idea that this way of life is so simple. I think knowing what is exactly in my cleaning products gives me room to breathe because I don’t have to constantly check the labels at stores to see if I am allergic to something.
Although it has been a joke that I have turned into some “hippie” I know my friends and family see this as something important when I share the miracle of my allergies going away. This is a new lifestyle to me, but it is also encouraging to be someone to share it with others and to see others taking small steps towards sustainable living with me.
