How to Naturally Unclog Drains

On a bottle of Draino: Only use in a well ventilated area. Meaning do not breath this stuff in as its toxic to your health. Hmm... This is not something I want to subject me or my family to. Nope, no way!

I've been growing my hair for the last 2 years and have noticed that our bathtub drains are clogging up.

It must be a mixture of shampoo, bodywash and hair. (Can't wait to start no-poo shampoo... for a later post). I used to only have to do this once a year and now its every 4 months... Two bathroom sinks and a bathtub... I used to buy Draino in the past but I couldn't bring myself to buy it until I tried a natural alternative.

And would you believe it? It's our very favourite two products in our home here! Baking soda and Vinegar! Cheap, but extremely effective, natural and non-toxic to the environment. 

How to Unclog Drains:

1. First grab a funnel or if you don't have one make one out of paper. Pour 1/4 cup baking soda down the drain. Make sure it is pushed down as far as it can go.

2. Pour 1/4 cup white vinegar down the drain and cover quickly with a plug. It fuzzes up pretty fast. 

I left it for an hour came back to it and all the hair was lifted up so I could easily grab it out. I repeated the steps and have a perfectly draining bathtub and sinks! You can use this for your kitchen sink too! I only had to do it once for my kitchen sink and do not do it as regularly.

Happy Natural, Thrifty, Healthy living friends!

Oil Cleansing Method

I should probably start off with I get breakouts... ALL THE TIME! I also have rosacea... My T-zone gets the worst of it... but really it happens all over my face... I used to buy any cleanser that promised to rid my face of blemishes or rosacea. Really, I tried them all. 

Have you seen the strange chemicals that are in facial cleansers? I don't even know where to begin with how many of them are toxic to your body and to the environment. Pick up your bottle and just do  a simple google search. That should be enough... 

Second thing about facial cleansers is that they can increase in price just because its for your face... Why? To make more money... 

So off I went on a search for a cheaper alternative that contains more natural properties.

Halfway through my last year of university I ran out of my facewash and decided it was time to go natural and cheap (student living and all). 

To my surprise I found Oil Cleansing Method.

Pardon, you say? Doesn't Oil + Face = Breakout!!!! Wrong!

No, this isn't true. Your face produces more oil then what is required due to drying effects. Your hair pores get clogged via dust/debris and other junk you get from daily living (or products your using in your hair/face cream) and this is what causes blemishes. (There are many other reasons for clogged pores, we are just talking about oil.)

I used the oil cleansing method for 6 months, wrote down what it was like week after week. I found out everyones skin is very different and you have to test out different ratios of the 2 oils you use that best suits your skin. 

Oil Cleansing Method:

This is a basic guide for your skin:

• Oily Skin: Try a blend of 30% Castor Oil to 70% Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
• Balanced Skin: Try a blend of 20% Castor Oil to 80% Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
• Dry Skin: Try a blend of 10% Castor Oil to 90% Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I suggest using a glass bottle with a lid. You can find them at Walmart/Dollar stores. Make sure you clean your bottle before re-filling it for the next batch.

Pour a small amount on your fingers and rub gently in a circular motion all over your face for a minute or so. Ensure the oil is completely rubbed in. Next take a facecloth and put it under a tap of running hot water (not too hot it scalds you, just enough that you can stand it). Place the facecloth on your face for a few minutes until it cools. It is suggested that you do this a few times. Gently rub the excess oil off your face. Ta da! Done. Do this every night before bed.

Here are my results:

Week 1: Awful! Incredibly greasy face. Pimples and rosacea present.

Week 3: Face is feeling refreshed and grease level has decreased significantly

Week 4: Blemishes are clearing up and staying away

Week 6: Rosacea is gone! Still blemish free and my blackheads on my nose even look like they have decreased!

Week7-6 Month: Face feels great! Only get blemishes the odd time. Rosacea is completely gone. I stopped using coverup on my face after week 7!

Now I have stopped using these 2 oils combined on my face. Not because it stopped working but because I am that lazy to go buy Castor oil and it takes some time to sit with a facecloth on your face... Did I mention I am slightly impatient? I only go when I am out... Its always sold out at the Walmart close to me and a little more expensive at the grocery stores that I shop at... So I stopped using it.

I have since switched to Coconut oil as mentioned in a previous post. I find I can rub it in every morning and rub a little in just before I hop out of the shower (after rinsing my face with water). Only once a week I find I need to use a hot facecloth to open my pores. This seems to be good for me during our cold winter.

Happy Natural Living!

How to Get Rid of Pre-packaged Food

I have been working on changing my habits from buying cans and pre-ackaged foods to making homemade meals from as scratch. (as much as someone can)

This year was the first year we had a garden... unfortunately we started it too late and they died before they ripened. So next year we are starting early and going to reap all the benefits of garden life! Including canning, thrifty living and going into the backyard to pick pick pick.

First off I have to admit, I am no saint. Sometimes I still buy frozen pizza and other unmentionables...

Why not buy things in a can or jar pre-made? They are filled with preservatives and proven toxic and cancer causing chemicals and hormones that I am choosing to help myself and my family avoid. There is also unnecessary sugars, fats and salt in most pre-packaged food that I know for a fact is not healthy.

Want to know my secrets?

So far I think the first secret might be making double batches of everything and freezing the left overs!

The second secret is don't let yourself buy the pre-packaged things! I know, harder said then done... but if you stop buying the prepackaged food and are at home you either starve... or you start making things from scratch!

My final secret to getting rid of pre-packaged foods? Buy a crockpot! You don't need a brand new one. Someone gave us their old one and it works fine! Or I see them at garage sales all the time. We have made sooo many meals and snacks in our crock pot. My latest DIY homemade foodies is apple sauce! I could eat apple sauce all day straight from the jar... Gross? Maybe... I use it in almost all of my baking as well as a substitution to butter and its a great dessert! I like to leave it a little lumpy for extra texture :)

Here are some links that might help out:

26 Things to do with your crockpot
Things that can and cant be frozen
Recipes that you can freeze
Way too many crockpot recipes
Allrecipes.com (they have made this process the easiest! People rate the meals and leave VERY helpful comments

We all have a choice to make and this just so happens to be mine. I'm not saying your going to die if you eat pre-packaged food, I am just trying to make a small change in my family's life that I believe in :)

Homemade Natural Deodorizers

You know that spot under the sink that occasionally smells thanks to the garbage can and compost under your sink?

Sure you can go out and buy something that gets rid of the smell in strange places, but firstly, where is the fun in that, secondly, consider all the chemicals that go into those products that covers the smell and how they are affecting your body. Research perfume and secret chemicals... Sooooo gross!

I found a chemical-free, thrifty, all natural and DIY deodorizing disk that you can make with ingredients that you have at home!  Huzzah! 

Remember I was talking about the million benefits of baking soda? Well here is another one. It deodorizes the fridge, carpet and under the sink! 

This recipe makes 4 deodorizing disks.

1 1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup hot water (distilled or boiled for 10 min)

Oil of your choice (I chose Vanilla the first time and lavender oil my second time)

 Mix all the ingredients into a bowl ensuring a very thick consistency. Add extra baking soda if you need to! (This will help it dry out faster)

 Scoop the baking soda mixture into the cupcake lined muffin tins. Tap the whole thing on the counter to smooth out or dabble your finger gently on the surface. (both works fine)

 And there you have it!

Your very own homemade deodorizing disks! They can be used in lots of different areas! Diaper bins, mud rooms, behind the boys bathroom toilet, or in the same room the athlete in the house keeps their gear in! 

When they finally dried (took 4 days) I live in BC Canada and its all rain right now... I left them in the cupcake liners and placed them in boy areas around the house.

Enjoy your fresh smelling rooms!

How to clean an oven naturally... after a much needed clean!

Thats right, its time to clean the oven. Its getting cold out and no one wants to go outside in the rain. Why not clean your oven? BEFORE it starts on fire... Thats right, I said fire...

My girly friend came over the other night with pizza. It was this giant pizza, with tomatoes spinach and lots of cheese! (I know, not part of my healthy choices)... anyways... I heated up the oven and we started our much needed girly chat at the table in the kitchen.

I looked over at the oven and smoke was coming out of the elements. My thought, "this cannot be good." Seconds later smoke was billowing out of the sides of the door of the oven... "Ok, definitely NOT good!" I opened the oven to see how bad the damage was and flames flew out at me! (I am skipping the ridiculous conversation my friend and I had or the amount of time we let the fire continue) I quickly closed the oven door, grabbed my giant container of baking soda (and I mean GIANT) and emptied it into the oven covering the flames. Surprisingly, it wasn't enough to put the fire out so I grabbed my extra large container of flour, and started scooping handfuls of it throwing it in the oven... Blast! What a MESS!!! Yes, we do have a fire extinguisher... but I was told it makes a real mess... I don't think it can be messier then this...

Baking soda and flour was EVERYWHERE!

The worst part, We didn't even get to put our pizza in the oven to cook... and my goodness were we both sooooooo hungry!!!

 Until I realized I have a mini oven. We sliced up the pizza and put a couple slices in there at a time... The first round. Burnt. Black on the bottom...

 Anyways... back to my oven. I told you this whole using the oven and cooking was new to me and now I realize how dirty it gets when you use it so often. The oven fire was caused from my first homemade turkey! I left it for 3 days dreading the day I will clean it up. Not only because it was a HUGE mess but I was told and researched how bad using an oven cleaner was for your health... Did you know they suggest a mask and opening all windows and doors and the use of a fan while using oven cleaner? Yikes. Oven cleaner is NOT good stuff... Good to know. It is also soooo expensive. At my grocery store it cost $20... much too much for a part-time worker! Especially when I can do the same job using non-toxic chemicals for free! Yay to being Thrifty!

So I looked up what our people of the past used to clean the ovens. Good ol' arm and hammer baking soda, white vinegar and lemon! Best inventions ever! I obviously had to pick some more up as I used my other stuff in the fire...
I first took a rag and wiped up the stuff that created the fire. Turkey grease from Thanksgiving!
Then I dusted the baking soda all over the oven.
Next I grabbed an old spray bottle and poured vinegar in it. I sprayed the vinegar all over the baking soda and let it fuzz and sit for 2 hours. This loosened up the grime I couldn't remove with the rag. 2 hours later I grabbed my scrubby that has no metals and scrubbed the heck outta the oven. It really wasn't that much work! My trusty natural cleaners did most of the work!

 I took a pic of my oven door half cleaned. I just wanted to show you how it just came off with a little elbow grease. Look how dirty this oven is...

I tackled this next... 

Yay a  clean oven door! By the way, did you know your oven door comes off of most models? I didn't until I accidentally almost pulled it off... Good to know.

 This is my cleanish oven! I know there is still grime on it but it looks worse in the picture then in real life. Promise!

And from  now on I am using this tinfoil liner I bought from the dollar store (but I am sure you could lay tinfoil down...

I put the door back on, cut the lemon in half covered them in water and baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 min. The leftover grease comes off with a rag after the oven cools enough for you to wipe.
And your home is left with that scrump citrus smell!

Does your clothing Smell?

Lately my clothes have been stinking up my house. No not because I am smelly!!!! Common. My washing machine is making everything stink and it is progressively getting worse... The stink is kinda damp moldish smell... The bottom line is that my clothes stink.

I thought this new fangled front loading washer was going to save hydro, water, and cleaning products and clean itself?! Apparently not...

So I grabbed my washer manual out of my over stuffed filing cabinet and opened it to "so your clothes smell like damp mold huh?" page, I guess you are supposed to wipe down the lip of the washer after every cycle. Uh, I thought this thing was supposed to clean itself was my only response. Yes I said it out loud... I continued reading... You need to drain this little thing that opens when you turn it. Its filled with stinky water that doesn't drain. You need to do that once a week? Oh, also once a month you are supposed to run a tub clean... and you need to purchase a very expensive very specific cleaner once a month to have a clean washing machine. Pardon? All I read was time consuming and expensive. Blast.

So out I went to buy some tub cleaner thinking this is the part where my washing machine cleans itself. It cost $20 and I am supposed to do it once a week until my washer is clean and then every month... Uh oh. This might start costing... I used it anyways as I was slightly desperate and a little frustrated. I did a load of laundry and clothes still smelled! I don't know about you but some of these stinky clothing I actually like!

Nothing a little googling couldn't fix!

I started with draining that gross little plug at the bottom of the washer. They were right, freaking smelly water came out of it! So drain that thing! Next, grab that baking soda that is sitting in your fridge and mix 4 tbsp with 3 cups of warm water. Take a rag and wash the inside and around the lip of the washer. By lip I mean that rubber trap that harbours gunk. Yay homemade/natural things that does not cost a penny! Next, do an empty load on hot with vinegar in the bleach spot. Fill to the max line (about 1/4 cup). 

Now its time to de-stinkify your towels/clothing! Put any clothing in (I do not separate anything...Don't judge) In the detergent section put in whatever you use. And in the bleach section put in vinegar until you hit the max line. Wait for the load to be finished and your clothing will smell like amazing laundry soap. Not vinegar, I promise!

Stink be gone!!!!!

I now wash my clothing with vinegar once a month for a week. Vinegar? Yeah I know strange...  but there is no vinegar smell! Just great smelling clothing! I also keep my washer door open to air dry and keep the mould out. Finally I wipe the inside of the door and outside of the lip with a dry rag. This keeps everything just that much cleaner. 

Huzzah! I just saved on chemical cleaner again! I am saving the environment from this junk and saving my pocket of money! Success! I am back to loving my washing machine all over again. It looks and smells brand new again!