Green Living Tips:
3 Household Products You Must Try! Better for you and for the environment!
As a green witch and druid priestess, I had to get real with myself and realize just how much my family and I still needed to make ‘green’ lifestyle changes. What does a ‘green lifestyle’ entail you ask? It entails A LOT of research into words like ‘sustainable,’ ‘ethical,’ ‘non-toxic,’ ‘zero waste,’ ‘low carbon output,’ and more. “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle,” as that meme says!
But seriously, I had no idea how much plastic we still used and how much waste we still produced, even when I thought we were a household that was pretty good about recycling and reusing. For example, if you really take a look around your house you will be astonished at how much plastic we use. EVERYTHING is made of plastic or has plastic parts, and not all of it is recyclable.
Take your toothbrush handle for example. I never even paid attention to how many toothbrushes we use per year that just go right into the garbage and then end up in the ocean or a landfill somewhere. My shower gel, my shampoo and conditioner, my face wash and moisturizer, my sunscreen, my lipstick and chapsticks, my deodorant, all in plastic containers, and that’s just in the bathroom!! Nevermind the laundry room, kitchen and so on!
So my daughter and I started researching and researching. Yes, it takes time and effort to educate yourself and find the best and most trustworthy products, small businesses, and websites. But this is why I decided to start this blog. So that you could make ‘green’ changes in your life without spending the hours and hours on all that research.
In these blogs titled, ‘Green Living Tips,’ I will share everything we have learned and discovered from better laundry detergents to kitchen products, clothing, beauty and health products, and more.
Today I am going to talk about the best laundry detergents, hand soap and a simple household cleaning product.
Laundry Detergent
Some may prefer liquid laundry detergent which is totally understandable. However, most liquid detergents will come in plastic bottles. So if you want to reduce your use of plastic, perhaps a better alternative is to make your own laundry soap. This way you can use a glass container or other non-plastic type container, or anything you already have lying around your home. Then you can buy the ingredients and just keep reusing the same container.
Here is a homemade recipe I found on the internet:
3 cups baking soda
3 cups washing soda (sodium carbonate)
3 cups borax
3 cups epsom salt (optional)
⅛ cup sea salt
This is the recipe my mom followed when she used to make her own detergent for all of us. It worked just great! The epsom salt is a fabric softener, but it is also a water hardener. If you already have hard water, you may want to add the ½ cup distilled white vinegar, or leave out the epsom salt. We added the vinegar like the author says in her article, in the fabric softener slot of your machine, not into the mixture itself. This worked great for us. And it does last about as long as she says in the article. And we prefer non scented detergents, as my daughter has very sensitive skin. But if this is not a concern for you, then you could certainly add a few drops of your favorite essential oils like lavender or bergamot for great smelling clothes!
Check out the article here:
By Katie C. Johnson of Johnson Home NC. November 6, 2023.
However, if you are like me, and don’t have the time or energy to keep finding recipes and making your own household products, then I highly suggest laundry tablets! My daughter is very good at research and she found us these laundry tablets from BlueLand that come in a tin. Drop a tab in the wash right in with your clothes and that’s it! Add a little white vinegar in your softener slot and wallah! They are fragrance free with healthy ingredients for those that may have sensitive skin like her and/or also want to watch what goes on, and in, their bodies. I’m sure many reading this blog post will have heard of the news regarding the cancer causing ingredients in a lot of the big name brand laundry detergents. I can assure you that we are conscious of every single ingredient in our household products, beauty products, our food and more. So I would never recommend anything that we have not personally tried ourselves, or know of a close friend or relative that did. So if you want to go healthier, go green, or less waste, I highly recommend checking out these laundry tablets by BlueLand. It is only $20 for their starter kit which includes your ‘forever tin’ and 60 laundry tablets!
Check them out here:
https://www.blueland.com/products/laundry-starter-set?Scent=Spring+Bloom&Refill+Quantity=60+Tablets
Hand Soaps
It sounds like a simple thing. A lot of people are not fussy about their hand soaps. But we happen to be very picky and have tried sooooooo many different kinds over the years. We prefer the liquid foaming ones the best. Our favorite brand was Bath and Body Works foaming hand soaps, like many people, because the scents are just fabulous! I have to give them props, they do use recyclable plastic, but again if you want to cut down on plastic use like we do, then you may want to consider other options.
We tried bar soaps. However, they will gather bacteria. So you have to have little cloth mesh bags to hang them up in to dry properly if you want to prevent the spread of bacteria. If you like bar soaps, with natural good ingredients and little to no fragrance, I would recommend the Zero Waste Earth Store. I liked the bar soap I tried from them. Their prices are reasonable and all their packaging is cardboard and recycled paper. I also ordered a bamboo toothbrush from them, some little kitchen towels to replace paper towels, and a natural fiber washcloth. So I would highly recommend checking out their store!
You can find The Zero Waste Store here:
Side note: I am not being sponsored by any of the companies or websites mentioned in this blog. As I am yet a newbie blogger, I don’t even know how to get sponsored or do promos or anything yet. I simply want to share what my daughter and I have discovered to help you in your journey.
Through trial and error we discovered we do not prefer bar soaps, even with the little mesh drying bags. We missed our easy pump foaming hand soaps. So my daughter found this website that has a glass jar with tablet soap refills. Now granted the little pump piece is still plastic, there is no avoiding that unfortunately. However, we can reuse this container and pump over and over again by just buying the refills. It’s really a cool product. The refills are tablets that come in recyclable packaging. You just fill your bottle with warm water and drop in a tab. And all the ingredients are healthy and non toxic. They are made with plant and mineral based products and you can get unscented if you have skin sensitivity. We like the “Perrine Lemon” scent the best so far. And the best part is that it is affordable! It’s approximately $8 for your first bottle with 3 refill tablets!
You can check out BlueLand’s website here:
And of course, if you are real crafty and like that sort of thing, you can always make your own soap too!
Household Cleaners
Try White Vinegar!
Did you know you can use White Vinegar to pretty much clean your whole house? Obviously not surfaces like leather, carpet, wood or anything like that. But your kitchen countertops, your sink and bathtub, your stove, your fridge, your tile or linoleum floors, and yes even your windows and mirrors! And guess what, white vinegar does not even leave streaks like Windex or other glass cleaners do. More importantly, it is only one ingredient that is healthy and safe for you, your family, and your pets.
And to top it all off, it’s cheap!!!! You can buy a huge gallon jug of White Vinegar for approximately $4.19 at your local Wegmans or Tops grocery stores. (Of course this is based on the stores near my area) While Windex glass cleaner costs $4-6 for 26 fl oz., Clorox or Lysol toilet bowl cleaner $2.79, Pine Sol or other floor cleaners $9.98 for 60 fl oz., Fantastik cleaning spray for counters or sinks $3.79, or Soft Scrub $4.39, for a total of approximately $21.56 to clean all the surfaces that white vinegar can clean. This varies depending on your favorite brands and stores. However, we can already see an approximate savings of at least $17. Not only that, but how long will a gallon of white vinegar last you? I can pretty much guarantee much more than just one day of cleaning. Nevermind all the toxic chemicals and ingredients in these other household cleaning products.
And if you’re worried about the vinegar ‘smell’ permeating your home, it dissipates quite quickly. You can just open a couple of windows if you don’t really like it or light a non toxic candle with your favorite fragrance. I lived with a friend for a short time who only used white vinegar to clean everything. It was the first time I had seen anyone do that and I was just amazed. The windows and mirrors especially were spotless with no streaks!! In addition, the bacterial and viral killing properties of vinegar are not to be missed either. So this is just one easy way you can cut down on toxic chemicals, plastic containers and costs, all at the same time, while cleaning your entire home basically with one product!
Join me in my next blog where I will discuss personal care and beauty products such as; natural deodorants, face moisturizers, lip balm, face wash and more! And remember, you do not have to go ‘full green’ immediately and change your whole lifestyle in one day. It is a process to make a lifestyle change and every little step is a great one! Just try making one change at a time. Consider trying the laundry tabs or the hand soap tablets first and see how you like them. All lifestyle changes are a process of trial and error. But have fun with it! And feel good knowing you are making healthier, more ethical and sustainable choices for yourself, your family and our beloved Mother Earth!
Join me in creating a community that wants to get back to living life in harmony with Mother Gaia, whom without which we would not have air to breathe, oceans to swim in, beautiful plants, trees and creatures to admire, or a place to call home.
Many fairy blessings always!
A.F.-The Grove Witch-
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