Have you ever had the experience of waiting for those precious few days when your partner will be away, and then finally you are alone? This morning Craig left to visit Indian Bob over the Christmas holiday so finally I had the solitude I’d been waiting for to start rewriting the first chapter of my memoir.
Well, of course, instead of sitting down to write, I had to clean the space first. That’s not too avoidant, it’s practically a norm for writers to clean their space as a first attempt to clear their head before banging it up against their subject matter. But when I decided to make DIY household cleaning supplies, I knew I was really getting off my mark.
The reality is I’ve been putting off making these simple, totally non-toxic, effective and inexpensive cleansers for about as long as I’ve been putting off rewriting chapter one. As it turned out, spending the very few minutes it took to make an All Purpose Spray Cleaner and a Soft Scrub cleanser, using Seattle writer Raleigh Briggs’ very cool book, Make Your Place, affordable, sustainable nesting skills, triggered an all out, clean every white surface in sight siege. Raleigh Briggs offers excellent non-toxic solutions for household cleansers so her book is a small and very worthwhile investment. She uses basic and inexpensive ingredients like baking soda, vinegar and essential oils among other simple ingredients, and enough practical hands on tips to make all conscientious homemakers succeed at using non-toxic cleansers as a first choice.
This is my favorite recipe for making a soft scrub for cleaning bathtubs and sinks:
1 c baking soda
3-5 drops tea tree oil (other oils are fine too – lemon, eucalyptus, peppermint)
¼ c liquid castile soap
2 aspirins, powdered
Mix all ingredients together and add enough water to make a paste. Keep in a shampoo bottle or small Tupperware container. To use, apply with a sponge, scrub and rinse thoroughly.
Now back to the clean white page.
December 24, 2012
The Cleaning Cure
Joyce Good Living Cure, non-toxic cleansers, Recipes
Have you ever had the experience of waiting for those precious few days when your partner will be away, and then finally you are alone? This morning Craig left to visit Indian Bob over the Christmas holiday so finally I had the solitude I’d been waiting for to start rewriting the first chapter of my memoir.
Well, of course, instead of sitting down to write, I had to clean the space first. That’s not too avoidant, it’s practically a norm for writers to clean their space as a first attempt to clear their head before banging it up against their subject matter. But when I decided to make DIY household cleaning supplies, I knew I was really getting off my mark.
The reality is I’ve been putting off making these simple, totally non-toxic, effective and inexpensive cleansers for about as long as I’ve been putting off rewriting chapter one. As it turned out, spending the very few minutes it took to make an All Purpose Spray Cleaner and a Soft Scrub cleanser, using Seattle writer Raleigh Briggs’ very cool book, Make Your Place, affordable, sustainable nesting skills, triggered an all out, clean every white surface in sight siege. Raleigh Briggs offers excellent non-toxic solutions for household cleansers so her book is a small and very worthwhile investment. She uses basic and inexpensive ingredients like baking soda, vinegar and essential oils among other simple ingredients, and enough practical hands on tips to make all conscientious homemakers succeed at using non-toxic cleansers as a first choice.
This is my favorite recipe for making a soft scrub for cleaning bathtubs and sinks:
1 c baking soda
3-5 drops tea tree oil (other oils are fine too – lemon, eucalyptus, peppermint)
¼ c liquid castile soap
2 aspirins, powdered
Mix all ingredients together and add enough water to make a paste. Keep in a shampoo bottle or small Tupperware container. To use, apply with a sponge, scrub and rinse thoroughly.
Now back to the clean white page.
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