Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner

My first attempt at making my own household cleaners was a smashing success...and I have pictures to prove it.

A little background: We just moved into a brand new house but we are already having trouble with iron stains in our bathroom fixtures. While my dear husband is working on a solution to our hard water problem, the job of keeping the fixtures from staining has fallen to me.

Last week I used some kind of commercial grade toilet bowl cleaner - it didn't work. I ended up buying some Iron Out, which worked but made my nostrils and throat burn like crazy.

Yesterday I decided to break out the vinegar and baking soda and see what they could do. I started with this:

(I promise, I JUST cleaned this toilet 3 days ago and it already looks like this)

And I ended up with this:

Here's the step-by-step instructions:

1. Plunge toilet. (TIP: It does absolutely no good to pour cleaner of any kind into a bowl full of water. It just dilutes the solution which is totally counter productive.) I have this toilet brush which does a great job.
2. After the water level is down, sprinkle baking soda in the stool and vigorously scrub the surface with a rough kitchen sponge.
3. Spray vinegar over the entire surface of the bowl.
4. Pour some vinegar on your baking soda caked sponge and scrub some more. This should coat your bowl in a nice white fizz.
5. Let it sit for 1 hour. (I don't actually think you need to leave it this long - I intended to check it after 30 minutes, but got distracted.)
6. Scrub off stains. I had to use some elbow grease, but they came off pretty easily.

I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the results. Chalk one up for natural cleaners!

My No 'Poo Experiment

I just ran across a post on this site that really intrigues me. (Which doesn't take much by the way, my husband says I'm way to easily entertained.)

I'll admit that I've spent a small fortune on shampoo, conditioner and styling products over the last decade, so a solution that's cheap AND good for my hair and skin sounds like a genius idea.

Since I happen to have everything I need on hand and I'm just about out of my last bottle of shampoo, I see no reason to put off the experiment. I'm super excited to see (and share!) the results.

Check out this and this for more information.

Why I Use Cloth Diapers

Choosing to cloth diaper my baby was an easy decision for me. First of all, it wasn't new to me. My mom cloth diapered a couple of my younger siblings and I have memories of dunking soiled diapers in a bucket. I didn't really give cloth diapering my own child a thought until I ran across a cloth diapering forum online when I was pregnant with Peanut. The pictures of "today's" cloth diapers looked so different! There was a huge variety and some of them just looked like a fancy bloomers. I began my research and quickly decided that this was the way to go.

Parents choose to use cloth for a number of reasons. For many people, it's all about the environmental benefits. That wasn't a factor for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about doing what's best for the planet, but it had very little bearing on my decision. There are two specific reasons that I choose to use cloth:

1. To Save Money. No matter which way you slice it, using cloth is cheaper than using disposables. The biggest downside to this is that the initial investment is a little painful to your purse, but you could easily diaper your child through the age of two for less than $500. To save even more money, I wait until I have a full load until I wash (usually every two days) and hang my diapers to dry whenever possible.
2. It's Better for My Baby. This was the main reason I chose cloth over plastic. I'm in the middle of some interesting research on this topic, but here is the synopsis: Disposable diapers contain numerous dangerous chemicals. First, they contain a toxin called Dioxin, which the EPA has labeled the most toxic of all the cancer-linked chemicals. Secondly, they contain a chemical called Tribuyl-tin that can be absorbed through the skin and has been linked to hormonal problems in humans and animals. Lastly, they contain a substance called sodium polyacrylate. It's the chemical that is added to the diapers inner layer to make them absorbant. Ever notice little crystal-like beads sticking to your baby's bottom? That's sodium polyacrylate. It's now illegal for use in tampons because it can cause toxic shock syndrome, a deadly condition - but for some reason, it's still legal to use in diapers.

After doing my initial research when I was pregnant with Peanut, choosing cloth over the nasty mess I've mentioned above seemed like a no-brainer.

So there you have it. I'll admit that there have been times when I've had to remind myself why I'm using cloth, but for the most part it's been a whole lot easier than I expected. If you are just starting out - give yourself about a 3 month learning curve. It takes awhile to figure out which diapers work best for your baby and your particular lifestyle.

I have many more posts planned on this topic, including some product reviews and how-to segments, so stay tuned!