Homesteader Depot

Tag: green cleaning

  • Homemade Non-Toxic Daily Shower Spray

    Homemade Non-Toxic Daily Shower Spray

     

    When it comes to the products you clean your shower with, it’s just as important to consider possible environmental toxins. While you might only think of dish soap or laundry detergent as coming into direct contact with your skin, hot showers can expose you to plenty of toxins if you’re cleaning with conventional products.

    Your epidermis, or skin, is the largest organ in your body, and in hot showers, your pores open up. If you’ve been cleaning with harsh toxins, they could be dissipating through the air and being absorbed directly into your skin. And you thought you were getting clean in the shower!

    The downside of not using toxic products is that mold, mildew, and soap scum can build up in your shower or bath fast. Harmful bleach and other chemicals can certainly keep this grime under control, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have the same ease and cleanliness with natural, homemade solutions!

    This incredibly simple and totally non-toxic daily shower spray is ideal for keeping your shower fresh, clean, and totally green.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 cup water
    • 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
    • 1/2 cup vinegar
    • 1 teaspoon dish soap
    • 20 drops essential oil of choice (optional)

    Directions: 

    1. Combine the water and dish soap in a large, non-metal bowl, until the soap is completely dissolved.
    2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until completely blended.
    3. Pour into a clean spray bottle, and keep in your shower.

    To use, simply spray down your shower after each use. Try to coat all the walls and the corners evenly.

    That’s it! This will prevent soap scum build-up, mold, and mildew, and make weekly shower scrubbing a breeze.

    The world is full of harmful, toxic solutions to everyday problems, and it can be so easy to get enticed by products with promises like never having to clean your shower! Fortunately, there’s always a natural solution, and this easy, painless shower spray works just as well as the commercial alternatives. Enjoy!

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  • How to Permanently Get Rid of Ants

    How to Permanently Get Rid of Ants

    Ants are a real drag to have in your home. And if you’re a homesteader, there’s a good chance you’re bringing lots of dirt inside from your garden or pasture, and with that comes ant eggs. Or perhaps you have lots of little nooks and crannies for ants to sneak in.

    Either way, if you’re battling ants constantly, year after year, you’re probably ready to be done with them. Ants are not only a big bother, they can actually pose a serious health risk if not addressed. It’s not common knowledge, but some ant species can actually transfer harmful pathogens into your living space, bringing with them sickness or infection.

    Of course, you could go for the expensive store-bought solutions that promise to banish ants completely. Unfortunately, those are not only highly toxic and dangerous to pets and small children, they also never work to fully rid ants from you home.

    The main ingredient in most commercial ant traps is boric acid, which is mixed with sugary substances to entice the ants. The ants then eat this, and bring it back to the colony, killing the rest of the ants, in theory. However, if you’ve ever tried these, you probably know how ineffective they can be, how quickly they dry out, and how you’re often left with nothing but useless traps and plenty of ants.

    Well, I have found a near-magical solution to banning ants, that has worked for me in several different houses, in several different climates, in fact.

    The secret ingredient is cinnamon essential oil, and the method couldn’t be easier.

    What you need

    • Cinnamon essential oil
    • Spray bottle
    • Tap water
    • Ants you’d like to kill dead

    What  you do

    1. Fill your spray bottle with tap water to the fill line.
    2. Add 5-10 drops of cinnamon essential oil.
    3. Spray.
    4. Banish ants from your home forever.

    Easy right? Very easy to make, and easy to use as well.

    The most crucial factor will be identifying where the ants are entering your home. Spray all around there, liberally, with your newly made ant repellant spray. Then, spray all along the path they normally take.

    If you want proof that this works insanely well, simply spray some in an ant’s path. Heck, you can even sprinkle some cinnamon right in their path to see how it works. They will always avoid it. Not sure why, but ants hate cinnamon.

    Every night as you clean up your kitchen, finish up by spraying the cinnamon oil spray all around. You probably won’t need it for long, but keep it in your kitchen for future use, just in case. You will be amazed at the results, trust me!

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  • 7 Brilliant Uses for Table Salt…Other Than Flavoring Food

    7 Brilliant Uses for Table Salt…Other Than Flavoring Food

    Regular old table salt actually has a whole lot more uses than simply flavoring food. Even if you’ve gotten into healthier salts like Himalayan pink salt, you should still be buying regular table salt for the many household applications it has.

    Salt lasts virtually forever and can be used medicinally, for cleaning, even for the care of animals and in the garden.  It should definitely always be a staple in your home, like baking soda or vinegar.

    Here are just a few of the many things you can use salt for:

    Soothe bug bites

    You can use salt to reduce itching and irritation from pesky bug bites. Simply moisten a bit of salt with some water, making a paste, and apply to the irritated area.

    Shine copper

    Salt and lemon juice mixed into a paste can work wonders for dirty or oxidized copper cookware. Just use the paste to polish up your copper and it will shine like new.

    Reduce oil splatter 

    Add a dash of salt to oil when frying, and it will absorb any moisture in the oil and prevent splattering.

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    Non-drip candles 

    Soaking candles in a salt solution for a few hours will dramatically reduce any chance of wax dripping. Just make sure to let your candle dry completely before lighting!

    Put out grease fires

    You should know by now that you should not use water to put out a grease fire, but you can use salt. Throw as much salt as you can on the blaze and if you’re able to cover it, it will put the fire out.

    Keep milk fresh

    This is a great one for homesteaders-you can actually prolong the freshness of milk by adding a dash of salt to it. Don’t worry, you won’t taste it!

    Shell nuts easily

    Nuts that are tough to shell can cause much frustration. But if you soak them in a solution of salt water before shelling, it can help ease the process.

    These are just a few of the many ways you can use salt around the house. Do you know of any uses we didn’t cover?

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  • 5 Ways to Use Vinegar for Your Chickens

    5 Ways to Use Vinegar for Your Chickens

    Vinegar has so many uses around the home in general, it should be no surprise to you that there are a lot of ways to use it around your chicken coop! Both distilled white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are wonderful to keep your chicken coop clean, your chickens healthy, and keep you happy!

    Here are a few of the many ways you can use vinegar for your chickens:

    1. Added to water

    Chickens are subject to parasites and digestive issues as much as any other creature, and adding a bit of vinegar to their water can help keep them healthy and happy. If you happen to see your chicken has very runny droppings, it’s time to add some vinegar to their water. I would recommend a tablespoon for each gallon of water.

    2. Chicken baths

    Chickens are pretty good about giving themselves dust baths, so you will want to make sure they have a clean place to do this every day. However, it can also help them, especially with mites and parasites, to give them a simple bath in warm soapy water from time to time, and give them a rinse in water with a bit of vinegar. This will both condition their feathers, kill any unwanted critters or fungal growths, and help to gently cleanse off any dead skin on their feet.

    3. Clean eggs

    While seeing bits of dirt or chicken droppings on your eggs are how you know they’re truly farm fresh, no one really wants to bring chicken poop into their kitchen! Giving your eggs a quick dunk in water with a bit of vinegar will clean them and also brighten the egg shells.

    4. Remove tough grime

    We’ve all experienced that bit of chicken poop in the coop that just doesn’t want to budge. A spray bottle with vinegar will not only remove tough stains, it will also help repel critters and fungal growth in your coop, so use this for regular coop cleanings.

    5. Easy peeling for hard-boiled eggs

    I recently discovered this, and, as a big fan of hard-boiled eggs, it’s made my life much easier! You may have heard that adding a dash of baking soda to the water when you hard boil eggs can make them easier to peel, but I’m not really sure why, since it is vinegar that dissolves calcium. Add a dash of vinegar instead and those pesky egg shells will practically peel themselves off.

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  • How to Make Infused Vinegar for Cleaning

    How to Make Infused Vinegar for Cleaning

    If you want to clean using natural, green cleaning products, but miss the fragrant smells of conventional, store-bought cleaners, then this is a great idea for you.

    Scent-infused vinegar is a really great, and cheap way, to make your own fragrant cleaners that actually work. We’re definitely fans of essential oils here, but we understand a lot of people aren’t ready to make the dive into buying them, or aren’t sure how to use them properly.

    This recipe is cheap, easy, involves no essential oils, and cleans amazingly well. You even can most likely make your own custom cleaner with a scent that you love using leftover scraps from your kitchen! Let’s begin.

    How to Make Scent-Infused Cleaners

    The basic formula for these cleaners involves soaking your fruit, herbs, or flowers in in vinegar for a few weeks, then using that vinegar as the base for a simple homemade cleaner. Here are some ideas for infusions you can use:

    • pine needles
    • citrus peels
    • fresh lavender sprigs
    • fresh rosemary sprigs
    • cinnamon sticks
    • eucalyptus leaves
    • rose petals
    • gardenia blossoms

    What you need to get started is one of the above, some other fragrant plant of fruit, (or any creative combo you can come up with!), a jar with a lid, and some regular white distilled vinegar. Keep in mind, the vinegar should be able to fill roughly 1/3 of a spray bottle when you’re done, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.

    For the following cleaner, you will need that spray bottle, some distilled water, and if you want a little extra cleaning oomph, a dash of dish soap. 

     

    Directions: 

    1. Take the scent of your choice, and, if they’re large like sprigs, roughly chop them. You don’t have to worry too much though, you just need to be able to stuff them in a jar.
    2. Put your herbs, leaves, peels, etc. in the jar, and cover with vinegar.
    3. Put the lid on the jar securely.
    4. Place in a cool, dark place, for 2-3 weeks. You can even do 1 if you’re in a hurry, it will still be lightly infused.
    5. When you’re ready to make your cleaner, strain whatever you have been infusing out of the vinegar, and pour your vinegar into your spray bottle.
    6. Fill the rest of the spray bottle with the distilled water (really, you can use tap, but distilled is just more sanitary) and a dash of dish soap if you like.

    And that’s it! Use this as you would your regular cleaner, and you’ll be amazed at how good it cleans and how delightful it smells.

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  • Simple Green Laundry Hacks

    Simple Green Laundry Hacks

    When you begin learning how to eat and live more organically and self-sufficiently, it doesn’t take long for you to start noticing how other choices in your life could be greener.

    Did you know that more than 70% of natural streams in America have been found to contain traces of laundry detergent? Or that drying a load of laundry can create more than two kilograms of carbon released into the atmosphere?

    There are many ways to make your laundry laundryeco-friendlier to reduce your carbon footprint and the chemical leftovers that are created while you get your clothes clean.

    Making your own eco-friendly laundry detergent is a great first step. And it’s easy. There are several recipes that can be found online, but one of the most common is a simple mixture of one cup of washing soda, one cup of borax, and one grated bar of Fels Naptha soap. An ounce or two of essential oil can be added for extra freshness if desired. Blend these ingredients together and store in a sealed container. Just a tablespoon or two per

    An ounce or two of essential oil can be added for extra freshness if desired. Blend these ingredients together and store in a sealed container. Just a tablespoon or two per

    Just a tablespoon or two per load of laundry will keep your clothes looking great, and these products do not contaminate water with toxins.

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    The next way to make your laundry even greener is to line dry…

    Line drying your clothes can help them smell fresher, and get rid of a huge amount of carbon production. In order to avoid stiff towels or other clothing, be sure that your clothes have been rinsed well, and consider using a little less detergent.

    If you’d like to kick the bleach habit, but you want your whites to stay looking white, use lemon juice. This old-fashioned trick will keep white clothes bright and make them smell fresh. Using cold water is another great way to keep your home eco-friendly because heating water uses almost 90% more energy than washing in cold.

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