Drink Your Cleaner…
posted by Annie
… or Why It’s Important to Have Non Toxic Cleaners in Your Home
First of all, I don’t recommend anyone drinking their household cleaners, no matter how non-toxic they are. But if you do…
Backstory
A few weeks ago, I’d been using the Thieves Household Cleaner to remove a stain from a white shirt. I had left the bottle on the counter. I think we see where this is going.
Story
The next day, my husband was starting Young Living’s 5-Day Nutritive Cleanse. A key component of this cleanse is drinking the NingXia Red juice a few times a day. So, he got it out of the fridge and put it on the counter. Then he got a measuring cup. He came back, poured ¼ cup, and drank it down quickly. It smelled weird to him. And didn’t look as it had in the past, but he thought maybe it was reformulated or something.
Would You Confuse This Bottle...
It turns out, he had grabbed the wrong bottle and had actually drunk ¼ cup of the Thieves Household Cleaner!
First he called Young Living to find out the exact ingredients in it. [Note: Proprietary suspension of safe surfactants (wetting agents) and Thieves® essential oil (a proprietary blend of 100% pure Young Living Therapeutic Grade™ essential oils of clove [Syzygium aromaticum], lemon [Citrus limon], cinnamon bark [Cinnamomum verum], eucalyptus [E. radiata] and rosemary [Rosmarinus officinalis CT cineol]].
... With This One?
Then he called Poison Control. Poison control told him to have some bread and drink lots of fluids to flush it out of his system. They gave him a list of symptoms to look for. If any of them surfaced, he should go to the ER immediately.
Rob started feeling a little woozy. I had told him this may happen. Oftentimes whenever you’re around a lot of essential oils – smelling them, ingesting them, putting them on topically – you can get a bit light headed. And the quantity that he’d drunk combined with the powerful oils themselves was an intense 1-2 punch.
Fortunately, though, the wooziness was combined with a drunkenness (he saw a few photos moving on the walls) which subsided after a few hours. By that evening he was able to function properly in his rehearsal. He even joked how he was going to get a snack and figured he’d check out what else was available under the sink.
So, I ask you – would the same thing have happened if you or someone in your family ingested that quantity of your household cleaner? Would you have spent the day in the Emergency Room getting your stomach pumped? Or worse?
I should have put the cleaner away. My husband should have been paying more attention. But accidents happen. We’re all human.
I strongly suggest that if you haven’t yet switched to a non-toxic cleaner now is the time to do it. And after this experience I can’t recommend Thieves Household Cleaner highly enough!
Coffee tasting bitter? Try a Vinegar Rinse
posted by Annie
Give your coffee maker some love with a vinegar rinse.
I haven’t really been drinking too much coffee since I’ve been pregnant. But I bought a pound of decaf the other day and started brewing it at home again.
Now, a fresh pound of coffee shouldn’t taste really bitter. And I knew something was up. I’m no coffee conisseur, so instead of trial and error with grinds, beans, and roasts, I figured I’d give the coffee maker a vinegar rinse.
Apparently the minerals and grinds and stuff all get built up in your coffee maker’s system. So you’re going to want to clear that out. What’s the best bet for that? White distilled vinegar. The white knight of cleaning.
Here’s how I did it this morning to excellent results. Thanks to Ellen Sandbeck and her book Green Housekeeping
- Pour 2 cups (actual cups, not the cups designated on your coffee maker) white vinegar in the reservoir and top it off with water.
- Turn on the coffee maker and let it brew a cup of the vinegar and water.
- Turn it off and let it stand for half and hour.
- Turn it back on. Let it finish brewing the pot of vinegar and water
- Empty the pot into your sink (bonus if you want to put a little baking soda down the drain first), rinse it out, and fill the reservoir with water.
- Brew the pot of water.
- Empty. Rinse.
- Brew another pot of water.
The next cup of coffee tastes much much better.
My mom said that when there were three coffee drinkers in the house brewing a pot daily, she would do a vinegar rinse about once a month. I’d say you’d be cool to do it every couple of months if it’s just two of you. Or just whenever your coffee starts tasting inexplicably bitter.
View all Cleaning Tips on All Abode
Two Great Nights!
posted by Annie
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who took the time to come speak to me at the Holistic Happy Hour. It was such a fun night! I loved sharing the great tips about Young Living’s Essential Oils with you!
Also, if I met you in Philadelphia at the gathering out there – thanks! It was so much fun to talk about essential oils, green personal care products, whole-food supplements, and just to gab about fun stuff around the home. Love it!
If you need any info about Young Living products – you know where to find me! Feel free to drop me an email!
How Do You Use Them?
posted by Annie
I know that lots of times people order Young Living essential oils and then they can’t remember how to use them. They know that essential oils have a gillion uses, but they’re not sure exactly what they are.
Just as a reminder, you can follow me on Twitter and find out how I use Young Living’s products all day long. That could jog your mind of how to use them.
Contact me for how to order!
Bamboo Floors
posted by Annie
I have lived in my new apartment since October and, until today, had never mopped it. Is this shameful? Probably in Martha Stewart’s world. Or even Real Simple’s. Not so much in mine.
I put it off partly because I was afraid to do anything to mess up our beautiful bamboo floors. So I would just dry mop with a microfiber mop and call it a day.
But from cooking and such, it was time to really mop with water.
Here’s what I did:
- Used a microfiber mop to sweep the floor itself.
- Filled up a bucket with one capful of Thieves Household Cleaner and warm water.
- Mopped the floor.
- Followed it up with the microfiber mop to dry the floor so there won’t be streaks.
Nice. Simple. Easy. Non toxic. The sad news is that the kitchen is only a fraction of the area with the nice bamboo floors in my apartment. Eventually, there will be more mopping to do. For now, though, I’ll settle for a great looking kitchen.
Note: If you’d like to order the Thieves Household Cleaner, let me know! I’ll tell you how to order!
View all Cleaning Tips on All Abode
Over Goo Gone, Switching to a Citrus Oil
posted by Annie
Recently I’ve been pulling lots of price stickers off products. Normally, it’s a job that I turn to Goo Gone for. Here’s what I don’t love about Goo Gone: it leaks. So I will buy a bottle and about half of it will wind up leaking out. Annoying.
So, I have turned to the citrus oils that I have on my essential oils shelf. Lemon oil, grapefruit oil, orange oil – they all work great!
Here’s what I do, when I encounter something sticky, I put a drop of the oil on the sticker. I let it sit for a few seconds. Then, I just peel it off and rinse the oil. Simple and effective. Great news? The bottles won’t leak.
How to Order Young Living Essential Oils
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Cleaning Microwaves
posted by Annie
Microwaves – Mix 1/2 cup of water with a few teaspoons of baking soda in a microwave safe bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave and run it for 2 minutes. Take out the bowl and wipe it clean with just a rag; every last spot will come out!
This worked great! I just did it and some stuff that had been stuck on there came out quite nicely. Excellent!
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How old is your old spice?
posted by Eduardo
Fall is here. It’s my favorite time of the year to cook and try out new recipes. I can already smell the earthy flavors of the fresh roots roasting in the oven and the ambrosial aroma that spices can bring out from any dish. To prepare for this coming feast, I decided to re-organize my spices and in the process I started questioning the freshness of some of my bottled friends. I bought some of these spices when the Spice Girls were coming out with their first album–OK, I had to mention the Spice Girls somehow, forgive me.
I consulted the McCormick’s site, they had some good tips to determine if you must edit your spices and replace them. To remember these tips think CASH (after all it cost some cash to replace this spices)–Color, Aroma, Storage (more…)
Wipe it. Wipe it Good.
posted by Annie
Wipes with the Power of Organic Essential Oils
I received an email from a young mom recently who’s daughter is toilet training. So needless to say, she and her husband have to clean up a few drops here and there where her daughter may have missed. She was asking about various options for wipes that were a little bit greener. Here are some options:
- Make them yourself. Here’s a recipe!
- Check these out from Young Living! They have the power of cinnamon bark which was recently written about in the New York Times for its proven bacteria-killing abilities. Cinnamon bark is one of essential oils in the Thieves blend which kept robbers from getting the plague.
- Method Wet Wipes Go Naked flat pack all surface wipes these are a nice option too. I specifically like the packaging of these. So many of them are kept in these huge plastic containers which just create too much waste in my mind.
View all Cleaning Tips on All Abode
DIY Wipes
posted by Annie
In response to the young mom who is looking for a DIY option for making wipes herself. Here we go! I got this recipe from a great site about aromatherapy and essential oils call Abundant Health. Check it out!
You will need:
Unscented Liquid Soap Base (1/2 tsp.): This can be an unscented bath or shower gel, handsoap, or dishsoap. I like Dr. Bronner’s
Carrier Oil (1 tsp.): Some oils that work well are olive oil, Jojoba Oil
Essential oils (2-3 drops): These not only give your wipes their own unique scent, they also add the benefits of that essential oil to your wipes. I say for this purpose Thieves is the best blend. Nothing kills bacteria (more…)
