Lavender All Purpose Cleaner

My everything cleaner came about when researching health and cleaning properties of essential oils. Turns out Lavender is useful for a lot more then just relaxing! Lavender oil has an antiseptic properties as well as anti-fungal. Crazy! Who knew! If you want to learn more about lavender there are a TON of sites talking about all it's uses from cleaning to health and beauty. Anyways, as I started to search for recipes for lavender, I came across a bunch of recipes mixing lavender oil with vinegar, bleaches, and harsher cleaning aids. I just wanted something easy and safe for using around the places we eat like my babies high chair tray and our kitchen table and counters. I finally found a recipe on Pinterest that was almost to good to be true! The Blog I found recommended a basic all purpose anti-bacterial spray with just water and lavender oil.

Lavender Anti-Bacterial Spray

1 spray bottle

1 cup water

10 drops pure essential lavender oil

Combine, spray and enjoy!

I must say, I didn't expect much from this cleaner, but I already had the supplies so I thought I had nothing to lose! I LOVE this cleaner! It cleans up sticky messes from the kids as good, if not better then, my old cleaner and I love that it's so safe! I don't have to worry about chemicals where my babies eat, it smells great and I use it to clean almost every surface in my kitchen. It even gets the greasy splatter from around the burners of the stove! I cannot tell you how impressed I am with this stuff, I can honestly say I'll never go back to a commercial all purpose cleaner!

I picked up my bottle of Lavender oil from a local health food store. It cost me 8.75 and this bottle has lasted me well over 6 months and is less than 1/4 gone. I use this stuff for so much!

*** As always, this is my opinion on this cleaner. Always follow instructions, do your homework and make informed choices regarding the health and safety of your family!***

Fit Momma's Frugal Finds

Part of building healthy family's, in my opinion, is by teaching kids that money doesn't grow on trees and to cut family costs where you can. I started my journey in frugal living by necessity when I became pregnant with my 4th child. One more mouth to feed, person to clothe and laundry to do! I've dabbled in DIY cleaners ( Lavender All Purpose Cleaner) but laundry detergent has been to intimidating for me to make at home. Most DIY laundry detergent are in liquid form and usually include cooking in a big pot and storing in giant containers. I just couldn't bring myself to go through all that without even knowing if I'd even LIKE the end product! Until I came upon this great blog: one good thing by jillee. Where she made the liquid version and then talked about a POWDERED detergent! "Huh, powdered...." I thought, "I could do that." So off I went to Fred Meyer to buy some ingredients, and one short stop at a store and 10 Min's of prep and my homemade detergent was ready for it's first load of laundry!

Powdered Laundry Soap:2 cups finely grated soap (Ivory, Fels Naptha, Zote, homemade, or a combination)
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda

Mix and store in a coffee can or what have you. Use 1-2 T per load.

Since I like all thing natural I choose  1 bar of Tom's natural soap in sage and 1 bar of Tom's natural Lavender milled soap. I learned that the finer the grate the better, I ended up grating the bar of soap (1 bar of soap makes just over 2 cups, I threw in the extras and just used heaping cups of the Borax and Washing Soda.) and then going through the soap with my fingers crushing it even finer. This mixture is VERY concentrated so you really only need the 2 tablespoons/ load of wash!

 I spent less then $6.00 for all the ingredients and purchased the glass container for $5.99

This is how much a double batch made, I am super happy with this! It smells great, my clothes came out clean and fresh! Enjoy Fit Mommas, and Happy Laundering!

****SAFTY NOTE****
***Borax can be extreemly dangerous if not used correctly! Please follow all safety precautions listed on your box of borax. Please keep this product away from children and rinse hands after handling. Also keep in mind this product is DIY and FRUGAL and is not nessessarity "green" in nature. Use as directed and at your own risk.***