Mamma Goes Green

As a Mamma to young children, I have a very limited amount of "me" time. It's a must that beauty regimes are easy and fast! What is Light Mountain Natural Hair Color? It is a henna-based natural home hair color made without chemicals.  While my kids were napping one afternoon, I dove in. What I didn't get was a bunch of squeeze tubes with easy applicators. What I did get was a packet of henna that resembled an over-sized bag of instant pudding mix with a green tint and a pair of disposable gloves. Yikes. The instructions say to mix the packet of dye with water in a bowl (not a metal bowl, mind you) and let it sit before applying to your hair. After doing so, i t turned into a yogurt-like consistency, but I was by no means tempted to eat it. It smelled like wet grass. Staring into the bowl of goo, I wondered how I was supposed to get this onto my hair without making a huge mess. First, I slathered petroleum jelly on my skin around my hairline so I ...

1/2 cup water 1/2 cup vinegar Cook in microwave for 10 min, wipe down with a microfiber cloth

The floors in my house get dirty fast with two little boys, especially the kitchen. My boys are young, so they are flinging food everywhere at mealtime. "Mamma, I'm done (...fling plate on the floor)!" I tried various green cleaning solutions the floor and didn't have much success: a solution of Dr. Bronner's just seemed to wipe the surface clean and made it somewhat greasy; I mixed baking soda, super washing soda, and citric acid together to make a paste, and while it seemed to work well, it needed a lot of elbow grease. Then I tried the cleaner I use on my kitchen sink: Bon-Ami . (It received an A from the EWG's site, so I know it's safe for my kids. And it's only $1.19/can at my local market!) What a great job! My husband even remarked that it looked as though the light was shining on only the clean part of the floor. If he noticed, you can take it to the bank that this stuff really works. Note: I have textured linoleum in my kitchen (clearly the...

For years, there has been one revolving question during that time of the month: "Is there any way I can reduce the waste generated from using all these pads/tampons?" If I could feel a little less chained to the bathroom, that would be even better. Like millions of internet readers, I clicked onto Amazon's marketplace to see what lay hidden on their myriad of virtual shelves. My scrolling fingers led me to T he Diva Cup ; a silicone cup that sits in the vagina, collects menstrual blood for 10-12 hours at a time, and is reusable. Many, many reviews were positive, but there were a few that downright terrified me describing instances where it became stuck. I sought the advice of friends to get some real-to-me feedback. A girlfriend gave top-notch reviews of the cup, some never head of it, while others encouraged me to try it, taking my side in hoping it would be the great solution I was seeking. I added it to my virtual shopping cart, and it arrived a week or so later...

After returning from vacation, I realized too late that we were running low on cloth diaper detergent. I didn't have time to mail order everything I needed, so I searched for ingredients that would be safe to use and friendly on my bottom line. The EWG site shows that Oxiclean Baby is safe, so I dug around for a Babies R Us coupon, since I know that's one of the few places that carry it.  For everyone who doesn't want to mail order anything or get it in bulk, this recipe is for you, too! Recipe: To fill a 3 lb oxiclean baby tub (holds 12 cups total): 2 cups oxiclean baby 4 cups super washing soda 4 cups baking soda -Use 1 Tbsp per load Cost: 3 lbs Oxiclean baby = $4.99 ($9.99 without coupon), or $0.05/oz 55 oz Super washing soda = $2.99, or $0.05/oz 13 lbs Baking soda = $6.59 (bought this at BJ's), or $0.03/oz Recipe makes 80 oz at $2.96, and costs $0.02 per load 365 x $0.02 = $7.30 Bottom line: It works great! I add 1 tbsp to any regular load of la...

I've heard that castile soap creates build-up on cloth diapers and reduces the absorbency, so I created another version of my cloth diaper detergent without the soap. Sodium Carbonate - 7 lbs for $9.07 (112 oz, $0.08/oz) Sodium Percarbonate - 6 lbs for $10.60 (96 oz, $0.11/oz) Sodium Bicarbonate - 13.5 lbs $6.59 (I bought this at BJs)  (216 oz, $0.03/oz) The recipe: 2 cups sodium carbonate ($1.28) 2 cups sodium percarbonate ($1.76) 2 cups sodium bicarbonate ($0.48) TOTAL: $3.52 to make  58 oz USE: 2 tbsp, or 1 oz, per load = 58 loads COST PER LOAD = $0.06 COST PER YEAR = $21.90

For years, we used Finish (with powerball and Jet Dry!) as our automatic dishwasher detergent. Every few months I bought the XL container from BJ's. Then I looked it up; the EWG's Guide to Healthy Cleaning gave it a rating of C for "some concern" across multiple levels, but what really irked me was the warning that it may cause nervous and digestive system effects . What a counter-intuitive effect from clean dishes! I set out to make my own. I made several concoctions. Some left my dishes looking like I'd sprayed them with concrete dust, forcing me to wash them all by hand. Boo. Others worked fairly well until I found glasses with big globs of goo stuck in them, and had to hand wash those, too. I broke down and bought a package of 7th Generation to get me through a few weeks, and to take a break from trying to make something that worked. And then, I mixed up this recipe, which works really well : In a glass jar with a lid mix: 1/4 cup citric acid 1 cup s...