Whole Grain Momma

There are so many ways you can clean around your home without having to use harsh chemicals or without having to spend money on organic cleaners. Look around your kitchen and I am sure you probably have the following items: White vinegar, baking soda, salt, and lemons. All of these things have multiple uses around the house.

White vinegar is great for killing bacteria, germs and mold. It can be used as a fabric softener when mixed with 1/2 cup of water as well. Want to get rid of rings in the toilet?? Guess what.. three cups of white vinegar poured in the toilet and three poured into the tank once a week will clean that up in no time!

What about Baking Soda? What can that be used for? Believe it or not the sodium bicarbonate can clear up clogged drains. I don't know about you but this is a biggie in our house due mostly to my hair washing! Just dump a cup of baking soda followed by a cup of white vinegar a few times down your drain to fix the problem. Need to clean your microwave? Boil 2 tablespoons of baking soda in a mug with water inside the microwave and then simply wipe the gunk off without having to do any scrubbing!

Have some lemons laying around? You can easily use them to scrub your dishes by cutting them in half and sprinkling some baking soda on them. Lemons can also be used as a natural furniture polish when combined with olive oil ( one cup of lemon juice for every 2 cups of olive oil).

Need to get rid of some of those salt bottles you've had for years hiding in the back of the pantry? Put them to good use! Sprinkle some salt in the laundry starch to keep the iron from sticking to your clothes. Rub it on cups and mugs to remove nasty coffee and tea stains.

These are just some of the ways you can move away from using toxic household cleaners while saving yourself a few bucks as well.

Have any other tips you want to share? Feel free to leave a comment and let us know!

How many of us can say we are lucky enough that we can provide sufficiently for our kids? I thank God everyday that we have been able to do so since our son was born. Unfortunately not everyone can especially in this terrible economy. There are many families out there that struggle on a daily basis just to put clothes on their babies backs. Now think about all the outgrown clothing and other baby necessities you have laying around in your house that your child probably never used. Somewhere out there a mother is need of these things who doesn't have access to them. Through this blog I want to connect those mother's in need with those who can provide. If you know of a mother who is need of baby clothes please send me an email (alexandraramirez77@gmail.com) and let me know the gender and size of the baby and I will post them here. If you would like to help any of these ladies out please email me and I will send you their contact information. So far we have one mother listed who could use your help!

In Need of:

1. Newborn clothing/accessories for a baby boy.

Please check out our store at www.cafepress.com/littlegrizzly for yoga wear for kids! We have added a few new products and soon will be branching off cafepress and going on our own! We will be providing a bigger variety of products as well. Check us out and let us know what you think!

I've been absent for a while dealing with some family issues but now I am back. I wanted to give a few updates on the deodorant and no poo experiments! First off the deodorant still works wonders and actually works much better than any commercial deodorant I have ever used. Only one slight issue.. the aluminum from the baking soda killed my skin! It completely tore it to pieces so now I am on the hunt for an aluminum free baking soda to mix up a new batch.

The No Poo experiment didn't go so well. The baking soda did not work well with my hair at all. It literally made it dry and somewhat sticky. I tried using a bit less of it but it still did not work well with my hair. I was actually doing much better with the warm water rinses. I figured I needed to find an alternative as well so I decided to use Dr. Woods natural almond scented soap as shampoo instead. It does not contain any harsh detergents and all the ingredients are natural. So far it has been working well for me and the smell is great. I have also been using organic, unrefined, virgin coconut oil for my hair as conditioner. This is again all natural so there are no harsh ingredients to strip your hair of it's natural oils. This is a wonderful alternative to conditioner and the smell is wonderful as well!

In these quest to keep my hair chemical free I've realized that this includes not only shampoo and other hair styling products but also hair dyes. I can't possibly color my hair with regular hair dyes now because that would defeat the whole purpose. So what are my alternatives? There is always henna although I am a bit skeptical about it because I've read that it has a tendency to turn your hair red and it's also not recommended for people who have used commercial hair dyes within the past year. That being said henna is definitely not a good option for me right now. Other alternatives are black coffee and sage rinses.

The black coffee rinse is pretty simple and straight forward. You brew strong black coffee and let it sit until it cools. Once it cools you pour it over your head and leave it on for about 25-30 minutes depending on how dark your hair is. I have not tried this myself yet but I wonder how strong the coffee smell is after the rinse. The sage rinse is very similar, you boil leaves of sage and use the water to rinse your hair. It seems as though the sage method is a bit more popular than the coffee rinse.

I haven't quite made up my mind yet as to which method I will be trying. If anyone has tried either of these methods I would love to hear your success/failure stories with each method even including the henna.

I had some serious mixed feelings about my hair this morning. I did a quick warm water rinse yesterday before I start the baking soda/apple cider vinegar routine. My hair held up pretty well without any hair products and no shampoo. However I had no idea how it was going to hold up overnight. I kept thinking my hair is going to be a lovely mess tomorrow and I will have to put something in it especially since it's supposed to rain. Well I woke up this morning not knowing what to expect and it wasn't as bad as I had thought. It is still holding up well without any hair products and no shampoo. I am starting to notice a bit of dryness but it's not enough to make my hair frizzy so I'm not too concerned. Here's hoping it doesn't go downhill once the baking soda/apple cider vinegar routine begins!