essential oils

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Natural Household Deodorizers

April 25, 2009 in Green Cleaning, Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

You can purchase some natural and semi-household deodorizers or you could go green and inexpensive by making some of your own. These ideas below are natural, easy, and don’t cost a bundle…

Gross disposal: Run hot water, a smidgen of baking soda, and some citrus peels down your disposal. Any citrus peels work.

Icky car fumes and smells: If you happen to burn Soy Wax Melts in your home, place on in your car – under the seat or in a cup holder. It’ll release nice scents instead of typical built up car scents. Just don’t do this in the dead of summer or melted wax might be an issue. If you don’t burn soy wax melts, grab a small cloth bag and fill it with a handful of dried lavender buds, a dash of nutmeg, and a sprinkling of essential oil (orange or lemon is good). Place the bag somewhere in your car that’s exposed to heat – like near the heat vents on the floor.

Your ice smells: Ice and food in freezers can pick up the scents of what’s in your freezer. First of all, keep your fridge clean (no brainer). Secondly, if all else fails, wipe down the inside of the freezer with pure vanilla extract or white vinegar. Then pop a box of baking soda inside.

Musty clothing, blankets, and other textiles: The best cure is prevention. When you first tuck your fabrics away, seal them up in an old plastic bag (recycled of course) then place them in a container, toss in a cedar block and cover with a tight lid. IF it’s too late for prevention try spraying your clothing lghtly with vodka (straight). If I were you, I’d spray the interior of the fabric in case of stains. Hang to dry. Another cure for must is crumpled newspaper. If you place this with clothing, the paper, not the fabrics will absorb any icky musty scents.

To learn more about keeping a naturally scented home read:

Do you have any natural scents tips or tricks? Share in the comments…

Homemade Organic Fragrant Room Spray

February 13, 2009 in Air Quality, Green Cleaning, Green Your Home by Jennifer | 2 comments

Homemade organic fragrant room spray is a great alternative to chemical laden (and sometimes costly) conventional air fresheners. If you don’t normally keep essential oils around, the start up costs of making homemade air freshener can seem more expensive than buying a ready made bottle, BUT keep in mind that one little bottle of essential oil will last forever and goes a really long way.

Here are two easy recipes you can make at home:

Organic grapefruit lavender room spray Read the rest of this entry »

Green Product Review: CVS/pharmacy Earth Essentials Aromatic Room Mists

January 21, 2009 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | No comments

Today a nice product review for your home cleaning (or I should say, scented) needs…

Product: CVS/pharmacy Earth Essentials Aromatic Room Mists available exclusively at CVS/pharmacy. These aromatic room mists come in four scents and I reviewed the following three…

Also available in Fresh Eucalyptus which I didn’t try, but I’m not the biggest fan of eucalyptus so it’s a-ok.

Price: Around $4 for a 7-oz can which is an excellent price point for an eco-minded air freshener.

Eco facts:

  • No animal testing.
  • Uses natural essential oils.
  • No propellants.
  • Non aerosol.
  • Recyclable container.

Ingredients listed: Purified Water, Surfactant, Fragrance, Glyceryl Caprylate.

Glyceryl Caprylate is a low hazard chemical, and it’s not to worry about. I’d be concerned about the surfactants and fragrance. There are biodegradable surfactants available, but these air fresheners don’t say what kind of surfactant is used, so it could be anything. To just say “fragrance” is VERY vague. I’m not sure if they mean the essential oil, or possibly something else. Going by my nose alone, I’d assume they mean the fragrance IS the essential oil based on how these smell. The two I like, don’t smell chemical at all. They smell like essential oils. However, I hate guessing.

Product pros: Read the rest of this entry »

Green Tissues for Cold & Flu Season

December 4, 2008 in Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

In the last post, Eco-friendly Flu Fighting, I noted that I’m sick today. Since I tend to blog along the lines of how my day is going, it’s pretty much sick day here at Best Green Home Tips.

Right now let’s take a look at earth-friendly options for tissues.

Your most earth friendly tissue option are cloth handkerchiefs; but there are pros and cons.

Pros of cloth handkerchiefs:

  • Reusable.
  • Cost effective; much cheaper than buying oodles of tissue.
  • Often won’t dry out your nose as much as paper tissue.
  • Especially softer on a child’s nose.
  • You can use them plain, or drop some essential oil on them for treatment.
  • Can be used as cleaning cloths when they get too old.

Cons of cloth handkerchiefs:

  • Washing! Seriously, how much laundry do you want to do while you’re sick?
  • Can be icky.
  • Kids, in my experience, don’t tend to handle cloth tissues as well. They leave them laying around, and or try to toss them in the garbage.
  • You may need to purchase a lot in a bigger family, and if everyone wants their own, you’ll need to choose specific colors or monograms.

The next best tissue is recycled.

There aren’t too many pros and cons here, the basic gist is that recycled tissue is a good reuse product if you want paper tissue, but they’re not as green as cloth; because obviously they don’t last as long.

Options:

Organic cotton flannel handkerchiefs: Packaged in a brown paper bag. Available in your choice of natural colour or hand-dyed purple.

Colorgrown Organic Cotton Flannel Hankies

Organic Cotton HANKIES – Singles

100% Recycled Seventh Generation Tissues; Hypo-allergenic; Whitened without chemicals containing chlorine; No added dyes; No added fragrances

Green Forest Facial Tissue: 100% Recycled Paper; Whitened Without Chlorine; Minimum 40% PCR Content

Gaiam Facial Tissue: 100% recycled paper with a minimum of 20% post-consumer content; hypoallergenic, unscented and bleached with environmentally safe sodium hydrosulfite and hydrogen peroxide.

Eco-friendly Flu Fighting

December 4, 2008 in Green Cleaning, Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

I’m fighting the flu, or some sort of killer cold, hence the topic. I feel terrible, and also a little blah because it’s not even that far into cold and flue season. Darn huh?

If you’re looking to try and avoid (or deal with) all these sick germs flying around, I’ve got some eco-friendly ideas for you:

First of all you want your immune system to be in pretty good overall health. This means avoiding things like toxic home cleaning supplies, chemical laden fragrances in most conventional air fresheners, and chemical fibers in your home furniture, floors, and textiles. Your overall goal is to keep your air clean and free of any icky chemicals. Read the following posts to learn how:

Next you’ll want to avoid breeding germs in your home. Some studies show that the use of antibacterial products; like hand gel and dish soaps, actually help germs, not fight them. You may kill some off at first, but it’s like antibiotics. If you give a germ a dose of antibacterial soap, over and over, the germ may not keep dying off, in fact the germ may adapt and just be able to eventually outwit the soap. The best soaps to use are not antibacterial, but basic, natural and organic soaps. One nice hand soap is Manor Hall Soap Company Liquid Hand Soap.

If you’re already sick and looking for treatment options my advice is usually to start with the smallest plan of attack and move upwards. One, keep your house clean or if you’re already sick, see if someone will help you clean. Cleaning with hot soapy water does remove germs from household surfaces. Two, try some natural remedies like rest, hot showers, essential oils, tea and honey, and so on. To learn more about earth-friendly health care visit Simply Home Remedies. Three, visit the doc. I’m way into natural remedies, but I’m also not against using conventional health care when you need it. I don’t think overuse of medications or antibiotics is smart, but neither is suffering away. Smart medical care is sometimes best. Don’t avoid the doctor’s just because you want to focus on natural treatments.

Also read: Five natural & non-toxic care remedies for kids

More sick day posts coming up!

Home Air Fresheners Are Not So Sweet

November 3, 2008 in Air Quality, Green Your Home by Jennifer | No comments

Conventional air fresheners are really bad for your health and home – not green at all; not one bit.

If you like a nice smelling home, but don’t want your family exposed to aerosols, ammonia, and bad synthetic fragrances, try these much greener tactics…

Clean your house. Prevention goes a long, long way. A clean, non-dusty home always smells nicer than a dirty one.

Make some homemade potpourri

Learn how to clean the air in your house.

Look for natural incense. i.e. derived from natural resins, gums, essential oils, flowers, woods, powders and other botanicals. Try Mountain Rose Herbs or my favorite, New Mexico Cedar-Pinon Incense.

Sprinkle baking soda on carpets. Allow it to sit for a bit, then vacuum it up.

Place cedar blocks or sprigs of lavender in your drawers and closets.

Burn organic essential oils – just place a few drops into a bowl of boiling water, and let it sit.

Burn organic or natural soy or beeswax candles.

Make Homemade Spicy Apple Air Freshener – perfect for the holidays or homemade Pennyroyal, Cinnamon, & Lavender Air Freshener.

Check out some more natural store-bought options. Orange Mate makes a biodegradable and nontoxic line of supplies for cleaning and freshening. I’ve never used any of their cleaning items but I have used their 100% Pure Citrus Air Fresheners. They’re available online or at other natural shops like your local co-op.

Quick Home Mold & Mildew Spray

September 10, 2008 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | No comments

To stay natural while fighting mold turn to good old tea tree oil. Fill a small reusable spray bottle with two cups of water and three drops of pure tea tree essential oil. Every once in a while spray down your walls with this solution and wipe dry. This mixture fights stains, but better yet the natural antispetic qualities of tea tree oil fight mold and mildew.

To learn more about all natural and green cleaners for your home read:

Quick & Natural Household Cleaning Tips

August 25, 2008 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | 3 comments

Instead of toxic, chemical heavy home cleaning supplies, try these ideas…

Sparkling windows: Lightly spray windows (both interior and exterior) with a solution of 1/2 gallon cold water, and 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar. Wipe windows with recycled newspaper. If you hate the smell of vinegar (I HATE the smell), burn a candle or some essential oil in a diffuser nearby. You shouldn’t add essential oils to the solution to cut the vinegar scent (I tried once), because it’ll streak.

clean windows

A whiter toilet: Spray the inside of your toilet bowl with warm water – lightly, not dripping wet. Sprinkle with plain old baking soda. Let this sit for ten minutes, and then scrub with a toilet brush.

Mold-free home: Once mold arrives, it’s almost too late. The best plan of attack is to prevent, not cure mold. Spray areas where mold might develop (window sills, door frames, floor bases, etc.) with a solution of 1 cup water, 1 drop lavender essential oil, and two drops tea tree essential oil.

Tip: When looking for essential oils for home cleaning, go organic if you can, and make sure you’re buying pure essential oils which actually have cleansing and disinfectant properties. Plain old perfume scents are not the same as pure essential oils.