How to replace toxic cleaning products with essential oils

March 14, 2016 · 10 Comments

How to replace toxic cleaning products with essential oils

I love using essential oils for cleaning!

As well as being incredibly effective, they also smell amazing and are not toxic unlike many commercial cleaning products. Of course, you still have to use them with safety and in the correct amounts.

Many cleaning products are very toxic and harmful to our health when in contact with skin or inhaled – things you normally do when you clean!! These toxic chemicals also end up in our oceans and waterways and can cause havoc to our marine and sea life.

If you want to read up about the harmful ingredients, check out this article by Dr David Suzuki.

I use essential oils alongside other natural things like bicarbonate of soda, castile soap and vinegar. Oils provide not only the awesome aroma (which by the way you also benefit from inhaling while cleaning) but the grunt behind the cleaning with their antibacterial and antiseptic properties.

I always use 100% pure and natural oils (like Thursday Plantation) with no synthetics or fillers, even for cleaning. Not only will they do a better job, you don’t want to be inhaling cheap, nasty oils.

My top three oils to use for cleaning are eucalyptus, tea tree and lavender. They all have antiseptic properties and eucalyptus and tea tree kill 99.9% of household germs.The bonus is that these oils have multiple purposes and you can also use them for all sorts of first aid treatments as well.

The power of mother nature!!

Here are some ways you can use essential oils around the house for cleaning.

Make sure you do a quick spot test on surfaces first!
1. Straight eucalyptus oil on a cloth is great for removing stains and scuff marks from walls and floors.

2. A few drops of eucalyptus oil with some bicarb in the toilet bowl will clean it, remove odours and keep your loo smelling fresh.

3. A very easy to make, budget friendly all-purpose spray is simply to combine 1 cup water with 1/2 cup of vinegar, 2 teaspoons castile soap and 20 drops of either tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil or lavender oil.

HOT TIP: I am not a fan of plastic, so I use glass spray bottles, sourced from the health food store. You can also easily make your own by using old glass bottles and fitting an old spray nozzle onto the top. It might take a little trial and error to find a perfect match!

4. Put a few drops of essential oil in your vacuum cleaner bag for a lovely fresh smell.

5. Pop a few drops of essential oils into your mop bucket with hot water and a good splash of vinegar. It will disinfect the floors and get them sparkling clean.

6. Eucalyptus makes a fabulous home-made stain remover. Simply mix 1 cup of water with 1/8 cup of eucalyptus essential oil in a spray bottle. Give it a good shake before you use it and spray directly onto stains.

7. Eucalyptus oil is also fabulous in killing off dust mites. Use a few drops in the rinse cycle of a hot wash when you do your bedding.

8. Put a few drops of lavender oil on the inside of your toilet roll. Every time someone uses the paper, you will freshen the smallest room in the house with a lovely scent!

9. If you have sickness in the house, dilute some tea tree oil in a small bucket of hot water and wipe all surfaces down, including door handles and phones. Diffusing a few drops of oil in a diffuser or oil burner will help purify the air as well.

10. 10 drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle with water and vinegar will deter mould. Spray it in the bathroom or kitchen on those areas where mould likes to grow.

11. Ditch those toxic air fresheners and use a spray bottle filled with water and 10-20 drops of lavender oil. The bonus is that you can also use this mix in the kid’s rooms to help them relax and fall asleep.

12. For an easy to make anti-bacterial hand wash, just mix some castile soap with a few drops of tea tree oil.

13. To make a carpet freshener, mix 20 drops of essential oil thoroughly into 1 cup of bicarbonate of soda. Sprinkle on the carpet, leave for 20 minutes or so and then vacuum up.

Want some more ideas on how to use essential oils around the home?

Head to the Thursday Plantation website to see ideas and tips that readers have submitted! You might like to submit your own tip too.

Safety First! Although essential oils are all natural, they are very potent and must be stored away from children and used with care.

*this post is sponsored by Thursday Plantation

Pure Revolution Soap Nuts : Day 5 of Giveaway-A-Day

September 7, 2012 · 38 Comments

Today’s giveaway will have you washing your clothes for a whole year for free, without chemicals!!

Soap nuts are such a fabulous product. You can’t get much more natural than something straight from Mother Nature!

I mentioned on my Facebook page one day that I had always wanted to try soap nuts and the very kind girls from Pure Revolution Soap Nuts promptly posted me some to try.

So, what is a soap nut? (No, it’s not someone crazy about soap!)

Soap nuts are small outer shells of a berry grown on trees. Soap nuts contain saponin, a naturally foaming surfactant which acts like detergent when immersed in water. This creates a 100% safe, natural and chemical-free substitute for normal detergents.

Here are some great reasons to use soap nuts:

Do your laundry from as little as 10 cents a wash
Completely natural – absolutely no chemicals!
Anti-Inflammatory
Non-Allergenic
Antibacterial
Antimicrobial (ie. a natural disinfectant)
Environmentally friendly

Soap nuts can also be used as an effective head lice treatment, nappy wash, dishwashing liquid, hand soap, glass cleaner and general household cleaner by making them into a liquid.

I must admit I was a little bit skeptical. Were they going to work on my kid’s grotty sports clothes? Yes! They did. Very impressed.

They leave absolutely no smell on your clothes, so they are perfect for anyone with allergies or sensitivities.

You reuse the soap nuts several times and then they can go into the compost. Cool.

Pure Revolution is run by Queensland natural new age mums, Emma and Emily. They both share an interest in health, nutrition, environmental protection and improving the quality of daily life. They discovered soap nuts when Emma was searching for a non-toxic option for washing her first child’s cloth nappies.

Take a look at the website for some more info. The girls offer free shipping on every order. I love the little calico bag they send the soap nuts in too, as it explains how to use the soap nuts and how to make the liquid.

So, are you interested in trying them out for yourself?

This giveaway has now closed. Please go here to see the winner.

The girls from Pure Revolution have kindly offered to give one of you a whole year’s supply of soap nuts!

This is how you enter:

* LIKE the Pure Revolution Facebook page. Go here.

* LIKE the Natural New Age Mum Facebook page. Go here.

* SUBCRIBE to my blog. Go to the top right hand side of the page and add your email address.

* COMMENT on the Pure Revolution Facebook page,

“I am a natural new age mum and I want to wash my clothes naturally with soap nuts!”

Terms and Conditions: You must have an Australian address to enter. Winners will be chosen using random.org. I will email the winners and also add a comment on this post letting you know who won. Give-away runs from now until Thursday the 13th of September at midnight. This give-away is in no way affiliated with Facebook.

Good luck everyone and thank you so much to Emma and Emily from Pure Revolution!

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

Make your own NATURAL stain-remover.

March 12, 2012 · 27 Comments

If you have kids, you will be very familiar with stain remover!!!

My Natural New Age Daughter (age 10) is the worst. I have no idea what she does, but she is always filthy! Instead of using expensive, chemical-laden stain removers from the supermarket, make your own natural version. It is incredibly, almost embarassingly, easy and I bet you already have everything you need.

So, this is what you need:

1/4 cup 100% pure eucalyptus essential oil

1 cup filtered water

1 spray bottle

So this is how you do it:

Pour the oil and water into the spray bottle and shake well. Label it and keep it away from kids. Even essential oils can be dangerous if ingested, particularly those that aren’t food grade. To use, just spray liberally on the stain. I like to wait a few minutes before I throw it into the wash.

If stains are really bad and don’t come out the first time, you can soak clothes in a capful (thats a capful, not a cupful!) of oil and water overnight. I have never had any clothes react badly to eucy oil, but if it’s your favourite outfit, you might want to do a spot test first!

Eucalyptus has great anti-bacterial properties so a capful into your wash is really handy if you need to kill any bugs that might be lingering around on your clothes. It’s great to use with towels and linens too, especially if someone has been sick. I always use a capful in a hot wash when doing sheets to kill any dust mites.

Such an amazing oil ! It is also useful for colds and flu. A great, all-purpose wonder oil that every family should have!