Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner (Herbal Infused Vinegar)

I've always used a 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar as my all-purpose cleaner (except on glass), but today I enhanced my standard cleaner with rosemary.

Why would you want to make your own cleaner? Good question! Because it's healthier to me and the members of my household (one cat and two bunnies), it's easy, it's completely free of chemicals, and it cost me a whopping $1.18 and will last me several months!

The cool thing about this recipe is that you can create any combination of oil and herbs that appeal to you. I got the initial recipe from this site and adapted it to what I preferred.

Here's how you do it...


Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner
(Herbal Infused Vinegar)


Step 1: Infusing the Vinegar (takes 2 weeks).
Step 2: Mixing the infusion with more vinegar and essential oil (optional).
Step 1: Infuse Your Vinegar for Two Weeks
Items needed: Distilled white vinegar, disinfecting herbs of your choosing (rosemary, peppermint, thyme, lemon balm, pine needles, lavender, orange, grapefruit, or lemon peels).
Instructions:
1. Measure out 1/2 c. total dried herbs into a clean jar. Cover with approximately 1-1/2 c. distilled white vinegar.
2. Put the lid on it. Shake it. Store it for 2 weeks (shaking it when you remember, every day or every couple of days).
3. After 2 weeks, move onto step 2, if desired.
Step 2: Mix Your Infused Vinegar (optional)
Items needed: Infused vinegar from step 1, more distilled white vinegar, essential oils of your choosing, an empty spray bottle.
Instructions:
  1. Strain all the herbs out of your vinegar using a fine-mesh sieve or a coffee filter.
2. Pour all of your infused vinegar into the spray bottle and add 1 c. regular distilled white vinegar (this is just to add “new” and potent vinegar to your cleaning).
3. Drop in about 30-50 total drops of essential oil (Good “Cleaning” Essential Oils: Lemon, orange, pink grapefruit, rosemary, tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint, lavender.)
  1. Shake it.
Makes 2-1/2 c.
This will keep for several months.
Total Cost:
Herbs: $0.24
Vinegar: $0.79
Essential oils: (approximate) $0.15
Total: $1.18

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Washing Your Face with Honey - Challenge!

I stumbled across this challenge on Twitter a couple days ago. Honey immediately went on my shopping list. Here's how it works: you wash your face with honey for 2 weeks, all the while seeing the difference in your skin. (By the way, pretty sure this is mainly for females, seeing as the honey really gets stuck in hair and most men have facial hair - that would suck.)

So, I started the challenge this morning and already my skin is so much smoother! I'm using a local honey from my area, which I actually found at Walmart. It's raw and unfiltered, which is going to be the best for your skin because you don't want all the added sugars. (Added sugar never did anyone much good.)

Here's the link to the original challenge.

Who's with me?!

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Update: It's been 6 days since I started the Honey Challenge and here are my results - my face is smoother than ever and I have NOT had any new breakouts! That last part has me the most excited. I'm definitely going to keep this up on a long-term basis, but I think I'm going to try infusing the honey next ---> see this link for details.

Final Update: It's been almost 3 weeks and I'm definitely convinced! Honey will be my new face wash and face mask. It's wonderful. The next thing I'm going to try is infusing it with herbs for double the face washing power.