Earth Day

Some days it feels really overwhelming, I feel like I am on information overload especially after watching all the Earth Day shows yesterday.
Our family is making some progress in our quest to be Au natural. We have tried to educate our children on the importance of recycling, using all natural products when we can and making good choices regarding our food. Do I feel like we have arrived, not even close, but we have made some little discoveries along the way which have brought us closer to our goal. Here are a few of the things we have incorporated:

1)Castile Soap


Castile soap. This stuff is awesome! My friend Nikki told me about it and all the stuff you can do with it. I have diluted it and made organic hand soap. It takes getting used to because it feels like your just squirting water out of the soap dispenser, but once you start rubbing your hands together it bubbles up and does the job well.
I have made an all purpose cleaning solution by adding a few squirts of castile soap, 2 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol and a spray bottle full of water. It cleans windows and mirrors great as well.
We have washed our kids hair with a few squirts of this castile soap, it smells wonderful and again, no harsh, cancer causing chemicals.
I have even made baby wipes with castile soap,water, organic olive oil, and a few drops of tea tree oil. Nikki gave me this recipe and it works great! You just add it to a wipes container, fold in some paper towel, and swish it around.
I guess you could say we really love our castile soap!

2)Bio Life

Phosphate-free. Biodegradable. Infused with essential oils. Made with plant-derived renewable ingredients (such as coconut oil, palm oil and corn oil), instead of synthetic and petroleum based chemicals. Readily biodegradable based on OECD standard 301D.
This dish soap is great! It actually gives gives you a lot of bubbles and smells really good. In Canada you can buy this at Shoppers Drug Mart and it's only about $3.00

3)Giovanni Organic Skin/Hair Care


This again can be purchased at Shoppers Drug Mart, it may be available at your local pharmacy as well. These skin care and hair care products are wonderful. They come in great scents like winter raspberry, Lilac and grapefruit. I have yet to try their hair care products like the gel and hairspray, but they are next on my list. We use the body wash and it is really nice and completely organic.

4)Earth Safe

This is another product we purchased from a health food store, we bought it for our baby girl because they feature an organic baby line. It doesn't smell as good as the Giovanni skin care products but again it has a baby line so this is what we went with for her. Completely organic, mostly derived from different tree bark, no harsh cancer causing chemicals.

5)Method

I LOVE the Method line. This furniture polish is non toxic, works wonderfully and smells divine!!


This is a great laundry detergent. This biodegradable, plant-based formula is tough on stains, easy on clothes and gentle on the planet. it's phosphate-, dye- and fragrance-free, and it's hypo-allergenic so it's perfect for people with allergies or fragrance sensitivities.
Method also has a baby laundry detergent made from Rice Milk so it has a great scent to it. I have found it works great on our clothes!


So these are some of the changes we are trying to incorporate in our family. It's not perfect and we still have so much more to do but it's a start. Our kids are really on board, my oldest will tell me he had to wash his hands in formaldehyde at school because there wasn't any organic soap available. FYI- when we started changing everything over we explained how there were dangerous chemicals, like formaldehyde are in soaps and that is wasn't good for his skin or the earth. So of course being a seven year old he's held onto the whole formaldehyde thing and that's why he informs us he's had to wash his hands in it.
I would love to hear your ideas about being green, any homemade recipes for cleaning products etc.
Earth Day is Everyday!