Alternative Non-toxic Household Products

I saw this today and thought that is was too beneficial not to share.
Source: Pinterest via Cali

Limiting the amount of products you bring into your home will not only cut down on costs at the grocery store but will keep you and your family healthier. Below is a list of some common uses for seven household products. Add some drops of essentials oilslike lavender, rose, or sweet orange to any of them for extra pleasure!

Here are a few more tips to help you go green and save money!

• Cut up old bath towels. Reuse these as rags for cleaning your house rather than paper towels, which are expensive and contribute to 3,000 pounds of waste in landfills each day.
• When you grocery shop, leave your list at home. Instead, fill your basket with local, seasonal, and organic items that are on sale that week. Once you have your fruits and veggies, you can start to plan what other items you might need for the week.
• Stock up on staples when they are on sale. Some ideas: look for jars of organic pasta sauce, condiments, and, frozen organic veggies or fruit.
• Purchase things in bulk like quinoa, granola, beans, nuts, seeds, and dried herbs.
• Cook up large pots of grains and beans then divvy them up smaller portions to freeze for later meals.. Staples that work well: quinoa, brown rice, black beans, and kidney beans.  
• Prep veggies on Sundays. You can wash, chop, blanch or steam them.
• Invest in a high quality blender. This will allow you to make your own nut butters, almond milk, oat flour, soups, dips, and smoothies.  Choose one with at least a 5 year warranty.
• Limit the amount of beauty products you use daily. Keep your routine simple! 

FYI: I (Cali) used to use baking soda and water to clean my contacts. Mix 1/4 tsp baking soda with a few drops of water into a paste consistency. Rub on contacts and rinse with saline. 

(Source: www.MindBodyGreen.com)

Recycling

Source: wellnesswithacause.blogspot.com via Cali on Pinterest

Recycling.  You may be wondering why I chose recycling as a wellness tip. Recycling is the practice of environmental wellness.  Humans, as one of the species that occupy this planet, cannot live a life of wellness if the environment around us is “ill or injured” so to speak.  As we keep depleting the Earth of her “non-human” living beings, we are essentially leading to our own death. We all can do our part no matter how large or small it is. If we all just take one step towards living an environmentally aware life, we will make a difference.  Lets talk about trees for example. Trees provide shade making our homes cooler thus reduce our use of electricity. Trees filter the air of dust and carbon monoxide as well as other pollutants, giving us cleaner air to breathe. Trees make our water cleaner by trapping chemicals and toxins in the roots. These chemicals and toxins are then stored in the tree.  In 2007 the average American threw away approximately 2500 pounds of paper.  Not much, right? Not until you realize that it takes 17 trees to make one ton (2000 pounds) of paper. Translation. Population of America in 2007 301 million  – 38.25 trees equal 2500 pounds of paper – 11,513,000,000 trees were used to produce the paper that was thrown away (rather than recycled) by each American in 2007. Makes you think. 

Source: tree-pictures.com via Cali on Pinterest