Saturday, March 31, 2012

Squeeky clean

Spring is a time for rebirth, blooming, new life and if you are me, cleaning! I have been on a mission lately to find safe & truly natural cleaning solutions that actually work for my big spring cleanse for the house.

What does this have to do with yoga you may be asking yourself? Well in it's simplest form, it does touch on the first Yama, (which are a rules or code of conduct for living), Ahimsa: Nonviolence. Abstinence from injury; harmlessness, the not causing of pain to any living creature in thought, word, or deed at any time. It is said, if you can truly follow the first yama, all of the others fall into place. This can translate to your yoga practice by being kind to yourself rather than judgemental or perhaps pushing yourself too hard because your neighbor is doing a pose which is beyond your current physical ability. 

Back to the topic at hand, spring cleaning; I found a few home runs with some simple items from the pantry.

My personal favorite, is using a grapefruit & kosher salt to clean the bathroom.  To do:  sprinkle a liberal amount of kosher salt (approx 1/4 cup) into 1/2 of a grapefruit and scrub away.  Keep the kosher salt in one hand and your grapefruit in the other so you can sprinkle on more salt to scrub away any stubborn gunk.  Then rinse any leftover salt and grapefruit residue off with water.  Dry with a clean soft cloth.  It removed stubborn water spots and the bathroom smelled fantastic when I was done.  All of the faucets were sparkling.

For more stubborn grime, such as a tile shower floor and hard water stains in the toilet.  Add white vinegar to a spray bottle, spray area liberally then shake baking soda over stained area.  This makes a really cool bubbling reaction which excite chemistry nerds like myself.  Then scrub with a brush.  This left the grout nice and white.  Voila, all done in the bathroom.

For the windows, 1 cup or water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, and 1/8 teaspoon Dr. Bronner's pure castile soap (Note: you can also use Dawn to cut the grease and I do admit this works better but this is a petroleum product, or you can just leave the soap out, however I find the little bit of soap is what gives this mix the wow factor).

Gone are the days when I used to have to hold my breath from the bleach wipes and run out of the room coughing and usually getting a subsequent headache.  Not to mention the insane costs of cleaning products.

These are just a few simple finds I've added to my spring cleaning arsenal.  I would love to hear of any "must try" safe and natural cleaning solutions you have found.  Post a comment here or email me at: info@yogabyjulie.com

See ya on the mat!  Much love,
 ~ Julie

No comments:

Post a Comment