All Natural

As some of you know I have started dabbling in the art of making homemade laundry detergent. But what most of you do not know is that I am totally loving it!!! I clearly do not get out much and find that it does not take much to entertain me... a good book, a radio preferably with 80's or early 90's hits playing, and making detergent. Be still my beating heart.

I have always aired on the side of being more natural. There was a time when my budget was much larger and we ate little to no processed food, eating out was not the norm, and my children knew that water was the only option. My budget is now not as friendly, life is much busier, and convenience has taken over. I am not happy about this but at this point there is not much I can do about it. We have adjusted to eating what is on sale and that has changed the dynamic quite a bit. I have been known to spend the upwards of $20 on frozen veggies when they are on sale because they are closer to fresh then canned. I buy fresh fruit but only what is on sale that week and in season. So stepping into this role of making my own natural laundry detergent feels like I am getting back to my roots.

Now that I am getting back to my more natural roots I have also started looking at other things I can do to save money while maintaining a more pure lifestyle. I do not currently garden, I grew up around it but have not maintained my own garden in years. I also have not canned anything since childhood. I have fond memories of canning tomatoes, green beans, okra, beans, etc. I loved the work of it, I enjoyed knowing that this was the fruit of my labor. Since we are entering into the winter months and harvesting the crops has passed gardening will be a project for a later time. But during this time I have decided that I am going to start making other all natural household and personal products. Now that I have the detergent system in place I am going to venture out and try making my own body wash/shower gel. The concepts are almost the same so I do not anticipate any issues with making all natural body wash. I am also going to be making the gifts that we will be giving to our families for Christmas. They will hopefully be excited because normally they do not get anything besides a card with a picture of our family on it, so this is an upgrade!!

Embracing a more natural lifestyle or returning to it is not about cutting out everything processed or not enjoying a meal out. It is simply about knowing what we are putting in our bodies, on our bodies and around our bodies. I must admit that I love Coke!!! I did not drink anything but water for years, except on special occasions. So this is not me saying that things are bad but it is me saying that I need to be more aware of what we are in taking. There are those that knew me years ago that thought that I was at times extreme in my practices. For years I did not allow my children to have more then 4oz of juice a day, milk was only for cereal and cooking, a fruit and/or veggie was served with every meal, and candy/cake/sugary foods were for birthdays ONLY. I had a friend tell me once that she always knew what I would serve at my children's birthday parties, pizza because it feeds a lot of people for cheap and fresh fruit salad. I was a little extreme about things to the point where my family was afraid to offer anything to the kids without my permission first. I am proud to say that I am not that extreme anymore. I do still limit the juice and milk but I allow the kids to enjoy candy, ice cream, cake on a more regular basis.  Hey, I let them get the free cookie every time we go to the grocery store!!!

If any of you are interested in some of this laundry detergent let me know because I am selling it as well as using it. Or if you want to learn more about ways that you too can save some money and cut down on the processed lifestyle that most of us maintain I will gladly share my ideas of how to get started.

I am going to go indulge in a Coke now!!! Baby Steps... Baby steps.