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Natural Year Challenge: Household - Month One
Buy Five
Welcome to your first step in transitioning to a naturally clean home! We hope these 10 steps will make the journey fun and fulfilling. Your first assignment is to make the following purchases. You have an entire month, so no need to rush.
- Borax. This is sodium tetraborate and will be used for making laundry soap. Borax can be found in the laundry aisle of many grocery and big box stores. For information regarding the safe usage of borax in the home, see our Borax: Friend or Foe? article.
- Washing Soda. This is a "cousin" of baking soda. It is sodium carbonate and will be used to make your own laundry soap. There will be other uses as well, but it is commonly found in the laundry aisle of your big box or hardware store. It is also available online from vendors such as Amazon. You can also make your own washing soda by heating baking soda in your oven. See our How to Make Your Own Washing Soda article for details.
- Baking Soda. This is sodium bicarbonate and is available at your local grocer, in the food section. Some stores will carry 2 lb. boxes. Many co-ops offer the opportunity to buy this in bulk. You will be using lots of baking soda, so don't hesitate to stock up!
- White Vinegar. Distilled white vinegar is available at local grocers and big box stores. Look for the gallon size.
- Castile Soap (liquid and bar). Castile soap is an olive oil-based, environmentally friendly soap that originated in Spain. You will be using liquid castile soap in the kitchen and bathroom, and the bar soap in your laundry room. You can find them at your local health food store or online from vendors such as Amazon. For a pure, all-natural castile bar soap, see momsAWARE's handmade Just So Clean Coconut Castile Soap. (Also available in grated form for easy use in laundry soap.)
You can purchase these items for less than $25, depending on the sizes. Transitioning to a naturally clean home is truly cost-effective!
Bonus Items:
- As we will learn later, essential oils make a wonderful addition to the naturally clean home. If you’ve never tried essential oils, consider purchasing one this month. Lemon and/or tea tree oil make wonderful beginning choices. Reputable brands include rareESSENCE and Rocky Mountain Oils.
- We will be grating our castile soap bars. Consider purchasing a grater or an inexpensive food processor specifically for this purpose.
In the following video, Andrea shows each of the Buy Five items to help you in your quest.
Happy shopping!