Gentle Moments in Time

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In the grocery store we find packaged foods with ingredients we have difficultly pronouncing.  In the past, we've just put the cans and boxes in our carts probably only paying attention to the fat content.  Yet, there were those impossible to pronounce ingredients.  If you were in a restaurant and saw dipotassium phosphate, ascorbyl palmitate, tocopherols, magnesium oxide, sodium acid ptrophosphate and red 40 lake on the menu, you most likely would leave.  For too many years these chemicals have been eaten by almost everyone quite regularly.  I do wonder if they are partly responsible for the many chronic illnesses we are living with today.

On this page you will find recipes with easy to pronounce ingredients and no added preservatives and these are just the cleaning supplies!

Lemon-Mint Window Wash

juice of 1 lemon (lemon is an excellent cleaner all by itsself!)

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon peppermint essential oil (found in most natural food stores)*

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix, pour into a spray bottle and shake before using.

Fiberglass Cleaner

1/2 cup Borax and small amount of water in a small bucket.  White vinegar can be added to this.  Use a sponge to scrub your fiberglass.  Rinse well.

Lemon Juice Bleach

Adding 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the wash cycle gives a cleaning and brightening boost to your wash.

Spray Disinfectant Cleaner

1/2 cup Borax (found in the laundry aisle of the grocery store)

1 gallon hot water

Just wipe down areas to be disinfected.  Great for the season when "the bug" is going around.

Metal Cleaner

juice of 2 lemons

1 cup baking soda

1 teaspoon fine salt

6 tablespoons clay powder

Mix until pasty.  Use with fine steel wool.  Let sit.  Polish to a shine

Window Cleaner (2 recipes)

1.  juice of one lemon

    2 cups water or club soda

    1/2 teaspoon peppermint oil (optional)

    1 teaspoon cornstarch

Put into spray bottle, shake and spray.

   ***

2.  8 parts water

    1 part white vinegar

Put into a spray bottle, shake and spray.

Mildew Remover

lemon juice

salt

Dampen the salt with the juice and rub into the mildew on the fabric.  Set the object in the sun to dry and then wash as usual.  This worked great on our shower curtain.

Price Sticker Remover

Peel off all of the sticker that you can easily remove.  Apply peanut butter or cooking oil and let stand.  This will usually remove the residue quickly.

Spot Remover

3 tablespoons hydrogen peroxide

1 tablespoon ammonia

Apply to the spot for up to one hour.  Do in well ventilated area.  I removed a very old coffee stain from a placemat with this mixture!

Toilet Cleaner/Disinfectant

1. 1/2 cup white vinegar per week for 30 minutes in toilet tank and 1/4 cup in toilet bowl.
2. 1 cup bleach in bowl 30 minutes   or
3. 1 cup Borax, 1/4 cup lemon juice or vinegar, and leave for 15 minutes

Scouring Powder

1 cup baking soda

1 cup borax

1 cup regular salt

Combine and keep in a tightly closed container.  Use as you would any scouring powder

All-Purpose Cleaner

This is my favorite cleaner.  I've used it on appliances, woodwork, spot clean-up on vinyl floors, etc.

1 teaspoon Borax

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon liquid soap (hand or dish soap)

2 cups hot water to dissolve ingredients (you do not have to heat the cleaner after this)

1 spray bottle

Before using, gently shake the bottle.

Bleach/Brightener Substitute

1 gallon jug

1 cup hydrogen peroxide

1/4 cup lemon juice

12 cups water

Use 2 cups per wash load

Dishwasher Rinse Cycle

Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to the rinse compartment.  No more water spots!

Fabric Softener

This truly leaves your clothes soft and sweet!  In fact, it will make your bed sheets feel ultra smooth to the touch.

1 gallon jug

2 cups baking soda

2 cups white vinegar

4 cups water

Please, mix this over the sink as the baking soda and vinegar react to each other at first.  Use 1/4 cup per wash load.

Vinegar Uses (white)

• Put 1 cup in drain and leave 30 minutes to sweeten
• Rub cutting board with vinegar to disenfect.  Allow to soak 5-10 minutes
• Use straight on grease on walls or stovetop
• Clean faucets
• Clean toilet rim to disinfect
• Wipe down shower to prohibit mold and mildew
• Remove fruit and jelly stains, coffe or mustard, too

Essential Oil Air Freshener

Essential oils are extremely concentrated, but are very beneficial.  My favorite is lavender oil, but I find I use more tea tree.  Do a search on the web to learn more.  You can purchase essential oils in natural food stores or on the internet.

• put drops of EO on cottonballs and put in rooms to kill odors
• put a couple of drops on a cottonball and put in your vacuum cleaner before using
• add a couple of drops of lavender and/or peppermint in your mop water

*Things I've Learned About Essential Oils

• Affect every facet of your body in a positive way/healing.  Can enter every cell of your body in seconds just by breathing when it is in the room
• Essential oils seek out where they are needed in the body
• Essential oils are the life force of the plant similar to our blood and immune system and adapt very well in our bodies. 
• EO's oxygenate and detoxify the blood ~ pathogenic organisms cannot live
• some can be ingested ~ take time to learn about them before ingesting any of them
• essential oils cross the blood-brain barrier and clean out the petro-chemicals.  They are the only known substances that are able to do this.