Stove Top Cleaner

I have been experimenting with homemade cleaners for my glass stove top and have finally found a winner! The best part about this cleaner is it uses supplies I already had in my pantry. Here's the recipe:

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds
20 drops of tea tree oil

Combine the ingredients into a paste. Store in an airtight jar.

You can't beat how easy it is to make and it works great! A note about Sal Suds - it is a cruelty-free biodegradable cleaner and is super concentrated so it lasts forever. I buy mine locally at a herb store, but it is also available on Amazon (is there anything you can't get on Amazon?)

40 Bags in 40 Days

A week ago I had a moment of feeling totally overwhelmed by all the stuff in my house and decided it was time to clear out the excess. I had read about the 40 bags in 40 days project online and decided to give it a shot. The idea is simple - clear out 40 bags of stuff in 40 days. Although the 40 days are typically associated with Lent, I think this is the perfect time to clean out in preparation for the holidays.

I started today when I packed up our Halloween decorations. I weeded out the excess decorations that we did not use this year. I also went through our fall decorations to prepare for Thanksgiving decorating and kept only what I love and use. So I now have 3 bags of holiday goodies to take to our local Goodwill!

I was feeling motivated so I moved on to our utensil drawer in the kitchen and cleaned out another bag of duplicate and unneeded items. Day one and I already have 4 bags to donate!

Anyone up for joining me in the 40 bags in 40 days challenge?

I'm back

After too long of a break, I am coming back to blogging! I have spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of "green" things I want to blog about and how my family really lives greener. What I've come to realize is that most of the time being greener doesn't mean buying the latest eco-friendly trend, but by making do with what you have. Of course sometimes you need to purchase new items as gifts or to replace things that can't be fixed, so I will still share with you some of the latest green trends. However most of the time I am going to focus on ways to follow the wise advice from our grandmothers' time "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Stay tuned for some exciting green ideas!