It's Easy Being Green

Have you ever considered making your own toothpaste?  Try out this simple recipe.  It’s free of all the chemicals and fluoride you find in the store bought brands.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup baking soda

1/4 hydrogen peroxide (you can add more or less depending on the consistency you like)

1 to 3 drops essential oil of peppermint

1 to 2 drops tea tree oil

Mix all of the ingredients together and store in an air-tight container.  If you want a smoother feel, you can add vegetable glycerin.  To sweeten the toothpaste just add some powdered stevia.  It’s going to be a much different experience brushing with homemade toothpaste as opposed to the store bought kind but it’s so cheap and easy!

Popularity: 27% [?]

It’s that time of year when the skunks start coming out of the woodwork and interacting with the friendly wildlife we call pets living in our yards.  T had a near heart attack the other night when she heard our dog going crazy outback and opened the door to the most pungent skunk spray smell ever.  We’re pretty used to the odor coming from Flagstaff, AZ.  We practically had a skunk wander by our bedroom window just about every night regardless of what house we were living in there.

T remarked that the odor was so bad her eyes were watering and she was almost certain the dog had been sprayed because of the way she was acting.  Co-workers told me to pickup lots of cans of tomato juice on the way home, with extra to make a Bloody Mary to enjoy during the bathing process.  While I’ve heard good things about the tomato juice, I’ve heard it takes several washes and wondered if there was anything better and not chemically based for getting rid of the smell.

That’s when I sent a good friend of mine back in Flagstaff a message to see what he’s used.  He had the unfortunate experience of having both his dogs sprayed and then they ran into the house, fumigating his two story abode with the smell of woodpussy.  He got back to me with his favorite and effective green skunk deodorizer recipe and here it is:

Green Skunk Wash Deodorizer Recipe

-  1 bottle of hydrogen peroxide

-  1/4 cup of baking soda

-  A few drops of liquid dish soap

Mix all ingredients together and get to washing!

As it turns out, I got home and the dog did not get sprayed, thankfully.  It seemed as if the creature simply wandered through the yard and was quite smelly but never deposited it’s fragrance on my four-legged beast outback.  Do you have a good home remedy or green recipe for getting rid of a skunky smell?  Leave a comment with your recipe or email me and we’ll post it in a future article!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Since my wife and I are expecting our first child, due in early Summer, I’ve been poking through my books taking a look at some homemade items we can make instead of buying at the local store.  I ran across this recipe for Creamy Baby Lotion in Dr. Myles H. Bader’s book 1,001 Secret Household Formulas and Money Saving Tips.  The book has hundreds of ideas and homemade products you can put together yourself.

Because you’re making this lotion yourself, it’s not loaded with dozens of chemical preservatives to make it have a longer shelf life.  So, don’t expect this lotion to last a long time if it goes unused.

Ingredients for Creamy Baby Lotion:

- 1 cup of pure distilled water

- 2 Tbsp. beeswax (grated)

- 1/2 cup of vigin olive oil

- 20 drops of essential lavender oil

- 4 drops of essential rose oil

Place the water in the top of a double boilers and add the wax.  Heat until all the wax has melted, then transfer the mixture to a blender.  Slowly add the olive oil while blending on a low speed.  As soon as all the olive oil has been blended, add the essential oils and blend for a few seconds.  Allow the mixture to cool in a heat-safe dish until it is creamy.  Store in a well-sealed container and use just like any other lotion.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Here’s another timely set of home remedies I pulled from the Reader’s Digest book Homemade.  It’s also cold and flu season and if you’re like me, you hate pouring money into over the counter medicinal products that may or may not work and cost a ton of money.  Try some of these quick fixes to relieve your symptoms.  If you like these recipes then you might want to consider picking up the book for your library.  It’s chock-full of recipes from meals to drinks to desserts to home remedies for whatever may be ailing you.

Homemade Chest Rub – It really is quick and easy to make this rub.  Rub the mixture onto your chest, cover with a piece of flannel and then top off with a hot pad.

Ingredients:  – 30 drops massage oil or carrier oil like almond, jojoba or avocado oil

- 5 to 10 drops eucalyptus or wintergreen essential oil

1)  In a small bowl mix the oil and the essential oil together until combined.  Rub the mixture into your chest.  Cover with the flannel and heating pad and get comfy as the essence opens up your chest.

Cough Suppressant Tea – If you know how to grow any herbs in  your home garden, sage should be one of your first choices.  Not only is it great on chicken and other dishes, it also makes a wonderful cough suppressing tea.

Ingredients:  – 4 fresh sage leaves or 1tsp. dried leaves from your spice cupboard

- boiling water

1)  In a standard sized cup, steep the sage leaves in boiled water for at least 20 minutes.  If you leave it sit longer more of the goodness will release from the leaves.  Strain and drink the tea hot or cold.

Throat Spray – I bet you didn’t know you had a natural throat antiseptic and pain killer sitting in your spice cabinet.  Well, you do and it’s also pretty simple to make.  You’ll wonder why you didn’t know about this before you always bought that awful bottle of throat spray at the drug store.

Ingredients:   – 8 oz. spray bottle

- 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper

- Enough water to fill the bottle

1)  In a clean spray bottle, combine the cayenne pepper and the water.  Shake the mixture well and spray into the back of your throat.  It will numb your throat and you can also use it as a gargle.  Just make sure not to splash it into your eyes because you migth have another problem to deal with if you do.

Popularity: 6% [?]