Chemicals...the fewer the better

I have been on a journey for many years to live a healthier lifestyle.  Much like learning to love the people in my life, this is a journey without a specific destination.  At no point will I "arrive" at the healthiest lifestyle possible.  It is a journey of constant adjustment and adding or loosing one more thing that makes our family lifestyle just a bit healthier.

Today, it is about taking a step toward fewer chemicals in the house.  I am in love with vinegar!  No really.  It is the most amazing natural product that I have found...you can eat it.

For a year now, I have been putting vinegar in the rinse cycle of my cloth diapers, soiled sheets, or any laundry that needs odor control:)  I was skeptical at first because it has such a strong odor itself.  But, I have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of odor in my dry diapers, etc..

Today, I decided to get rid of some chemicals that we use to clean our kitchen and bathrooms and replace with vinegar.  I guess I am just a skeptic at heart because I am a bit skeptical here as well.  This is a test.  Vinegar is a natural disinfectant...another positive to using it on the cloth diapers...and a great reason to use it in the kitchen and bathrooms.  However, my nose tells me that Clorox and Pine-sol are the smells of clean.  But I had to ask myself...why?  These smells (good or bad) are what smell clean to me because that is what I have trained my nose and brain to believe.  I have to admit that neither of those smells are wonderful.   I will be retraining my nose and brain to believe that vinegar is the smell of clean:)  We'll see if it works...haha.

Even Peter joined me on this experiment and cleaned the inside of a kettle with vinegar.  He was amazed by how clean it was and told me that vinegar is amazing.  This is wonderful because sometimes I drag him along on this "healthy lifestyle journey" kicking and screaming...well almost.  But today he is a believer too.

One of the best things about using vinegar is that I will no longer have chemicals under the cabinet in the bathrooms that pose a danger to little ones.  Also, the child that used to wipe down the bathrooms with clorox wipes each morning will now spray them with vinegar and wipe with a paper towel (I prefer to throw away the towels that we use for bathroom cleaning).  No more daily chemical exposure.

Here are the squirt bottles (purchased at Wal-Mart for around $3 each) that we now keep under the counters in every bathroom and the kitchen.  I am using full concentration vinegar as it comes already diluted and I want real disinfectant.

We will see if this experiment on the journey of healthy lifestyle works for our family.  I am hopeful that it will because it is quite cost effective as well:)