A new month already

So here it is February already. It amazes me how as the days are happening, they go by so slow sometimes but when we look back, the time has flown. And when this month has passed, I will be another year older. Wow. My baby will be 22. I’ll be 44. Amazing.

I’m really enjoying doing this research stuff on Vinegar & Baking Soda. I’m amazed at how much this stuff can do. Hubby & I have tried several things & been pleasantly surprised when they work!! I just love the fact I don’t have to look at the myriad of cleaning products anymore. No more clipping coupons for them. Watching to see what is on sale where to save a little money. No more “trying a new thing” to see if it will work better for whatever purpose. I really love having this newfound freedom. To think that I can replace so many products with 2 things. 2 things that are all natural. No longer will I be contributing a chemical mess down my drains that water treatment plants will have to filter out. It fels good to know I am doing my part towards a better world.

Another step has been to eliminate a few ingredients from the food we eat. This has been challenging to say the least. Some things have been easy to change or eliminate. Other things are a bit harder. The main ingredients being focused on right now are artificial sweeteners & high fructose corn syrup. I've written more about it in my blog Naturally Me if you wanna read more. (2-12-12 update ... just use the Naturally Me tag to find all entries that used to be in the separate blog.)

It amazes me how many of our food items contain the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It’s in almost everything!! I changed the mayo I use because it had HFCS. Kraft Miracle Whip was MY mayo. Well, not anymore. I’ll try a few others before deciding on one. Right now we’re using regular Kraft Mayo. I may even learn to make my own.

I’ve given up my Yoplait Whips. & I quit buying the cheap yogurt for hubby. I’m changing the spaghetti sauce I buy. When I go shopping now or even when I fix the food I have at home, I’m reading labels. It’s a bit time consuming but very eye opening.

The kitchen

The kitchen sink. Well, I did not let go of as much under there as in the bathroom. Not yet. I did let go of several things that were half gone, or old & rarely used. And we have already replaced bathroom cleaners with vinegar & baking soda months ago. So I have no foaming spray stuff for my toilet or shower. No nasty smelling fumes to get the room clean.

In the kitchen I still have my dishwasher Electrosol tabs, multi surface & glass cleaners & Febreeze. I’m working on it. I’m looking into alternatives. Soon as I know I have something that works, the chemicals will go. No matter how much is left. I used to have the mindset that well, I can just use these up, then do better. How is that good? The sooner we stop putting these chemicals into our waters, the sooner the filtration places can stop working so hard.

When I go to wash dishes later, one test will be underway. I used up the last of my dishwashing soap. Now I’ll be using Dr. Bronner’s. I’ll talk about that product in a separate post tho. And you’ll be amazed how good vinegar & baking soda work on many things!!!

And so it begins again in a new year

So the hum-drum of daily life is back. Hubby went back to work. Daughter spent most of the day sleeping since she works nights now. I spent most of my day … in front of this thing. I wrote out the final checks for everyone from the mall. I also wrote out nice little thank you notes to go with them. They’ll all get mailed Tuesday. Exciting huh?

We got dumped on big time with snow last night. Probably the biggest one time snowfall so far. No idea how much we technically got. It was about as deep as my hand if not a bit more. With all the snow, I figured the roads & people would be a mess. So, I stayed home. I should have gone to the store & post office. Guess they’ll both wait till morning.

I began going thru some of my digital picture files today too. I know there are tons I can just delete because they are almost identical. So I started. Felt good to clean out more of my life. Really good. Clearing out the various areas of my life of clutter & unneeded things is going slow, but well. I love the feeling of being able to let go of more & more material things. It’s one small step in the bigger quest to simplify my life.

One of my things has been to remove chemicals from my life. Chemicals are bad. Yet we put them into & onto our body’s everyday in so many forms. My big step? I went thru most of my toiletries. Lotions. Makeup. Facial cleansers. They are full of stuff that seeps into our pores, into our skin & blood stream. Well, not so much into mine anymore. I gathered up quite the pile of stuff & posted it on Freecycle last week. Even tho it was money, it felt so good to know I was taking a step towards something that means a lot to me. I didn’t let go of everything, but about 80% or more. I’ll have to find suitable replacements for things like body wash/shower gel. And shampoo. I kept the pencil eyeliners, but let go of the lipsticks. I let go of all the lotions except for 2. I want to make changes in my feminine stuff, but that’s expensive so it’ll have to be in baby steps as things get used.

Can you tell I’m trying to go more natural? Not just in food, but all areas of my life. And as long as you read, you’ll be along for the journey.

For the first time in months I popped back into the natural living community on LJ. Found a post about facial cleansing & using oil to clean your face. Sounds odd, but I’ll be looking into it. I will be enjoying getting into all the fun stuff of going organic & natural. Besides, it’ll give me something to blog about besides boring everyday life.