Naturally natural....

Here is a glimpse of the cuteness I get to look at every day... Jealous? Thought so...

For the last few years we have gradually been attempting to make wiser and healthier choices in our home. For the sake of keeping our bodies healthy and how the good Lord intended them to be. For a while now we have been almost completely chemical free and it has been SO good to know that there aren't really things around the house that could harm Malak or us or even the dog. This is all within reason of course, I realize that almost every product created has some sort of chemical or unnatural substance in it somehow but you get what I'm sayin. Here a few things that we are doing in an attempt to keep our home healthful and be wise with our finances...

~Instead of cleaning products, I use white vinegar and baking soda for almost everything (floors, counter tops, mirrors, windows, toilets, literally everything) I add a drop or two of essential oil to make it smell fresh and clean.

~ I also use vinegar (apple cider vinegar) on my hair. Sounds weird, I know. But it is SO good for your hair, scalp and skin. I pour some over my hair after I condition- it makes my hair so soft and easy to comb through. Once you rinse it and dry it there is no vinegar smell at all. It is great for getting rid of build up from shampoo and product and helps with dandruff as well.

~I make our laundry soap (which makes it cost only about .03 cents per load).

~We compost/recycle/reuse everything- this has made a huge dent in how much garbage we send to the dump each week (for our family of three we only go through about one small garbage bag a week) all of the compost also makes for GLORIOUS dirt when spring comes around for the garden which means I don't need to go buy giant bags of dirt at the home improvement store.

~I make all of our bread (gluten free), tortillas, granola, jam, almond butter, applesauce ect so I never have to spend the money on them but mostly just so I know exactly what is going into our bodies.

~ I buy a large amount of our produce (and honey and eggs) at the farmers market, this way I know it was locally grown, organic and am supporting local farmers.

~ We all regularly take a good amount of vitamins that I know were lacking in or need which has kept us healthy. (none of us have been sick in almost a year) For Mal, he gets a daily vitamin (a chewy one that he LOVES), a pro biotic (to keep the good bacteria in his body thriving and multiplying to fight off the bad bacteria) and a fish oil (Since he has been taking those we have seen a HUGE improvement on his memory and how well his little brain is working. In my opinion, everyone should be taking these)

~ I make most of our soaps (laundry, dish soap and bubble bath)

~ Other than TP we don't use any paper products. Instead of paper towels we use dish towels or rags for clean ups, I have a few dozen flannel "wipes" that I made for cleaning Mal's hands and face and made some cute cloth napkins so we haven't had to buy those in years. They're all so small that they don't even really add to the amount of laundry loads.

~ I make almost all of our food from scratch- This way I know exactly what I am putting in my families body. When I grocery shop, I can really stay on the outer edges of the store (where you find things like eggs, meat, dairy, fruit and vegi's), it saves a huge amount of money to not have to buy any of the processed/canned foods and actually keeps my shopping trips short and sweet because I am mainly just getting those things that are around the outer edge of the store.

So that is a handful of things that we do! I know that there is always room for improvement and I am in no way even close to making all the "right" choices... So I don't talk about this to make anyone feel like they're not "doing enough", it is simply some of the things we do and maybe it will give you some ideas for your own home! These are just my own points of view and thoughts. So no judging please? :) Thanks.

Now I think you need to tell what you do! Feel free to ask questions or for recipes or if yo, I love talking about this stuff so speak up! I would love to hear your ideas and the things you are doing- I'm always open to new ideas or suggestions.

I just found out about these sweet little shoes! Bugaloo. They're made in my hometown, (Vancouver, WA) are handmade and are precious! They are similar to Robeez, have really sweet designs and are only $15! They also donate a percentage of each sale to Internation Justice Mission (an AMAZING organization that Eric and I are very passionate about), to help fight child trafficking. Your little one probably needs these cute shoes and they might make great gifts too... I'm just sayin...