BLULOW (All About Living Green)

I came across an article today on How to Make a Homemade Solar Oven.

It got me to thinking.  That would be a nice project to keep the kids busy.  Not only that, it’s a great lesson on how to utilize reusable energy (not to mention that if it works, it’s a great toy).

On a whim, I decided to mix hydrogen peroxide with my dish washing liquid.

Normally after I get through washing the dishes, I clean the sink with a little hydrogen peroxide. It scrubs the stainless steel sink clean, leaves a great shine and it also disinfects the sink, sponge and counter top area.

One day while washing the cutting board after cutting chicken, I wanted to disinfect it, so as usual I poured the hydrogen peroxide on it, let it fuzz, foam and disinfect, rinsed it off then washed it as usual. Then I had a thought, being a busy mom, why not kill two birds with one stone. I had ¾ of a bottle of dish washing liquid left in the bottle so I filled it up with hydrogen peroxide and shook it.

Quite a bubbly mixture until it settled down, but I noticed that I don’t have to use as much dish washing liquid because the hydrogen peroxide seems to help the soap do its job better. Using a smaller amount of soap on the sponge produced much more suds and the dishes are just as clean if not cleaner.

The mixture is a great way to disinfect and clean the dishes at the same time. Not only that, the sponge gets disinfected too. A quart of hydrogen peroxide costs about a dollar a bottle (it used to be 85 cents but with the way prices are rising, it’s more expensive now).

Mixing hydrogen peroxide to a generic brand liquid dish washing detergent, not only stretches the mileage on the detergent, it boosts its cleaning power. Why not give it a try? You’ve got nothing to lose and all to gain.

Note: Even though the sponge gets disinfected using the liquid detergent, I still disinfect the sponge the old way when cleaning up after handling raw meat.

Some time ago, I tried a kitchen experiment by replacing paper towels with cloth towels. Here’s an update.

Not only have I saved money by not having to purchase paper towels, I’ve found that the cloth towels come in handy with things like washing dishes, cleaning windows, polishing furniture and…get this, washing the kitchen floor. The beauty is that all you have to do is throw it
in the washing machine and it’s ready for the next use. The homemade laundry detergent is working wonders on these towels.

My entire family is now 100 percent on board. Although we still have store-bought sponges, I find that we’ve been using them less and less. The sponges tend to get gross and gucky (yes, I did say gucky). My 11 year old gets totally grossed out by a gucky sponge and will only use her index finger and thumb to pick it up while the rest of her fingers make a futile attempt to disengage themselves from her hand.

When the cloth towels get gucky, they are tossed into a basket for washing. Right before they get really gucky, I use them to wipe down the floor at the end of the day. It serves two purposes

1. I get exercise by washing the floor by hand (or foot, depending on which muscle group is the group to be exercised for the day), and
2. My kitchen floor remains clean because a nightly wiping down gets rid of the daily juice spills and other treats left on the floor.

This little experiment worked better than I thought. My sponges have been relegated to really ugly jobs like cleaning the bathroom. Approximately 95 to 98 percent of my kitchen is cleaned with washable cloth towels. I look at it as a win for the environment, a win for my pocketbook and a win for my household (win-win-win).

Try this with me. Instead of plowing through roll after roll of paper towels, I bought several kitchen hand towels and a basket. I placed the basket underneath the paper towel dispenser. I’m in the process of retraining my family to use the washable hand towels instead of the disposable paper towels.

There are some occasions where cloth hand towels just don’t cut it. You know, like when you’re pulling the skin off of chicken legs. The only useful tool to finally pull the skin off is a paper towel. There’s also the time when you clean the yucky stuff out of the kitchen sink drain. For some reason, that requires a paper towel too.

Most of the other times, the cloth kitchen towels work just fine. Because I bought so many of them, we use them as every day napkins too.

The reason for this paper to cloth towel switch is 3-fold:

1. The cost of paper towels is going up and we go through so many in a week’s time.
2. Throwing them away is a waste (very unblulow like), unless you engage in composting.
3. Lastly, because I’m saving so much money making my own laundry detergent, what are a few extra hand towels to wash? With a family of four I wash often enough so as to not run out of hand towels.

Give it a try. Not only will you save money, you’ll be doing your part for the environment.

As promised in my Basic Ingredients for Blulow Living blog entry, here are a few reasons why it’s good to keep a few bottles of hydrogen peroxide in your home.

1. Cleaning stainless steel sinks: It’s great for leaving a stainless steel sink glistening. It may work as well on porcelain sinks too, but mine is stainless steel so I can only tell you about my experience.When you are disinfecting your kitchen sponge at the end of the day, pour some hydrogen peroxide on the back of your scrubbing sponge. You know the kind with the coarse plastic on the back (not steel wool pads like SOS or Brillo). While scrubbing the sink, you’ll notice the peroxide will foam a little, but that’s good. It’s the disinfecting action. Once you’re through scrubbing, rinse it all off. Your sink will shine.
2. A laundry whitener. Use it instead of bleach to whiten your white clothes. Not being a chemist, I cannot explain the chemical reaction that occurs causing the peroxide to whiten the clothes, but it works.Hydrogen peroxide as a whitener seemed the like the next logical step. After all, I’ve gone as far as making homemade laundry detergent, why not go all the way and use an environmentally friendly bleaching agent.
3. Removes pesticides from fruits and vegetables. Put your veggies in a bowl of gold water and pour about a quarter cup in the bowl of hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit for about 10 or 15 minutes and then wash it off. I’ve also been told that it will be more effective if you follow the hydrogen peroxide washing with a similar procedure using apple cider vinegar. Using both products, one after the other, will purportedly remove 99% of the pesticides.I don’t have chemical proof that it works, but I do it anyway. It can’t hurt anymore than ingesting the pesticides. I do the same thing with meat too. I put the meat in cold water and add a little hydrogen peroxide then thoroughly wash it off.
4. Teeth whitener: Used in conjunction with baking soda, hydrogen peroxide can whiten your teeth and kill germs. Put a little baking soda in a small cup with a capful of hydrogen peroxide. All you need is just enough to make the baking soda pasty enough to stick to your toothbrush. Dip your toothbrush into the paste and brush.No, it does not taste minty sweet and delicious, but it works.While we’re on the subject of teeth, morning breath and germs, when you reach for your mouthwash, use one part mouthwash to one part hydrogen peroxide for extra germ killing power.
5. Cuts and Scrapes: Almost forgot to mention that it’s great for cleaning cuts and scrapes.

These are a few ways that I use hydrogen peroxide. For more ways, check out these sites:

• http://www.h2o2-4u.com/house.html
• http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hydrogen-peroxide.htm