Become Crunchy in 4 Easy Steps!

Becoming Crunchy? What's that? My grandmother tells me that it was just life when she was growing up. But it is a question that gets asked a lot. Becoming Crunchy.... Frugally Green.... Eco-friendly.... all the same. If you are someone who wants to become crunchy there are some easy steps to help you get to a cleaner, eco-friendlier, crunchier YOU.  To me, being (or becoming) "crunchy" means getting rid of the chemicals in your house and body. There are many variations and degrees of crunchiness- from using vinegar as a cleaner to living off the grid and everything in between. One is not better than the other. The hardest part about being crunchy is how people who are not as crunchy feel judged. I really don't care what other people are doing.... I LOVE educating people on how to use less chemicals and eat better but only if they want to hear it. And if we are over at your house and you are giving out Chips Ahoy cookies, it's okay. It's not going to kill my kids and you don't have to feel bad for serving it. I clean, bathe, and feed my family the way I want to just like you do yours.

The Steps

So Step 1- is definitely no judging/feeling judged.

Step 2- Take baby steps! Don't try to change everything because it will be too overwhelming. Plus if you try to change it all at once, the odds are your family will freak out.

Step 3- choose to start with either cleaning or food. I suggest cleaning, it's the easiest. What do you need? Start with two things, one of which you probably have in your pantry all ready.

#1: Vinegar- it's a great all-purpose cleaner. Vinegar has a pH of 2.4 so it really cleans well. If the smell is too strong, try Apple Cider Vinegar, but it is not as potent as White Vinegar.

Buy a spray bottle, or reuse an old one and fill it half with water and half with vinegar. You've just made an all-purpose cleaner! You can clean anything with it- stove tops, counters, sinks, toilets, walls, doorknobs, etc.

To clean the inside of your toilets all you need is :  1/2 cup of baking soda 10-15 drops of Lemon Essential Oil or Tea Tree Oil  and a 1/2 cup of vinegar. Sprinkle baking soda in the toilet bowl. Add essential oils (if you wish), then add vinegar. Wait 5-10 minutes and scrub with your toilet scrubber brush. MamaSuds has a similar product with no measuring required called MamaSuds Toilet Bombs. 

#2 Castile Soap is a real soap made of 100% olive oil. MamaSuds Castile Soap is highly concentrated so a little bit will go a long way. The castile soap you can buy at MamaSuds has a pH range of 9.5-11. This means it can be diluted with water a great deal and last you a long time. This saves money! There are heaps of ways to use MamaSuds Castile Soap, but my favorites ways would be two easy changes to your life. One is using castile soap for an all purpose cleaner. You need a spray bottle, 1-2 ounces of castile soap, water and a good disinfecting essential oil (like MamaSuds® Germs Away, lemon or tea tree). Combine them in a spray bottle and you can clean anything!

Most people like that powerful CLEAN smell you get from conventional cleaners might make you feel or smell like your home is disinfected, but that smell of clean comes chock full of toxic chemicals. Simply changing your cleaning solutions with either vinegar or castile soap gets rid of a lot of chemicals from your home.  Another way to use castile soap is to wash yourself and family with it. You can either dilute it (half water, half soap) and use a loofah to wash or squirt it in the tub and you've rid yourself of another set of chemicals. Find the scent of MamaSuds Castile Soap that best suits you or check out MamaSuds Body Wash for the same solution and in a convenient pump bottle!  

Use MamaSuds Body Wash and eliminate many toxins from your life[/caption] Step 4- very slowly start getting rid of products that YOU aren't comfortable with. Use the Environmental Working Group's website to check out products in your home that you aren't comfortable with and start from there. Do this gradually and over time you will have really changed into a crunchy/green/eco-friendly person YOU are happy with! 

What have you changed in your life? What can you change more? Check out all the non-toxic products at our website www.MamaSuds.com