Some of the most toxic things I used to do was clean my house. I know it sounds crazy but dipping my hand in bleach water and scrubbing the tub with conventional cleaning products wasn't the best thing for my health. You see everything I touched, was absorbed by my body. So technically I was doing more harm than good. These cleaners contain ammonia, artificial fragrances, and various other chemicals you don't want in your body.

That doesn't mean never clean again.. It means clean differently. Be careful what you buy... or make your own. It's easy to make your own cleaning spray both for disinfectant,  glass cleaning and even scrubs for the bathroom! All you need are some good glass containers like the amber glass bottles and mason jars in which store the supples!

• ​¼ cup white vinegar
• ¼  teaspoon Unscented Dr. Bronner Liquid Castile Soap
• 1 cup distilled water 
• 20 drops of any citrus essential oils (lemon, lime, bergamot or a mix)

Add the water last into the glass spray bottle (preferably an amber glass spray bottle)

•  ¼ cup of White Vinegar
• 3 ounces of 91% Isopropyl Alcohol or Grain Alcohol (Everclear)
• 1 teaspoon of Dr. Bronner Liquid Castile Soap
• 15 drops of Tea Tree Oil
• 15 drops of Lemon and or Lemongrass Essential Oil
• 1 Cup of Distilled Water 

This is my everything cleaner from the bathroom to the kitchen. I LOVE IT (I also add frankincense, clove and cinnamon to mine.) I spray and wipe it down or use it in conjunction with the scrubber cleaner below.  It is important to use distilled water to ensure it is super clean and lack minerals. 

• 1 cup baking soda
• 25 drops lemon essential oil

You mix this in a mason jar and get a shaker top to shake it out or scoop it out with the regular mason top. Baking soda deodorizes and lemon kills the germs! 

One thing that sounds crazy to me now that I never thought about being natural was arts & crafts supplies. I had the wood easel, woodtoys but not once did I think about the paint, play dough or crayons my daughters had. One day, during naptime, I fell down a rabbit hole of natural reading and realized I wasn't as crunchy as I thought. There could be harsh chemicals and heavy metals in the art supplies my kiddos were using.   At the time iI didn't know there were chemicals  (toluene, xylene, lead, cadmium, hexane, talc, etc..) that were in conventional art supplies. 

Why? From what I learned, companies the chemicals preserve art materials and can make them easier to use. But some of these chemicals are carcinogenic (or suspected to be so or not tested enough to be sure one way or the other). Those chemicals can get into the blood stream through skin contact, inhalation and through the experimental nature of kids putting everything in their mouth.  Uh, no thanks! I definitely didn't sign up to hang VOCs up as part of my kids final masterpiece.  That's why I live my crunchy life to keep as much as the stuff away from our family as possible. So it was time to find the most natural products available for art time with the kids! 

While I have found some great recipes for DIY play dough and honestly it seems like an awesome idea I may try out one day with 3-year-old Ivy, I'd rather buy it! And if you're like me here are my picks for play dough, paint, chalk and more:

Playdough

Crayons 

Finger Paint 

Paint 

Where to buy?