almost everyone with young children uses floor mats.
You may even have one of those brightly colored puzzle piece floor mats to protect our little ones from an injury from a fall. Floor mats for baby also provide benefits beyond safety including improving visual development and gross motor skills. Floor mats for the kiddos are also portable, module - in other words they work in any space at any time.
of course
keep your child's floor mats clean and toxin free with a few simple steps
not all children's floor mats are created equally. Many sold at the popular outlets and advertised as non-toxic are actually made from Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA). You might want to consider an organic floor mat for your children. Made from bamboo, cork and natural fibers they come with removable covers for easy washing. We love www.Pillobebe.com. Check 'em out. Of course, they are not cheap.
Once you come home with your new floor mat, have a routine to keep it clean. Those interlocking pieces that make the mats so convenient also trap dirt and debris.
the mats are exposed to leaking diapers, pet paws, mommy's feet
and whatever else your busy house throws at them. Baby's floor mats need to be washed frequently, a task that overwhelms most families because a single floor mat can be in so many pieces! Oy vey! Do you vacuum? Mop? Wipe on your hands and knees? Sorry, none of those methods actually work to clean baby's play mats.
here's how we do it.
As a matter of fact, adding water to the mats while they're on the floor just encourages germs. I know...I'm fussy this way.
Do you have the interlocking EVA foam mats? Take them apart, give them a good bang to knock off the crumbs and wash them in the tub or shower with some gentle soap and water. Before you start, lay a towel on the floor near a wall so you have a place to air dry the mats. Lean the mats against each other with a little space between them similar to plates in a dishwasher. It is important to let them air dry or the dark, wet environment between your mats and the floor trap and grow bacteria. Once the mats have dried we spritz them with our anti-bacteria solution of white vinegar, alcohol and essential oils.
be careful with oils around infants
Just a very few drops of non-irritating lavender and chamomile do the trick. Let the mats dry once again. Meanwhile, just clean the floor in the play room as usual replacing the floor mats when everything is dry.
Almost everyone with young children uses floor mats.
You may even have one of those brightly colored puzzle piece floor mats to protect our little ones from an injury from a fall. Floor mats for baby also provide benefits beyond safety including improving visual development and gross motor skills. Floor mats for the kiddos are also portable, module - in other words they work in any space at any time.
Of course
not all children's floor mats are created equally. Many sold at the popular outlets and advertised as non-toxic are actually made from Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA). You might want to consider an organic floor mat for your children. Made from bamboo, cork and natural fibers they come with removable covers for easy washing. We love www.Pillobebe.com. Check 'em out. Of course, they are not cheap.
Once you come home with your new floor mat, have a routine to keep it clean. Those interlocking pieces that make the mats so convenient also trap dirt and debris.
The mats are exposed to leaking diapers, pet paws, mommy's feet
and whatever else your busy house throws at them. Baby's floormats need to be washed frequently which overwhelms most families because a single floor mat can in so many pieces! Oy vey! Do you vacuum? Mop? Wipe on your hands and knees?
Sorry, none of that gets them *clean*.
As a matter of fact, adding water to the mats while they're on the floor just encourages germs. I know...I'm fussy this way.
Here's how we do it.
Do you have the interlocking EVA foam mats? Take them apart, give them a good bang to knock off the crumbs and wash them in the tub or shower with some gentle soap and water. Before you start, lay a towel on the floor near a wall so you have a place to air dry the mats. Lean the mats against each other with a little space between them similar to plates in a dishwasher. It is important to let them air dry or the dark, wet environment between your mats and the floor trap and grow bacteria. Once the mats have dried we spritz them with our anti-bacteria solution of white vinegar, alcohol and essential oils.
Be careful with oils around infants
a very few drops of non-irritating lavender and chamomile do the trick. Let the mats dry once again. Meanwhile, clean the floor in the play room as usual replacing the floor mats when everything is dry.
Natural building materials like stone tile, granite and marble add comfort and value to your home. Not cheap, installation can run between $50 and $200 per square foot for granite counters.
Don't do permanent damage to your investment, learn how to care for your granite counter tops with these simple tips.
First a little Granite 101. Most of us think of granite as a solid, hard surface that will not absorb stains. Nice idea, but it is just not the case. While granite is less porous than marble; granite will dull, discolor and become pocked if exposed to acids. As usual, the longevity of your investment relies on 3 things: proper installation, some regular maintenance, and cleaning.
Installation: make sure your installation pro has properly sealed any seams especially along the sink, appliances and splash boards.
Maintenance: granite counter tops should be sealed periodically depending on how heavily they are used. Applying a sealant is recommended every two to four years and is best done by a pro.
Cleaning: acids are our enemy here so NO bleach, Windex or vinegar (that's right, Nature's all purpose cleaner is not-so all purpose after all). Wipe up spills quickly. Many common spills like orange juice or tomato sauce are acidic. Just use warm water and some hand soap to clean your natural stone and clean with a soft non-abrasive cloth like cotton or microfiber. Since the natural tones of granite often hide spills, take your open palm and feel for remaining bits and remove with a bit more warm water and rubbing.
You can add some shine
and a little natural sealant to your granite by rubbing with some oil, then buffing until dry. This does not replace regular maintenance described above.
If you already notice some discoloration, HGTV recommends a baking soda and water paste. Apply it, cover it with plastic wrap, tape down the edges, let it sit until dry. This could take a couple of days. Just wipe the dry bits off then rinse with a warm cloth.
When there's winter, there's salt stains. On your boots, on your door mats, on your lovely floors. Get rid of it naturally with white vinegar diluted about 1:2 with tap water. Salt is alkaline while vinegar is an acid. Put them together and you get some oxygen making fizzle on your shizzle. All of a sudden salt stains are gone and surfaces are naturally cleaned.
Soapberries are the pulpy fruit from a family of tropical trees called Sapindus. 'Sap' from the Greek word for soap, and "indus" for India where some strains of the plant are native. When cooked gently your soapberries, or soapnuts as some folks call them produce a light, clear juice containing the alkaloid saponin which is used for washing clothes, surfaces and people. You have probably seen soapberries at your local health food store but weren't quite sure how to use them. Nature's little soap factory is actually a fruit, to the relief of folks concerned about nut allergies.
How do soapberries work?
I admit, at first we were skeptical. So we bought a bag and put them to the test. Sure enough, when cooked gently, soapberries emit a clean, light brown extract that is visibly soapy. It's good stuff. But is it good enough for Green Witch Essential's amazing housekeeping clients? Some of Bangor's finest homes were about to find out. So we poured. And we wiped. We spritzed, and sprayed. We tackled glass stove tops, refrigerator doors, microwaves, shower stalls, granite counter tops, door frames, switch plates; even the man-cave half bath. And it worked! The natural surfactant that the Sapindus trees produce cuts grease, leaving surfaces feeling and smelling clean.
But why switch from regular soap to soapberries?
Soap is soap, right? That's what we thought until we started untangling what it means to be earth friendly in our cleaning products and practices. Retail cleaning products are available at the stores using the words "Green, Earth, Natural" in their marketing materials when in fact their products and/or their packaging are anything but. Even castile soaps are made using lye. Sometimes called caustic potash, KOH, or potassium hydroxide (or sodium hydroxide if making bar soap), lye is what soap makers use to "saponify" their ingredients. Saponify means literally to make soap, something the soapberry tree does on the vine. Lye is made by burning wood which we know creates a large carbon footprint. Soapberries are made by growing wood, which we know uses carbon and emits clean oxygen.
It gets even better. These babies are antibacterial too.
Soapberries have been around for thousands of years but the research is just catching up. A private soapberry company conducted research and found
...recently had them tested for their anti-bacterial qualities at a 3rd party laboratory (BioNetwork BioBusiness Center in Asheville, NC) and they surpassed even my expectations! The certificate of analysis revealed that my soap nuts took out Aspergillus niger (Black Mold) Candida albicans (Yeast) Escherichia coli (E. Coli) Salmonella typhimurium (Salmonella) AND Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA is a strain of this nasty antibiotic resistant bacteria.) But I will reiterate that there are many different kinds, qualities, and suppliers, so my results do not mean that all soap nuts can make this claim.
Great! How can I use soapberries at home?
For laundry, place a few soapberries in a small cotton bag. If you are doing a hot water load, just toss the bag in the washer. If you are using warm or cold water, soak the bag of soapberries in a half cup or so of hot water for a few minutes, then add to the wash. Depending on how many berries you use and the size of your load, you should get several loads from a few berries. DIY alert. You can also make soapberry extract. This is the method we use to make our all purpose cleaner, Brum Know Orange No Grime. To make soapberry liquid soap first place into a medium pot between 4-10 berries and 8 cups of unchlorinated water. (Not sure if your water is chlorinated? Just leave it uncovered in a shallow dish for about 40 minutes, any chlorine will evaporate). Depending on how strong you want the resulting liquid you could a add a few more. Simmer gently on low heat for about 20 minutes. Let cool just enough to allow working with your hands. Remove berries from the water solution, squeezing with your fingers to remove that hard working saponin from the berries. Use right away, either straight or diluted with hot water. For best results store in the frig since soapberry extract is a botanical product, it does have a shelf life. For Brum Know Orange No Grime we add white vinegar, salt plus orange essential oils emulsified into a water solution to extend shelf life and increase grease busting, antibacterial power. It smells like fresh squeezed orange juice, so naturally energizing.
Add some citrus oils to your soapberry extract to fight bacteria and mold plus cuts through grease.
Where can I get soapberries?
They sound exotic but chances are you can pick them up locally at your favorite health food store. Here in Bangor, Maine we discovered soapberries at the Natural Living Center. They're also available online in quantities both large and small. Not all soapberries are created, harvested or stored equally though. For best results, look for dark plump soapberries.
Can I grow a soapberry tree?
No "lye"ing, soapberries are so natural, they grow on trees! Take that carbon footprint!
