This month’s recipes are fit to keep a favorite - and highly necessary - beverage as clean as possible. Yes, you guessed it: it’s your water. You may have heard that over 2/3rd of your body weight is actually “water weight”, but did you know that blood is 83% water, muscles are 75% water, your brain is 74% water, even your bones are 22% water. Pure water, when free of contaminant, chemicals, additives, or anything unnatural - is pretty miraculous stuff. Drinking half your body weight in ounces of water will increase your energy and mental performance, detox your body from waste, keep your skin looking radiant, and aid in shedding pounds, too!
One of the easiest ways YOU can keep our water sparkling clean is to keep toxins out of it. The biggest culprits? Your home cleaners. We know it’s hard to keep your home sparkling clean without the use of soaps and scrubs and bleaches and decloggers and aerosol sprays and instant spot removers, but so many of these go full circle by coming back into our water supply. It’s hard not to want to dump your dirty mop water down the drain - but even into the yard outside means it will ultimately go to the water table. Here are some quick and easy ways to stay chemical-free in your cleaning spree from EcologyCenter.org:
All-Purpose Cleaner
1 quart warm water
1 teaspoon liquid soap
1 teaspoon borax
1/4 cup undiluted white vinegar
Mix ingredients and store in a spray bottle. Use for cleaning countertops, floors, walls, carpets and upholstery.
Clogged Drain Solution
• Pour 1/4 cup baking soda down the drain, followed by 2 ounces of vinegar. Cover the drain and let sit for 15 minutes. Rinse with 2 quarts of boiling water. Use this treatment regularly to prevent clogged drains. Also, pour boiling water down drains on a weekly basis to prevent grime buildup.
• For clogged drains, use a plunger or snake. Before using a plunger, be sure there is water standing over the drain. Push and pull vigorously.
Spot Removers
• Fruit and Wine: Immediately blot stain with a towel and add cold water, continuing to blot.
• Grease: Pour boiling water on stains and follow with dry baking soda.
• Blood: Soak in cold water or remove with hydrogen peroxide. For more stubborn stains, apply a paste of cornstarch, corn meal or talcum powder. Allow to dry, brush away.
• Rust: Saturate with lemon juice and rub with salt. Place in direct sunlight until dry, then wash.
• Mildew: Pour soap and salt on spots and place in sunlight. Keep moist and repeat as often as necessary.
• Perspiration odor: Add one cup vinegar or baking soda per wash load.
Furniture Polish
• Unvarnished wood: use almond, walnut or olive oil.
• Varnished wood: use a mild vegetable oil soap.
• To remove watermarks from wood furniture: rub toothpaste on spot and polish with a soft cloth.
Keeping chemicals out of YOUR water means you are keeping chemicals out of OUR water - and that’s delicious.
