Over the past year or so I have been slowly replacing items in my kitchen with natural products and materials. Plastics being one of the major things that I am trying to get rid of. We have eliminated all plastic dishes and switched to glass or ceramic, and a few months ago I bought new wooden cutting boards. I mostly like my wood cutting boards, they are easy to keep clean and I don’t worry about stray bits of plastic ending up in my food. However there is one big draw back, I worry that I can’t properly disinfect when cutting meat, and the lingering odor when chopping onions and garlic. Washing them in hot soapy water isn’t an option I would like to us, considering I spent a good amount of money on my boards and I want them to last, well, forever. Hot water and soap dry out wood and the board will eventually become warped and crack.

So what is a girl to do?

I have a very easy solution that cover the disinfection and deodorising.

The other night we had roast chicken for dinner and I used my cutting board to carve that little bird. It was greasy and covered with chicken juice, it needed a good disinfection.

First I gave it a good all over rinse with warm water.

Once it is rinsed and wet I sprinkled the board generously with salt.

(see update at the bottom)

Soap For Washing Dishes and General Cleaning…Momzoo style!

A few weeks ago I did a post on how I use homemade soap. Several readers suggested that instead of shaving flakes of soap off my bar with a knife I use a cheese grater. While I think that is a great idea, found it easier to just grab my knife than get out the grater and do it that way.

Until….

I was making laundry soap and I realized (duh) that the very ingredients that were in my laundry soap were the same ones I used in my kitchen sink every day.

( My jar of laundry soap)


So instead of getting each ingredient out separate and adding it to the sink, I could just use a Tablespoon of my laundry soap.

and to make things better…..

I put some in one of my cute squatty mason jars…

and it now has a home next to the kitchen sink for even easier use.

I love using homemade cleaning products it makes things much simpler, with no dangerous chemicals lying around and there aren’t a dozen different bottles to store.

(P.S. I don’t use this in the dishwasher, it make a film on my dishes I don’t like, I use it to hand wash items that don’t go in the dishwasher ((it makes my crystal glasses sparkle!)) I also use it for basic kitchen cleaning, for example the counters or the stove)

(P.P.S. Also, this mixture won’t produce bubbles…bubbles come from a chemical added to soaps. Natural homemade soaps won’t produce thick lathers like commercial products do. You don’t need lather to clean, that is something we have been trained to expect by commercial soap companies)

More great homemaking ideas at:

11th Heaven
and

I know a good portion of the country is up to their eye balls (literally) in snowy cold.

Around my parts February is turning out to be pretty mild. The days have been in the 40’s and sunny. On days like this I start to get the spring cleaning bug.

Does anyone else get this bug?

When do you usually start spring cleaning?

How do you do you spring cleaning?

One big fat week of cleaning, or do you do small jobs over a month?

I got an e-mail from a blogger friend the other day and she asked me:

I see that you’re making your own soap!!! I’m so impressed. I’ve been trying to read up on how to do this myself. But before I take the plunge, I thought it would be best to try some out first. So I bought some at a local store, and so far I love it. But I’m just not having any success using it to wash dishes. Could you fill me in on all the ways you use lye soap?

Mostly I use my soap for bodies. Live bodies….promise….we use it while bathing, for hand washing and I even use it for my face. It is very mild, and by the time you use it (after curing for 6+ weeks) the lye is completely out of the soap. If you want a stronger soap use it sooner.

In regards to household uses, I use it anywhere I can. For dish washing and kitchen cleaning this is what I do.

(sorry the pictures are dark, it was a cloudy day and my kitchen was dark)