Well, clean living is such a trend and I am years late, in a sense, to jump on the bandwagon. On the other hand, the renewed interest in living with less toxins, less waste, blah blah blah, is ancient - the original idea of Eden, and its exquisite peace and perfection. We're all looking for that lost place.
Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
I don't know about you but I can feel a little defeated when trying to cull excess. It just flows into my home, and whether it's Costco's insane plastic packaging or garbage little toys that find their way into the children's rooms, the flow is a large one. There's also all these sneaky ingredients in food!
These are the things that I'm working on now, and am finding some small successes around.
A permanent Donation Box: I even labeled it. Somehow having a place to put the items that need to be donated rather than on a counter, or the floor, has been so helpful. I take a run to Goodwill once a week, or less actually, now that I purged so much last year. Clutter does attract clutter, so I'm keeping an eye on what has not been used, played with, enjoyed, etc. and passing it on quickly.
Norwex Rags: I resisted this for a long time, but I love how they get things squeaky clean and I don't have to buy cleaning products except for: toilet bowl cleaner (I spray it in, close the lid, scrub after five minutes, then flush and close the lid again. I haven't found a solid replacement for this. Open to your ideas!) and Barkeeper's Friend for the kitchen sink scouring. It just gets it so white I can not live without it. So sparkling white, you guys!! It's amazing!
Lotion and Beauty Products: I've kept on eye on ingredients in lotions for years, and I find it amazing that the best sellers consistently have ingredients banned in the E.U. for possible links to auto immune diseases. This is serious. Skin is the largest organ, and everything we put on our skin goes into our body. It's not to be taken lightly. I love Crunchi products and just started selling them. They are super clean, made in the U.S.A., and their lotions, potions, and makeup are the nicest I've ever tried. Their motto is high performance and clean so if you've had backfires with "natural" beauty products, this company will not let you down. Look here for my shopping site: www.crunchi.com/melinameador
Purposeful time budgets: I've been dialing down on this since September, when we started homeschooling, and what I mean is just having hard starts and stops throughout the day. I have found that if I use a timer, I get even better results from myself. It's really about my own discipline, no one else's! It's so easy to blame the toddler, but actually, I am my own worst enemy when it comes to procrastination. Just having set times for certain things takes out the decision fatigue and promotes peace. Which is one of my number one goals for my life and home.
When I was growing up, my parents did a good job of not having a lot of "stuff", and there were basic foods my mom made: refried beans, wheat bread, oatmeal, eggs, and repeat. Not that we didn't have some variety but for years, things were very simple. It's interesting to think about the amount of choices I have today - too many. But I love my freedom! Truly I need to remember today that limits ARE freedom. And not in a 1984 way. (Which by the way, I'm deep into for the first time. It's so terribly compelling and scary.)
Keeping things clean around here, and enjoying it! Have a super day!
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