Nixall

Nixall is Seriously Clean stuff!! It's the Anti EVERYTHING- bacteria, virus, and fungus. AND, it's NON-TOXIC, safe to drink!! They just received the EPA/FDA results that they even kill CRE! You know, the superbug invading hospitals that makes MERSA look like a mild cold. Yep, it kills that & MERSA by the way!


There's also loads of practical in home uses. Here are just a few:

Can be taken internally- great stuff to really kick illness, colds, flu, virual or bacteria based illness. We will put Nixall in a humidifier and put Eli in his play tent with the humidifier so he's breathing it in when he has allergies/cold/cough. We call it his "Nixall Tent"

Veggie and Fruit Spray to helps them last longer. We've had strawberries last for up to 2 weeks by spraying them with Nixall

Air Deoderizer- just spray. You can add Essential Oils too, if you wish

Preservative for Liquid Soap Nuts

Diaper Pails

Any type of Skin Rash, including Diaper Rash

Stinky Dogs- including ones who have been "skunked". Will take the skunk smell away within minuets

Smell of Smoke


The company has Veterinarian reports of using it successfully with Parvo, both in disinfecting facilities and treating infected dogs (giving it internally).

Wounds and burns, even sunburns.

Staph and MERSA- We have a friend who used it to successfully treat a staph infection she had in her eye.

Poison Ivy, Sumac, etc.

Black Mold- yes, the nasty stuff. Use Nixall full strength for this.

This is my MUST have for my home!

Make It How You Like It Granola

After hours of searching for the perfect granola recipe, I finally gave up!! Armed with several I liked, I decided to create a new one. I call it Make It How You Like It Granola, because that's just what I did! And, oh how yummy!!! And, for those of you who really don't like to follow a recipe, like me, you will love this. For those of you who need more direction, you will love this! Also, Eli loved helping make this- scooping, pouring, stirring- all the things he's really good at doing :) And, he loves to help eat it!

For the recipe:

First, choose 6 cups of nuts and/or seeds: pecans, pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds) raw sunflower seeds, almonds (whole or slivered), walnuts, flax seeds. For mine, I chose 2 cups of slivered almonds, 2 cups walnuts (which I chopped in my food processor), 1 cup pepitas and 1 cup sunflower seeds. If you choose whole walnuts, almonds, and/or pecans, coarsely chop them in a food processor.

Next, choose 5-7 cups of the following- oats, unsweetened coconut, almond meal, flaxmeal. I choose 2 cups of oats and 3 cups of coconut. If I were choosing 7 cups of almond meal and flaxmeal, I would use whole almonds/flax seeds and chop them finer than coarse but not as fine as fine in a food processor. I like my granola to be a bit chunky.

Add 1 t cinnamon and 1 t salt.

Add the wet ingredients: 1/2 cup raw honey, 3 tsp vanilla, 1 cup oil- I used coconut oil in a liquid state. I'm sure safflower oil would be good too, or any other better grade oil.

Optional 1/2- 1 cup dried fruit- I used cranberries.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix everything together. Spread mixture on baking sheet (either on 2 or do in batches). Bake for 10 mins and stir. Do this 1 or 2 more times. I like to cook mine for 30 min. You're looking for a nice light golden color. It will darken just a little when it cools, it will also dry as it cools. Once cool/dry, store.

                                                                    Before baking

                                                      Packaged for Christmas Presents!

Toothpaste, Mouthwash and Deodorant

I'm needing to make some toothpaste, mouthwash and deodorant and thought I'd write up a quick post with the recipes.

Toothpaste
We use the pretty basic recipe floating around out there, with of course our own little twist on it.

2 Tablespoons melted Coconut Oil
1 Tablespoon Xylitol- I prefer xylitol over baking soda. It sweetens it plus is thought to help restore minerals to the teeth! I use the flat blade of our Silver Bullet blender to grind it finer for toothpaste
1 teaspoon Nixall- optional but it makes it even more anti-bacterial
About 10-15 drops of Essential Oil- I use Peppermint Oil- it gives it that minty fresh taste plus is anti-bacterial

Mix everything together. The Coconut Oil will solidify when it cools. I keep mine in a small plastic container.

Mouthwash
Okay, so we LOVE Nixall. This is a CLEAN, GREEN disinfectant which is anti- bacterial, fungal, and viral PLUS it's safe enough to drink. It is EPA and FDA approved for many uses. It's more effective than bleach and has killed EVERYTHING it's been tested on, which includes every Level 1 Virus. This has been tested, proved and approved, not just wives tales and maybes. THIS STUFF WORKS!

One of our many uses is a mouthwash. In the 10:1 dilution with 10 parts water to 1 part Nixall, I add Peppermint Oil for that fresh minty taste.

Deodorant
Another one of those basic recipes, with our twist.

4 Tablespoons Coconut Oil- melted
1/8 C. Baking Soda
1/8 C. either Cornstarch or Arrowroot
1t. Nixall (optional)
Essential Oils- optional- I love using Tea Tree Oil and Lavender- I use a total of about 15-20 drops

Mix together. The Coconut Oil will solidify when it cools. I store ours in a plastic container, not a reused deodorant container. During the summer, unless you keep your house really cool, it will get a little mushy. Plus, if you do any traveling, or camping, you really don't want your deodorant to melt all over everything.

Heat Rash
If you suffer from heat rash, like I do so often, you can use, guess what? NIXALL for deodorant! Just spray under your arms and you're good to go. Not only does it get rid of the odor causing bacteria but it also helps with heat rash. I'm telling you, this is our go to product for so many things!

One other note. If you're using identical containers for your deodorant and toothpaste, you might want to label them. Tea Tree Oil/Lavender Deodorant doesn't taste very well. Oops ;)

Bug Repellant and Bug Bites

It's that time of year again ~ BUGS!!! Here's what we use for bug repellant and then, if we forget the bug spray, we have the bug bite cream. It is possible to be outside without all the chemicals and toxins!

Bug Repellant

Liquid Soap Nuts- click here for more information on where to order, how to make, etc.
You can add various essential oils for repelling bugs, but liquid soaps nuts work just fine without any EO.  Some EO I like to add include: cedarwood, lemongrass, tea tree oil, catnip, geranium eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint. This isn't a complete list of bug repelling oils. Citronella is one as well, but I really don't like the smell. Neem oil is a great bug repellant, but oh, the smell :( I save that smell for the garden, away from me!

Bug Bite Cream

This is for those times we forget the bug repellant!

Green clay powder
Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix together to create a paste. Dab on bite(s).

Simple and effective itch relief.

Additional Summer Solutions...

Nixall is AMAZING stuff! Click here for more information and ordering.  It's a 10:1 dilution with water (10 parts water: 1 part Nixall) so one quart will make 10 quarts!

Here are just a few uses- focusing on Summer Uses:

Poison Ivy relief- just spray on infected area several times a day. Relieve itching and clears it up fast! Milo got into hemlock and got a really nasty rash which was quite resilient. He used Nixall on it anytime it started to itch. It did take awhile for that rash to clear up, but it did and with minimal itching.

Wound care for scrapes/cuts/burns- including sunburns- Just spray on affected area. Eli is constantly scraping his knees like any active 4 yr old should be in the summer. We just spray him down. It keeps the affected area from becoming infected plus promotes healing. I've personally used it for sunburn relief. It instantly takes out the sting of a burn- sun or let's say, hot broth splashing on your arm. Yes, I did that one too, ended up with a 2nd degree burn OUCH! But with Nixall, it cleared it up within days.

Ticks- The ticks are BAD this year! This isn't a "proven" use for Nixall, but it's what we noticed. When I spray myself down with Nixall, I don't get ticks. When I don't use Nixall, I find ticks on me. Also, when I have a tick, I spray it with Nixall- they have either backed out, or been very easy to remove.

Preservative for Liquid Soap Nuts- with the 10:1 dilution rate using liquid soap nuts, Nixall will act as a preservative, keeping your solution from going bad.

Liquid Soap Nuts Uses

I LOVE using Soap Nuts. They are so many uses- everything from laundry to bug repellant and best of all, NON-TOXIC!  I buy our Soap Nuts from Green Virgin Products.

I make up a gallon at a time since I use it for LOTS of things. It's one of my most important products I have in the house.


Here's my recipe for making liquid Soap Nuts


Take about 30 soapnuts in approx. 4 cups of water- bring to boil, simmer/boil for 30 min., let cool, strain out the nuts. I store mine in an empty gallon vinegar jug. I add a cup of Nixall as a preservative so it doesn't go bad, fill the jug the rest of the way with water. You can Essential Oils- EO-  if you want.


Here's a list of what I use liquid soap nuts for.


Laundry- 1/4 c per load- With the Soap Nuts from Green Virgin Products, you can still use the cold water setting on the washer.  I also add 1/2 c of vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser. Clothes won't smell like vinegar, plus in the winter, Vinegar doubles as a static cling remover. For stains and whites, we still use OxyClean.


Bug Spray- straight, can add EO if you want


Garden Bug Repellant- straight or add EO and/or neem oil- I add neem oil


All Purpose Cleaner- 1T per 16 oz. spray bottle, fill with water will work just fine, but here's my recipe for a 16 oz. bottle (the 16 oz. bottles you get in the laundry section work so much better than the 32 oz. bottles, in my opinion- the 32 oz. spray bottle sprayers kept breaking, even the ones from recycling empty commercial cleaner bottles)
1T liquid soap nuts
2 T Vinegar (helps with cutting grease, using for mirrors)- it's diluted enough that you don't smell it
1/4 C Nixall- makes it anti bacterial, viral, fungal, acts as a preservative- this is optional, but this is a serious anti-everything product that I use a lot!
Various EO- I personally love a lavendar herb combination- Lavendar/Lemongrass and Lavendar/Thyme are a couple of my favorites. I even just added a bunch of herbals scents (rosemary, thyme, oregano, lemongrass with Lavendar and it was just divine!)


I use this for cleaning everything, even mirrors. For mirrors, it looks as though it's going to streak, but it's always dried just fine, without streaks.  For sinks, toilets, showers, tubs I sprinkle baking soda/borax combo, spray with solution, wipe down, rinse. I've tried a variety of cleaning solutions and this is my absolute favorite. I noticed an immediate difference in just how clean everything was- it sparkled. Much better than anything else, including commercial cleaners, and at a fraction of the cost.

Laundry Detergent

I just read an article that Tide is now the new hot item to steal. Seriously? Tide?

This recipe is needed now more than ever, I guess, lol!! 

There are a lot of homemade laundry soap recipes out there. However, I really love soap nuts. They're easy. I also can use them for a variety of cleaning products, not just laundry.

First- buy your bag of soap nuts. I get mine from Green Virgin Products. 

Let's do a little cost comparison-
Tide, 150 oz. 90 loads, from Wal-Mart is $17.97- 20 cents a load
Soap Nuts from GVP, 1 kilo bag, 330 loads, $27.95- .08 cents a load
AND I will have additional Soap Nuts cleaning recipes, so you will have additional savings when you're not buying other commercial cleaners as well.

Next, use your Soap Nuts. They will come with a little drawstring bag. You can put 4-6 in the bag and use them just like that in your laundry. They will last for up to 6 loads of laundry. They work great. But if you want to be daring, make liquid soap nuts. I love the liquid. The little bag would get lost, or come open. Or, I would forget how many loads I had done. Liquid was easier plus I use it in making other cleaning products.

To make a gallon of Soap Nuts concentrate:

Boil 4-6 cups of water. Add about 30 soap nuts (for me, it's about 3 hand fulls). Let simmer for 30 min. Turn off, let cool. Add to gallon container and fill with water. I use empty vinegar bottles.

To use: 1/4 cup per load. If you read about soap nuts, most will say you need to use warm/hot water, but you really can use cold water and they will work just fine. 

What about whites? We use Oxyclean- one of the few commercial products I buy, with soap nuts. I do the prewash soak overnight in Oxyclean, then the regular wash with soap nuts.

What about stains? I use spray Oxyclean pre-treat then wash with soap nuts. Yes, I even have the Tide pen for tough stains and the Clorox bleach pen for let's say blueberry-smoothie-accidently-spilled-on-white-shirt stains. Yes, it's happened. The Clorox pen is great for that stain. I bought those pen things a couple of years ago, so it isn't like I use them often.

What about Fabric Softener? Great question. STOP BUYING FABRIC SOFTENER!! It's full of nasty chemicals, plus it smells horrible. I hate the smell of those dryer sheets. Yuck!
USE VINEGAR in your rinse cycle. Yes, just plain white vinegar- approx. 1/2 cup per load in your rinse cycle. You're clothes won't smell like vinegar.  I will also be doing a tutorial on making wool dryer balls which can be used as a fabric softener/static cling remover as well. But for now, use vinegar.

If you read about liquid soap nuts on-line, they all say that the liquid will go bad after about a week. However, I haven't noticed that to be true. I did take a whiff of some I made up a few weeks ago, and there's a slight smell, but nothing horrid and my clothes definitely don't smell. You can always make up less- standard recipe is 8-10 soap nuts per 6 cups of water. After it's simmered, you're left with about 4 cups of liquid- 1 quart. You can also add a preserver- ascorbic acid or I've used Nixall (in my all purpose cleaner, it acts as a preserving agent as well as a disinfectant) I don't think I'd use Nixall in my laundry soap though. Nixall is hypochlorous acid- is non-toxic, and can be used for a variety of things- but there could possibly be some negative consequences if using it in laundry- highly doubtful, but it could happen. It has plenty of other uses, not to worry. It's a great product. Not only do I recommend it, so does Dr. Norm Shealy. Get some.

Frugal Green

I always hear people say it's so expensive to be green. I am so confused by that because we do it because it saves us money!! Then I realized why some think it's so expensive. They haven't discovered the world of DIY.  Have you seen the cost of "green" products! YIKES!! So, I'm starting a Frugal Green section, showing how easy and cheap it is to be GREEN!

Here's a list of home products I make:

Laundry soap
Fabric Softener
Shampoo/Conditioner
Lotion
Deoderant
All Purpose All Purpose Cleaner- including mirrors/windows
Air Freshener
Lip Balm
Hand salve
Body Wash
Bug Spray
Bug Bite cream- that sounds kind of funny, if the bug spray worked then why would I need the bug bite cream, lol!! The bug spray works WHEN WE REMEMBER TO USE IT!!
and soon, toothpaste- just waiting to finish up the commercial toothpaste we have

It seems as though I make more of our stuff, but that's all I can think of for now.

If you would like to start stocking ingredients for upcoming recipes, I HIGHLY recommend these products:

Soap Nuts from Green Virgin Products- great price, great product. Most of my cleaning products have liquid soap nuts as it's base. You don't buy liquid soap nuts, you buy regular soap nuts and then make the liquid. It's easy, I promise. You just have to be able to boil water.

Nixall- anti everything. great disinfectant.

Baking Soda, Vinegar, Liquid Castille Soap, Borax (optional), Various Essential Oils

I use Emulsifying Wax for my lotion. Some people take issue with emulsifying wax. If you're one who does, then you won't like my lotion recipe. If you don't and want to make awesome lotion for literally pennies for commercial lotion, then I recommend buying Emulsifying Wax from Mountain Rose Herbs. You might want to also pick up some beeswax while you're at it.

Containers: I've tried reusing my old spray bottles, but I think there's a conspiracy for the spring in the sprayer. They always seem to break. It's like they know you're not going to buy the commercial stuff anymore and they don't want to participate. I don't even have luck with the spray bottles in the cleaning section, the empty ones that are supposed to be for cleaning and should last. They don't. The best spray bottles I have found are in the laundry section at Wal-Mart, with the irons and ironing boards (I know, Wal-Mart). They are 16 oz. and work for more than just a couple of spritzes. Also, they're a dollar apiece. We use them for all kinds of things- well, water based things that is.