#and shower brush your teeth put on deodorant scrub you nails etc.

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How do I get bitches

You think I get bitches???

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look clean, smell clean, feel clean 🫧🪽🕯️✨🤍

double cleanse your body! wash first with a bar soap, preferably with a wash cloth or wash glove to help with exfoliating all the dirt and sweat from the day. and replace your cloths every day. that’s why i recommend them more than using a regular loofah. those things build up so much bacteria, you’re better off using something you can wash every day. silicone brushes are great too, but do replace them after a few months. scrub well, everywhere. don’t forget neglected areas such as behind the ears, between finger & toes, belly button, etc. finish off with a body wash.

for the lady bits, keep it simple with unscented bar soap only. washing only your vulva. you want to make sure you’re cleansing between all the folds and around (and yes i know, never inside). as controversial as it is, water is not enough. sorry, argue with yourself.

hydrosilk trimstyle razor is a fav for your bikini area. billie razors are also great.

double shampoo your scalp. you’ll notice a difference. add a scalp massager into the mix!

on hair wash days, don’t forget to also wash/disinfect your hair brushes.

you can make a homemade body scrub with honey + brown sugar. lips too! or just use a exfoliating glove.

change your bedsheets weekly!!!

dry brush your body before stepping into your shower. do a few body lymphatic massages after too with a wooden body massager.

you should be brushing your teeth two times a day. flossing as well. don’t forget to give your tongue a clean. invest in a tongue scraper. and mouthwash! therabreath is my fav brand. teeth whiten every 6 months or so, depending on if needed or not. also replace your tooth brushes/heads often as recommended (every 3-4 months).

moisturize everywhere after every shower/bath. i love to lather with both body oil & lotion. don’t forget the neglected areas such as your hands, feet, elbows, etc.

i’m a two deodorant kind of girl. it’s definitely not necessary to use two, but as someone who loves smelling clean, i use both stick & spray.

as repetitive as it sounds, what you eat plays a major part in your overall scent. make sure you’re fuelling your body with good foods. hydration is also important.

find a signature perfume that suits your skin’s ph level. even better if you find a body lotion of that same scent or similar, enhances the smell! extra tip, spray some on your comb before brushing out your hair.

use safe feminine wipes for bathroom use, rael is a great brand for wipes + pads. even better, use a peri bottle.

something i think a lot of people forget to mention, stay on top of your laundry. attitude laundry detergent is great but any works fine. i also like using baking soda or vinegar to remove any odours, especially for my towels. keep small organza bags with lavender inside your closet/drawers to keep the freshness (i’ve seen people also use scent beads but i don’t use those personally). fold them as soon as they’re dry and put it away to avoid wrinkly clothes. spot treat your stains as soon as possible.

you don’t need to get a manicure all the time. however, do maintain your nails by trimming them often, cuticle oiling and scrubbing underneath nails with a small brush in the shower.

build a skincare routine that works for your skin type. keep it minimal, you don’t need an excessive amount of products. cleanser, exfoliant, serum or moisturizer is more than enough, with the occasional spot treatment & mask. not necessary, but i also like shaving my face with a face razor. definitely not something for everyone, as some do claim it makes them break out! so keep that in mind. gua shua your face for lymphatic drainage and overall skin glow.

keep your home clean. a lot of people don’t realize that you can bring around lingering odours from your home onto you.

also, ladies, pay attention to the men you’re being intimate with. make sure they practice good hygiene themselves (this applies for everyone really!). after intimacy, make sure to clean yourself off well too. your ph will thank you. if you’re concerned that your ph levels are off, speak with your gyno/doctor!

note that these tips aren’t for everyone and to follow with your discretion. 🫶🏻

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Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors, and it also works to clean stainless steel appliances if you buff it on “with the grain” of the steel). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tried a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

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[somedaysiamspike]

Ways You Can Save the Planet Without a Treaty #5: Stop using sooooooo much soap

I had an epiphany during a camping trip a few years ago. It was time to do the dishes after a meal, and my friend Doug pulled out a tiny container of something called Campsuds. He told us to be judicious with it because “there’s enough in here to clean an entire 747″. 

Wow. A small bottle of dishwashing soap is enough to clean the outside of a big airplane? That got me to thinking: Do we really need a big pile of suds in the sink when we do the dishes at home? In our quest to be clean, clean, and overclean, do we overdo soap in general?

The answer is yes. We use way too much soap.

Now don’t get me wrong. Soap is important. We don’t wash our hands enough, nor do we do it thoroughly and correctly. (Scrub the nails, make sure your non-dominant hand does an adequate on your dominant hand, etc.) If you’re getting rid of germs or grease, soap is a handy, vital tool.

But, man, do we go for the overkill! Let’s start with the dishes. I know there’s a big debate over whether it’s more eco-friendly to use a dishwasher or do them by hand, but that’s because we’re so lousy when it comes to doing them by hand. We fill up the sink with water and squirt tons of dish soap all over the dishes. 

That’s a waste. Typically, you only need one tablespoon of dish soap to do a sinkfull of dishes. The best approach: Take a small bowl of water and swirl around a tablespoon of dish soap in it. Dish your sponge into the soapy water and use it to wash the dishes, supplementing whatever water you need for soaking/rinsing from the tap. It works beautifully. 

I found that tip on the following website, which offers more links to eco-friendly dishwashing, including advice for reducing how much water you use:

http://www.thekitchn.com/quick-tip-use-less-soap-for-cl-140105

Showers and baths are another story. Our showers are too long. Seriously, three minutes is usually enough. We wash our hair way too much, which is why it’s always so greasy. If only we would spend as much time brushing our teeth as we currently do taking a shower, we’d all be much better off. 

Deodorants and antiperspirants are another source of debate. Deodorants are better, and we should all use the ones that don’t have aluminum. Yes, they cost more, but, as I often tell the customers in my store: “What’s more important than what you put in your body and on your body? Save money elsewhere -- on clothes, cars, etc. -- but take care of the health of yourself and your family.”

I’m at a little bit of a quandary over deodorants. I know people who don’t use them, and their bodies have adjusted accordingly. The same way your hair adjusts if you aren’t shampooing it all the time, your underarms adjust from not being doused with smelly stuff every day. Yet there are days when it’s hot, and I’ve been bicycling, and I’m going to a play, when I just know I need to use deodorant. It’s OK to go days without it when I’m camping because all of us smell like campers, but it’s a tougher call in mixed society. 

Finally, a full bit of disclosure: I never wash my car, unless I’ve been somewhere where the roads are salty or sandy. I know a waxed, sparkly-clean car is a status symbol for some people, but I’ve always thought it to be a waste of time and money. “So you’ve got a car,” Shania Twain once sang. “That don’t impress me much.”

Ha! Bet you weren’t expecting me to quote Shania Twain!

This is part of a series, and, yes, it’s been a while since Part 4. The events in Charlottesville took precedence for a while -- I happened to have been very close to the spot where the woman was killed -- and then came an out-of-town trip for the eclipse and the death of someone connected with my store. Now it’s a Sunday morning, and I have a stinkin’ cold that has me confined to the house, so it’s a good time to catch up. 

Here’s a recap of the series so far:

Prelude: https://somedaysiamspike.tumblr.com/post/163409793816/you-wont-always-have-paris-12-ways-you-can-save

Part 1: https://somedaysiamspike.tumblr.com/post/163409797406/you-wont-always-have-paris-12-ways-you-can-save

Part 2: https://somedaysiamspike.tumblr.com/post/163448588211/you-wont-always-have-paris-12-ways-you-can-save

Part 3: https://somedaysiamspike.tumblr.com/post/163753637501/ways-you-can-save-the-planet-without-a-treaty-3

Part 4: https://somedaysiamspike.tumblr.com/post/163987509401/ways-you-can-save-the-planet-without-a-treaty-4

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Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors, and it also works to clean stainless steel appliances if you buff it on “with the grain” of the steel). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tried a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[truereviewpage]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors, and it also works to clean stainless steel appliances if you buff it on “with the grain” of the steel). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tried a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

[lukerhill]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

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Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products http://ift.tt/2f5FU9c

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

[interiorstarweb]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2uiWrIt

[vincentbnaughton]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

[woodcraftor]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products posted first on http://ift.tt/2qOPBf9

[truereviewpage]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors, and it also works to clean stainless steel appliances if you buff it on “with the grain” of the steel). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tried a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

[truereviewpage]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors, and it also works to clean stainless steel appliances if you buff it on “with the grain” of the steel). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tried a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

[truereviewpage]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

[statusreview]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products appeared first on Young House Love.

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products published first on http://ift.tt/2r6hzQy

[vincentbnaughton]

Living Simply: Our Go-To Household Cleaners And Personal Care Products

Since sharing this round-up back in 2009 and an one from 2012, we’ve been getting quite a few requests for an updated breakdown of the household cleaners and personal care products we’re using to keep our home (and bodies!) clean these days. We do our best to keep our collections of soaps and cleaners pretty simple and streamlined (including my makeup, which all fits into a bag the size of a pencil case) because less stuff = more money, more time, and more space. So if you’re looking for a few ideas on what you might be able to cut out or simplify, hopefully this quick little post will give you some ideas. Ok, let’s go.

Household Cleaners

Yes, these are the household cleaners we use to clean our entire house. This J. R. Watkins lemon dish soap sits on the counter by the sink for pots and pans along with this J.R. Watkins grapefruit hand soap (which we use in our bathroom and the powder room too). And here’s our dishwasher detergent, which we forgot to pull out for the picture.

We use Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Multi-Surface Concentrate Cleaner for nearly everything else (no buying toilet cleaners and tile cleaners and wood floor cleaners each to do an individual job). We like the concentrated formula so it lasts a while and we can just water it down, which I usually do by around 50%. We typically use a moist microfiber cloth to rub down whatever it is that needs scrubbing (floors, counters, tabletops, windowsills, etc). Our favorite is the lemon verbana scent. Trust me on that. It’s heavenly.

The white vinegar and water in the spray bottle is also a really great all purpose cleaner (we use it mainly for cleaning windows and mirrors). I typically do a 3 parts water and 1 parts vinegar combo in my spray bottle and I’m good to go. I can’t tell you how nice it is not to have the entire cabinet under the sink crammed with cleaning products. Plus the fact that a big jug of vinegar is so cheap and goes such a long way means it saves us a ton of money each year, and I’m not always running to the store to get more.

Oh and toss in Magic Erasers too. You can cut them in half so they last longer, and they’re great for grubby spots where messy hands grab the white stair banister or for cleaning up the marker-dappled top of the art desk. We also love these weirdly named Scrub Daddy sponges for pots and pans with baked on grease and grime.

Laundry Stuff

Generally speaking, the MVP here is our Seventh Generation Free & Clear detergent, which we use for every load of laundry (this is also a concentrated cleaner so it doesn’t take up much space on the shelf). We haven’t used fabric softener or any sort of spray starch for YEARS and don’t miss it.

Occasionally when we have an issue with a stubborn stain that doesn’t come out with just some pretreating with detergent we’ll reach for the big guns: the Oxi Clean powder (which we use for soaking things) or the Oxi Clean gel stick (a stronger pretreatment than just the detergent). And a Tide To-Go pen is nice to keep in the kitchen junk drawer with another one in the car (just in case there’s a spot you notice when you’re headed out the door or already out at a meeting). One in the purse isn’t a bad idea either.

Freshening The Air

A few members of our household are sensitive to overly perfumed or fragranced stuff, so there’s no Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins in rotation. We generally rely on soy candles with various essential oils for a really nice non-irritating scent (like this one, which also keeps mosquitos away when we light it outside). This Mrs. Meyer’s candle is also one of my favorites (I take the cap and label off so it just looks clean and simple on a counter or shelf). It smells JUST LIKE the multi-purpose cleaner I use in the lemon verbena scent, so my little mom hack is that I like to light one in the kitchen so it smells freshly cleaned (but I didn’t actually scrub anything down – ha!).

Plants are in this mix too, because they’re awesome for purifying the air (see this NASA-approved list for the most efficient ones) and they look pretty too, so I’m down with having something green in every room. The Eco Me spray air freshener is basically a greener version of Febreze (I love the mint smell best) so that’s nice if something is musty or a room/rug/sofa just smells stale. Give it a few spritzes and you’re golden.

And that little gray charcoal bag is something I’ve mentioned on the podcast, but we love them for eliminating smells naturally. The charcoal basically absorbs extra moisture and odor through the burlap and traps it in there – then you lay them out in the sun for around an hour or so once a month and the odors bake out and they’re “recharged” to soak up more odors for another month. I have a ton of them around the house – one in each room, plus one in each shoe bin in our mudroom cabinets by the door to keep them smelling fresh. They’d be awesome for a gym bag or cabinet full of sports stuff too.

Shower Stuff

Our shower stuff is as pared down as possible for us (we’ve tried shampoo/conditioner combo products and haven’t found any we love) but it really is nice for me and John to use the same shampoo & conditioner (which we get in a giant size so it lasts forever) along with this giant body wash (same thing, lasts for months and months). By finding shampoo and conditioner that we both like, we don’t have double the products crowding our shower, and the large sizes ensure that we don’t always feel like we have to pick more up at the store. We’ve also discovered that we’re both oddly fond of big pump bottles so they can all just stay put in our hanging shower caddy. Yes, we’re that lazy and don’t want to lift and open stuff. Oh and I also use our conditioner as shave gel. #rebel

The only extra product in there for me is this Burt’s Bees deep pore scrub. I love how it gently exfoliates (it has those little beads in it) and leaves my skin feeling soft. Occasionally I’ll also use coconut oil straight from the jar as a deep hair conditioner / mask (you have to wash it out thoroughly or your hair will be greasy the next day, but it’s great for softening and detangling).

So We Don’t Smell

We’re not really perfume/cologne people, but we like to know we don’t smell, so we rely on natural deodorant that actually works (we have tired a ton, and I love this one and John loves this one). A note on bodies/smell/natural deodorant: for some strange reason I can try something John loves and hate it, and vise versa. So the way we found our favorites was just to try a few and not rely on reviews or what works for others since it seems to vary so wildly by body chemistry and other mystical things.

When it comes to the ol’ breath we love these Sonicare tooth brushes (my dentist told me he can tell who uses them because their teeth are noticeably cleaner which made me beam like a piranha) and we like Tom’s of Maine luminous white toothpaste to clean & naturally whiten at the same time. Also not pictured is floss, but we don’t use mouthwash and it’s all good. Dentist approved even!

The Kids’ Stuff

Ok, so we have discovered that you can acquire an infinite amount of kids stuff. And for us, we have just tried to keep things simple from the start. Their bathroom counter basically has two products on it: Tom’s of Maine Strawberry Children’s Toothpaste and the foaming version of that J.R. Watkins hand soap (they like the fun-factor of foam versus the liquid pump kind).

In their tub we keep some Honest shampoo/body wash (love one product that does two things) and the accompanying conditioner. Pump bottles again for the win! We also got tipped off by a mom who told us her kids never got lice because she misted their hair with this peppermint spray that I guess lice hate so they stay away? We’ve been spritzing a bit on their heads before hair brushing during our out-the-door routine, and so far, no lice! I’m knocking on allll the wood as I say this, but there was a particularly bad case of it last year involving a ton of kids getting it (even the ones sharing a desk with our daughter) and they never hopped on her head. Hallelujah!

My Makeup

So this is all of the makeup I own. No basket in the bathroom. No clear plastic drawer system. No caboodles (although I totally had one as a kid and LOVED THAT THING). If you see us at a speaking event, this is all I have on my face (and if you see me at Target, I usually have nothing but lip balm and maybe some salad in my teeth). The BareMinerals bronzer is awesome. I apply that with a big makeup brush (mine’s old but this one is similar) and occasionally I use this cover up under my eyes if I need it – but I’m pretty lazy about that.

Next I swipe this Nars Orgasm stick, which does magical things, under my cheekbones and I swipe this highlighter stick (which I am obsessed with) above my cheekbones and under my eyebrows and kinda… rub it in? Next, I put some brown eyeshadow on my lids (the darkest color in the four-pack) and on my eyebrows (sounds weird, but it subtly darkens them just a little). Then I use the lightest color from that eyeshadow kit under my eyebrows sort of on top of the highlighter. Next I curl my lashes and apply black eyeliner, which I’m legitimately terrible at doing (I have a steady hand for cutting in a wall, but the most unsteady hand for drawing on my eyes) and then I add some mascara.

Oh and Burt’s Bees Lip Balm! Nothing on my lips but that ever ever ever. I have a giant joker mouth with even the slightest color on my lips, to the point where blog readers see me in magazine shoots when a make-up person put lipstick on me and say WHYYY DID THEY MAKE YOUR MOUTH LOOK SO CRAZY?! Oh and my favorite tweezers and nail clippers are in the pouch too, in case I need to do some grooming with those.

I am NOT a makeup pro (I’m pretty much the polar opposite), but I thought it might be funny to make a two minute video of me putting on my makeup because it’s so fast and easy, and a few people have seen pics like this and said “what did you use on your cheeks?! How do you do your makeup?!” But is that a weird thing to do? I don’t know. Tell me if you’d find that helpful and maybe I’ll work up the courage to aim a camera at my face for two minutes and press record.

Nail Polish

This is probably the one area where I could be more minimal (I’m sure a bunch of folks out there don’t have any nail polish around) but it all fits into one small basket and I like painting my toes and nails myself (see also: I’m cheap) so I guess this is my little treat-yo-self category. My absolute favorite brand is Butter London. It’s eco friendly and has a brush that makes application a lot easier for me, but it’s also somewhat pricey. I pay because it lasts forever and goes on so well that it looks like a pro manicure for a fraction of the price. I also like Zoya (also eco friendly, and comes in some pretty colors too).

The colors shown above are:

Top Row: Butter London Shop Girl, Butter London Ta Ta Lacquer

Bottom Row: Zoya Nina, Zoya Maura, Butter London Twist & Twirl, Butter London Hardwear Topcoat, Butter London Rather Red, Zoya Kylie, Zoya Louise

Weird Face Stuff / Woo Woo Anti-Aging Routine

Here’s where I’m gonna get weird for a second. I don’t buy toner or makeup remover or eye cream or face lotion or any other potions for wrinkles or acne or stuff like that. I buy these two totally natural products that basically do it all for me: Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it has to be Braggs! It’s the best!) and Dr. Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil (I use this so much I leave it out on the kitchen counter so I removed the label to make the jar prettier).

I already mentioned coconut oil as being an awesome deep conditioner and it’s also really amazing for skin – body lotion, face lotion, makeup remover, you name it. I generally like to rub it all over my face before bed (warning: if you rub it on in the morning you can look a little shiny). I have sensitive skin, but I never break out from it – in fact, coconut oil is naturally antibacterial so I have a theory that it actually cuts down on blackheads and breakouts, both of which I’ve had as an adult when using other products on my face.

Also, a word on wrinkles: when we recently shared this picture people asked if I didn’t age. I definitely do have wrinkles, but I have noticed in the last year or so of using coconut oil every night before bed that my skin feels more hydrated and plumper if that makes sense – so it’s less dry and therefor my crinkly eyes and forehead don’t show up as clearly. So yes: coconut oil is my anti aging secret. I’m basically a witch doctor and if anyone has any ailment I say “put coconut oil on it!” Like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and his Windex.

And as for a toner/skin cleanser, I splash some apple cider vinegar on a cotton ball and rub it all over my face in the morning as I’m pouring my tea (I actually keep cotton balls and ACV in the cabinet with my mugs since I do it at the same time). It doesn’t make my face shiny or anything, and it seems to also help with avoiding breakouts and just generally clarifying my skin (also, a cotton ball soaked in ACV and held on a skin tag for a few minutes a few days in a row will literally make it FALL OFF YOUR BODY). I know that’s gross, but it’s also kind of a miracle. I did one next to my eye that bugged me so much and three days later it was GONEZO. See ya later, taggy. (*flashes peace sign at skin tag*)

I’ve heard that it can help to water it down if your face gets red when you slather it all over as a toner in the morning with a cotton ball (my face used to get red at the beginning of trying this, but oddly doesn’t anymore – maybe it has adjusted?). The redness only lasts like 15 mins anyway if it happens to you, and then water it down next time if it does.

So that’s it. I’m sure I forgot something, but that’s generally what things we buy, how we use them, why we like them, and look, I even worked skin tags into the discussion. Also I’d love to hear if you have any simplifying products or routines that you guys use at home, so feel free to share them on Instagram or Facebook with us.

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