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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Storage. Store the powders in a metal or glass shaker, sealing holes with aluminum foil to prevent the oils from evaporating between uses. To safely make a few holes in the plastic lid, lay the lid top-side-down on a piece of scrap wood. Then use a drill with a 1/8 or 3/16-inch drill bit to make a few holes in it. Drill metal lids the same way, or pierce them using a hammer and nail.

Low-Abrasion Scouring Powder

1 1/2 cups chalk

4-4 1/2 teaspoons essential oils

Wearing a dusk mask, place the chalk in a bowl

Add essential oils, using a wire whisk, thoroughly blend the oils into the powder

Apply with a dampened sponge, or for more abrasive power, use a loofah, ayate cloth (a coarse natural-fiber scrubber)or a scrubber pad

Scrubber Paste

Add 3/4 cup liquid soap (such as liquid lavender castile soap)

Scouring Powder

To remove greasy dirt from appliances, porcelain fixtures, tile floors and stainless-steel sinks.

1 1/2 cups baking soda + 4 1/2 teaspoons essential oils

Same as previous

Heavy-Duty Scouring Powder

For cleaning toilets, ovens, pots and pans, avoid getting on grout, as the washing soda may react with the grout and weaken it.

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup borax

1/2 cup washing soda

4 1/2 teaspoons essential oils

Same as previous.

Mild Abrasive Cleaner

Use this cleaner on plastic and painted walls.

A few drops of water + baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

Add a few drops of water to bicarbonate of soda to form a paste. To use, apply with a stiff-bristled brush on hard surfaces, and with an old toothbrush netween tiles.

Scouring Cleanser 1

1 teaspoon borax

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 cups hot water

Combine the ingredients and pour the mixture into a spraybottle.

Scouring Cleaner 2

1/2 cup baking soda

3 tablespoons sodium perborate

Mix the baking soda with the sodium perborate.

To use, rub the mixture onto areas that need whitening with a wet sponge. Leave for 10 to 15 minutes before rinsing.

Favorite Essential Oil Blends

2 teaspoons lavender oil + 1 1/2 teaspoons spruce / fir oil + 1/2 teaspoon eucalyptus oil

1 1/2 teaspoons each grapefruit, lemon and orange oils /  use tangerine oil in place of any of these citrus oils

1 tablespoon lavender essential oil + 1 teaspoon rosemary essential oil