The same versatile, non-toxic cleaning products you've used on other projects in your house can be used for hard water stains as well. Follow these simple hints and watch those spots disappear. 

• Remove slime from clothes with vinegar and baking soda by pouring vinegar over the slime, scrubbing back and forth until it comes out, and rinsing with water.
• For dried slime, mix white vinegar, water, and baking soda to create a paste and cover the dried slime before letting it sit until dry.
• Castile soap can also be used to remove slime from both wet or dried slime on clothes.
• For carpet stains, mixture two parts of vinegar and one part warm water together before spraying onto the stain and using a soft brush to work it loose.
• An alternative is to add one teaspoon of castile soap to one cup of warm water before spraying onto the stain, scrubbing gently with a sponge and repeating as necessary.

• Cleaning couches with vinegar and baking soda is an easy and natural way to maintain furniture longevity.
• Rubbing alcohol can clean microfiber couches, while a vinegar solution is best for leather.
• For velvet couches, vacuum before brushing, and use a baking soda solution with lemon juice to deep clean and eliminate odor.
• Natural products from MamaSuds will keep furniture looking fresh and healthy without the use of chemicals.

12 ways to live a more sustainable life

1. Think before you shop and become and environmentally conscious consumer

2. Ditch the plastic water bottles

3. Speaking of water.... be water wise! Here are 100 Ways to Conserve Wise 

4. Eat less meat (Resources: Take Extinction Off Your Plate and Reducing Your Footprint 

 

5. Reduce your household energy use by using the right lightbulb

6. Quit using ridiculous disposable products  

7. Support fashion brands that are ethical and environmentally conscious: Loomstate, Patagonia, and Reformation are just a few you may want to check out

8. Use washable stainless steel straws instead of disposable plastic straws

9. Borrow books from the library instead of purchasing them directly or buy them used from a local used bookstore (now you're buying used AND local!)

10. Donate unused clothing and household items to The Salvation Army

11. Buy second-hand

12. Support local and indie businesses

How many of these do you already do? Which do you feel has the greatest impact? 

 

• Sammy Dolan of Home Clean Expert offers tips to get kids involved in helping with the cleaning.
• Age-appropriate chores should be assigned to each child.
• Use chore charts to organize the tasks and have children check off when completed.
• Incentivize kids by providing rewards for completing consecutive chores.
• Consistent cleaning habits and a good work ethic can be instilled in kids through their involvement in household chores.

Clean out your kitchen

Is it time your Kitchen needs to be cleaned and detoxed? Do you still have cleaning products in the back of your cupboard that you're ashamed of, or maybe you're just not sure if they are safe or not? 

Let's Detox Your Kitchen

1. Get a laundry basket. Put everything you find that doesn't belong in the kitchen in the laundry basket. This helps stop Cleaning A.D.D. You know, when you go to put something away in another room and suddenly start cleaning something in that room? Then a few hours later you realize you started with the kitchen and suddenly ended up cleaning the toy box out in the play room? Yeah, guilty! The laundry basket is how I get myself to not do that. 

2. Clear everything off of your counters. 

3. Start at the top of your Kitchen and work down. Take everything off the top of your cupboards or shelves and refrigerator and wash/clean them off. Vacuum up there. Use MamaSuds® All Purpose Cleaner to clean the grease/grime/dust. 

4. Spray your cupboards and handles/knobs and wipe them down. Use a cotton swab to get in any nooks and crannies. 

5. Take everything out of your refrigerator and wash it out. A bucket of hot water with about a half an ounce of MamaSuds® Castile Soap would work great, or continue using the spray. Put refrigerator contents back.

6. Take items out of cupboards one section at a time. Anything that your don't use or isn't yours put in the laundry basket. Wipe out cupboard and put contents back. Do the same with the drawers too. 

7. Oven. This can be done at night if your oven it particularly filthy. It may need a good wiping down or a scrub. Vacuum or sweep out anything sitting at the bottom. Sprinkle baking soda on the bottom so it creates a thin layer. Spray it with white distilled vinegar and shut the down. Leave it over night then scrub the oven floor and walls. Wipe out. 

8. Spray kitchen surfaces and back splash and appliances. Wipe down.

9. Dispose of any other cleaning products you no longer use. You really can get away with just a few cleaning products! 

10. Take your laundry basket and put items away. 

Now have a cup of something tasty and enjoy your clean kitchen! 

So when was the last time you cleaned those make-up brushes? I have to admit, I do it less than I probably should, however now that my girls are at the "love-to-put-makeup-on" stage, I do it more. Only because I have black eyeshadow on my kabuki brush and blush on my eyeshadow brush. 😳

If you have one MamaSuds product or quite a few, there are multiple products you can use to clean your makeup brushes. Here are your steps:

1.) Rinse your brushes off. Experts say to avoid getting anything but the bristles, but I am not very good at that. 

2.) Get a shallow bowl and put either a small amount of a)  MamaSuds Castile Soap b)  MamaSuds Laundry Soap or c)  MamaSuds All-Purpose Cleaner. Then add enough water to have up to the middle of the brushes submerged. 

3.) You can let your brushes sit in it for about 10 minutes or just start swirling  each of them around in it, working out the makeup.

4.) Rinse and dry carefully. Then put a towel or washcloth down and lean them up against something (like the wall or mirror) so they are leaning with the brushes down. Let them dry overnight. 

That's it! Try it and let me know how it works! 

No you do NOT need a special cleaner for that! 

Have you looked at the upper rim of your washing machine drum? Mine was pretty gross. I don't even know what prompted me to look there, but I caught a glimpse of it and immediately felt the need to clean it. How does all that gook get there? My washing machine is just over a year old and has never been clean. My previous washing machine was just over 7 years old and I never even thought to look at the drum to check for gunk. Yikes!

Isn't that gross? First I took a wet washcloth and put a squirt of laundry soap on it and scrubbed it. Then I thought I was going to have break out an old toothbrush or the cotton swabs. I really didn't want to get that crazy with it so I grabbed some scissors to jam my washcloth into the knicks, crannies and ridges. It did the trick!
I then took a dry washcloth and poured some vinegar on it and wiped it all down until it was all sparkly.

Now my washing machine drum is nice a clean! Try it :) 

How I Make Liquid Castile Soap (from scratch)

Originally this video on how liquid soap (castile soap) is made at MamaSuds was created in the summer of 2015. It is the highest viewed post ever on our blog! 

Two things I learned while making this video. 1) My blender made a lot more noise on the video than it does in person. Sometimes the blender is heard over my voice, but I promise I don't say anything life changing. 2) I say the word AND too much. Which is better than saying the word UM, but I am aware of it and I'll try to practice. <---- I call myself out on this only because I KNOW someone else will :).  So if you are into soap making, want to see what goes into making MamaSuds Castile Soap- which is in the Body Wash, All Purpose Cleaner and Laundry Soap. It's the very first MamaSuds product.  Grab your popcorn and your Junior Mints, it's a nail biter! How to make liquid castile soap....