Cleaning your house is a necessity
In this day and age we are realizing a lot of our most used chemical compounds are just not good for us. Our favorite personal care and cleaning products are full of these chemicals. Like Phthalates, Chlorine, and Glycol Ethers. Read the labels of your most used cleaners and see if you even know what half of the ingredients are, I know I don't (Or at least didn't. I've been looking them up and deciding for myself if I really want to be using them in my home).
I'm not going to talk about all the bad chemicals that we should stay away from, there are ton's of articles out there about them (like these from Experience L!fe and EWG cleaners database). Instead I'm going to share the natural cleaner I found and fell in love with. I also have before and after pictures to show how well they work.
I am very thankful that I know people that flip houses. So I was able to find a dirty bathroom without having to gunk up my own. I love having a clean bathroom. I'm not sure I could hold off cleaning it long enough for a good before and after picture, haha.
I love Young Living products and everything in their Thieves cleaning line. This is not a sponsored post but I am a distributor with Young Living because I love their products so much. All opinions are my own.
Bathroom lighting sucks...
First off I would like to appoligize for the bad lighting. Like most bathrooms there were no windows and the bathroom lights give off a yellow hue. I guess its kind of a good thing because it shows I didn't set anything up for this. I literally only brought my cleaning products and my camera. This is also my first time trying to do before and after photos and they don't line up exactly the same. Basically this post shows that I am a noob when it comes to comparison photos, I promise I will get better.
After ditching conventional cleaners I only use 4 things to clean my entire home. The Thieves all-purpose cleaner, baking soda (with Thieves oil!), vinegar, and water.
The Thieves concentrated cleaner is a versatile cleaner. I have it in three strengths of the dilution to cover all my cleaning needs. Heavy duty for those stubborn spots or really stinky jobs. General purpose for just about every cleaning need. And light duty for wiping down counters and washing windows. I currently have them in BPA free plastic spray bottles, but am upgrading them into glass spray bottles. Why? Because some essential oils have properties that can break down plastic, ruining both the container and the oil containing solution. If Young Living uses a plastic container they use medical grade plastic to stand up to the oils.
My own experiences...
I was inspired to do this post after my first time using the Thieves cleaner in my own home. Like usual I was multi-tasking. I sprayed down my shower with the all-purpose solution and walked away to finish something else. I came back, sprayed a little more and started scrubbing with my brush.
I've cleaned this shower a lot in the 4 years I've lived here. I know every ding, chip, scratch and stain (like the pale red stain from when I dyed my hair little mermaid red for 6 months), my current efforts were focused on the light grey ring around the tub that never seemed to go away without harsh cleaner (I'm talking have to wear a mask, don't enter the bathroom for X amount of time kind of harsh cleaner) and to my excitement the thieves cleaner was taking out the grey ring! It was so exciting (please tell me I'm not the only one that gets excited when things like this happen) that I called my mom to brag.
I rinsed the shower down, admiring a tub without a grey ring and then saw my hair dye stain was GONE! I could still see the hard water mark where the red stain had been but there wasn't a trace of red left. That's when I knew I was in love with the Thieves cleaner.
I love natural cleaners now...
Since switching to naturally derived cleaners my cleaning arsenal has shrunk considerably. What was once an unsightly overflowing plastic tote that I had a hard time hiding is now a small section of shelf in my laundry room. Cleaning my home seems to get done faster now and the scent that the cleaner leaves is refreshing and cozy.
I also feel better about cleaning the house with my pets near. I used to be paranoid that my dogs would drink out of the cleaner laced toilet or freshly bleached tub and get poisoned. While I'm sure they wouldn't like drinking the Thieves cleaner I know that if they somehow get into some it isn't as devastating or harmful to them.
It's also not harmful to me. With my previous cleaners my face would flush, my eyes might sting and itch, and I was guaranteed to have a sneezing fit while cleaning the house. I don't have these problems now that I use the naturally derived Thieves cleaner.
I am in love with this stuff...
That's my experiences and thoughts on using Thieves all purpose cleaner and the awesome before and after pictures cleaning with it.
If you would like to try Thieve cleaner yourself please check out my Essential oil page for more information, or look at the Young Living Thieves line starter kit or go straight for the concentrated cleaner (just remember to use my member number #11983273 please).
I hope you enjoyed this post, I'm sure it's not the last of it's kind!