Freezer Meal Friday ~ Turkey Chili

Have you heard of the Paleo Diet? In short, it's eating the way our ancestors used to eat. It's been a topic of great interest to me recently, not because I am necessarily looking to lose weight, but because I often wonder how much all the chemicals and processed foods we eat are causing the illnesses and cancers that we see running rampant through our society. I made it a New Year's resolution of mine not to follow the diet, but to research it. That may seem like a funny resolution, but it's hard for me to make time to do things for myself, like read. One part of my research is this awesome book you can find here. Basically anything you want to know about this way of eating can be found in this book. I also started a Pinterest Board of Paleo recipes to start building up a collection to determine if eating this way is feasible for our family. Along that journey, I discovered a recipe for a Turkey Chili that sounded delicious. I went ahead and made it for dinner last week and it was so yummy! Thought I'd share the recipe with you as this could easily be a freezer meal to add to your collection.

This Turkey Chili Recipe was found here at Inspiredrd.com. You could make this ahead and freeze it for later or combine all the ingredients in a freezer bag and throw it in the crock pot to cook when you're ready to make it.

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes 
• 28 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• 1 Tbsp. of cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. onion powder

Optional Toppings: Avocado, cheese, cilantro

If you want to cook this meal before freezing it or just want to make it on the spot, the first step is to saute the onions and garlic in a large pan over medium heat. Once those are getting soft, add the ground turkey and cook until it's no longer pink.

Throw the onion mixture into the crockpot with all the other ingredients. Stir it up well and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

This chili is the perfect blend of hearty, spicy, and healthy for me. The Mister loved it too! This recipe made a lot of food. By a lot, I mean like 8 servings for the 2 of us!! Perhaps eating this Paleo way wouldn't be so bad after all!

Have you heard of Paleo? What's your take?

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Note: Some of the above links may be affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may get a small commission if you make a purchase.  The affiliate program does not affect my decision of what products to share. I only feature items I would link to with or without an affiliate link. These items and my opinions about them are my honest to goodness personal thoughts and feelings. The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Thanks for your support! 

Dog Treat Storage + a Bonus Treat Recipe

Like many pet owners, our puppy, Mando, is like a member of our family. I continue to call him a puppy even though he's 16 months old... but to me, he's still a maturing boy. :) While the Mister and I don't adhere to an organic or all natural diet all the time, we do try to watch what we eat and attempt to limit the amount of processed foods we consume. Because Mando is a full-fledged family member, I try to limit his intake of processed or unhealthy foods as much I can as well.

The main way I regulate this is by making his dog treats myself. They are super easy, less expensive, he loves them, and I know exactly what is in them. Up until now, I've stored his treats in a variety of ways including a paper bag, a plastic zip-lock bag, and an airtight storage container. The airtight container allowed them to grow mold rather quickly because it locked in all their moisture. The paper bag seems to regulate the mold growth a little better but a paper or plastic bag on the counter is blah. Besides, Mando deserves a cute treat container to go with his awesome dog food container, don't you think?!

I thought I'd share my easy project of creating a treat container for his yummy treats, and why not include the recipe in case any of you are looking for easy, natural treats for your furry family members as well.

I've made two different versions of dog treats, but this one shared by Dog-Milk.com is by far the easiest.

• 2 Cups 100% organic whole wheat flour (I use brown rice flour which makes them a bit more crunchy and promotes healthy digestion in dogs)
• 8 oz. of pureed natural or organic baby food (beef, sweet potato, chicken, etc).

That's it! Combine the flour and the baby food to create a thick dough. 

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. 

Use cookie cutters to cut out specific shapes or a pizza cutter to make cubes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and add the treats. They can be pretty close together as they don't expand much. 

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.Allow them to cool before putting them in your chosen storage container. An airtight container will keep them softer but will allow mold growth within a short time period. This recipe made me about 7 dozen 1-inch square treats. I like to keep the bulk of the treats in the freezer leaving only enough for about a week out on the counter. This extends their shelf life by a lot. And sometimes, Mando likes a nice frozen treat too.

The flavor possibilities of these treats are endless and you could mix and match flavors to switch it up even more. Just be sure that the baby food you use doesn't contain any ingredients harmful to dogs like onion, garlic, etc. For a list of foods toxic to dogs, check here. 

As for my storage project, I found this cute little jar at the Salvation Army for $1.99.

With a good washing, it was good as new. I cut out some vinyl letters on my Cricut using two different fonts and adhered them to the glass container. 

Then I filled it with treats and let it sit out on the counter. Cute, simple, and effective. That's how I like to organize!

Do you have a recipe for your pet's treats? How about a cute storage solution?

Creating a Cleaning Closet

Saving money on natural cleaning supplies and having a nice place to store cleaning rags has helped cleaning  to be more enjoyable, but there is still something bothering me - the mess under the kitchen sink. All of our cleaning products get stored in that dark hole along with dishwasher detergent, a dish drying mat, pet shampoos, pet brushes, bug sprays, squeegees.... ugh, the list goes on and on. When I try to get out the furniture polish, I knock over three other bottles. It's just not working.

I mentioned here that our home is not lacking in storage space but that space is not being utilized as well as it could be. We have a pantry in our kitchen along with an ample amount of cabinet and drawer space. In addition, we have a nice closet with built in shelves that, up until now, has been stashed with a variety of miscellaneous items including plastic bags, reusable bags, dog food, small kitchen appliances, light bulbs, extra paper towel and bulk kitchen items, a mop, a fly swatter...ugh, again.

Our cleaning products were stashed under the sink, our cleaning rags were in the linen closet, our vacuum was in a closet in the living room, and our mop was in the kitchen closet. And I call myself organized....? A revamp was long overdue! I decided it made sense to store all of our cleaning products and supplies in the kitchen closet. It had the most space and it's located central to the rest of the house. Here is a before picture of the space:

Again, not completely a disaster, but not efficient. I started by emptying the closet completely. I wiped down the shelves and hand-washed the floor. It was looking better already! Then I attacked the organization of it all. I sorted through the light bulbs, many of which were left to us by the previous owners, and put all the ones that we'd never use into a donate pile. The rest got put into a long, flat plastic tote and stashed in the bottom of the linen closet, under the basket of paper products.

The bread maker got moved downstairs because we NEVER use it. I couldn't quite convince myself to donate it yet because I'd like to use it, but if it sits downstairs unnoticed for a bit, I will commit to getting rid of it. A couple other kitchen appliances got moved elsewhere in the kitchen. I decided to leave the crock pot in the closet because it's the easiest place to access it. It's heavy and bulky and I use it often, so storing it up high or deep in a cabinet doesn't make sense.

Next, I pulled out all of cleaning supplies from under the sink. I was so excited to get this space cleaned out that I forgot to take a before picture (sorry!). But here is what was stored in that dark hole:

I sorted through the products and consolidated them accordingly. I cleaned out the cleaning caddy and put the products I wanted to keep (and use often) inside. Then I stashed the cleaning caddy on a shelf in the closet. It fit perfectly! The extra paper towel went back in the cabinet and the mop and broom were hung on existing nails. This left the perfect spot for the vacuum!

Our cleaning schedule hangs on the door and all the products I need are right there! I grabbed the cleaning rags out of the linen closet and put them in this new cleaning closet instead. Take a look under the sink:

It's so bright and clean and happy now. It holds dish washing supplies and some larger rags along with a few miscellaneous cleaning products that don't get used often. The pet supplies got moved to the drawer of our pet food bin, which is working superbly.

This revamp was completely free and it has lessened my stress significantly. Those are the best projects, don't you think?

How do you wrangle your cleaning supplies? Is your under-the-kitchen-sink space a dark hole too?

Freezer Meal Friday ~ Sweet Potato Chili

Happy Friday everyone! It's currently 5 degrees outside... Sounds like a good day to stay in and make some chili!

I used to be afraid of sweet potatoes. Well, maybe not afraid, but certain I didn't like them. A couple years ago, I was introduced to sweet potato fries and it was love at first bite. Since then, I've tried to incorporate them into our meals in different ways and have found that they're not so scary after all - in fact, they can be quite delicious. This recipe is no exception.

The original version of this recipe, shared over at Once A Month Meals, was actually gluten free. I didn't go out of my way to make it gluten free but, for those out there looking for delicious gluten free meal options, this is one great option. You'll need the following ingredients:

• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 15 oz. can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used light)
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used green)
• 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 tbsp chili powder (gluten free if desired)
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika (I used regular paprika)
• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder (gluten free if desired)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup vegetable broth (gluten free if desired)
• 1/2 cup orange juice

I diced up all the veggies and added them to the freezer bag. I have to give a shout out to my amazing Pampered Chef Garlic Peeler once again. I love this thing!

Finish adding the ingredients to the freezer bag, toss gently to mix, and seal the bag. With a recipe like this that contains a lot of liquid, I often opt to just freeze the solid ingredients and then add the liquid when I dump it into the crock pot. But you can certainly freeze the entire recipe. Another alternative would be to actually cook up this recipe and then store it in one or two serving size containers in the freezer. Just thaw and eat!

If you do decide to freeze it before cooking it, just thaw the bag in the fridge over night and dump the contents into the crock pot in the morning (adding the liquid ingredients if necessary). 

Cook on low for about six hours or until sweet potatoes are tender. Then enjoy! 

I served this with sweet rolls and some crackers but it's filling and satisfying all by itself too.

Do you have a new-found love for a certain food? Which one?

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Protecting Your Documents & Your Identity

A couple weeks before Christmas, I was shopping when I got a phone call from a credit card company. I was a little annoyed as the caller stated who they were and where they were calling from, thinking to myself that I wasn't in the mood for a telemarketing call while dodging traffic and crowds all while on a time crunch. But as the caller kept talking, I realized this wasn't a telemarketing call at all.

I own one credit card that I use only to buy gas because it gets me so many cents off per gallon and coupons at our local supermarket. Apparently, that credit card information had been stolen and my card number was used earlier that day to buy almost $500 worth of various items including electronics and a Match.com membership. Luckily, the credit card company flagged the purchases before they got too out of hand and denied four more after that. They were calling to verify that the purchases made were not mine. They definitely were not.

Thankfully, everything worked out just fine. I got a new card and all the illegal purchases were credited to my account with no interest, late fees, or any other issues. But that got me thinking about how terrible the situation could have been and I decided it was time to research some of the identity theft protection plans out there on the market. I'm not being paid or rewarded by any of these companies. In fact, they don't even know I exist at this point. But I figured if I was going to spend the time doing the research, I might as well share the info with you in case you're looking for this option as you get organized in the New Year.

1. LifeLock

LifeLock offers a five point protection plan. First, they monitor your credit and contact the major credit bureaus to get your name off the pre-approved credit offers list. Second, they monitor your personal info for new credit and non-credit applications and address changes. They also monitor known criminal websites for illegal selling of your personal information. For an upgraded fee, they will even scan for new checking and savings accounts being opened in your name. Third, they contact you any time they detect a threat, something as small as a change to the contact info on your bank accounts. And if your wallet gets stolen, they'll help do the leg work to cancel your accounts and replace its contents. Fourth, they back up their protection with a $1 million guarantee. If you do become a victim of identity theft while a LifeLock member, they will spend up to $1 million to do whatever it takes to remedy the situation. Identity theft insurance is included with a zero dollar deductible that reimburses you for fraudulent withdrawals, lost wages, document replacement fees, and other out of pocket expenses. Last, they track your monthly credit score so you are up to date with any changes and you get annual credit scores for all three major bureaus.

Credit Score Managment is available for $14.95 a month or $165 a year. LifeLock Identity Theft Protection is available for $10 a month or $110.00 a year. You can also upgrade to LifeLock Ultimate for $25 a month or $275.00 a year. Each family member must have an individual enrollment to be covered.

2. Identity Force

Identity Force offers monitoring of change of address info, court records, credit reports, identity, payday loans, proactive credit, and sex offender records. You get instant online access to your credit reports from all three major bureaus; help opting out of the most frequently used junk mail databases; and online privacy tools like anti-phishing and anti-keylogging software. Restoration services are available in the event of a theft. Specialists can be reached 24/7. Lost wallet assistance is also an option allowing you to cancel and replace credit, debit, and ATM cards quickly if necessary.

Two plans are available. The first is called UltraSecure and is $17.95 a month or $179.95 per year. It comes with a 14 day free trial. The second is called UltraSecure + Credit and is $23.95 a month or $239.50 per year. The difference is that UltraSecure + Credit offers you everything the UltraSecure package does but adds in the daily credit monitoring, 3 bureau credit reports and scores and a monthly credit score tracker.

3. Identity Guard

Similar to the first two companies, Identity Guard offers credit monitoring, identity monitoring, and monitoring of public records. You are able to view your credit report and score by logging in to your Identity Dashboard anytime. You can select e-mail, text, or phone as your preferred method of contact so you're sure to get alerts as soon as they are issued. They also offer a Mobile App. Internet protection is covered by a software package providing Anti-virus, password protection, and keystroke encryption.

They provide personal recovery assistants to help with recovery if necessary, though the site doesn't state 24/7 availability. Up to $1 million in identity theft insurance is included along with lost wallet protection. The lost wallet protection includes helping you access up to $2000 from one of your accounts while your cards are being replaced.

There are three plans available. Essentials is offered at $9.99 per month and includes SSN monitoring, ID verification alerts, and up to $1 million identity theft insurance. Total Protection comes in at $19.99 per month and adds Public Record Monitoring, the software package, quarterly 3 credit score and 3 bureau credit reports updates. Last, the Platinum program is available for $24.99 a month offering all of the benefits of the Essentials and Total Protection Plan plus monthly 3 credit score and 3 bureau credit report updates.

4. Zander Insurance

I remembered hearing Dave Ramsey talk about identity theft protection at one time and I decided to quick visit his website to see if I could find any more information. Now I understand that not everyone agrees with Mr. Ramsey nor follows his plans/ideas/advice, etc but I found a great deal on Identity Theft protection through his site. He recommends Zander Insurance group for all of your insurance needs. I confess, I don't use Zander for any of our insurance needs but they have a good identity theft package available.

There is an individual plan available for $75.00 per year or $6.75 per month and a family plan available for $145.00 per year or $12.90 per month. Both plans provide $1 million reimbursement protection, unlimited recovery services, 100% recovery success, prevention services and support, and electronic stolen fund transfer protection. It also includes access to free credit reports, the Do Not Call registry, junk mail opt out programs, and credit report reminders three times per year. 

So many options to pick from. If you're thinking of getting some form of identity theft protection for you and/or your family, be sure to do more research into each company to see which one fits your needs best. Also, check with your homeowner's insurance provider to see if they offer some form of this coverage as well.

If you have some form of identity theft protection, I’d love to hear what company you are using and if you’re satisfied with their services!

Freezer Meal Friday ~ Balsamic Chicken and Veggies

I don't remember the first time I used Balsamic Vinegar in a recipe, but I do remember being nervous about it. I hadn't really heard of it, nor had I tried it. I'm pretty sure it was a salad dressing recipe... either way, I'm so happy I found it. I've since used it to make dressings, marinades, and added flavor in stir-fries and other meals. 

Balsamic Vinegar is a key ingredient in this freezer meal recipe shared over at Greenwood Grove.

Here is the recipe:

• 4-6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 whole head of garlic
• 3 sliced zucchini
• 2 sliced red onions
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 sliced tomato
• 1 handful of small grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

First, I cut the chicken thighs into bite size pieces and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. Then I diced all of the veggies. I used my Vidalia Chop Wizard. I love, love, love this thing! I did cut the tomato by hand though. The garlic cloves just need to be peeled, not diced. If you hate peeling garlic like I do, check out this! I tossed the chicken and the veggies into a gallon size freezer bag and tossed a bit to mix things up. If your freezer bag is stuffed full, split the contents into two bags and make two meals!

I added the balsamic vinegar and the Worcestershire sauce to the bag and tossed everything again. I sprinkled a bit more salt and pepper and sealed it up. When I was ready to make the meal, I thawed the bag in the fridge over night and dumped everything into the crockpot the next morning. I cooked it on low for about six and a half hours. It smelled amazing!

I served this recipe over rice and it was delicious. This batch makes a ton of food - six large servings!

Enjoy!!


Note: Some of the above links may be affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may get a small commission if you make a purchase.  The affiliate program does not affect my decision of what products to share. I only feature items I would link to with or without an affiliate link. These items and my opinions about them are my honest to goodness personal thoughts and feelings. The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Thanks for your support! 

Decreasing "Stuff" Eases Organization

One of the goals I have for this new year is to pare down the amount of "things" in our home. I'm extremely thankful for each and every blessing we have been given, but at the same time, I'm acutely aware that we don't come close to needing all of the things in our house. And all of those things can lead to clutter, messes, and frustration. One of the items on my January cleaning calendar is to go through and purge the main closets in the house. I decided to start with my own closet since it gives me the biggest headache.

I have a summer and a winter wardrobe since our seasons vary so greatly in Michigan. I also have attempted to divide each season into a work and a leisure wardrobe, as my dress code at work is business professional which doesn't translate easily into weekend wear (for me anyway). But it doesn't take long for my work clothes to get in a pile with weekend clothes and before I know it, my closet is stuffed full and it's impossible to find anything. When I do find something to wear, it's usually a wrinkled mess from being stuffed so tight in the closet. 

Once I decided to tackle my mess of a closet, I began doing some research online about minimizing a wardrobe and living with less. It's my hope and intention to put in a better closet organization system when we get around to re-modeling our master bedroom. But between now and then, I need a solution. I figured the less I have, the easier it will be to organize. 

I stumbled upon an internet phenomenon called Project 333. I encourage you to visit this website if you are interested in learning more about this idea. The basic premise is that you choose 33 items to create a wardrobe for 3 months at a time. At the end of those 3 months, you can select 33 different items or add and subtract as necessary. Your 33 items include clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes. They don't include your wedding ring (or other sentimental jewelry you wear everyday), underwear, sleep wear, at home lounge wear, and workout clothes. Ideally, at the end of 4 cycles (12 months) it should be clear what items you'd like to keep and what items you can certainly do without. I decided to accept the challenge and I'm choosing to share with you the first step in my process.

So, to get started, here are some photos of my closet before I started.

You can see that the items hanging on hangers are stuffed pretty tightly together. The items stacked in the hanging system are messy and falling out. There are items piled on the top shelves and items that need some sort of repair on the floor. 

To get started, I emptied everything out of the closet.

I followed the guidelines on the Project 333 website to sort out all of my clothing items. The idea is to create four piles. Pile 1 consists of the items you love. Pile 2 are things you want to keep but may not be sure why you want to keep them. Pile 3 is items that don't fit TODAY or items that you don't like. These items should get donated ASAP. And Pile 4 are items in bad condition that should be trashed. I didn't have any items in Pile 4. My items in need of repair only need a button or a tiny hole patched up, so it wasn't worth it to me to trash them. Here is how my piles looked when I was done sorting.

Then came the extra hard part. I started with my love pile and divided it between work and weekend clothes. Then I narrowed it down to the bare necessities in each category. I ended up with four pairs of pants, two skirts, four blazers, three sweaters, six dress shirts, six blouses, and three dresses. This was HARD. The remaining items got moved to pile #2. That totaled 28 items already. I began feeling stressed about having only 5 spots left for outerwear, accessories, jewelry and shoes. 

The Project 333 website mentions several times that this is not a project of suffering, and I kept reminding myself of that. My main goal was to pare down - not to punish myself. So I chose five pairs of shoes - a black pair, a brown pair, brown boots, black boots, and a pair of flats. I considered my running shoes a workout item so I didn't count those. So my clothes and my shoes got me to 33. 

I bent the rules a touch and added five accessories and five pieces of jewelry, bringing me to 43 items total. I also decided to leave outerwear out of the picture for now. Outerwear isn't an overwhelming area for me that needs to be pared down right now, so I left it alone. All in all, 43 items to last me three months. The state of my closet? See for yourself!

Each item has plenty of room to hang. It's easy for me to see what I have and plan a week's worth of outfits without stressing too much. While I'm a bit nervous about making it on these 43 items alone, I felt really excited about the challenge as I started my work week this week. I will keep reminding myself that this isn't a project of suffering, and, in the worse case scenario, if I need to go find something to switch out or add, all of my Pile #2 clothes are boxed up in the spare bedroom closet. I should have taken a picture of that to share with you - yikes! But the idea that in a few months to a year I will be able to confidently purge a lot of that clothing excites me too. 

Again, I highly encourage you to check out the Project 333 page. You can learn more about the project, read success stories, get support, and get inspired to pare down your own wardrobe in the name of organizing this New Year!

Happy purging!

DIY Menu Board

Maintaining a grocery budget requires planning ahead. I go grocery shopping every two weeks and the preparation for that trip is habit to me but to others it may come across as a bit intense. First, I go through the weekly ad to our local store(s) and make a list of items that I may be interested in that are on sale. Based on that list, I come up with a list of dinners that I can make mostly using those items that are on sale. Then I add in items we need for breakfast, lunches, pets, snacks and household. Once I have that list, I estimate the cost of all the items and determine how close (or usually how much over) to our budgeted amount I will be. I pare down the list accordingly until I am 98% sure I can get out of the store within our allotted budget.

That being said, once the groceries are bought, it's important that I remember what meals I bought ingredients for. This usually results in a scrap piece of paper or a sticky note stuck to the side of our fridge. As I make the meals I cross them out. This method is not working for me for two reasons: 1.) scrap pieces of paper are unsightly and tend to get lost 2.) having only a list of meals with no order to it sometimes results in produce going bad before a meal is made because I will forget that a certain meal calls for an expire-able piece of produce.

To solve this dilemma, I decided to create a dry-erase menu board. 

To accomplish this easy project, I purchased a frame at our local dollar store for $1. I used my cricut to cut out the letters for M-E-N-U and M-T-W-T-F-S-S. 

I punched out some circles and used my big shot to cut out some cute flowers.

I put it all together on an 8 x 10 sheet of paper and stuck it in the frame. I found a one inch binder clip laying around the house and covered it in a scrap piece of matching paper and clipped it to the side of the frame. This will hold the dry erase marker when it's not in use.

The frame can be hung or set on the counter. I am also contemplating purchasing a couple heavy duty magnets and attaching it to the fridge. 

Either way, this provides a cute way to keep track of what's for dinner each night. And, if the Mr. gets home before me, he knows what to get started on!

I liked this project so much that I made a few more to either switch out with mine or give away as gifts or sell at a local craft show. This idea could be used as a to do list, a chores list for your kiddos, or just a pretty dry erase note board in the office or at home. Check out my Pinterest Page for other cute menu board design options.

How do you keep track of your menu plan?

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Cleaning Green and Saving Green ~ Round 2

A couple months ago, I tried out three make-it-yourself natural cleaning recipes: Furniture Polish, Window and Mirror Cleaner, and Carpet Cleaner. I've been using all of them since and I love them. As my other store-bought cleaning supplies begin to run low, I've been looking into replacing them with natural recipes too. So I'm here today to share three more formulas that will save you money and protect our home environments. 

This time around I made an all purpose cleaner, cleaning wipes, and the easiest toilet bowl cleaner you can imagine. 

All Purpose Cleaner

I use an all purpose cleaner on just about everything - counter tops, floors, door knobs, light switch plates, etc. I found a natural formula here. 

• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Dish Detergent
• 4 tbsp White Vinegar
• 1 2/3 cups Water

Combine all of the ingredients into a spray bottle. Be sure to add the baking soda slowly to avoid a "volcano". I doubled the measurements above because I had a larger spray bottle. This formula is safe on floors and counters and most other surfaces.

Cleaning Wipes

I love cleaning wipes. They are so handy. I keep a tub under the kitchen sink and one under each bathroom sink for quick clean ups. I was super excited to find this recipe because cleaning wipes are expensive!

• 1 Cup White Vinegar
• 1 Cup Water
• Few Drops of Dish Detergent
• Essential Oil (optional)
• Roll of Paper Towel

I just used up a container of Clorox Wipes so I kept the empty container to store my DIY ones in. If you don't have a used wipes container, you can use a Tupperware container with a lid that is large enough to hold a half roll of paper towel. 

First, cut a roll of paper towel in half. You want to use a good quality paper towel that will hold up when it's wet. I used Viva Rolls. Remove the cardboard insert in the middle. Add your ingredients to your container. Then set your paper towel roll down into the container. The paper towel will begin to absorb the liquid. I tipped mine side to side and upside down to speed up this process. Then I just pulled out the inner most sheet and voila! Homemade Cleaning Wipes that are so cheap and kind to the environment. 

Easiest Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Toilet Bowl Cleaner is another one of those things I hate spending money on and it fills the bathroom with nasty chemicals when I use it. That's why I'm so excited to share this formula with you. It's not even a formula really. Brace yourself, this is so easy.

First, sprinkle some baking soda in to the toilet bowl making sure to get the edges, etc. Then spray some vinegar in the bowl to activate that chemical reaction. Let it sit for 15-30 minutes depending on the severity of stains. Then scrub with a toilet brush and enjoy a sparkling clean toilet! Told you it was easy! 

Obviously, this isn't a recipe you'd mix up and store in a spray bottle for future use. I did fill a spray bottle with white vinegar though to make this process easier. I also plan to use the vinegar spray bottle in the laundry room to help remove difficult stains. 

I created some more labels for these three products so they'd match my previous ones. 

I highly encourage you to try these three formulas out. They will save you a ton of money and are friendly to the environment and work just as well (if not better) than the store-bought chemical filled versions.

Do you have additional green cleaning formulas you'd like to share?