A little love for Mother Earth... and your wallet

As I have grown in my role of wife and mother, it has become increasingly important to me to tread lightly on our earth.  Whenever possible, I use environmentally friendly products.  I grow my own vegetables.  I compost.  I recycle.  I have started making my own furniture polish.  Wait, what?!  I know what you are thinking, "Whoa, crazy, hippie, birkentstock wearing earth mama!"  But you are wrong.  It's not like that. 

What happened was that I ran out of pledge... in the middle of dusting... which I HATE to do.  The idea of running out for a can seemed a bit ridiculous, but I needed to finish what I started.  Insert internet!

I Googled make your own household cleaning products.  Up came a list of sights which had amazing concoctions.  The problem was that most of them required you to buy items that you wouldn't stock in your home.  Things like Borax and natural soap flakes. 

But then I came across this little gem:

Furniture Polish
Combine 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup olive oil.  Mix well.  Apply with a clean dry towel.

Lemon juice and olive oil?!  It was worth a shot.  A quick trip to the pantry and the fridge and I had my own batch of furniture polish.  And boy does it work!  It works so well, that I did every piece of furniture in the house!  I did the baseboards.  I did the cabinets.  The results were amazing.  My furniture looked like new.  In fact it looked like I had it professionally cleaned, and that is not something that happens at my house!

I haven't bought a can of Pledge in 3 years. Really the homemade polish is virtually free, as I keep both items in my food inventory anyway.  

Oh, two more quick perks...

First, if you read the recipe you will realize that it is really just equal parts lemon juice and olive oil.  So if I just need to spruce up the diningroom table, only use a tablespoon of each.  There is no waste.  Just make what you need. 

Second, kids like to make it.  I'm not saying this was part of my master plan... but who am I to complain if it has quickly become the favorite chore in the house!