Hi there!
I have two questions:

1) has anyone ever tried Soap Nuts for washing their clothes? http://www.inasoapnutshell.com/

I haven't tried them yet, but i might give them a go tonight. i'm hoping they will be a cheaper and natural alternative to regular detergents.

2) I'm trying to go more healthy on a budget, i checked the tags and there were some great tips there, but i was wondering if anyone knows any good recipes using tinned lentils? i'm a lentil beginner so i'm using tinned ones for now then maybe move on to soaking my own. i read that they don't lose much nutritional value through this?
So, beginners recipes for cheap lentil dishes (i'm neither vegan nor vegetarian, but i can't afford good quality meat so i don't buy it.)
and any other cheap healthy things you can recommend would be awesome :)

I couldn't find information on this from the tags.

Long story short, I drank too much wine last night and I'm hungover. Please help me. :( Any natural remedies??? (My head kills.)

Does anyone here follow the "Traditional Foods" diet? I've wanted to try it since my kids were infants but I'm wondering if it is as time consuming as it seems (dual parent working household) and if it was very expensive? I am so crappy at projecting expenses or knowing what to expect.

Also, any suggestions on super cheap places to get things like krill oil and butter oil? I'm in New Jersey, United States if that matters - internet sites are more than welcome. I am pretty overwhelmed compairing prices by googling stuff.

ETA:http://www.westonaprice.org/ I meant this, I forgot where I was posting

I'm at a point where if I buy new, I buy organic clothes because I know too much about how fabric is made to buy conventional cotton. And sometimes I see cute printed organic shirts with like "recycle" or other messages screen printed on.

My dad gave me an article about water-based inks used in screen printing and I was surprised to learn they are really bad ecologically, even worse than conventional plastisol inks. So I started to wonder if that's something other people actually think about when they buy their clothes. I see printed organic cotton or hemp shirts in the store and I wonder about the inks they use and if it is counter acting the point of the shirt.

How much weight do you put on such things like ink when you are purchasing clothes? I know a lot of us only shop thrift, but if you are looking at new stuff, what do you think?

Like, if there is an organic shirt but it's printed with conventional ink, would it keep you from buying it? Or if you had the option between a shirt with conventional plastisol ink vs PVC-free plastisol ink, would you definitely want the PVC-free plastisol printed organic shirt? I was really surprised to find out that plastisol inks are really low maintenance for clean up and there is hardly any waste product at all because the surplus ink can be put back in a container and used again and it won't dry out.

It's random, I know, but I was just wondering where other people draw the line.

Hello,

I've gone through the memories and tag for essential oils but couldn't find answers for these specific questions, I hope to find some help from anyone knowledgeable in essential oil use.

1) I've read that the best dilution is 2%, about 12 drops of essential oil to an ounce of carrier oil. I'd like to know if this is the combined amount of essential oils in a blend or if it is per essential oil. I've gone to a site that has some recipes and it had instructions that specify 12 drops per essential oil but then I found a recipe for a Decleor Ylang Ylang Oil dupe which specifies 12 drops of essential oil in total. Which is right?

2) I'd like to make a facial oil meant for oily skin but I wonder if it is overkill to have more than 2 types of essential oil that is astringent? What would be a 'safe' number of essential oils to use in a blend?

3) In the instance that it is to the point of drying, would applying Aloe Vera gel on the skin after using the oil blend be beneficial?

4) This is the blend that I'm considering:

Grape Seed Oil
Ylang Ylang
Rosemary
Geranium
Frankincense
Meadowfoam Seed Oil (more for preservative purposes)

Other EOs and oils that I can get from the same store and am considering:
Lavender, Cedar wood, Kukui nut, Sea Buckthorn, Emu Oil, Grapefruit, Bergamot

I'd like a less oily complexion along with improving the old acne scars that I have. I've heard great things about the Decleor Aromaessence Ylang Ylang oil but it's quite expensive and figured that if I create my own blend it would be cheaper.

Thank you.

So I have an avocado rotting on my counter. i'm eating half of it with a black bean burger tomorrow night, but I had an idea for the other half. I have always heard that it does wonders for hair, and a kid that I teach always rubs her hand in her hair after lunchtime, usually smearing avocado all over her head, and her hair is great (she's one, so of course her hair is just naturally perfect). But the problem is I don't know exactly what I would do with the avocado. Do I just smash it and then moosh it in my hair? Should my hair be wet first? Do I keep it in five minutes or overnight? Or is it just a bad idea?

Thank You!

Does anyone have any experience with castor oil making hair thicker or darker?

Or did anyone who has used it specifically for this reason find that it didn't work?

I am specifically wonder about eyelashes and eyebrows (and facial hair for the men), but if you have experience with any hair, info would be nice!

Thanks!

i just made a big batch of baked sweet potato chips, but i'm clueless as to storing them. is there a way to store them and keep them crispy-ish?

also, with kale chips.. i tried storing them in a airtight container, but they went from super crispy to super wilted the next day!

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question but I can't think of where else I would.
I have many crickets in my house. Let me say that they don't bother me and I oddly enough haven't been bothered by their chirping. Either I just don't hear it anymore or maybe I'm used to it.
The only thing that bothers me is sometimes when I first see one I think it's a large spider and freak out for a second or two.

I guess mostly what I want/need to know is whether I should be concerned for any reason about them.
A couple of sites I checked said they carry diseases.

Is there any other things I should be concerned about with crickets?

Should I get rid of them somehow? Or just let them be?

I don't own a dog or cat, and no small children. Just two guinea pigs.

Like I said, the crickets don't really bother me so I need to know whether I should be concerned.

Thanks

Edit:

I am almost quite sure these are "camel crickets" or "camel back crickets".
They seem quite safe but I just don't know.

Anyone have a natural toothpaste recipe to recommend? I'm searching for one on google, but a lot of them call for glycerin. I personally don't consider glycerin that natural. Anyways, a simple recipe that doesn't call for glycerin. I'd be especially interested in any recipes that you've already been using for years with good results. Any tips or advice would also be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi -

My cat seems to have a bit of a dingleberry problem. He finds it embarassing, and I find it messy. Apparently, he ate some of my hair (which is longer than his), and that's causing things to hang out on the end. My poor baby. Anything I can do to assist? Feed olive oil? Something like that?

Thanks!

1. What would you use for small breakouts on a 10 year old? It started out with a few small blackheads on his nose, but now he's developing a few blocked pores on his forehead, some of which are turning into pustules.
I make him wash his face with a tea tree oil face wash, but he doesn't keep up with it, and I'm unsure as to what to use on his skin due to his age.
I'll try a steam with a warm wash cloth, but what should I put on after? I don't want it to get to the point where he starts picking, and acne runs in the family, so he'll almost certainly develop teenage breakouts; I want him to have a regime in place before that happens.

2. What do you use for eczema? I have it pretty bad on my fingers and toes, and honey heals up the split skin, but it just opens up again when I wash my hands or feet.

3. Eczema- related again. I was at my GP's office yesterday, and he mentioned a combination anti-inflammatory and steroid injection that suppresses eczema flare ups. I'm hesitant, but I read up on it, and in mainstream medicine, its apparently pretty common for skin things like eczema, and for arthritis. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks you very much:)

Hi!
i need some advise!
is it fine to do organic shampoo in between BS wash?

We were just given a minivan to try and sell for a friend and needless to say, it's had lots of kids in it over the years, so I'd like to give the upholstry a good cleaning first. There are some bad stains. I have used Dr. Bronner's to clean things before and told my husband I was going to scrub it with that but he said that I can't use any soap because once it's dry, soap attracts more dirt (I thought to myself, really, it's a floorboard. I think it's going to get just as dirty from the dirt coming off of people's feet whether or not it has soap in it, but whatever).

I can't rent a steam cleaner (I've always found them completely useless over the years, anyway) and I can't buy any kind of machine to use. I'm stuck with a budget that allows me to buy a product. IS THERE a heavy-duty natural carpet cleaner I can use in the van? I'm planning on scrubbing it in with a brush and wiping it out with a wet towel.

If not, I'll probably have to end up using the heavy duty chemicals and I really don't want to go that route if I don't have to.

I am looking for vegan alternatives that provide a roomy fit comparable to Birkenstocks. Preferably close-toed and somewhat 'feminine'. Any particular brands I should check out? My feet are rather fussy and I can wear only the wide width Birkenstocks.

i only found one post in the memories which mentioned sprinkling baking soda. i like that idea, but i'm looking for more.

i just moved a bit ago, and the house already came with it's own 'house smell' which i'm not particularly fond off. it's not awful, but i'd rather either change it, or get rid of it. i've burned incense, but that only works temporarily.

also, i have two cats, one of which decided to be a stubborn bitch (old news) and urinate all over the carpet all over the house (behavioral issues, not medical) and i've tried my best to find it all with a UV light and clean it up with enzyme sprays, but it's still stinky in here! it doesn't help that i don't really have a good hidden place to put their litter box either.

besides baking soda, is there anything i can set out near the litter boxes that absorbs bad odor? i am embarrassed to invite anyone over because of the odors.

also, my windows do not have screens on them, which means teeny booger bugs come in.

Hello everyone!!! Please help.. So I am moving into a new place and it's kind of old so we have a few bugs including roaches..ones that I really just don't like. Is there anything I can use to keep the little buggies away and my cat safe because he does like to hide and observe everything and of course when we move in the new place he's going to be looking at everything..I wanted to clean the place this week and I won't be moving until the week after Thanksgiving and that's when the cat moves in! Thanks for your help!!!

So I've been watching this community since it got featured and I have been getting wonderful ideas on how to change my living habits. Thank you. I just realized though that I have a recurring problem that could use a natural remedy. I have some terribly calloused feet that give me extra problems in the colder months. They get dry and cracked and always where my big toe bends does a painful crack form that stings. Lately when this happens I put on a gauze bandage with some generic Neosporin like product on the crack and tape it secure. I would like to be able to find something more natural without the constant antibiotics I'm exposing myself to. Also maybe something to moisturize to prevent this from happening.

I work at an office and drink coffee there. I don't drink a whole lot of coffee there, not even a cup a day, but I do drink it (especially on Saturday mornings).

Currently, I have a little thing of CoffeeMate in the office kitchen. This stuff is so unbelievably bad for me - beyond standard CoffeeMate issues of being almost entirely hydrogenated fat and corn syrup solids, I'm also soy sensitive/allergic.

However, I can't bear coffee without milk (or, in this case, bad milk imitations) and I don't consume enough to use a whole container of milk. With the price of milk (and the size of my paycheck), I don't want to be tossing out milk every week (the little thing of CoffeeMate is good through January).

Is there anything more natural that tastes better than powdered milk? I used that in college in my dorm room and hated the texture, especially since I could only ever find dry skim milk. (Again, soy isn't an option, as I sadly discovered in college.)