Homemade toothpaste like salty cake with a side of bum wipes, anyone?

So lately I've been trying to do more making & crafting for myself, instead of buying so much stuff. You know, I figured that we spend roughly $200 a year just on toilet paper. Are you kidding? That's a lot for something you soil & flush!

So I got an idea from Sara's blog post about Toilet Cloth. I had some old fleece left over from a project for my kids, plus a blanket that one of my kids cut a hole in. So I cut all that fleece up, and Baby, I ended up with oodles of what we call "Bum Wipes"! By now I was hooked. What else could I get rid of, or at least buy less of?

Image The Blueberry Bee 2013

So I checked out some of Sara's other posts, like Reusable Disinfecting Wipes (Everyone's got some old t-shirts hangin' around, right?)

No Sew Cloth Napkins (This one, I had kind of already done, but with the sewing, and backed the fabric with a pack of cheap white washcloths I bought at Wal-Mart.)

And Cloth "Paper" Towels (I haven't tried this one. . . yet.) Sara had lots of other great tips, but this is enough to start on, right? Wrong!

After using Wen (which I loved, but it got too expensive), Biolage by Matrix, and other shampoos that promise good things. I was feeling jaded & without a go-to for my dry, frizzy hair. My hair also has a lot of gray in it (and I'm only in my thirties - it's hereditary), but I refuse to color it because it will end up worse than before!

So, by Sara's recommendation, I visited "Empowered Sustenance" & tried Lauren G's Honey Shampoo. Love it! The first day, I could tell a BIG difference. My hair was so soft. My wiry grays. . . not wiry! So I've been using it for 4 days now. Hair is still shiny. No scalp flakiness. No ill effects. Just clean, heavenly-scented hair. Tangles? Nope. Wide-tooth comb glides smoothly through the locks. I did change the recipe a hair (no pun intended), by adding some Tea Tree E.O. & Lavender E.O.

The other thing I've done is started making my own toothpaste. You can make a gob of it for next to nothing! I used Trisch's recipe (check out the video here), and tweaked it a bit. My daughter & I did some mixing in the kitchen & came up with a recipe that tastes a lot like salty cake. = ) We added vanilla, Stevia, & cinnamon to the mix & doubled the amount of coconut oil. Even my kids like the toothpaste -- and that's saying something!

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Robin's posts on Homemade Laundry Soap
Toxic-Free Bathroom and Vanessa Brady's Body Wash. Am I obsessing? Absolutely not! Well, maybe just a little. But I feel entitled. With the expanding technology these days and machines that can take the place of an actual human in the workplace, why must we feel stuck in the days of harsh chemical cleaners and things we know are not healthy for our bodies. . . did I hear someone say refined sugar & corn syrup? Just because that's the way it's been done for generations doesn't mean it's the best way.

God gives us common sense & expects us to use it. Not only that, He has called us to be good stewards, not only of the world around us, but of our families, our time, our money, and our bodies (which are His temple, after all). So let's take care.