TWO COOKBOOKS ARE ENOUGH FOR ME.

Well, for those of you who haven’t heard from me in months, I’ve been busy changing my home space and continuing – with only occasional stumbles - on my minimalist journey. The change was radical. We bought an old RV. And for the past four months we – my husband and I – have lived in a 30-foot RV along with our one gray, outdoor cat. Our RV is parked in a rather large, tree-lined mobile park. Here, we have all the services and Internet for our general creature comfort. 
 
On the basis of our recent experiences, I can say that  life can improve by living with less - all that depending, of course, on what sort of person you are. For us, the minimalist life is challenging, empowering and fun. Saying no to consumer overkill is a tough skill to acquire, but once we had it, we easily gave up a bunch of things that other people still cling to and started to live life on your own terms. 

As we were to become RV full-timers, we prepared to rid ourselves of virtually everything that we deemed unnecessary. And, for us, holding on to just the essentials is a great satisfaction.
 
What fits, in the way of furniture, are only the original RV built-ins. So, all our old furniture had to go. Other personal possessions needed to be weeded out. For example, my wardrobe is now a third of what it was 12 months ago. My husband's held on to about half of the clothes he had. As for household items, we started downsizing a while back when we still lived in regular housing. We took an audit of our bedding, towels, toiletries, kitchen items, electronics. We kept only the best and what we truly used. We got rid of one of our cars 12 months ago. Now we have only one small car and a motorcycle that gets my husband to work. That seems just right for our life in a small town where almost everything is less than a half-hour drive. 

Despite our efforts to prepare for life in the RV, we had to face the fact that the living space is extremely limited – beyond what we could have imagined. So, for the first two months in the RV, we rented a storage unit for the overflow. We also gave a lot away to friends and to the thrift store. We were still cramped for space. There was a real lack of space for my kitchen stuff. And I thought I didn’t have so much. Well, as I’ve found out, I had way much more than I needed. At first, I had kitchen stuff hidden in every sort of place well beyond the tiny kitchen - into the living area and under the bed. I realized that I would have to sort through and keep just what was the most necessary. And that I’ve done and probably will continue to do over the next few months. 

Also, when we moved in, I knew that we wouldn’t have space for a formal book shelf. Our books had to be tucked away in a couple of overhead compartments. That meant that the total - for me - couldn’t be more than a couple of dozen books. And, as in other areas of my material life, I thought about why I was holding onto treasured things and what would happen if I let them go. I spent a whole morning sorting through and donated about thirty books to a community library. And, now, I am the proud owner of 20 books – 6 non-fiction, 12 yoga and self-help books, and just two cookbooks. (Because of their usefulness, cutting back on cookbooks was something that I found especially difficult.)

Finally, settling down to just two cookbooks.

Anyway, that’s the introduction to what I’m talking about today – the downsizing of my cookbook collection. Just a year ago, I had - maybe - twelve cookbooks of all sizes, shapes, age and content. I had believed - erroneously, I imagine - that twelve was a small number. Twelve seemed to be only a few when compared to some friends who report having as many as fifty cookbooks. (What they do with all of them I really don’t know.) It seems if you love to cook, you probably have been collecting a lot of cookbooks. So, this must be a particularly challenging area for library downsizing. 

Of the dozen that I had in the apartment, I'd kept three cookbooks for the RV kitchen. They were: Better Home and Gardens - classic loose-leaf, 5-ringed edition, Frugal Gourmet, and a really old, paperback Joy of Cooking that I'd been carrying around for decades. I felt rather proud of myself for having eliminated well over half of my collection. Still, after a while, I realized that I didn’t need all three and decided to do something about it. Going only e-recipe cooking wasn't a good option for me. While I do sometimes look up recipes on the Internet, most of the time I prefer the tried and true meals from traditional cookbooks. The recipes that I use tend to be easily made as given or simply modified accorded to my whim or, more often, after the lack of one or another ingredients that are included in the write-up. I also had a collection made up of recipe clips from magazines, Internet print-outs and fully hand-written pages. 

For most of the dishes that I like to make, I choose recipes from cookbooks with traditional American recipes. But then, again, I occasionally want to do some ethnic dishes – mostly Indian, Italian and Mexican. I really don't care much about the photos. Also, fortunately, I had no sentimental cookbook inherits from my mom or grandmas.

What I finally did was keep the Better Homes and Gardens. That was the most useful as it was – minus the meat, fish, and poultry sections that I removed. As a vegetarian, I was 99+% sure that I wouldn't be using anything in those sections. I held onto about forty separate pages of ethnic cooking recipes from the Frugal Gourmet book. It was an old paperback and falling apart, anyway. So, I didn't have to feel so bad about that. I put the Frugal Gourmet pages in the Better Homes and Gardens book, punching holes and separating them into the same food divisions already there.   My diverse recipe clips were transferred to hand-written pages in a special binder that I found on sale at the bookstore. The twenty or so Joy of Cooking pages that I saved were small and fit into plastic page covers in the binder. To tell the truth, a good part of the things in the binder are still in the form of printed pages, computer printouts or magazine clips, awaiting the day, if it ever comes, when I get around to transferring them into nicely hand-written pages.

For those of you who like the idea of cutting back to only a few cookbooks, I urge you to do so. Just start slow and enjoy the activity. Look at one book at a time. Take time to pull the book off the shelf and consider if it's really worth it according to your time and skills. Honor your emotions. Send all those that don't make the cut to someone else, so they'll have a new home. Other books that aren't so valuable  can be donated to the thrift store. You should be happy with the remaining cookbooks. Any other recipe that you might need for some special occasion can easily be found on Internet cooking blogs.

NATURAL HOMEMADE DEODORANT

Some months ago, I read about how bad regular deodorant is for us. It seems that the popular anti-perspirant deodorants contain aluminum chlorhydrate, a toxic compound linked to brain disorders and cancer. Some other new aluminum free anti-perspirants have appeared on the market. But whatever they have in them, if they work at all, stop up the sweat glands and that is also really bad for the immune system.
 

On the basis of this information, I refused to use any toxic deodorant ever again. I had two choices: go without or find a natural deodorant. I’d noticed that sometimes, in colder weather, I could go without using deodorant and not have any noticeable under-arm odor. But in summer and with heavy exercising, I needed some help to avoid a strong odor. I searched out the commercial natural products. It turned out that the natural deodorants that are commercially available are expensive.

There had to be a better way. I decided to make my own. So, I began to read the DIY blogs on the Internet. I tried a few of their recommendations. Some results of this initial experiments smelled strange or included essential oils that were expensive. Others just didn’t work and I ended up stinking. I didn’t give up. I kept on until I made something that was right for me. Eventually I succeeded.

And I’m sharing this effective (for me, at least) deodorant with you. I’ve never experienced any stains on my clothing. I’ve been using it once a day for a year now, and I swear by it. It’s easy to make, there are just a handful of natural ingredients, and it works.

Personal deodorant made from natural oils and cloves.

Clove and Oil Deodorant Recipe

One of those items in this easy homemade deodorant is clove. Cloves are very healthful. They have powerful antifungal, anitibacterial and antiviral properties.  The oils moisturize the skin. What's more, coconut oil is the 12-carbon Lauric Acid. When digested, it forms a monoglyceride called monolaurin. Both of these acids kill harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Ingredients

1/8 cup organic coconut oil

1/8 cup organic olive oil

5 whole organic cloves

You may use a bit of essential clove oil, if you don't want the whole cloves in the jar. Also they may be removed after a couple of days. The nice clove odor will stay on.

Put the ingredients in a small glass jar. (I use old pimiento jars.) Seal with a lid and keep in your bathroom. The process should take you about 5 minutes.

Use your fingers to spread a pea-sized amount under each arm and rub in for a few seconds. On hot summer days it’s totally melted and in winter it somewhat thicker. It still works well, despite temperature fluctuations. 

Your underarms may go through a short detox period when you’re getting used to your new, chemical-free deodorant. Give the deodorant at least 2-3 weeks to decide if it’s working for you. If you sweat a lot throughout the day or during workouts, you may want to reapply the deodorant another time during the day or use a little after-bath talco or organic cornstarch in addition to this product.

I recommend that you try making your own natural deodorant. Look around for some recipes. I believe that you’ll find one you like. It may well be the simple one described here. Beyond that, you’ll feel much better knowing that you are using a deodorant that is healthy for you and not costly to make.

DEPLASTICIZE MY LIFE – BEGIN IN THE KITCHEN, PLEASE!

Plastic is a petroleum product that's part of oil extraction industries. It's everywhere and it's long-term effects are incalculably bad. If you've been reading almost anything current, you’ve heard that our continuous exposure to plastic lowers our immune defenses setting us up for infections and even cancers. And it’s not just in our homes.  Plastics from litter and landfills have fouled up our water where they act as carcinogens and artificial estrogens.  Leached plastic is killing all forms of life in our lakes and oceans. And when marine animals are being poisoned, so are we when we eat any of it.

The plastics industry spends a lot of effort telling us that plastics are OK - that they're recyclable. But that’s a theoretical statement. The reality is that only a fraction of them are recyclable. And most of those that could be reused don't make it to the right place. Also, plastic recycling is energy intensive and, therefore expensive. Beyond that, even after you use the recyclable stuff as a car bumper or a lumber substitute, when it's over, it's over. The next step is the landfill or directly into some river, lake or ocean bottom.

Luckily there are some ways to reduce plastic use – beginning in the home.  And that’s the main reason for my impassioned plea – “DEPLASTICIZE MY LIFE!” Obviously, no one is going to do it for me. I have to do it myself. And it’s not easy and is taking me many weeks. Summing up the deplasticizing strategy: * STOP THE PLASTIC PLAGUE BY REFUSING TO BUY THE STUFF.*  

So, here’s a bit more about my progress, and I’m sharing this to raise awareness (and anger, why not?) about plastic exposure in the home and point out some practical ways that we can reduce that exposure.

There’s even a blog about a woman who spent a whole year without using plastic.  Maybe you and I aren't ready for that yet. But we can minimize our plastic use – beginning today - and redoubling our efforts ASAP.

Beginning my kitchen deplasticizing saga

A year or so ago, I began my deplasticizing saga on a small scale. My new campaign redoublea my efforts. I've begun with the easiest steps and am tackling the harder ones as the days go by. As of now, absolutely, no more plastic shopping bags are brought in. I take my cloth shopping bags with me with a small one where I put all the produce items, together. They have to sort them out at the market check-out counter. But that’s their problem. If they provided small paper bags for those things, they wouldn’t have to do the extra work. I also don't buy products that are wrapped in plastic whenever there is an alternative. Farmers’ markets usually sell their products plastic free, so I do a lot of my shopping, there.

Currently, my kitchen is 80% plastic free. Of course, I may never reach  an absolute of 100% free because there are plastics lids on a lot of things – like, for example, my stainless steel pans and the lid and base of my blender. I wouldn't know where to begin to replace them right now. And, of course, I'm not ready yet to get rid of all electric kitchen items – although I've thought about it – at least for the foreseeable future. I've got an electric refrigerator and stove, all of which have plastic components. 

While I’m almost sure that it doesn't make sense to try to eliminate plastics entirely – even in the kitchen - I'm doing what I can to reduce our food’s exposure to plastic.  It’s a question of a redo organization in the kitchen!  I've read that the most healthy and safest canisters and refrigerator containers for food are glass or stainless steel. So, there’s where I began. All my storage containers now have a glass base. Some still have plastic tops, for now.

New steps on my deplasticizing campaign

After the initial efforts that I just outlined, I began to look around in my kitchen cabinets, drawers and on the counters. Some plastic could be found in all those places. What to do? The first thing I decided to do was to buy absolutely *NO NEW PLASTIC ITEMS*. The heaviest weight stuff  – melamine plates and bowls – the ones that I use frequently, I’m keeping right now. They are still useful for cold lunch items and salads. All the hot stuff and food to be stored is always placed in glass containers.

I also have recently changed out my cooking utensils and the salt, pepper, and spice shakers for stainless steel and glass. It didn't cost me a fortune to do. I shopped around and came up with low-cost substitute items, all for less than five dollars, each.

As for more expensive purchases, I've had to take my time – only one per month. Just last month, I changed out my non-stick (plastic) rice cooker for a stainless steel one. The non-stick pizza maker is next on my list for removal – probably by buying a new countertop oven that accommodates 12-inch pizzas. I need a new one, anyway, and that way I’ll be able to use just one electric product instead of two.

Well, soon, my kitchen may be deplasticized to my satisfaction. But, I'll not stop there and be looking around at other areas of the house that also need a redo. I've already got a start on that. I’ve done away with most plastic containers in other areas of the house – all but, for now, the large storage boxes in the closet. I’m not sure what I could be using – except for, maybe, metal trunks. That would be expensive. So, I'll have to pause on that issue – at least, for now. Finding substitutes for my laundry basket and the waste cans shouldn't be very difficult.

Trade out plastic for stainless steel items.

At the present time, I’ve given up on plastic throwaway pens, pencils, and feminine razors. I use the refillable metal ones and an electric razor. What’s more, all my personal and cleaning products are made from coconut oil, sea salt, vinegar, baking soda, cornstarch, and borax. The dry stuff comes in cardboard boxes and the other usually can be found in glass. If I can’t find something I need except in plastic and it’s in sufficient bulk and not expensive, I may choose it.  With these products, what I'm more concerned with is the use of non-toxic substances. Still, I transfer as much of these as I can to smaller glass containers. I currently buy a non-toxic bath soap bar, but I’d like to make my own soap bars sometime soon.

As you can see, deplasticizing is an adventure. It took us (people on this planet) less than 70 years – post 1950 – to get to this terrible state of affairs. But, I've challenged myself that before this year is out, my home will be 90% plastic free. Will you join me in this campaign?

MY (ALMOST ALL) HOMEMADE LIQUID DISH SOAP

Making your own household cleaning products isn't really such a big deal – but it may seem that way at first. The truth is that it’s actually easier than you may think. It’s all a matter of routines. That’s what I told myself when I began this adventure with homemade laundry detergent. And on my very first try, happily, it that turned out to be an excellent product - far superior and much cheaper than anything I could buy at the big box store.  .

After that, I felt that I could also make my own homemade liquid dish soap - something that I use a lot of  because I totally lack a dish wash machine. (And that's a condition that I've had most of my adult life, making me a more-than-experienced dishwasher by hand.) It turned out that all my early tries at making a homemade dish soap failed – for months. And all those trials were in contrast to my homemade laundry detergent that was a success from the very first.

The recipes for homemade dish soap – and there are many of them online - kept falling short of my needs. Most weren’t soap-like at all. Some were slippery and thin and others just didn’t suit me at all because they left a nasty oily scum on the dishes. After many tries, I finally came up with something that works for me.  The recipe that I’m following now leaves squeaky-clean dishes and glassware and rinses off without any residue. And I don’t hesitate to share with others.  It takes only a few minutes to make – in my case, that’s 5 minutes about twice a week. That's pretty good return for my time considering that I've lowered my dish soap bill to about 15% of what it was just a few months ago.

The best part of it is that this homemade dish soap is earth-friendly. We all know that most commercial dish soaps are loaded with toxins, and even some of the "green" cleaners contain harsh chemicals. Beyond that, the second ingredient in many popular store brands is sodium lauryl sulfate, something that is considered to be a health-hazard and a carcinogen. So, why continue using products that we know are bad for us and for the environment? And that, especially, when we come across a recipe for an eco-friendly liquid dish soap that is non-toxic and does a great job.

This dish soap is non-toxic, cheap and works! 

Ingredients
-1 and 1/2 cups of boiling hot water (with some lemon, orange and/or grapefruit peels thrown in, if you like a bit of pleasant odor).

- 3 heaping tablespoons of grated laundry soap

-1 teaspoons of super washing soda

- 1 teaspoons of borax

Using your homemade dish soap
I use a funnel to put all the dry ingredients in a glass 2-quart, recycled fruit juice bottle. Next, I dump in the almost boiling water - having removed the fruit peels - in the bottle and stir vigorously with a chopstick. Then, I add a quart of plain cool water and shake it all up.

So, as you  see, this recipe is super easy. You just make up the batch right in the bottle. It’s initially somewhat liquid but it thickens up after it cools. If it’s too thick later on, just shake it up,  add a little warm water, and give it a good shake. It'll do fine.

As to the dishwashing method, this may take a bit of a variation over what you usually do with commercial products. I transfer a quarter cup or so of the liquid to a plastic bowl and wash my dishes with the dish rag, separately – meaning that I don’t let the dishes soak together and rinse them, one-by-one. The soap suds up only the slightest bit on the rag and it's better not to add more water to the rag while washing a dish (or a few dishes at a time, depending on the amount of grease to be eliminated).

NOTES: The amount of thickeners needed - washing soda and borax - may vary some, depending on your water supply, so adjust accordingly. Although I wouldn’t want everyone to quote me on this, you may still have to throw in a couple of squirts of a commercial dish soap (the most natural one you can find) to be sure that you get great results. Sure, that’s an added expense but it may be the best way to go with very hard water - like I have.  I only have to buy one small bottle of commercial soap every three months. For me, it's well worth the extra few cents.

The homemade dish soap that I make doesn't hurt my hands. But, it may bother yours - washing soda and borax are fairly strong chemicals. So, be prepared to use gloves for dish washing if you notice any skin redness or itching.

Related post
HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT IS A NO-BRAINER

STOP USING THROWAWAY PRODUCTS, RIGHT NOW.

There are some things that we do without thinking because they've become a habit - at home, in the car, in schools, at our work places, even as part of our social life. They are so common that we don’t see them for what they are. We've even been made to believe that throwaway items are part of our "rights" to have an easier life and reduce unwelcome work. Well, think again. Those “disposable” products that you use almost daily have a rather small cost to you - or, at least, it appears at the time. But they have a huge cost for the environment and most will never be recycled, ending up at dumps where they take up space for years or centuries or getting incinerated where they poison the skies over our cities and farms. And some of them, especially the soft plastics, are a real danger to your health.

Say "no" to food-related plastics.*

Plastics are made from toxic substances that contaminate earth, air and water, both in their manufacturing and in their disposal as trash. Once created, plastics are non-biodegradable, and while they can be transformed, but they don’t go away. Only about 5% of plastics ever get recycled. Burning and putting them in landfills only removes them from our immediate vicinity, but their toxic waste will make it back into the environment. The presence of plastic trash around us, or anywhere they get to, continues to poison our air, water systems, rivers, and oceans. For everyone, plastics in the environment mean added risks of cancer and birth defects. For many species of animals and fish, it has already created much illness and is accelerating their extinction.

You'll want to have the least contact with soft plastics as possible. When people use plastic packages for foods, the chemicals tend to filter from the packaging to the foods they contain. It’s worse yet when plastic containers are heated in microwave ovens because that accelerates the migration of toxic substances.

The only way to reduce the damage that is done by plastics is to cut back on their use, and thereby, overtime, slowing their industrial production. You can do your part to overcome this problem by refusing to buy plastic products. That means trying to extend the lifetime of the useful existing plastic items that you already have and refusing to buy new ones, even if that creates some personal inconvenience. Start by saying "no" to throwaway products. You’ll save money, be healthier for it, and do good for the earth -- all at the same time.

- Tell the sales person that you want paper instead of plastic cups at the fast-food window. Stop going to places that only have plastic throwaway cups.

- Buy fresh food products, whenever possible, and carry your own paper or cloth bags to the markets. Ask the man behind the counter that you want your meat or cheese wrapped in paper instead of plastic.

- When you buy processed foods, search for those that come in glass bottles or metal cans. Buy larger-sized products so that the containers can be reused; recycle them when you're finished.

- Make sure your using as few cleaning products as possible. Look for large-size packages or containers for these products. That way you won’t have to buy so much plastic on a regular basis. Reuse or recycle all these containers.

- Don’t buy plastic bags or plastic wrap. Wax paper and butcher paper are excellent products for your temporary food storage and lunch bag needs. If you want neater packaging, you can use a bit of tape to hold the paper together.

- Whenever possible, use paper bags for the kitchen trash. Of course, someone in your family will occasionally come home with plastic bags. When that happens, reuse them for trash or as lunch bags. All extra plastic bags should be carried to the supermarket for recycling. None, except the dirtiest one, should go into the household trash. If you are required to use a large plastic bag for trash removal day, line your largest trash can with it, and make sure that is the only plastic bag you use during the week.

- Don’t buy plastic throwaway drinks. Always carry your own metal drinking container and water when you leave the house. When you have to buy or carry an occasional drink outside the house, look for the aluminum cans. Serve drinks from bulk containers or provide canned drinks at gatherings. Cans have a much better chance of being efficiently recycled than plastics.

- Don’t heat or store fatty or acid foods in plastic containers. You’ll heat and store just as well and avoid risks, using the glass containers that you've recycled

Say: "No." to excess paper use, too.*
Just a few years ago, almost nobody thought about the use of paper products in the home and office. We used a lot and wasted even more. Paper was cheap, and if anyone mentioned all that wood being used for paper, the easy answer was that trees were totally "renewable" resources. We know that that planned re-growth was mostly a fantasy and that our wasting of paper is inexcusable if we hope to save more of our forests. Clearly, it isn’t possible, or reasonable, to eliminate all paper usage in the home – we definitely need some toilet paper and paper for print outs from the computer. On the other hand, with a bit of effort, we can get “greener” on this issue and reduce our paper consumption a lot. Here are some of ways that you can cut back on or recycle paper products.

- At home, use dishes for food and not paper plates. Take your own dishes and utensils to picnics and other large-scale events. (You don't have to ask permission on this, just show up with your own and use them. If others don't understand, explain it to them.)

- Use rags and kitchen towels instead of paper towels. They're free or very cheap and completely re-usable. Kitchen towels don't need to be expensive or you can easily make them at home. Old newspaper is great for cleaning up spills and for cleaning windows glass and mirrors.

- Use cloth napkins and forget about paper napkins. Make your own napkins out of an easily washable fabric or buy small white terry-cloth towels – the kind that can be bought in bulk at the hardware store.

- For computer printing, be sure to print on both sides of your paper. Cut the paper in half if you needed only a small piece of it printed. Use the rest for printing or as note paper.

- Carry home and use scrap paper from work (or any other place where you can get it).

- Pay bills on-line (or by phone). Use email instead of writing letter and notes and get your news from the Internet rather than newspapers or magazines.

- Use washcloths instead of face wipes and cloth handkerchiefs instead of tissues. These last for many years. At home, use cloth diapers and plastic over-wraps. Paper diapers are justifiable only when the child is taken out of the house for several hours at a time. You can carry an extra paper diaper for quick changes.

- Carefully, unwrap gifts and save gift-wrap paper for future reuse. Also save cardboard boxes for storage or shipping containers. When possible, ship in paper envelopes instead of cardboard boxes and recycle crumpled paper as padding for shipping or storing fragile items.

- Save greeting cards and calendar art for craft use by cutting out shapes or pictures. And send e-cards instead of paper cards.

**These sections were adapted from earlier posts to Grandma Susan's Almanac Calendar, Dec. 2010.)

DIY SHAMPOO & SHOWERING SCRUB - GIVE IT A TRY

Years ago, in Mexico, a couple I knew told me that they had given up using soap and were showering only with water. Not only were they soap-free at that time, during a rather arduous 4-day aikido camp, but had been doing it for almost a year. They said that, for them, washing with soap - hands included - caused the skin to lose its natural resistance to germs – and, what’s more, that body odor resulted from frequent use of soap and water.  My husband (wasn't then, is now) and I laughed at that possibility. But we were forced to admit that this couple didn't stink any more than the rest of us – what was more than a bit, I must say, with all due respect to our training group, after  back-to-back two-hour training sessions. Nevertheless, our immediate thought was that the no-soap thing must be some leftover custom from the 60’s, even though the hippie era was over by at least a generation at that time. On the other hand, I have to admit that ditching the soaping-up routine was intriguing to me.

At the time, my husband and I couldn't imagine taking a no-soap shower - something we thought was highly imaginative and possibly unhygienic. But a number of years have gone by and now,  speaking for myself and not necessarily for my husband,  and I have had to question many things that we used to do in an almost robotic way just because somebody told us we should be doing it. Also, I read that a large number of regular people now live soap-free. Deciding to go without commercial soap for bathing and, possibly, for shampooing has finally ended up on my list of things to try. So far, I'm in my second week of no-soap showering, and it's all good, thus far. No shampoo hair care - without passing through a really itchy scalp phase - may still prove to be tricky. Time will tell.

It seemed to me that the most common reason people were using so much soap was because they'd been told – by constant commercial reminding - that they needed it. And, maybe all those harsh chemicals really messed up our bodies' skin oils balance. That might be the reason for so many skin problems that we are seeing at this time. Could it be that our supposed “need” for antibacterial solutions was somehow related? I wasn’t sure but decided that I would continue to hand wash with soap at most of the recommended – before food prep, after toilet - times of the day. (I never carry or use antibacterial products, except when traveling, when I can’t be sure to have sufficient water for hand washing for hours at a time.)

We’ve been programmed as super-consumers to wash our body every day with soap, wash our hair with shampoo most every day, and buy expensive products for all of this. Maybe it’s our over-use of hygiene products that caused us to smell bad in the first place? We've probably hyper-sensitized ourselves to body odor because of all the perfumed stuff that we’ve been using. When you “overkill” on ridding yourself of smells from natural oil, the body compensates by producing more oil, and you often end up with a bigger problem in the long run. Then, we find ourselves needing more specialized products to correct the problems we, ourselves, produced. All this, and not to say anything about the “need” for dermatologists to “fix” whatever skin problems we haven’t been able to solve.

Trying out the no-soap routine

Anyway, as to my initial self-convincing arguments, I’ve always had the idea that we, as sensible people, wanting to live healthy and sustainably, don't need a bunch of commercially marketed products rubbed on our bodies every day of the week. Anyway, two years ago, I stopped shampooing my hair every other day, something that I did faithfully for decades, in favor of once every 10 to 14 days. It seems that shampoo cleanses your hair but, at the same time, strips out all the natural oils. That causes the scalp to produce more oil to replace the natural oils. You end up washing your hair often because it gets greasy right away.

My results with less frequent shampooing have been acceptable, but I’ve also found out that, to cure occasional scalp itchiness, I need to do 100 brush strokes of my shoulder-length hair several times a week. I never could get the habit of brushing 100 strokes every day, as was recommended in the hygiene books in the middle of the 20th century. Later, that kind of rigorous brushing routine was totally lost - disclaimed - as an unnecessary custom when people started washing hair weekly or more often.

By the way, I haven't done any kind of hair dye for almost a decade. And I have gray hair that I’m proud of. My underarm care - without soap - remains the same. I use nothing at all or a bit of talcum powder when it’s really hot outside or when I’m going to be under some kind of foreseeable physical or emotional stress. From my experience, smelly feet, caused by wearing boots and closed tennis shoes, are best overcome by using clean, dry cotton socks and a bit of talcum powder inside the shoes.

Added to all this, I'll share with you some personal history that provides more arguments in favor of the no-soap experiment.

You may have heard or remember that regular people didn't bathe every day until the middle 1950's. Did they stink? Well, some did but not as many as might suppose. In our family, back then, young girls were taught to bathe – no showers at the time – 2 or 3 times a week, when possible, and to wash the hair once every 2 weeks. Liquid castille soap was a usual shampooing item. Women and girls used a rinse of eight-to-one, water to vinegar, solution after washing.  This kept the hair healthy and relatively oil free. Vinegar contains acids and enzymes that kill the bacteria that lead to dry crust conditions causing dandruff and other scalp conditions. The DIY vinegar hair rinse, used at that time, seemed to be an adequate treatment for the usual 2 weeks between shampoos. At least, no one I knew had any major scalp issues.

Anyway, since the first days of this month of October, I’ve not used any soap while showering. Do I stink? No, I definitely don’t. I still shower daily for about 5 minutes, the same time I did when I used soap. Amazingly enough there was no adjustment time. From the first day, I felt squeaky clean. My dry skin is gone, and the hard to exfoliate rough skin on my legs is disappearing. As to the no-shampoo experiment, it’s only now time to wash my hair, and I’ll let you know later about this, later.  

Now, before you think that you can just enter the shower, rinse off and jump out clean, think again! You can’t be lazy and just stand there under the shower. I believe that it's important to rub a soft washcloth with  some kind of DIY non-soap scrub, all over your body, the same as if you were using soap.

Make your own DIY showering scrub

You'll need –

Sea salt

Apple cider vinegar (ACV is best but you can use the vinegar that you have on hand to get started)

Olive oil

Instructions (You can vary the proportions of  the 3 ingredients however you like.))

-          Take a large mixing bowl and pour in 3 tablespoons of 100% sea salt.

-          Mix in 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

-          Stir the paste together until the salt is blended in a consistent texture.

 -          Pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  

-          Stir the mixture until uniform. 

-          Pour the scrub mixture into a bottle – plastic is always safer to use in the tub. Fasten the lid tightly. 

-          To use the scrub, stand in the shower stall and shake up the mixture. 

-          Turn on the shower and put a dab of the scrub solution on your washrag. 

-          Use just as you would soap. (I usually end up diluting this mixture, somewhat, with a combination of shower and washrag water.)

-          Rinse yourself thoroughly afterwards to remove any leftover salt and oil.

It’s possible that the same scrub mixture will work OK for hair washing, too. Try it and see how it works for you. That's what I plan to do. Just like shampoo, it’s important to shut or just barely open your eyes to avoid eye irritation. No bubbles are produced but scalp cleansing occurs, nonetheless, according to reports. See notes below.

If you tend to have oily hair, you can prepare a baking soda paste for the scalp instead of using your DIY scrub. (I’ve read this, but not had to resort to it - yet. It certainly seems worth trying.) The somewhat thick scalp-scrub paste is made with baking soda and water, along with a couple of drops of olive oil mixed up in a small bowl just before hari washing. You use this paste just like shampoo.   Rinse hair and scalp twice - once with the vinegar solution, mentioned above, and again, with just water.

Note (added later the same day)
After shampooing with the DIY scrub, my scalp seems to be good and clean. Hair smells good and is soft with the oil acting as a conditioner. I did have to add water to the mix in order to get the "shampoo" feel as I massaged the mixture on my scalp. I rinsed my hair thoroughly under the shower and didn't use a vinegar rinse.

2nd note (added three days after the DIY scrub head wash)
Sadly, it turns out that the DIY scrub, while doing fine as a body wash, hasn't been as successful as a shampooing method. My hair is greasy - back to the drawing board on that question. I think it would be better to use only a couple of drops of olive oil with those proportions of vinegar and sea salt. I'll be trying that out soon...

3rd note (2 and a half months later). Still showering & shampooing with my concoction. Has varied just a bit. I use less olive oil. All that wasn't necessary for my skin type & definitely oiled up my hair too much.

4th note (2014) Now lathering up hair with a healthy (I hope) regular soap bar - the kind that, according to its label, doesn't have sodium laurel sulfate or parabens in it - and thoroughly rinsing with my DIY without any olive oil.

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IN THIS FIRST FULL MOON OF SUMMER: TAKE TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES.

The sweet smell of midsummer roses.

After reading a recent article on how the unnecessary “busyness” of our society is making us sick, I decided to celebrate the midsummer full moon (July 3) by being strategically “un-busy.” And I’ll share with you one of my reflections (a time-honored guidance): remember to smell the roses.

One way or another, we aren’t going to see this (particular) midsummer again – ever. So, we need to appreciate it. Reveling in the sweet smell of July roses isn’t only for light-weights and vacationers, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re lazy. It is the very makings of human life. And, if we’re too involved being busy to enjoy moments of quiet sanity, then we’re destined to be anxious and unhappy people.

If the stars (and planets and moons) are correctly interpreted, then we can expect a lot of difficulties later on this summer. We need to use these first few days of July for reflection on how we use our time. Space and quiet can give us the inspiration we need to better understand our lives and to center ourselves, not only as admirers of, but also as part of natural processes – like the seasons, the land, the plants, and wildlife. By taking time to be relaxed in nature (staying in the now), we prepare ourselves (in a much better way than yard work, exercising at the gym, or seeing more movies) for meaningful work and for facing unexpected adversity. Yes, of course, most of us have paid work, housework and other pressing obligations. But, nearly all of us have some time off during the week or weekend, and we owe it to ourselves and to our Earth to stop doing so many things that hardly matter and use our precious hours more wisely.

Also, what we do, day-by-day, is the true example that our children (and grandchildren) have. Teaching them to do more (and more and more) with the hope that they excel - by the standards of our current burdensome society - isn’t the best way to help our children in the long run. It will only guarantee that they are as anxious as most of the grownups around them. We need to teach our children priorities. And roses and some carefree time in July are what it’s really all about. Children need to play, and a part of summer play should be outdoors. Extreme heat levels aside - there are always a few hours of the morning when walks can be taken or a garden hose can be turned on for improvised water play. And, whenever possible, some of their activities ought to be carried out in an unstructured way with minimal adult interference.

In May, I attended my granddaughter’s graduation from preschool. At the ceremony, the school director said some wise words. She said that the most important thing that we can give our children is a solid religious background. Soccer games, music lesson, even academic enrichment classes all can be nice, if not bombarded at children like target ball games at the fairgrounds. All those things are secondary. It’s the core beliefs that we instill in our children will (or won't) sustain them through life’s conflicts. For this reason, its our first duty to be sure that our children have a sound basis for living.

Seeing that our children have some religious instruction isn’t good enough. They will tend to follow what they see at home and in their neighborhood. Don’t let that be a never-ending stream of make-work activities. We can't be good models for our children if our own lives have strayed away from enduring principals. Use the plentiful energy of the first days of July to smell the roses and choose time and heart over money, prestige, and material things.

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THE NEW MOON CYCLE CAN HELP YOU MAKE LIFE CHANGES.
CHOOSE WHOLE-FAMILY ACTIVITIES FOR AN ENJOYABLE AND EARTH-FRIENDLY SUMMER.
LEARN HOW TO BE HEALTHY THE "NATURAL WAY"
VISION BOARDS AND THE NEW MOON CYCLE.

 

TAKE GRANDMA'S 100 THING CHALLENGE

Despite the materialistic hype that's pounding at us every day, having overflowing basements, closets, garages, and drawers doesn’t make us better or more attractive people. And, it won't make us miraculously happy either - quite possibly the opposite. I think a lot of us feel that in our bones, but where do we start? A book and blog have been written about this dilemma. It’s about the 100 Thing Challenge, and it tells us how one person pared down his worldly possessions to an amazing, minimalist 100 things. He says that he’s been convinced by his experience. Here's what he recommends to reach such a goal: "Reduce (get rid of some of your stuff); Refuse (to get more new stuff); and  Rejigger (your priorities)."

I bet you'll feel joyful and spiritually uplifted, too, if you take on your own minimalist challenge. This is, of course, a tough choice to make. Many, if not most, US households have so many extra things. So, paring back to 100 – even a 1000 - things may seem like a monumental task. It’s clearly a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly – especially when there are other family members who may not want to sign on to such an ordeal.

Grandma's 100 Thing Challenge

It’s a smaller challenge, by far, than living with only 100 things but I believe it’s something we all can do and feel good about. It makes minimalism a work in progress. So, start out slow and do a little at a time. That way, it won't be so much of a burden. You’ll know that you can halt the process if suddenly you see (or feel) the need. My challenge to you is to give up one thing - duplicated in function or unused in several months - in your home every day for 100 days. Then, if you like the results you can continue giving up some more things for another 100 days, and so on. Maybe, then, you'll find just the right number of things for you - 100, 200, 300, etc.

Whatever the number of things you can get rid of, you'll be living without that much household disorganization and have more time to do meaningful things for yourself and others. Like many others, the very clutter and dust-accumulation around may be so depressing that you go out to shop for new things or plan more vacation trips - just to get out of the house.

I believe that people find grace through balance, and we can only achieve this when we take control of our own lives (not having our belongings own us) and pursue what's really important. Possessions, beyond a bare minimum, just get in the way. Having a suburban McMansion, despite the TV and movie hype, isn't “living the good life”. When we endlessly acquire more things, including duplicating stuff in our homes, we never settle in and enjoy what we've got.

Over and over, we’ve mistakenly told ourselves that life wouldn’t be complete without this "special" thing we are buying. But just as soon as this thing is brought home and tucked away, we start out the next day to the mall or the big box store to look for the next "special" thing - in what ends up being a never ending process. We mindlessly seek that momentary reward of finding that next thing - whatever it is and whether we need it or not. With this kind of consumerism, we are the dog chasing our own tail. You can just stop that cycle.

This is what the 100 Thing Challenge is about. If you try for a certain period - say, two or three months - to not buy anything beyond your basic needs, while recycling and repurposing all you can, you'll have a great sense of liberation. You will find that very few things make the new purchase cut - a useful tool, a book, a good wine, a small gift for someone who needs cheering. And, hey, you don't have to ditch family photos and heirlooms. The very best can be incorporated, into your new, organized lifestyle or given to a loved one who promises to cherish them.

Grandma's take on this challenge
If you remember, I already recommended the wardrobe editing challenge. For me, personally, wardrobe editing meant paring back to a total of 50 items. I continue to practice the wardrobe discipline - just buying a new item - usually the thrift store variety - when I really don't like something I have or have worn it out.

I give back the no-longer wanted items to charity or tear them apart, to use as fabric strips (or yarn, in the case of sweaters) to make needlework and other craft projects. I must say that I've seldom regretted giving something away or had a hard time replacing an item that later I found I needed. My personal goal is to have only enough needed for daily life and make absolutely no frivolous purchases. That means taking home nothing that hasn't been considered for at least a week. I’ll cheerfully give up just about anything with only a few exceptions. My rule is: If I haven't used it in three months, I can probably live perfectly well without it.

So, here’s where I’ve started with my own paring down process. Everything is fair game right now, except:
- Stuff that’s my husband’s
- Some few books
- Good quality and super useful tools for crafts and for fixing things.
- Collections count as one item. If everything goes in one small case, I count it as one item. But I can and will edit objects from any collection that I have.

I’ll know I’m well on my way to winning this challenge when all my personal things, including clothing, fit comfortably into a tiny room room or one small commercial storage locker.

Steps to begin your 100 Things Challenge
Put one item in the Challenge Box every day for 100 days.
Things that are "just trash" need to go out and not be included in this box.
Start out with duplicated items. Then move on to things that haven’t been used in 3 or more months
Make a list of what goes in the Challenge Box and add boxes as needed.
Take a picture of each box as it fills up, if you want a visual record.

After 100 days, you'll have accomplished these things
- Big “give-away” pile for charity
- Plans and organization to have a garage sale. To make sure that most stuff goes, try labeling a majority of items with "Make me an offer." (You might try selling the really valuable things on EBay.)
- Happier for having a lot less to store and/or dust.
- A bit more money in your pocket or savings account because you are thoroughly aware of what it means to buy and hold on to so many useless things.

Where to from there
So, I hope you start out your minimalism challenge by choosing to get rid of 100 things. You'll find it's true that the less you have, the less you have to worry about. You’ll amaze yourself at how free you feel - no longer burdened by the need to organize, store and maintain all that stuff. Just keep on paring down and you’ll feel even better. And that relief can be extended to other areas - if you're both convinced and brave. (You might try a week-long camping trip to see if 100 (or even less) items are enough to live with on the short term.) Besides your belongings, you could then move on to other minimalistic challenges that can cover other areas that tend to complicate our existence and contribute to the carbon burden of the Earth, such as:
- New digital gadgetry
- Media consumption
- Costly dietary items
- Non-essential energy and water use
- Long-distance and long-commute travel

Related posts
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