Chemical free cleaning - all purpose cleaning

So as many of my readers know, since my Dad got sick with cancer, I have tried to eliminate carcinogenic chemicals from my home. I like to use Australian made natural cleaning products in my house. I mostly use Earth Choice products, because they're not petrochemically based - most of the ingredients for the cleaners (and in some cases the bottles) are plant based.

To buy these products, I spend quite a lot of money. I live with two messy teenagers, do about 5 large loads of washing a week, about a million loads through the dishwasher and am always cleaning the shower after the ferals!  If the bathroom hand basin was ever clean after they'd used it, I would have a parade for them!!

This year my husband (yup, we finally worked it all out.....) and I have set ourselves a massive savings goal. It is going to mean a few sacrifices, from really expensive craft beers, brewery trips, eating out and clothes shopping, to things like cheaper meals a few nights a week, and no more expensive cleaning products. It's a really big savings goal!!!

Now I do really love the products I use, so coming up with something to replace them, not so easy.




I have made Thermofun's lemon cleaner quite a few times now, and have found it to be fabulous for surface cleaning, especially the bathrooms etc - but I need a good spray cleaner. When I put the cleaning concentrate into a spray bottle, I find it clogs the nozzle - and it didn't quite cut through greasy kitchen messes. I also LOVE this concentrate in my dishwasher. I use it every second wash instead of a dishwasher tablet - and I find that the Finish dishwasher cleaners that I used to run monthly are now redundant.

Here is a link to the Thermofun Lemon Cleaner Recipe
http://thermofun.com/thermofun-everyday-basics-lemon-cleaning-concentrate-2/

So to make my own multi purpose spray, I started by using Thermomfun's basic recipe, with a couple of small changes (because I want it to be easy enough for me to remember without referencing a recipe.....because I hate recipes)

Lemon Cleaning Concentrate

300g Lemons cut into quarters
300g cooking salt
300g white vinegar
300g water

       Quarter lemons and add to TM bowl. Chop 30 sec / speed 10. 

       Transfer the lemon into a pot and add the salt and water and vinegar and cook for 10 mins on the        stove.

Pour lemon mixture into the TM bowl and blend 90 seconds/speed 5 (gradually increasing speed to speed 9)

Tip mix into jars and seal. Immediately do a turbo rinse on your bowl

The thermofun recipe I adapted suggests you cook on the stove as a chemical reaction between salt/vinegar and lemon may affect your bowl. I quadrupled the recipe and cooked it in a big stock pot, so it wouldn't fit in the thermomix.

So as I mentioned I needed to do something a little different for the spray cleaner. I had a million lemons to use up, so I decided to refine the Lemon Concentrate to turn it into a cleaner. Here is my result.

Lemon and Eucalyptus Multi Purpose Spray

1 quantity of Lemon Cleaning Concentrate (see recipe above)
10 grams Eucalyptus oil
150g dishwashing liquid

After making cleaning concentrate, let the mixture cool in thermomix bowl, when at around 40° (or a safe temperature to touch) squeeze it through a nut milk bag. This will remove any small lumps of seeds or skin that remain and make the concentrate super smooth.

Rinse bowl thoroughly to ensure no lumps remain stuck to the edge or are under the blades.

Add strained concentrate back into TM bowl and add eucalyptus oil and dishwashing detergent then blend 1 minute/speed 4 to combine ingredients thoroughly.

Put into jars (and label well, it looks like the most delicious lemon butter) .


1/4 cup concentrate per bottle, with warm water will make a brilliant spray cleanser, and won't clog up the nozzle of your spray bottle. This smells divine, and both lemon and eucalyptus are natural anti bacterial agents. The dishwashing liquid helps to cut through grease.

The best part is, it works out to around 7c per bottle if you can source the lemons for free like I always do.

Here is the math from the batch I made today (which is 3x the recipe) 

900g generic cooking salt .92c
900ml generic vinegar .49c

150ml dishwash liquid .74c
10g eucalyptus oil (optional) $.40

total cost $2.55

(I used home brand salt and vinegar and Earth Choice dishwashing liquid. The salt cost $1.09 so did the vinegar. The dish washing liquid is $2.49 for 500ml. The oil I use is about $8 for 200ml)

The $2.55 actually made me 3 large jars of the concentrate, and then 2 large jars (weighing in at 1500g) of the concentrate, roughly half and half.

Half the salt  .46
Half the vinegar .25
Dish liquid .74
Eucalyptus oil .40

Total cost for 1.5 litres of concentrate $1.85

I use 1/4 cup per bottle, which works out to approx 24 bottles.

$1.85/24=.07c per bottle!

To put that in perspective the brand I used to use is $3.40 per bottle.
Multiply that by 24 = $81.60

So I have saved $79.75 just on spray cleaner.

Most importantly for me and my family, we have reduced chemicals, and our house is clean and fresh.

If anyone is interested in learning how I save money in the laundry with washing powder, laundry liquid and how I even save on fabric softeners or if you just enjoyed this post, comment below!

Love and light to you all

M xx

Falling off the wagon in style

So recently I lost 6kg in 12 days. It was so easy, I just gave up sugar. All sugar. I did it after I'd read That Sugar Book, by Damon Gameau. My business was promoting a film I was bringing to the local cinema about the effects of sugar in our body, and I was psyched to jump on the sugar free lifestyle and help my body heal.  I have to admit, I felt wonderful.

I had the energy I needed for the daily trips to visit my Mum and Dad, to look after the kids and my house and I felt a vibrance I hadn't felt for years. The weight falling of honestly was just a happy coincidence. Then it happened.

My father was admitted to hospital. As I sat by his bedside, listening to doctors speak, my mind was screaming out for things I thought I no longer needed. Cigarettes, coke, chocolate, any sugar would have done. As the news from the doctors worsened throughout the afternoon, the cravings overtook me. Completely. I caved into these overpowering desires, and began a fortnight long indulgence.

I adored my Dad. He was quiet, but oh so very cheeky, and he loved me and my sister very much. He didn't say it all the time, but his actions spoke very loudly. Everyone who knew Dad loved him, his laid back manner and his quick wit shone through despite his shyness. After a beer or two, this quiet man was even funnier, and he enjoyed nothing more than a quiet beer with the fellas after a game of bowls. He was a one eyed Collingwood supporter (you can't have good taste in everything), and because he was a bit of a Working Class Man, he loved Barnsey. Most of all, he loved my Mum. They often say that the best gift a father can give a daughter is to love her mother, he did. Until his final breath.

Our final days with Dad were more painful for me than anything I've ever experienced. Holding someone's hand while they are in such pain is soul torturing. Mum and I were with him almost every moment in his last days, holding his hand, talking to him, telling him we loved him. At times, my pain was so bad I would have to take a break. During these times I needed a quick hit. Anything that would take away my pain, even if for a second. In a hospital, this is found in a vending machine. Sugar, sugar everywhere! I was grabbing coke, chocolate, lollies - the cigarettes crept back in by first night. My heart was breaking and I was self medicating with things that had worked in the past to keep myself together in stressful times.

We are so very lucky that my Dad's father, sister and brother made it to his bedside a day before he passed. Some of our dearest friends also made the trip to support Mum and I and to say their goodbyes to Dad. We were all in the room when he passed. He was surrounded by love, and his final day was painless.

In my family, I am the strong one. I'm the one who can keep it all together, for my kids, for my Mum, and for Dad. I promised him that I would look after her when he was gone, and I am, and I will continue to do so. The problem is, I'm not looking after me. The last two weeks have been a blur for me, for my family I have to be strong, to hold it together, but when I go to bed at night, I cry to the point of exhaustion. I'm not sleeping well and having nightmares. I wake in the morning and start with the self medication to attempt to fill a void that food can't fill.

I am not looking after myself at all and I'm starting to become symptomatic again. My daily pain is returning, I'm so tired and lethargic that I am starting the day with 4-5 coffees (all with sugar of course - because sugar found it's way back into my cup quickly). Intellectually I know that what I am doing is not helping, but emotionally the sugar helps. If the national average is 40 teaspoons of sugar a day, I could conservatively say I've doubled it.

A few days after Dad passed, I had arranged 2 screenings of That Sugar Film at the local cinema. They spoke in the film of the strong emotional attachment we have to sugar. I never thought I relied on sugar on an emotional level, but I obviously do. It was the very first thing I 'needed' when things got tough. As my heart broke more and more, sugar was the glue holding it together. The void in the pit of my stomach is still being filled with sugar, and for a short while after I feel better. Until I don't again. I am trying to be kind to myself, to allow my soul time to repair and I am not going to chastise myself for the choices I'm making at the moment. I am working on a plan to jump back on the bandwagon though, because this morning it hit me.

I have so many people I need to look after, so many people to check in on, to have lean on me. If I don't put me first, and look after myself - I won't be here when they need me. So I need to be ok, I need to be strong, I need to be the healthiest version of me I can be, because the one I am as I write this won't have the energy to look after the ones I love.  I need to do it for my kids, for my mum, for dad, and most importantly - for me.

So watch this space. I will be back, stronger, healthier and doing it for myself. Without sugar.


(it seems almost pointless to sign off like this)

Just Eat Real Food!!!!

Much Love,

Marney xxx