Clean Living 80/20 Style

We need to establish what clean living is.  In my opinion it means to eat whole foods and to use natural, organic, non toxic products for cleaning, and personal use.

Lets establish what 80% of the time means.  lol  I know it sounds silly, but just to be clear.  If you eat 6 small meals a day, making sure that at least 4 of those meals are whole food meals.  Then, making sure that of all the personal products you use, at least 80% of those are natural, organic products.

We do not live on a homestead.  We do not raise chickens for meat, only eggs.  We do not have pigs or cows for meat or milk.  We have a garden for vegetables, but do not raise our own grains.

So, here is a list of the packaged foods I currently buy.  I wish it was shorter, but I would say that 99% of what we purchase are organic and/or non GMO foods:

Breakfast Items:  Granola Bars, Zing Bars, Granola,  Milk, Almond Milk, Half and Half, Butter, Yogurt, Oats, Pure Maple Syrup and Honey

Lunch/Snack Items:  Peanut Butter, Jam, Bread, Turkey and Ham from Trader Joe’s, Wild Caught Tuna, Crackers, Kettle Chips, Blue Corn Chips, Back to Nature Cheese Crackers, Back to Nature Snack Pack Cookies, Barbara’s Cheese Puffs, TJ Mustard, Organic Mayo (or I make my own), Chocolate Chips (regular and sugar free), Coconut Sugar, Swerve sweetener, Stevia, Non Bleached Flour, Coconut Flour, Nuts, Shredded Coconut, Cocoa Powder, Vanilla, Baking Soda, Arrow Root, TJ Caramel Sauce ( I have made my own)  and Chocolate Sauce (I sometimes make my own), Cottage Cheese, Organic Popcorn.

Dinner Items: Pasta, Seasonings, Ketchup, BBQ Sauce, Avocado Oil, Coconut Oil, Vinegar, Brown Rice, some Salad Dressing, Smoked Gouda Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, White Cheddar Tillamook Cheese, Face Rock Garlic Cheese, Sour Cream, Chicken and Beef Broth, Salsa, Raw Tortilla’s, Annie’s organic mac & cheese (for the kids), beef, chicken and bacon (from the butcher). Most all items are Organic, Non GMO and from Trader Joes.

About 2 years ago I began switching my cleaning products to natural and pure products.   I “thought” that Mrs. Meyers, Method, Seventh Generation and Dr. Watkins were good products to use.

The labels and the websites claim that are all natural, pure products.  However, after some research of the ingredient lists, I have learned, they are not so much.

Many of their products contain ingredients that are considered Toxic. You can read more about those on an earlier post of mine, “0%Toxic Cleaner”.

Below are the cleaning and personal products we are currently using (some of them are not what I call clean or natural):

All Free and Clear Laundry Soap

Seventh Generation Free and Clear Dryer Sheets

Shout Free and Clear Stain Remover

Trader Joes Brand Dish Tabs

Charman TP

Coconut Oil

Homemade Sugar Scrub (which we shave with)

Naturtint Hair Color (questionable ingredients)

doTerra Essential Oils

Advil and Tylenol (very rare usage, sometimes I cannot get rid of my migraine with EO’s)

I had tried making my own laundry soap, but I was never happy with the soap chunks left by the dry soap or the too thick consistency of the liquid or the amount of work involved.

One of the biggest things I have noticed with leaving all the chemicals behind is our sensitivity to smells.

Jordan was going through some of his storage tubs from his child hood and came across one with old finger paintings in it.  Just standing by the tub, smelling the paint gave me a headache.

There you have it.  My Genuine openness about what we use.  I have HOPE that the Lord will protect us from those ingredients that are questionable.

What about you?  What do you use?  Do you have ideas on what we could use that would be better?  I’d love to hear from you.

♥Sabrina

*Update …  I have update the “what we use list” with “Now we use”… I think this list will be ever evolving.