Ditch the Dry Cleaning

I don't know about you, but the smell on clothes when they come back from the dry cleaner is unbearable. Not to mention the terrible things dry cleaning does to your skin and the environment.

Perchloroethylene is used by 80-90 percent of all dry cleaners. It's a neurotoxin and causes cancer in lab rats. It's also a major groundwater contaminant, found in more than 25 percent of U.S. water supplies. It's toxic to wildlife, especially fish. A recent study found that food, stored in a car with dry-cleaned clothing for one hour, absorbed levels of perchloroethylene. An EPA study found that people have perc in their breath after visiting dry cleaners. Yuck!

Break-up with your dry cleaner and do it yourself.

First grab a spray bottle. Any time you use essential oil, you should use glass. Over time, the essential oils will eat through the plastic. It's so hard to find larger glass spray bottles. I can find them in 2oz, 3oz and even 4oz but anything larger than 4oz seems impossible to find. So I used a plastic bottle for this, I go through the solution so fast that it hardly sits in the bottle for long.

Grab some vodka. Vodka kills odor-producing bacteria and does not leave a lingering aroma. Go to the liquor store and get a 90 proof bottle of cheap vodka. The cheaper the better (save the Kettle One for your martinis). I found one for a whopping $9.99.

Grab some distilled water. I always have it on hand because i use it in my garment steamer. You can by a gallon of it for less than a dollar.

Lastly, grab your essential oils. You need lavender and tea tree. Lavender has tremendous antibacterial and deodorizing properties. Tea tree is known for its antiseptic properties. Not only do they smell nice, they kill bacteria.

Now here is the hard part (kidding). Mix 2 parts vodka, one part distilled water, and four drops of each oil and viola you have your own dry cleaning spray!

Turn your garment inside out and put it on an hanger. Spray the areas where you sweat, armpits, neckline etc. and make sure you fully saturate these areas. Don't be stingy, make sure they are soaked.  Then do a quick spray over the whole garment. Hang dry until the saturated areas are fully dry, I usually leave overnight. Obviously this only works to deodorize, it's not meant for stains.

EO Meyer Lemon All Purpose Soap

As soon as I heard they brought this product back, I ordered a few bottles. Lucky for me, they got delivered yesterday. EO All Purpose Soap is life changing. If you are obsessed with lemons like me, you will love the scent. It smells like fresh cut lemons. It's made with pure essential oils of Lemon and Mandarin Orange for a refreshing, uplifting aroma. It's a gentle non-toxic cleaner formulated without sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates (SLS). It's extremely versatile and there are so many things you can use it for. When they say "one soap, hundreds of uses" they aren't lying.

Laundry - add 2 squeezes per machine load. Soak delicates in sudsy water for an hour, then rinse.

Dishes - use 1/2 squeeze per load in the dishwasher. If you wash dishes by hand, one squeeze on a brush or sponge. It's great for tough pots and pans.

Camping - safe to use while roughing it in the great outdoors. EO All Purpose Soap is environmentally friendly and made with biodegradable surfactants.

Your home - spritz on any surface for a (green) deep-clean. Add 2 squeezes to a 16-oz spray bottle and shake.

Floors and carpets - add a little soap to a bucket of warm water. Mop hardwood and tile, and gently scrub carpet stains.

Car - use 3oz. soap per gallon of water and a soft sponge. Great on hubcaps and windows too.

Paint brushes - soak brushes in 2oz. + 16oz. warm water, then comb bristles with a wire brush.

BBQ grill - Scrape off the remains of last summer with a hard-bristled brush and some soap diluted in warm water.

Pets - 2 squeezes in warm water and scrub away.

And finally, you - wrap up all your cleaning with a pH-balanced hand soap, gentle enough for every day. Since it has a mild pH with a range of 4.5 to 5.5, it's perfect to use as a body wash or in the bath.

So ditch your Tide, your Dawn and all those other chemical cleaners you own and replace it with EO All Purpose Soap. A 32oz bottle comes in at $10.99. Since you only use a few squeezes for all those household items, it should last you a while.

Its only available on the EO website so grab some today!