Do it: Go Un-shopping in Your Closet

Goodbye sundresses. Hello sweater dresses! I finally swapped my summer clothes for cold weather clothes. Columbus Day Weekend is my biannual three-day un-shopping fest.

Take my fashion advice; I'm Lucky! (Image via luckymag.com circa October 2010.)

What's un-shopping? It's basically taking time to examine your wardrobe and asking yourself the question "Would I buy this again?" of every item in your closet. It's a great way to purge clothes you never wear as well as clothes you should never wear. If it feels bad against your skin, is a pain to launder or otherwise care for, doesn't fit well, doesn't project the right image, doesn't fit the kind of lifestyle you want to live, or doesn't make you feel beautiful, then you need to give it the boot! You've got to get rid of ho-hum clothing to let the clothing that speaks your truth sing.

I purged a Whole Foods grocery bag full of clothes that weren't working, including three similar casual long-sleeved striped cotton t-shirts. They have a really wide necks which don't keep me warm, the patterns are pedestrian, and they don't coordinate well with the rest of my wardrobe of mostly cute dresses.

It's weird because there was winter when I wore at least one of those shirts every week and you couldn't tell me anything, but I just realized that I actually hate those shirts. Does it mean I never liked them? Does it mean I looked foolish at one point but had no idea? Does it mean I have bad taste? Does it mean I wasted money? Who cares? What's important is I'm moving on to a less cluttered and more fashionable present!

I love un-shopping because it gives me a chance to reinvigorate my wardrobe, not only for free but with abundance. Now, I have a bag of clothes I can easily grab to share at a last minute clothing swap with girlfriends or via a collection for the needy. I also sorted out a few select pieces that I'd like to transform into new clothes using the skills I picked up at Metamorfixx workshops. I'm giving myself the deadline of Memorial Day (the next biannual un-shopping day) to make sure these sewing projects happen or else the clothes are going in the giveaway bag that day.

Look in your closet and go un-shopping. Do you have anything to purge?

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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8 Great Self-Care Websites To Visit This Fall

Fall is my favorite season because it's when I indulge in superdeluxe self-care. Thick cable knit tights, fuzzy sweaters, steaming bowls of soup... Oh!

Enjoying a warming bowl of homemade cabbage soup for lunch as I write this. Mmm!

Here are a few of the websites I've been visiting lately to get invigorating reminders and creative ideas for treating my mind, body, and spirit right.

Hey Fran Hey: "Natural beauty, nutrition & fitness. All with a bohemian twist!" Friendly Francheska shares easy, organic, and inexpensive DIY tips and tricks. (I love her tutorial videos on YouTube!)

Food Heaven Made Easy: "Finally, a fun, healthy cooking show with flavor!" Stylish Wendy and Jess share their food and nutrition expertise and enthusiasm. Lots of vegan recipes and food ideas!

Leonie Dawson: "Incredible Life, Incredible Business" Leonie might be the most authentically positive person on the internet. I've just begun the Creative Goddess e-Course, but just visiting her main site and reading her blog posts gives me a powerful boost of "Si Se Puede"! Check out her free goodies package to get a taste of her e-course magic!

Mama Gena's School of the Womanly Arts: Mama Gena is all about Pleasure and P**** Power! Her book was one of the most fun, revolutionary books I have ever read.

FLO Living: Alisa Vita empowers women get their hormones in balance for a happier body and life. I've learned so much just from her newsletters and blog posts!

Ms. MindBody: When I first started my business I might have become a living (or dying, depending on how you wanna look at it) ball of tension were it not for Kate Hanley's newsletters suggesting short meditation practices that can be done "anywhere, anytime".

Daisy Yellow: Self-taught artist Tammy shares her playful and devoted approach to daily creativity by hosting online art challenges that are more community than competition. The Daily Paper Prompts challenge just ended but check out her amazingly helpful beginner's guide to art journaling.

Melissa Danielle: In addition to being The Bad Ass Blender Woman, she's a self-professed "know-it-all." When I have a food or social media question, Melissa is one of the first people I turn to. I also love that Melissa asks thought provoking questions and shares fantastic resources on Twitter and Facebook.

What are your favorite online self-care resources?

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Sweet & Surprising Uses for Honey

Thanks to our CSA, we've got a sweet stash of local honey in our cupboard, way more than we need for our default honey uses: sore throat soother and sweetener. I wondered what else we could do with it.

According to Benefits-of-Honey.com, "The benefits of honey don't just stop at satisfying the palate. Honey also offers incredible antiseptic, antioxidant ,and cleansing properties for our body and health, hot beauty and skin care tips for ladies, and amazing healing properties as a head-to-toe remedy, from eye conjunctivitis to athlete foot." Honey softens skin, clears up acne, balances metabolism, and does what seems to be a million other magical things.

The Huffington Post reports 20 Unusual Uses for Honey. I can't wait to try #17: Beautify your Hair: "In the shower, after you wash your, coat the ends with a bit of honey. Let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing out and you'll find that your hair is less frizzy and extra conditioned."

Care2.com covers 13 Surprising Uses for Honey. Tip #2 points out that honey is a nature's Neosporin. Just apply it to minor cuts, burns, and scrapes. Tip #5 recommends harnessing the fantastic moisturizing power of honey by using it to treat dry patches, like elbows, hands, and lips. "Rub onto your dry, patchy skin and let it sit for about 30 minutes before washing off." I look forward to giving this a go in the winter when my hands seem to be perpetually cracked and chapped.

Tonight I think I'll try the olive oil and honey body scrub I read about on Get Along and Go.

Of course, the quality of the honey affects these benefits. It shouldn't come as a surprise that most of the honey in supermarkets is crap. Know your source. Talk to your beekeeper.

Many ethical vegans choose not to use honey out of respect for bees, but some beekeepers find a way to respect bees and get honey out of the deal. (Yes, really.) I recommend getting friendly with those folks. Beekeeping seems to be trending now in urban areas, so that shouldn't be too hard.

While we're on the topic of bees, I suggest checking out Vanishing of the Bees, a documentary on the mysterious mass disappearance of bees around the world. It's available on Netflix Watch Instantly.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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How to Unclog a Drain Naturally & Prevent Future Clogs

You can unclog a sink or bathtub drain with baking soda and vinegar. These work, but I also highly recommend using a Zip-It. In fact, you should use it first.

Zip-It is a long, thin piece of plastic that has tiny hooks on its sides and a thumb grip on the top. You can purchase it at your hardware store for about $3. You can also grab a Zip-It on Amazon. To use, you just slide it deep into your drain then pull it up. Try not to puke when you see all the hair and grime that comes up. The Zip-It packaging suggests throwing it away when you're done. I don't. I remove the gunk and clean the Zip-It by first rinsing it under warm water then spraying it with a vinegar-based cleaner.

Sometimes the Zip-It is enough. Other times the drain needs more help. In those instances, I make a drain volcano with baking soda and white vinegar.

To make a drain volcano:

• Pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain. This is a great use for baking soda once its tour of duty in the fridge is through.
• Chase it with 1/2 cup of vinegar and quickly cover the drain with a stopper. 
• After 30 minutes pass, flush the drain with a kettle full of boiling water.

Usually, the drain is clean after this. If it isn't, I suggest calling a plumber. I've used this method many times with success. Twice it failed and I resorted to using commercial cleaners. Both times I tried the natural kind (Earthworm) and the block remained so I resorted to nasty chemical solutions (Liquid Plumr or Draino) and guess what? The drain was still blocked. In each instance that the natural way failed, only a plumber was able to clean the drain using a snake. I've concluded that the drain volcano is at least as powerful as commercial drain cleaners, so it's better to save your money for a plumber instead of tossing it (and your commitment to the environment) down the drain if this natural solution doesn't work.

Image via EnviroMom. Read her praises of the wire mesh sink strainer.

I've noticed that our drains cleaner so much longer once we removed the built-in drain stoppers from the tub and sinks. We replaced them with wire mesh hair traps (aka sink strainers). We've tried a few different kinds and the wire mesh are the absolute best. They also happen to be the cheapest!

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Is Borax Bad for You?

Borax scored an F on EWG's 2012 Guide to Healthy Cleaning. Yikes! This comes as a surprise to me. I've been singing praises for borax (which is not the same thing as boric acid) as a natural cleaning agent to friends and family since I started cleaning green. In fact, almost every green cleaning book and website I've read has had only good things to say about it.

The product on the right may have to go.

According to Environmental Working Group's research, borax's ingredients have a "high concern [for] developmental/endocrine/reproductive effects; [along with] some concern [for] skin irritation/allergies/damage, respiratory effects." These ingredients are sodium borate, which they conclude may damage unborn child and fertility, and sodium borate anhydrous, which showed "clear evidence of endocrine disruption in at least one animal study", some "upper respiratory tract irritation", and the same dangers to fertility and unborn child.

While I'm concerned, I'm mostly confused. I'm not sure how much weight to give the results of a study done on non-human animals. The humans studied showed greater risk for decreased libido and sperm count, but they worked in a borax factory! Exactly how much borax does one need to absorb via skin, inhale, or ingest for it to be harmful?

I assume the workers were exposed to way more sodium borate than your average home user. Of course, this predicament begs the question: is a product ethical if the workers who make it are in danger? One could ask the same thing about many products and services though.

Years ago, a study linked essential oils of lavender and tea tree oil to gynecomastia, male breast growth, in three young boys. I bring this up because the study concludes: "The threshold might depend on several undefined factors, including the concentration of the oil in a product; the duration, frequency, and quantity of use of the product; and the genetic characteristics of persons exposed." I don't see people clamoring to end all use of essential oils. Most informed people  respect the power of botanicals and use essential oils with this power in mind. Perhaps we should learn more about borax before we deem it absolutely unsafe for home cleaning.

I'm not sure where I stand on the borax safety issue. I wish there were more answers available. In the meantime, I'm going to use washing soda as an alternative (it scored an A), and dip into my supply of borax sparingly. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. I just hate to be one of those people who doesn't have the full story and as a result is needlessly afraid of practically everything. I don't want to live in fear. I want to live abundantly!

What do you think? Do you use borax? Would you continue to use it?

Read more:
Avoid Borax in Your Green Cleaning Products (via Mother Nature Network)
Borax: Not the Green Alternative It's Cracked Up to Be (via Enviroblog)
Getting to the Bottom of Borax: Is it safe or Not (via CrunchyBetty)

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Can You Stop a Cat from Scratching the Sofa with Vinegar?

I just read on vinegartips.com that you can stop your cat from scratching furniture by spraying it with white vinegar. Within two minutes of reading this, I sprayed our entire sofa. I would recommend that you spot test the interaction of the vinegar with the material of your furniture, but I was at my wit's end. My cat Lucy has been ripping it to ribbons for years so I am anxious to see if the smell deters her.

On CatsScratching.com, Veterinarian Christianne Schelling offers a plethora of tips for dealing with wayward cats. She suggests covering the spots your cat scratches with aluminum foil or double sided tape. Spraying scratched spots with pet odor removers may also work. (Yay! Another use for Nature's Miracle!) She also says shooting a cat with water while she's scratching might change her behavior, but that hasn't worked with Lucy.

Dr. Schelling emphasizes that it's equally important to provide cats with an attractive alternative scratching surface. That seems fair. Lucy loves to scratch her Emery Cat and the sofa. Our living room is a regular cat amusement park as far as she's concerned! But the vet recommends a sisal post at least 28" high to enable a cat to stretch the full length of her body, so maybe the Emery Cat isn't enough. You can buy a post for $60 or more (whoa!) at PurrfectPost.com. I'm thinking about making my own.

Have you had any success getting your cat to stop scratching the sofa? What worked for you? (Please don't suggest declawing because that's just mean!)

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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What's Wrong with Chlorine Bleach

 Chlorine bleach is bad news for your health and the environment.

Image via EPA.gov

• Chlorine bleach has been linked to the increased amount of childhood illnesses such as cancer, asthma, autism, ADD, and allergies.
• The fumes from chlorine bleach can affect the nervous system, the respiratory system, and our immune system.
• Bleach is highly caustic. It can burn skin and eyes and even cause blindness.
• People with eczema will find wearing clothes laundered with bleach exasperates their skin condition. 
• Bleach can be accidentally mixed with other household chemicals to create dangerous gases. Mixing ammonia with bleach creates a toxic gas that affects you instantly. Years ago, while mopping, my mom forgot there was already ammonia in a pail and added bleach. She ended up having to call an ambulance as she couldn't breathe or see.
• Bleach used in our homes always ends up in nature. There it can create organochlorines (furans & dioxins), which are suspected carcinogens as well as reproductive, neurological, and immune-system toxins. 
• Bleach is a pesticide. If eating organic foods or using organic skin care products is important to you, then avoiding use of pesticides in cleaning and laundry is something else to consider.

What are alternatives to chlorine bleach?

Image via Green Cupboards

If you're using bleach for laundry, consider using oxygen bleach. You can identify powder oxygen bleach because the ingredients will say "100% sodium percarbonate." The ingredient of liquid oxygen bleach is "hydrogen peroxide."

Borax and washing soda are other great laundry bleach alternatives. I hear great things about lemon juice, sunlight, and white vinegar (add up to 1 cup with the detergent).  You could also think about not wearing white clothes and using white linens. Just sayin'. I love my stone colored towels and cream colored sheets.

If you're using bleach to kill germs, you have lots of green options. Seventh Generation makes a line of great botanical disinfectants. Bio-Kleen's Power23 is a disinfecting spray. You could also mix your own. Here's one recipe that kills germs and mold: 2 cups distilled water and 20 drops tea tree oil.

I should admit, I'm a little weary of this urge our society has to kill germs. Why are we killing them? Chances are no one in our house has swine or bird flu. Why are corporations endangering our health and the environment to kill germs that we have no conclusive evidence are hurting us as badly as the conventional cleaning agents we use to zap them? Also, didn't these zoological diseases come from over use of antibiotics and antivirals? Just wondering. I'm not a scientist or doctor.

Resources:
Pollution Issues UK 
Practically Green
Toxic Free Kids
Green and Clean Mom

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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