Are Chemical Cleaners Bad?

YES!!! VERY BAD! …okay, maybe I’m overreacting… Let me just say right now, I have Bleach and Comet (Natural version here) and even Windex in my house right now that I use. Now, you are not going to keel over and die from them as your spray your window to clean it. With the toxic chemicals in our store-bought cleaners the danger is in long time exposure. 

Lets use bleach for example. Breathing in bleach fumes irritates your lungs. Sometimes while cleaning with bleach you might cough a little, feel a burning in your noes or throat from just the smell of bleach… that is the chemicals burning your lungs. The feeling might goes away with a drink of water or some fresh air but that doesn’t mean there’s no damage. Healing is needed. Breathing in bleach everyday keeps the healing from happening. The more chemical burn your experience the longer its going to take to heal. Then you get a cold… and your lungs struggle. The coughing hurts, it turns in to bronchitis and then it goes crazy and you have lung cancer. It’s the constant damage, without healing that causing tissue and cell damage. To learn more read “Is Breathing in Bleach Bad?“

Yes, I keep these bad cancer causing chemical cleaners in my house. No, I do not use them daily, or even weekly. My daily and weekly cleaning needs are met with all natural cleaning products.

Does Cleaning with essential oils really work?

YES!

In all honesty I wouldn’t clean with only essential oils. I will always pair them with vinegar, soap or rubbing alcohol. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not using essential oils just for the fragrance and fresh scent but as the cleaning agent in the cleaner. Both the essential oil and the vinegar or soap work to clean. Essential oils have cleaning, cleansing, antibacterial properties that really do work. For best all purpose cleaning in your home it will be best to combine them with another natural cleaning agent.

What Essential Oils can I use to Clean with?

There are so many great essential oils that you can use in your daily cleaning routine. The oils you want to use are oils that have antibacterial properties. Antibacterial essential oils stop the growth of bacteria. Keeping you home clean from bacterial growth without killing both the good and bad bacteria completely. Cleaning with essential oils benefits our immune system rather than harming it like the commercial cleaners full of toxic fumes do.

Essential Oils for Cleaning

• Eucalyptus Oil has antibacterial properties 
• Peppermint Oil contains anti fungal and antibacterial properties 
• Lavender Oil has powerful antimicrobial properties 
• Cloves Oil contains both anti fungal and antibacterial properties, a great at disinfecting and cleaning mold.
• Lemongrass Oil has both anti fungal and antibacterial properties, brakes down grease and grime. 
• Cinnamon Oil is one of the most powerful antibacterials and anti fungal of the essential oils. 
• Tea tree Oil (Melaleuca) has both anti fungal and antibacterial properties.
• Bergamot Oil is another antibacterial with a large amount of limonene, which is also found in citrus oils. 
• Oregano Oil has strong antibacterial properties  
• Thyme Oil has antiseptic properties 
• Basil Oil has antimicrobial properties and repels insects 
• Rosemary Oil has antibacterial and antiseptic properties
• Geranium Oil helps remove dirt and grime
• Wild Orange Oil cuts through grease and dirt and is antibacterial
• Lemon Oil antibacterial properties
• Grapefruit Oil natural de-greaser and has antimicrobial properties 
• Lime Oil high in limonene helping disinfect bacteria

Mix and Match

Some of these essential oils are stronger cleaners than other or have different cleaning abilities. Some being better de-greasers, some being better for molds and fungal. To make a all-purpose cleaner you can combine oils to create your own cleaners that fits your needs. 

Some essential oil companies have blends already that are specially for cleaning. Young living has blends like ‘Thieves’ and ‘Purification’. DoTerra has ‘On Guard’ and ‘Purify’. Revive has ‘Clean’, ‘Purify’ and ‘Immunity Boost’. You can make things simple and buy one of these blends or you can create your own household cleaning products.

How To Make An Essential Oil Cleaner

Here are 3 simple recipes for natural cleaners using essential oils   

1. Mix together 2 part water, 1 part rubbing alcohol 1 part cleaning vinegar or white vinegar into a reusable glass spray bottle. Add 15-25 drops of your preferred essential oil to your glass bottle. 
2. Mix together 3 parts water with 1 part Castile soap and add 15-25 drops of your preferred essential oil to your glass spray bottle. 
3. Mix together 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar and add 15-25 drops of your preferred essential oil to your 12 -16 oz glass spray bottle.

For more all purpose cleaner recipes check out my post just on DIY Natural Cleaner Recipes for different types of cleaners using essential oil, baking soda, Castile soaps, rubbing alcohol, vinegar and olive oil.

Is Homemade all-purpose cleaners cheaper?

Lets do some math…
-1/4 gallon, Lysol All-Purpose Cleaner, Sanitizing and Disinfecting Spray, Lemon Breeze Scent, 32oz – $3.97, $1.98 per 16 oz bottle.
-DoTERRA’s Multi-Purpose On Guard Cleaner Concentrate 12 oz, makes about 9, 16 oz spray bottles, $24 $2.67 per 16 oz bottle
-1.5 gallons, Homemade Vinegar All-Purpose Cleaner – Cleaning Vinegar 64oz, $2.62 + Rubbing Alcohol 91%, 32oz, $3.98 (x2) + On Guard Essential Oils, DoTERRA, 15ml $52OR Revive 30ml $28. TOTAL (with revive) is $38.58 at check out. 64oz of vinegar, 64oz of rubbing alcohol, 64oz water makes 12, 16oz spray bottles. When using 15 drops of oil per 16 oz spray bottle the total comes to about $1.78 per 16 oz bottle.

30ml of essential oil is approximately 500 drops. That is about 6 cents per drop. 15 drops per 16 oz spray bottle comes to 90 cents per bottle.

So yeah, its pretty cheap.

What brand of Essential Oils is Best?

Not all Essential Oil brands are made equal. For cleaning you want high quality essential oils. High quality essential oils are not always found at your local grocery store. Young Living, DoTERRA, Revive and Plant Therapy are all good, high quality brands you can trust for your diy cleaner. For more about these brands read Emma’s Post on the Top 10 Best Essential Oil Brands on her website, Essential Oil Haven.

Mistakes when Cleaning with Essential Oils

Mixing with bleach

Bleach and essential oils are completely different ways of cleaning. They do not mix well, its not considered to be safe. Bleach will overpower the sent of the essential oils. Essential oils are meant to be breathed in, benefiting the whole body. Bleach is not to be breathed in or put on your skin. Just don’t do it. It doesn’t make since to mix the two.

Using by themself

Essential oils alone are not are compete cleaner or disinfectant. Cleaning with essential oils is very effective and should be diluted to clean with. For best results mix with and non-toxic cleaners like Castile soaps, vinegar, witch hazel or rubbing alcohol to make your DIY cleaning spray.

Using too much/using too little

There no absolutely right amount of oils to use but there is a wrong. I typically find people use too little, trying to save the expensive oil. But its also true that you don’t need to over do it. 5 drops is not enough for a 16 oz spray bottle but 30-35 may also be more than enough, therefore being wasteful. Use your nose. If you put 15 drops in but you can’t smell the oils when you spray it, then its not enough. Add 3-5 more till you can smell it. If you use Vinegar along with your oil and you can’t smell of vinegar at all, maybe you used too much oil, or not enough vinegar. I am always looking for both smells while not letting either one over power the other.

Using low quality oils

One of the biggest mistakes I think you can do buying poor quality essential oils for your homemade cleaning products. You need 100% pure essential oils or they oil will not have enough or any of the antibacterial, antimicrobial, anti-fungal, antiseptic, de-greasing properties to them. Don’t use oils that are not 100% pure, or have other ingredients listed other that oils, like ‘fragrance’. Check out these 7 simple test to tell if you oil is pure or not.

Improper Storage

You should store your essential oils in a cool dark place. Using glass bottles, best if they are dark glass but not always necessary if you keep in a dark cabinet. UV rays can cause the oils to brake down and the dark glass helps keep them safe.
Plastic bottle react with the oils. The plastic can even start braking down and mixing the plastic toxins in with your oils. The oils can also pass through the plastic as it is more porous than glass. In both cases makes your oils not as pure or effective in their cleaning.

Forgetting to shake the bottle

Oils like to separate from water when sitting in the cabinet, shake for an even mixture before cleaning.

The post How to make Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner With Essential Oils appeared first on Embracing The Home.

• Meal Planning for a Month Vs. a Week
• How To Meal plan for a Month
  • Start with Base Ingredients
  • Create a List of Family Favorite Meals
  • Meal Plan According the Ingredients You Have
• What Happens When My Schedule Changes?
• Free Meal Planning Templates

Meal Planning For A Month Vs A Week

Most people I know plan weekly meal plans or don’t plan and all. When I was trying to plan my family’s meals a week at a time I kept struggling to actually get it written out done each week. There was always a day or two that I’d be struggling to think of something last minute because I failed and getting a menu plan written out in time. 

January of 2024 I decided to try planning my meals for a entire month. I planned the whole month out and it took so much stress away! I thought that if I had a hard time planning a weekly menu then monthly meals would be worse, but it was easier.

New Recipes

When planning the month I was able to be more consistent and more creative with new recipes with my meals. When meal planning for a week at a time I would find myself trying think of different meals for each week. If we had it last week I though I couldn’t plan for it again the next week because we would get tired of eating the same foods all the time. 

As I planned a month out I was able to see how often I was repeating meals and how often I was adding in new meals more clearly then when I was planning for a week. I no longer felt guilty keeping the same easy quick meals ever Tuesday and Wednesday (our busiest evenings) because I was being more creative on all the other nights.

Staying in Budget

As I meal planned monthly I found I was able to make a more accurate grocery shopping list. I was not longer buying food because we might eat it but because we planned to eat it on a specific day of the week. I was not buying food that would go bad and it reduced my food waste in our house by a lot. 

At the beginning of the month I would plan my meals based off of what foods we had in our house at that time. If we have rice, I made sure it was on the menu. If we have left over chicken or an abundance of potatoes, those foods made it on the monthly menu. Then I would make my shopping list. Going over each meal and making sure I had everything I needed for the entire month on my grocery list. I would brake up the produce into 2 weeks and shop for the second part of the month in another two week to keep fresh produce in the house. 

This planning process kept me from spending money on items that we would not eat. I was also able to plan creative meals using the ingredients we had or that I knew would not be expansive to purchase. Without last minute trips to the local grocery store we have been able to keep our food budget.

How To Meal Plan For A Month

To meal plan for a month may seem daunting. You may be tempted to think you can’t do it because you don’t know what or where you will be on 3 Friday’s from now. Or you might have had a hard time thinking of 7 different meals how am I going to think of 30? 

Here are my 3 tips for for successful meal planing. Plan by base ingredients, create a master list of family favorite meals, meal plan with ingredients you already have.

Plan your meals by base ingredients

The base ingredients are the foundation of your meal. Just to name a few… pasta, rice, potatoes, chicken, fish, ground beef… You can make many different recipes with these bases. For each day of the week I choose a base. (Your list may look different with a lot more meat, we eat mostly vegetarian in our house)

• Mondays – potatoes or soups
• Tuesday – Rice and beans (Taco Tuesday)
• Wednesday – Picnic sandwiches (we don’t eat at home on Wednesdays)
• Thursday – Rice and fish
• Friday – Salads and meat
• Saturday – Random/special meals

Again, I do not stick to this perfectly, I am not a slave to this list. I mix things around all the time but this weekly base ingredient list gives me something to work off of if I can’t think of anything else to make.

Here an example of meals that go with each category or base ingredient.

• Potatoes – Baked potatoes with baked beans and cornbread, Mashed Potatoes with lentil stew, Shepherds Pie, Potato soup…
• Rice and Beans – Tacos, burritos, nachos, bean bowls…
• Rice and Fish – Shrimp stir fry, shrimp scampi, shrimp saganaki (greek dish), balsamic glazed salmon, honey mustard salmon, crispy fried cod…
• Big Salads and Meat – Taco salad, greek salad with lamb or chicken, Italian salad with pizza or chicken, sweet broccoli salad with stake…
• Pasta – Lasagna, spaghetti and meat balls, alfredo, pesto, pasta salad, lemon pasta…

I hope these lists help you see how you can take base ingredients and think of many different meals to eat throughout the month. Keeping it simple with lots of verity.

You can also make a goal is to choose a protein, vegetable and starch/grain for each meal. 

Proteins 

• Meat
• Eggs
• Fish
• Beans

Vegetables

• Broccoli
• Salad
• Green beans…

Starch/Grains

• Breads
• Pasta
• Rice or quinoa
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes 

Add one of each of these three food categories to each day and you will have a healthy meal plan.
examples:
Chicken – rice – roasted broccoli and cauliflower
Pot Roast- Potatoes – Carrots
Ground Beef – pasta – Salad

Create a list of family favorite meals

When meal planning for your whole family its always helps to know what everyone likes to eat. Another list that might be helpful is of what your family does not like. How to you find out your family’s preferences? Ask. When you sit down the meal plan ask your husband and kids what they would like to each this month. Fit their meal ideas in where they make since to you. If you have younger kids who only want pancakes and chicken nuggets for dinner, you can also take note on which meals they finished and what meals are a struggle to finish. If they ask for seconds, its a keeper. 

Here is a list you can download for free of lots of different meal options. Keep this list near your meal planner or on the refrigerator to help you when planning out the month. Once you’ve tried a meal and you notice your kids love it or hate it, rate it on your list. Give it a star, or cross it out. This way the next month you will be able to remember how to bring meals to the table the whole family can enjoy.

Meal plan According To The Ingredients you have

To help you save money, cut down on food waste and get the idea’s flowing for meals, look not to Pinterest, but in your cabinets, refrigerator and freezer to see what you can make with what you have first. Check the back of your freezer, find that bag of frozen green beans or that can of kidney beans that’s been in the pantry for months. Minestrone Soup, perfect, you can use both the green beans and kidney beans in that recipe. 

I’m all about stocking up on bulk items to save money and be prepared. But when you stock up, don’t make the mistake of not using those items. Continue to use what is on your shelf now instead of always buying more just to make what sounds good in the moment.

What happens if my schedule changes?

Its true, we often don’t know everything about our social calendar a month in advance. But planning meals that far in advance is not a hindrance but a help. 

When you plan meals for the whole month we can first look at the family calendar and see what days we know will will be gone for most of the day. There are times when I know we will be out doing one thing or another. So I either plan to meal prep the day before, plan to make extra of something earlier on in the week to eat leftover that day, or plan a slow cooker or crackpot meal. 

But, when something comes up unexpected and your planned meal won’t work for you that specific day, you can trade it with another day’s meal. I first ask myself, “can I make this in the crackpot?” If the answer is “no” I find another meal that is on my plan, that I already have the ingredients for, that will work in the crock pot. 

Another trick I use is to have extra pasta and sauce in my pantry for days when I was unable to make anything in time or when my husband has to make dinner. Quick meals like that, not on your meal plan, is great to have in your pantry when your in a pinch. 

Don’t be a slave to your meal plan. We plan ahead so we have freedom, not bondage to the plan.

Free Meal Planning Templates

Now that you know the benefits of monthly meal planning its time to get organized. Personally I like to use a calendar for my meal planning. I keep it on the side of our refrigerator so everyone can see what’s for dinner. This is super helpful for my husband as he sometimes gets nervous when it looks like I’m making a super healthy meal. He gets to look at the menu and see although we are having lentils today we will be having pizza tomorrow and he has hope. 

Some people keep a binder with their grocery list and chores list in, some people just write out a list on a scrap paper and keep it in the kitchen while other keep the list on their phones. There’s no right or wrong on your own organization preferences. As long as it helps you.

What you must do is write out your full plan. Again, start with whats in your cabinets now, using the base ingredients to come up with a variety of recipes. Don’t be afraid to repeat recipes on a specific day of the week. Pick days you know you will be home all day to try new recipes. Then finally make your grocery shopping list that revolves around your planned menu.

With that being said here are few free printable templates that you might like.

Edit For Yourself in Canva

Monthly Meal Planning List Layout

2025 Monthly Calendar

2025 Monthly Calendar Lined

175+ Meal Planning Dinner Ideas

Ready To Print!

Meal Planning Monthly List

2025 Monthly Calendar

2025 Monthly Calendar Lined

175+ Meal Planning Dinner Ideas

More meal planning tips and tricks

I know I didn’t cover everything on the subject of meal planning so comment below if there more tips or ticks to meal planning that my readers could benefit from. I would love to hear from you all the success you have had in your own meal planning.

The post How to Meal Plan for a Month – Save Money with Simple Meals appeared first on Embracing The Home.

How To Clean Your Oven With Heat

Here’s the trick. Turn your oven on the hottest it will get for 1 hour. Most ovens will go up to 550. Some ovens, including mine will go higher on the self cleaning function. I don’t know exactly how high mine goes but some sources say the self cleaning functions can go up to 900 degrees!

The idea is to burn everything that has spilled till they turn to charcoal and our easily wiped or swept out of the oven. Depending on how high your oven goes it may or may not burn everything and some scrubbing may have to take place.

Smoke or Fire?

While you are heating and burning the mess in your oven you will have a little smoke and odor coming from your oven. This is normal. You can open the window and turn on a fan to avoid setting off the smoke alarm. Try not to open the oven door while it is cleaning.

If there is a concerning amount of smoke then first turn the oven off and then open cautiously. If you have a fire extinguisher or a emergency fire blanket and you suspect a fire, get those ready before you open the oven.

Cleaning With Baking Soda

I like to clean with baking soda and vinegar, hot water. Cleaning with natural products is important to me. To be honest the easiest way to clean an oven is to buy the foamy chemical spray but I just can’t get myself to spend money on chemicals that I don’t want in my house simply for connivance.

To make cleaning your oven easy, without compromising my principles, I heat my oven on the highest degree for an hour, let it cool, then scrub any needed areas with baking soda. After a good scrub I spray it down with my lemon vinegar cleaner and wipe down with a rag.

Benefits of Cleaning with Baking Soda

Baking Soda is a natural chemical called sodium bicarbonate. It is a white powder or soft crystal that gently scratches off grime and dirt without scratching the surface of what ever you are cleaning. Baking soda is alkaline and reacts to acidic greases and grime braking them up and making it easier to clean.

Wipe Your Oven Down

Once you have scrubbed down the oven simply wipe everything down with a wet rag. Sometimes it take a while to get all the baking soda off. Use some vinegar or a vinegar cleaner to help remove all the baking soda.

Clean, But Not Perfect

When cleaning anything you might have an unrealistic expectation to clean everything till it looks brand new. This is a dangerous way to think. My oven is used often, even daily. My stove top is used even more. If I expect them to look new all the time I am going to be greatly disappointed and anxious.

It is important to me to keep things clean. I feel more comfortable and less stressed in a clean environment. With four kids and cooking everything we eat from scratch I can let the untidiness and used look of our house overwhelm and stress me out. But that is no way to live.

I want to embrace my home as it without being irresponsible with what I have. When my oven is full of drippings and splatters and smells like its burning every time I turn it on… I clean it with realistic exceptions of the outcome. When I can’t easily clean off stains I leave them. I embrace the used looked remember how delicious the cobbler was that make the mess in the first place.

My motto is progress over perfection. If my home is cleaner in the evening they it was in the morning I have had great success. It may still need a lot of work but progress has been made. If my oven is cleaner after I work on it then I have succeeded, even if I didn’t get it back to looking like new.

How To Clean Your Oven

Print

Materials

• Baking Soda
• Scrub Brush
• Vinegar Cleaner
• Wet Rag

Instructions

1. Turn your oven on the highest it goes (500, 550 degrees) Or use your self cleaning function for 1 hour.
2. Let cool completely. Sweep or wipe out any ash or charcoal.
3. Scrub, if needed with baking soda and a scrub brush, I like to dip my brush in a little water so the baking soda becomes like a paste.
4. Spray the oven with your vinegar cleaner and wipe down with your wet rag. You may need to rinse your rag a few times.
5. You can wipe down with a dry rag if needed and enjoy the sparkle!

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