Baking Soda + Vinegar

Baking soda and vinegar are my go-to for cleaning pretty much anything. At this point, most people are aware of these cleaning powers, but if not…

* The same reaction that was so much fun for creating volcanoes is also amazing for sinks and toilets. My best friend swears by these “sink bombs” to clear drains as well as polish sinks. Sprinkle sink or toilet bowl with baking soda, then slowly pour in the vinegar and enjoy the chemical reaction! I look forward to this part of cleaning – It’s still fun as an adult! And what is better than being pumped to clean your toilet. This recipe will remove gross stains with little to no scrubbing/touching, and leaves surfaces more sparkling than a nu-school vampire.

* Vinegar is perfect for neutralizing pet and baby odors and pulling up spots. To remove pee (or whatever) from carpet: Fully saturate the area with vinegar and water (recommendation is 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water but I prefer more vinegar), let sit for a few minutes then blot up with a clean rag. Repeat for larger accidents, then soak with just water and continue blotting until dry. When area is mostly dry, sprinkle the area with baking soda. Wait about an hour, then vacuum up.

* Vinegar will work to clean glass, although it takes a bit of elbow grease to get a streak-free shine. Spray vinegar directly on mirrors and windows, then rub hard with a soft cloth or gently with a wad of old newspaper. (Paper towels don’t work as well but you can make it work if you apply enough friction.)

* Baking soda and vinegar makes a great multi-purpose cleaner, and works on almost anything. Vinegar alone works well enough to disinfect kitchen counters, and is safe and gentle enough to use around pets and kids. (My toddler loves to carry the vinegar bottle around, pretending to spray things, and I love knowing that it’s OK even if he sticks the nozzle right in his mouth.)

Hydrogen Peroxide + Dawn

Dawn is the only commercial product we keep in our cleaning arsenal. The soapy smell is a bit of a guilty pleasure as we don’t use any other products with fragrance. (The husband and I secretly take a huge whiff whenever our neighbors do laundry with scented detergent. I know it’s bad but it smells so good.)

Equal parts hydrogen peroxide + Dawn (original dish soap) is the most amazing stain remover I’ve found. I came across the tip on Pinterest and was skeptical, but this shit works. I used the solution to remove every single stain from our cream-colored linen loveseat and we were blown away by the results. I was about ready to chuck that couch onto the train tracks but now it’s good as new. Better yet, my anxiety is gone. If something new does get spilled or smeared, I know we’ll be able to get it out. (The only stain we couldn’t get out completely was a very old spot of blood. The hydrogen and Dawn solution faded the spot by about 50%, and we got the remaining stain almost completely out by applying a paste of cold water and table salt overnight.)

Products you can buy

I love the above products for their dual-functionality and affordability. Baking soda and vinegar can even be purchased with food stamps/vouchers and are very cheap to begin with. If you prefer ready-made cleaning products, however, here are my top picks:

* Mrs. Meyer’s – Although I took some issue with the Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning guide (the unsolicited parenting advice, not the cleaning tips), I LOVE Mrs. Meyer’s scents. We discovered these cleaners several years ago and the smell always takes me back to the first apartment Donny and I lived in together. This is my top pick if you want some aromatherapy along with your cleaning.

* Seventh Generation – Their plant-based cleaners work incredibly well and I love their continued efforts towards more sustainable packaging. Seventh Gen products are available in many supermarkets, usually in the ‘Natural’ or ‘Organic’ section of the store.

* Tropical Traditions – Not only is their coconut oil amazing (It has so many uses!), they also sell a variety of natural plant-based cleaners that really do the job.

* ecoSTORE USA – I haven’t personally tried their home cleaning products, but I have no doubt that they would be as fabulous as their bath products. Their baby and dog shampoos are my hands-down favorites, and all of their products just dropped in price so they are now even more affordable.

* The Honest Co – Indulge your trendy side with this new line of products founded by health-conscious celeb mom Jessica Alba.

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~ Want more? Be sure to check out my post on Spring Cleaning tips and get inspired to spruce up your home in a fun and eco-friendly way. ~

Above: Shopping Chase Me Home in Gresham. I’m sure that I make the staff a little bit nervous bringing my toddler in among their breakables, but he is very good about using “nice hands” – He seems to get it that everything in the store is pretty fragile. It’s definitely not just his nature as he is a lot more rough-and-tumble at home. His dad and I do a lot of shopping at antique shops, mainly while on vacation, and I want Sebastian to have practice not breaking all of the things.

Picked up these tops (above) from Rewind with a few bucks of store credit. I love consignment shops for that reason! We generally avoid spending store credit anywhere unless money is tight that week, and then it becomes a great (free!) retail pick-me-up. I tend to avoid more boutique-y secondhand shops because a lot of them over-price (I’m talking to you, Buffalo Exchange) but they can be a good place to find “gently worn” basics. Sometimes you can get name-brand clothing for cheap if the staff isn’t savvy on the particular brand or style. Ultimately though, I do find it less thrilling to shop places that are more cultivated. No challenge!

Our thrift shopping typically focuses on clothing, but lately we have been working to accumulate pieces for the apartment. My new obsession with Nate Berkus may be partly to blame!

Donny always looks for Blazers drinking glasses when we go thrifting. We also found some interesting picture frames for around $1 each, a pair of $1 blue wayfarers for Sebastian, a brand new woven basket (still with the Trader Joe’s tag on it), and this cute Asian kissing figurine. Around $15 total.

New figurine was perfect fit on the small bookshelf in our living room. Gallery wall of frames above is a work in progress.

This blanket is one of the best things I’ve ever thrifted in my opinion. $5 from Chase Me Again, it adds the perfect amount of color to our living room and I love the pattern. I had never really considered buying blankets secondhand (I don’t know why!) but I just threw it in the washing machine on hot and even through the dryer – Good as new!

Missed Connections

Somehow, photographing items I like but don’t end up buying makes me feel better about the loss. These moccasins from Chase Me Again were just a smidgen too large to make practical slippers for me:

We definitely should have picked up this Nate McMillan bobblehead – I honestly have no idea why we didn’t! That’s my so-sad-we-fired-Nate-McMillan face, not dissimilar from my so-sad-we’re-out-of-the-playoffs face from 2010.

Best believe I would have bought this red faux fur coat if it wasn’t springtime! Also love this skull-print scarf. Both at Rewind in downtown Gresham.

Have you thrifted anything good lately?

EdenFantasys is known for their sex toys – and I have totally given vibrators to my best girlfriends! – but they also sell great bath and beauty products. I swear by this Cake satin sugar hair powder (especially with short hair, which gets oily more quickly), and gave a Cake moisturizer from Eden to my sister back in December. This Silky Sheets pheromone spray also received rave reviews when I gave it as a gift, and I plan to give it again. The site also stocks plenty of my own personal obsession, soy candles. I love that ingredients are listed for all products. Some items are more natural than others, but they have many organic options and I really appreciate the full disclosure.

Huff Post: How to Talk to Little Boys

Tumblr: FYeah Tattooed Parents

Best for Babes: Celebrities Who Breastfed Toddlers (but not on the cover of TIME) Love that Gwen is on this list, and I always love the tidbit about Michael Jordan. I’m sure Donny would love it if breastfeeding turned Sebastian into a star athlete!

Motherwear: Six misconceptions about “extended” breastfeeding

API Speaks: TIME Magazine Shows Attachment Parenting is Going Mainstream, Not Extreme

Ask Dr. Sears: What AP is Not “Attachment Parenting” is a new term to what most families on the planet have been doing for centuries. Responding to and being connected with your child is our instinct as humans. It is our modern society of so-called experts and companies pitching techniques and products that is unnatural.

API Speaks: Normalizing Extended Breastfeeding

Code Name: Mama: Bloggers for Birth Kits In rural Papua New Guinea, one in seven women dies during childbirth. A life-saving clean birth kit costs only $2 to put together. Donate if you can!

IKEA Hackers: A Sweet Little Flower Bed Love this re-purpose of a doll bed for gardening

Some of the clothing on Fresh Produce is a little touristy for my style, but the basics are great. I received The BFF Top in Melon to review and have worn it at least twice a week since receiving it. I didn’t notice I was wearing it so much until I looked back over photos from the past month or so. I can’t help it – It’s so flattering. The 100% cotton is super soft and hangs perfectly, skimming the body but not clinging too much. I would recommend their tops to anyone, but especially to a new mom or anyone else dealing with body image issues. Just super flattering, and the soft cotton makes you feel pampered. Fresh Produce basics are chic enough to wear out with a big piece of statement jewelry, but laid back enough to wear with yoga pants if you were so inclined. They offer lots of versatile summer top options that would look great with denim shorts or over a swimsuit.

Fresh Produce clothing is a little bit out of my usual budget, with this particular top at $44. You can really see and feel the quality though. Unless you are buying other higher-end brands at discount, it’s worth the PPW (Price Per Wear). My top is holding up well to normal laundering, whereas cheaper garments tend to get more rough and faded with every wash.

Overall, Fresh Produce provides great basics, and a few pieces would provide a great starter wardrobe of quality staples.

A quick note on sizing: I ordered my top in a Medium, and you can see that it is larger than what I would consider a typical Medium. I would suggest ordering the smaller size if you are on the fence (as I was), and definitely go with a S or XS if you are petite. Be sure to read product details regarding how each piece is designed to fit.

I received The BFF Top from Fresh Produce Clothing for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

What am I loving right now? Nice weather! I’m sure the streak will end soon but then hopefully it’s only a few more weeks until real summer. The last couple months we’ve been experiencing small stretches of great weather, which really helps with the cabin fever. There are a lot more things you can do for free in the warm weather too. We’ve been cooking up lots of burgers, eating on the patio, and taking walks around the neighborhood.

We’ve been trying to get Sebastian into some sunglasses for awhile now, but he would never keep them on his face. This month we bought him some cute blue wayfarers (for $1!). It was still a no-go until we took a walk on an especially sunny day. As soon as he realized those cute sunnies actually served a purpose, he kept them on and has been wearing them on most of our outings. The cutest was when we headed into a store and out of the sun – Without any prompting, Sebastian copied his dad and smoothly pushed his own glasses up onto his head.

We are very fortunate to have a few parks close to us, two of which are in easy walking distance. The “Art Park” is an area where the city hosts small concerts and other community events, and it has a lot less distractions than the park with all of the play structures, etc. We had a little picnic there recently and soaked up some sun. For snacks, I packed sliced nitrate-free hotdogs and some Cheerio’s. Typical toddler grub at its finest! I never believed Cheerio’s to be especially healthy but recently read that they actually have more sodium per serving than a bag of Dorito’s. But whatever, it’s a treat. — Right: Sebastian found this plant dumped out on the pavement and quickly went to work packing it back into the container.

Sebastian’s striped tank top is from the local kids consignment shop and is clearly getting a lot of wear! I love how big he looks there on the left, so grown up. His hair is growing like a weed – These were taken about a month ago and his hair is already noticeably longer. I sort of want to mohawk it but I’m torn! For now we are trying to let it grow long enough that it tucks easily behind his ears. I love it long but it’s a shame when it hides his face. (He doesn’t seem bothered by the length at all, and refuses any and all attempts to clip or headband it back.) — Right: I love this shot, despite the awkward way my mama-belly looks like second pair of boobs! I assure you that’s not how it looks normally. My hat is by Empyre, nursing tank by Glamourmom, peach top by Fresh Produce (review coming soon).

Last week it was actually warm enough that we had to cool down – Rare for Portland in May! Donny pulled out this (clean) IKEA trash can filled with water, which Sebastian excitedly dunked his whole head in multiple times. By dunked, I mean stood up laughing and spitting out water. Kid is a fish for sure.

Sebastian wasn’t soaked enough, so Donny had to dunk his whole body in the water bucket. — Right: VIVA LA SUMMER!

Some other fun uses for a Scout bin could include:

• Flower planting – The liner seems like it could be waterproof enough, or use it to hold potted plants on your patio.
• Garden or BBQ supplies – Outdoor storage.
• Magazine or yearbook holder – Prop it up on its side for a fun way to display your periodicals. (I bet you could even mount it on the wall for a cool floating bookshelf in your bed or bathroom.)
• Imaginative play box for kids – See our take on a play stove below.
• Craft caddy – I have a feeling our box will become kids craft supplies storage soon.

The Scout storage box I received looks similar to a kids storage box we have from IKEA, but the quality and durability is far superior. It’s also a lot cuter, with very vibrant colors. The box feels sturdy and holds quite a bit – Right now it is in our living room, housing a load of Duplos. I feel strongly that your home should be equally welcoming to everyone who lives there, meaning that Sebastian’s things are in every room of the house. An attractive box makes it more about the design – You don’t immediately notice that pretty box is full of blocks!

Here we used the Scout bin for a makeshift play stove. You can see how sturdy it is!

One Hang-10 bin costs $23, with their other size boxes at higher price points. Honestly, that seemed a little steep to me at first, but the quality is there. If you can afford it, these are definitely worth the price, and when you think that you could get three for less than $100, it doesn’t seem so expensive. (And like I said, they are much better than the cheaper ones I’ve seen elsewhere.)

The design I reviewed seems to be discontinued but I especially love this leopard-print bin from the Scout website. Some of their prints are cute enough to design a whole room around.

Want to buy your own Scout products? Use code freeship for free shipping on any order over $150!

I received a Scout Hang-10 Bin from Scout by Bungalow for the purpose of this review. All opinions here are my own.

I used to buy all of my glasses straight from my eye doctor. What a whopping waste of money! Not only do most eye care clinics have a limited selection, especially when it comes to trendy styles, but I was seriously overpaying! Zenni Optical is one great choice for cheap prescription glasses, with the lowest prices I have seen. They have the cute retro styles I like, and I may end up shopping there for my next pair.

I highly recommend shopping for eyeglasses online. I don’t have insurance for eye care and use an eye care club instead. Between that and shopping online for glasses, it really cuts down on the cost of my imperfect vision! Hopefully I can use those savings to pay for Lasik someday soon…

The Honest Company is now beginning to offer individual Honest products for sale, but it is primarily a subscription service. Sign up for one of their bundles – the Diapers or Family Essentials bundle – and every month you’ll receive a selection of awesome non-toxic items. The Family Essentials monthly price is fairly affordable (around $40 I believe), although the cost for Diapers is a little up there – But I may just be sticker-shocked because we cloth diaper. The coolest part is that you can do a free trial for just $4.95. It works like magazine sign-ups and other monthly services – You must remember to cancel on time, but really, how difficult is that. I did just the trial and it was easy peasy. That $5 is the shipping cost, nothing extra, and you get a good amount of stuff to try out.

The Honest Company have more products than I received to review, but here are the ones I tried:

laundry detergent – This laundry detergent is Free & Clear (meaning free of all dyes and perfumes) so it is probably cloth diaper safe but not confirmed. I used my sample on a load of regular clothes with no discernible difference from the All Free & Clear (or whatever brand was on sale that week) that we were using. The Honest brand is probably more environmentally-friendly than Tide, etc., so I’d recommend Honest if money isn’t an object. It’s always important to vote with your dollar, spending your money at companies whose values you support.

hand soap – The scent of Honest Hand Soap reminds me of Mrs. Meyers (a brand with amazingly fragrant natural products), and I love anything that smells like lemongrass. It’s also really gentle, so I would call this an above average hand soap. Our little bottle is almost empty, sitting on our sink, and it makes me happy every time I use it. – Ya gotta love anything that gives you that kind of boost throughout the day, especially after doing dishes!

face & body lotion – The Honest Company Lotion reminds me of Skin MD Natural, which I like a lot. I’m a fan of any lotion that works well on both face and body, and it’s really gentle. And non-toxic!

shampoo & body wash – We’ve tried a lot of baby body washes, and this one is about average although I especially love the vanilla scent. For the record, our  fave baby wash is this one, although we are currently loving BabyGanics due to the fun foaming action!

healing balm – This is my favorite product of the bunch, and probably the only one that really stands out from other similar products I’ve tried. I love this stuff. The Honest Co. Healing Balm is USDA organic. Not sure if it’s cloth diaper safe but I’m sure it would treat rashes for babies in disposables. Sebastian has never had a diaper rash but I did use the Healing Balm on some scrapes on his chest as well as a dry patch on his legs that was bugging him. It is also the best thing I’ve found to treat a particularly dry & flaky area on my face, and it doubles as GREAT lip balm. I wear it to bed, or underneath my lipstick for a really smooth finish and muted color. Also good for elbows, cuticles, pretty much anything.

We cloth diaper, but did give The Honest Company disposable diapers a try. We received the ‘boy’ bundle (I’m not a fan of having to select gender versus individual designs, but whatev), which included several diapers in fun styles. There were some anchors, skulls, and the plaid design above. Honest diapers are on par with Seventh Generation in that they have less chemicals and are better than Huggies or Pampers… but they’re still disposables. I always feel a little bit dirty when I use them, but I did fall for these a bit. Sebastian doesn’t pee overnight but they did contain a big morning pee when Mama was too lazy to get out of bed right when he woke up.

I have trouble endorsing disposable diapers – It’s scary how much these held – but if you are going to go that route (or use them for a trip or daycare or whatever) Honest is a good brand to go with. The wipes are good as well. You know, they’re baby wipes. I generally use them for makeup removal and stick to cloth wipes for butts.

Overall, I found The Honest Co. products to be pretty great. The Healing Balm is the only one that really stands out, but all of these are a huge step up from the usual crap on drugstore shelves. I do wish that these would move into stores where they could get more visibility – As of right now, moms who don’t spend much time online probably won’t even hear about the brand. And I feel like moms who research products online are more likely to already be making healthier choices. But, baby steps.

I am not affiliated with them in any way, but Cool Mom Picks is currently running an awesome Mother’s Day Giveaway featuring a $200 gift card to The Honest Co. You can enter their giveaway here – It ends on Sunday.

I’ve already received lots of positive feedback on social media, but here are a couple of photos from our hair date day:

Hair before and after. I feel that the shorter length is more flattering at this point on my slow & agonizing post-partum weight loss journey, but that’s another post for another day.

Halfway through my makeup job. Definitely not an everyday look! But it is really fun to look flawless even for one evening. (Even if that evening is just going back home with your husband and toddler.)

My sister & Ginger, while new chocolatey hair color sets.

Who looks older? – My lovely sister “Aunt Nattie” lives about an hour away and we don’t see her often enough. Sebastian adores her and we look at her photo often.

A quick photo before saying goodbye. (Excuse the redeye.) Superman on the left with the mismatched socks is Ginger’s daughter Ophelia. The kiddos are about a year and a half apart.

On my actual birthday day, we had homemade burgers and store-bought red velvet cake. I have to confess, I think that watching Sebastian tear into the cake was my favorite part! Donny also bought me flowers. A simple & perfect day.

If you are in the Portland area and need your hair done, please check out the Devil’s Haircuts Facebook page or contact me directly for help setting up an appointment. Ginger also provides hair and makeup for events. This summer I believe she will be offering waxing and lash extensions as well.